The Matinee And Max

Went to see Circus Flora again. The matinee this time. I'm off work -- a combo of use it or lose it and my immediate coworker being away for a while.

The circus project started because I wanted to spend time with an aunt that I don't get to spend enough time with. Another aunt and my mother went as well. My mother said that she hadn't been to a circus since she was a kid.

I think regular trips to the circus should be on most folks' agenda. It's such a joyful experience. Gotta say, though, that I don't think that I'd ever be interested in doing a high wire act. I don't mind being in the air when I'm tethered to someone on the ground but...

When I checked into the climbing gym tonight asked the staffer, Max, how he was doing. I'm alive, he said. As we talked more, he said that he didn't needed much --  When I wake up, I say thank you. That's definitely one way to start the day.

Being 'Drea

There's this part of Gretchen Rubin's The Happiness Project that continues to stick with me. Well, there are quite a few parts of her book that stick with me including the cut people slack portion of the program.

Rubin talks about accepting true likes and dislikes and how that acceptance frees you up to do other things. In embracing true likes and dislikes, Rubin lists things she'll never do.

But I have to admit it -- being Gretchen and accepting my true likes and dislikes bring me a kind of sadness. I will never visit a jazz club at midnight, hang out in artists' studios, jet off to Paris for the weekend, or pack up to go fly-fishing on a spring dawn... 122

Of course, I think this is an exercise you have to be careful with because you don't want to put something out there that you might potentially want to do and then you've mentally and verbally put the kibosh on it -- not cool.

Having said that, here's my list of things that, although I might like them, will probably never happen in 'Drea's world:

Girly Girlishness

Hooping It Up Professional Basketball-Style

Replacing Rick Steves

Synchronized Swimming

Hurrying about in The Amazing Race

Frequenting Parties

Amusement Park Enthusiast

Sewing or Crocheting Competently

Mastering Trilingualism

Walking a Wire Professionally

What are some of your true likes?

...I realized that just as clearing away my nostalgic clutter and my aspirational clutter in January had opened up more space for the possessions I really use in the present, relinquishing my fantasies of what I wished I found fun allowed me more room to do the things that I did find fun. Why worry about jazz clubs when I really wanted to design my own Book of Hours? Be Gretchen. (126)