the first step in any great adventure is to make your goal: finding the new world, touching down on the moon, making your first million, winning an oscar, meeting all your facebook friends. that which doesn’t not seem impossible is not worth doing. make that resolution and then tell EVERYONE you know exactly what you’re up to. the modern way to do that is tweet but i am not a twitter, i posted on facebook. which makes sense since my goal was to meet every one of my 325 facebook friends. think about how grand it’s all going to be when you’re a big success!
damn, queen isabella just gave me the dough to take three boats and head west! gotta change my relationship status from single to "it's complicated"
the second step in any great adventure is to wake up the next morning with a great sense of the “take it backs”. no, you can’t take it back. it felt wonderful thinking about success, but it’s okay to spend a few days huddling up under the covers hoping all your friends and frenemies have forgotten all about this. they haven’t.
the third step is just a baby step. in my case, it was hauling my son eastman (facebook friend number one!) out onto the front porch. we smoked a cigarette together. we talked for a while. i posted a blog. i posted a video. i thought “okay, just 324 to go!” and that’s exactly what you need to do: clip a coupon and put aside a buck fifty for that million, leaf through style magazine and decide on the designer of the gown you’re going to wear on oscar night, or maybe take a tour of the huntsville, alabama rocket museum for inspiration.
the first step to a successful oscar win when you've never done anything more ambitious than a christmas pageant is to pick out your gown. maybe write your acceptance speech.
the fourth step, take a step just a little more ambitious than the baby step. repeat as necessary.
i had a massive anxiety/asthma attack waiting to meet f2fb friend #225 larry rieger. i didn't say it was going to get easier, but larry was so sweet and interesting that it turned out all right! he also gave me a cd of beautiful music he plays and some of which he composed
you’ll have cheerleaders–cling to them. you’ll have doubters–smile because one day they will clap you on the back and say “i always knew you had it in you”. and if you wake up every morning thinking “what the hell am i doing?” well, i just hope that doesn’t happen to you.
but what do i know? wait until december 31, i guess. in the meantime, a rough itinerary:
sunday october 23, leaving for south korea, will arrive at four o’clock in the afternoon on the twenty fourth. hello john chie!!!
monday the twenty fifth leave at eleven o’clock for taiwan to see warner sills.
wednesday the twenty sixth reach manila by nine thirty in the morning to meet mark bitanga del rosario and his family.
thursday october 27 head out for malaysia and after a layover hit mumbai at eight in the evening to see anto prashanth and rahul guru
saturday the twenty ninth fly from mumbai to dubai for a day with cecelia gigiolio
sunday the thirtieth fly into rome to see alessandro cerea and federico cenci
tuesday november first, fly into dusseldorf and take a bus to dortmund to see claudia klose
wednesday november 2 fly into luten which is a suburb of london and over the course of the next six days track down brandon brown, anna brooke and mark jonathan cage before heading home on the ninth!
and then i still have the entire northwestern quadrant (oregon, washington and vancouver) as well as another hit on los angeles and new york. . .
if i finish all this, then i guess i’ll be able to make an even more ambitious goal for next year–if it’s only going to be one, i’ll make it world peace. if i do two resolutions, it’s going to be world peace and one hundred million dollars. if i do three resolutions, sure, that world peace thing, but definitely one hundred million dollars and a house by the sea. four resolutions, and i figure world peace can take care of itself, but i want the one hundred million. . . .
arlynnpresser 
September 27th, 2011 at 5:40 pm
This has to be one of my all time favorite posts of yours. Any chance that when you hit NY again you can make a side trip to Boston or maybe I could meet you in NY. I still have coming to Chicago on my bucket list mind you. You rock – you simply and utterly rock!
September 27th, 2011 at 8:56 pm
sweetpea, it’s been a really tough year and there are the road bumps that come up so unexpectedly! i really thought i was sort of coasting along, jeez, i have learned so many lessons, and then thwack! my wheels hit something hard. i’m such a damn work in progress. or maybe regress sometimes.
i do have to make another run through new york and there’s a pesky matter of a gal at smith college. . . .
September 27th, 2011 at 6:28 pm
Oh my goodness me – what an itinerary, I would have taken more time – had more down time – but hey what do I know! Sounds like an amazing trip and not only will you meet your fb friends you will also be amassing a thousand others… You have amazing energy – enjoy the experience and the rest of us will live vicariously through your journey!
Again, I am so impressed by you, your resolution and the fact that you are doing it!
Farewell as we vikings say. as in … not goodbye – but go well and have a good journey.
September 27th, 2011 at 6:36 pm
just saw the video – here is where I admit that I hardly ever get a chance to look at them – get your blog via email and can’t check them at work… So….. new years resolution – pack self loathing in a box, take it out into the garden, burn it, bury it, have a requiem mass, do whatever it takes to remove that “friend” from your life – YOU are amazing! Actually don’t wait till new years… do it now – tomorrow is always the start of a new year… Whatever it is that self loathing is feeding on – put it away – it’s gone – it’s no longer a part of the you you are today. Now there is just this amazing woman who is taking on a challenge that the rest of us would be just too scared to do… You go girl! have fun, be safe and know that you are you and to you, you should always be the BEST facebook friend that you have.
September 27th, 2011 at 9:02 pm
sigridur,
i should take self-loathing and have a little funeral. it’s one of my constant companions. it takes over the joint. i want to learn to be a viking, to have a good journey. i leave tomorrow for a six hour drive to ohio then up through michigan and back into illinois. i keep in mind that alaska is the next big jump. i rely on friends more than i would ever have imagined i could. let’s you and i make new years eve resolutions together–something you’ve wanted to do, something i have never thought i could do. and let’s go do them!!!!
September 27th, 2011 at 9:27 pm
Like that idea…. whether I am brave enough is yet to be seen…. but as a true viking I will take the challenge…
September 27th, 2011 at 9:31 pm
game on sweet pea let’s not make any small goals. what’s the best you can dream?????
September 27th, 2011 at 9:39 pm
OH shit, …. I don’t know. have to think on this… oh my goodness me, I have become so complacent in my life, so happy with all – but I know that there is something ……. there must be….. we shall discuss this further.
September 28th, 2011 at 3:48 pm
I think you’ve just expressed what almost everyone goes through at some point, let alone when they are tackling something as huge as you are. The difference is, most people are too afraid to admit it. They are too afraid to say it, especially in public. You are so brave and so powerful and so inspiring.
Let’s build a bonfire and put your self loathing in it. Burn it, let it rise up in the smoke and ashes of your yesteryears.