Before the Celebration - Goals and Rules

"Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional." -Chili Davis

Today I had an idea to blog the next year of my life.

What's it about?

Because on September 15, 2012, I turn 30 years old.  And like every person, I had to decide whether to accept turning 30 or to resist it.  I've found that my decisions varies based on the kind of day I'm having.  However, while walking on campus today I decided that I'd have a positive attitude about getting older.  Thirty is just a milestone, one of many.  And as my friend, Jessica, said to me in an email today, "1. every day we age and 2. you're not old until you let yourself be."  So, instead of dreading my 30th birthday and moaning about the woes of aging, I'm going to celebrate them every day.

How are you going to celebrate?

Each morning I will begin with a dance.  My alarm will go off and I will have a song planned (or we'll go with something random!) and dancing in my pajamas with my dog, Barkley, will commence.  There will be no makeup or clean hair.  Hopefully just bad dancing and lots of smiles.  This will not be filmed.

Then, I'll blog the song to commemorate one more day on Earth and perhaps talk about some sign of aging I noticed or something I'm grateful to have gotten to experience with my extra day.  The point of the blog will be to celebrate this year and to not fear it.  I want to have fun and take some of the stigma away from turning 30.  The blog will count up and Day 367 will be my BIG BIRTHDAY.

Also, as the days progress, I'll introduce you to the important people in my life.  My family, friends, co-workers, classmates, etc.  These people are the ones that make my life worth living.  Some days I'll chronicle the job searching process I've started and some days I'll have nothing to say.  This blog won't be about the number of words or pictures.  It won't be about posting funny videos or snarking on idiots I encounter.  These things may happen on occassion but, for the most part, these posts will be about celebrating my additional day surrounded by love and smiles.

Why 367 days?

Well, there are 365 days in a year.  The first +1 is because I plan on celebrating both my 29th and 30th birthdays with this blog.  The second +1 is because 2012 is a leap year so I get an extra day of being 29.  Thus, 367 days of celebration (although I doubt the celebrating will stop there).

When does it start? 

Day 1 is Thursday, September 15!  Get excited!

Anything else?

I'll be taking song suggestions (the only requirement is that you can dance like a fool to it - it can be polka for all I care) so feel free to leave me those.  I'm also interested in how others have dealt with aging (graceful, denial, anger at the world).  The more I think about it, the more I feel that society, as a whole, views aging as a bad thing...especially at my age.  I'm taking that back  I refuse to adhere to some arbitrary sense of getting old and I refuse to think that my life isn't of value because I'm older.  I hope to have a lot of years left and this is my first step at loving every minute of it. 

I hope to live to be 100 years old some day and I plan to look back on this year fondly.

#np (which is twitter-speak for Now Playing...like a song that is now playing) - I'm So Excited by The Pointer Sisters (from my birth year, 1982).