Spontaneity.
Two days ago, I began my “Essentialist Journal”, based on the book and challenge by Greg McKeown. In it, we must write only one sentence, everyday, answering the question “What was the most important thing that happened today?”. The first day was completely uneventful, and also really crappy after 5 pm, so it was hard to choose which was the least ordinary answer — I ended up putting “read in the sun”, which is something I try to do most days.
But yesterday… oh, yesterday! What a great day (the best since 4th of July when I re-fell in love with my girlfriend after we went polyamorous). And why? Because it was filled with spontaneity. I began with an unplanned hot shower, always a good way to start your day. Then, I had my flexibility lesson, as scheduled the night before — which is kind of short notice for me.
Actually, stop. I‘ll do this as a listicle, something I got familiar with yesterday at my writing critique session. Let’s begin again.
Hot shower in the morning, unplanned
Taking a shower is always a nice way to start your day. It might not seem like that at first, but once you make it a habit, it’s hard to let go of it. On this day, I had my flexibility lesson — which I’m usually late for — so the plan was to take a shower afterwards. The sun woke me up at 7:30 am, as usual, but I actually got up right there, so time was to spare and I got my start bath after all.
Flexibility lesson, at short notice
Every Friday morning, I have this “flexibility and strength applied to dance” lesson, which I love. It’s that moment of the week where my mind is not worried about a thing, and I get to just focus on my body. Last week, Ana, my teacher, got sick, and we could do it. On a short notice the night before, we rescheduled for the next morning.
Little gem here, her dog came into the camera and watched me the last 20 minutes, which made everything just so much more fun.
Trip to the vet with mom, planned
After an unusually early lunch, I took Pipoca to the vet’s appointment with my mom. That’s something I really hate doing — the heavy energy of the clinic’s environment, all the sick animals, my huge allergies with furs, and the usual delays. When we were parking the car, I noticed a stationary store on the corner. Told mom I wasn’t coming in and would be at the store instead — leading us to my very first moment of spontaneity.
FIRST moment of spontaneity — The Jumble Sale
Turns out, despite the wall made of pens and pencils, it wasn’t a stationary store — it was a jumble sale. They had anything and everything you can imagine, from decoration to kids toys, all displayed with the right amount of chaotic organization — the kind that suits the searchers and explorers who aren’t looking for anything specific or minding the time.
My main interest was in the art supplies. See, on Sundays I plan my week, and today, Wednesday, I have an appointment with myself to get artsy! It’s been a while since I took an afternoon to express anything through craft work. Yet, I was just gonna use some paints I had here — new materials weren’t the plan. But why would I deny this gift of life, right?
I spent a whole hour in the store looking through everything they had, feeling the texture of all the papers, the diversity of inks and whatever caught my eyes. Left there with one silk, two EVA and two card sheets, a box with fabric ink, a permanent marker that works on glass, a normal small canvas and an ecological one, a bag of magic black color paper, a couple of incenses and an Inca vase.
SECOND moment of spontaneity — The Driveway
Just as I got back to the car to drop off my recent shopping, the lady in the car in front asked me to move mine because she was leaving (two-car garage, mine was in the front).
I’ve had my driver’s license for a year and a half now, but I hate driving. As a teenager, there was nothing I wanted more: a license and a car to travel around as I pleased. Once I did, I found that I don’t like it and that I’m actually very scared to drive these potentially deadly machines called cars.
But, I was on a YES day, so, why not? Got in the driver’s seat, put it in reverse and took the damn car out of the garage. I maneuvered the whole thing down the street, didn’t hit anyone, and even parked back where it was.
Run in the street, planned
Once Pipoca went into surgery, me and mom went to the running track nearby, as we had planned. I began running earlier this year and got really excited by my quick development, from 40 seconds to 20 minutes in a few months. Running in the street has always been something I felt like doing, but near my house I can’t, so it doesn’t happen often.
We took the opportunity and I was trying out a new app called Zombie Run, which uses storytelling and zombie chases to keep you running. The beeping when I was being chased by zombies was very motivating.
THIRD moment of spontaneity — The Popsicle
During the run I saw a wind banner from this ice cream place I love and we made a detour to get some banana hazelnut popsicles. They had just opened this new headquarters.
Walk to the pet shop, unplanned
On the way back, mom said she needed to buy some medicine at the pet shop. It was almost 15 blocks away, but we decided to go walking and not take the car. Halfway through, the vet called to let us know the surgery was finished and we should pick up Pipoca, so we decided to divide and conquer — mom went back to get the car and I went to the store.
FOURTH moment of spontaneity — The Augmented Sound Experience
On my, now, lone walk, I decided to try out another app, this time to explore augmented sound with the pioneers from RjDj. “Hear” is an amazing way to listen to the world. It filters your acoustic environment, takes out harsh sounds and turns stressful noise into harmonic sound environments — pretty useful in a walk through a busy avenue.
It got even more special once I got into the store and it muffled all the voices, leaving me only with the birds’ singing and the wavy sound of my water bottle moving. It was ASMR.
Bought a tiny Desert Rose there, my first plant ever.
Not such a bad ride back home, surprisingly
On the ride back, happy and hungry (due to the early lunch), Pipoca was sleeping in my lap and we got no traffic. We passed by Burger King and decided to go for a burger for dinner — not there though.
Nice reading, spontaneous
When we got home, we had about two hours to spare while waiting for my dad before getting out. Usually I’d sit on the couch and watch some lame TV show, thankfully now is between airing seasons, so I didn’t have any.
Instead, I began reading one of my design books. I’ve had this one for quite a few months already, but never found the time or will to read it, as it is about archetypes and I thought I should perfect my process before getting into that. I was wrong — just a few pages already brought me comfort and confidence on how to build my workflow.
Out for a burger, at short notice
Dad came and we went to Vegas Burger Beer, ordered some Colorados and, gladly, they had a nice veggie burger for me. Also, the attendant was very kind. Vegas is an united statian styled diner with old school vibes. We had been there before a few years back, but it wasn’t that nice in my memory. It mixes items from the 50s to the 80s — wooden tables, colorful bar made out of labels, stamp lamps, plates with diner tile pattern, lots of posters, musical instruments and sports equipments on the walls and, as a headliner, a functional classical rock JUKEBOX and a PINBALL arcade machine.
FIFTH moment of spontaneity — The Jukebox
Growing up in the 00s, I go back only as far as VHS and floppy disks in my early childhood, but mostly my fun as a kid was made of CDs — for music, for movies and for games. During teenage years I found myself having a soft spot for the vintage and dreaming of owning vinyls. A friend of mine had one of those modern players with a 60s look, which I borrowed a lot, but that was the total of my experiences of these kinds of items.
At first I thought the Jukebox and Arcade were just for show, but then the attendant, seeing how much I was enjoying the old songs playing, offered me a token. I felt like a four year old who just got a puppy — lamblike excited with the experience of another decade. Token in, I had no doubt about which song should be the first.
You could never know what it’s like…
As “I’m Still Standing” started playing, my body was not mine anymore. It was dancing in between the tables with contagious energy. You know how people say “light up every room you enter”? Well, last night, I could feel people smiling at me and lighting up.
After eating I went to play Pinball, the first time not on a computer. Thought I would suck at it, but between the atmosphere with ABBA and Queen songs playing in the background, and my feet that wouldn’t stop moving, I almost broke the machine’s best score, just 30,000 points behind.
Writing critique session, forgotten
Back home, reenergized, I jumped on the zoom call for my Writing Critique session with James Patterson (@patterson.story) — one I wasn’t sure was happening until a few hours before. The prompt of the week was to make a listicle about happiness. The thing is, I didn’t know what a listicle was, so I made a simple list. Couple nice critiques and 90 minutes later, I called the night and went to bed reflecting on the topic.
This is it, my very own type of listicle — of a really happy day.
For too long, I was stuck in the idea that I was a shy person. Turns out, that is a limitation I put on myself and one that, now, I’m taking off. Last night, I had this Gary&Maggie (AMLT) moment in that diner, and it changed how I see myself. All it takes is a little feel.
As Elton would say, I got a taste of love in a simple way — spontaneity.
