With my extra boredom I've been catching up on some books I've been meaning to read for a while and there's this odd theme that's developed over the last two books (can I say it's a theme already? well too late). One has a girly romantic comedy theme and the other is an account of one man's attempt at becoming completely trash-free, there was a surprising amount of time spent on an individual's insecure assumption that he or she is unworthy in some way. The thing is, neither one was just talking about a single character in their respective stories, whether it was the searching-for-love heroine in "Must Love Dogs" or Colin Beavan himself as he fought conventional trash-creating lifestyles in "No Impact Man." Both of them, in their very different genres and styles was talking about how it's a universal attribute, even if some people are better able to hide or deny it. We all, whether consciously or subconsciously, want to look, act, and be like others and we all deal with that want differently. Some openly defy it (hipsters anyone?), others "rise above it" and become the popular people who define what everyone else wants to be like. I'm following a recent trend of change-the-world enthusiasts who've done their changing over the span of a year (or similarly short period of time). Names that come to mind are Colin Beavan (No Impact Man), Gretchen Rubin (The Happiness Project- more to come about her soon), and Elizabeth Gilbert (Eat Pray Love). It may seem so degrading or depressing to think of us all like that, but I like to think of it as leveling the playing field. Personally it's much better than the "imagine them all in their underwear" technique. There's just some people I'd reeeeally not want to see in their underwear. A lot of people actually. Back on topic: basically we're all the same (in this way at least), just another reason why everyone should respect everyone else just a little bit more. Yay for changing the world.
That fun rant was just to provide you with something to puzzle over as you go through your day. But, in other news, I haven't been slacking quite as much on this project as it may seem from the number of posts in the last week (aka 0). First up: trash-collecting, minus the bright orange jumpsuit. I'm still so excited about the "national park"-- as Dan likes to say-- that is my backyard, but what saddens me is the amount of trash that people have dumped back there. Because of all the hiking trails in the area I finally invested in a sturdy pair of hiking boots and the first time I broke them in I went out on a quick trip into the woods behind our house with Bubba. The goal was both to work off some of the excess energy that dog possesses and also to clean up some trash. I took two plastic bags and filled them up in no time. I'm proud that only a tiny bit ended up in the trash. The rest went straight into the recycling bin. This project is far from over, but I already feel better knowing I didn't just take something from the woods, but that I gave back to nature, even in such a teeny-tiny way. Next time I'll take bigger bags and some sturdy gloves because boy can humans be nasty!
(Apologies for this lame-sauce post, bigger and better ones are coming soon, I promise!)
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