NaBloPoMo +1

I woke up this morning feeling lighter and full of pep. What was this all about, I wondered? It’s sort of unusual for me to feel like this so soon after the alarm goes off. Suddenly I had it – NaBloPoMo was over! I didn’t have to think about what to write about and (I think?) best of all, I didn’t have to write anything! I could if I wanted to, but I didn’t have to.

Getting that cleared up I suddenly felt like you feel on the first day of vacation when you wake up down in Miami and you smell the ocean air through the window you left open all night because it’s 75 degrees out there in the middle of the night. And you enjoy that because it’s 200 degrees below zero back home and for some reason that thought makes you happy. It’s that screw-everyone-else-I’m-doing-what-I-want-to-do feeling and maybe you’re familiar with it? Maybe you’re lucky enough to feel it everyday, but not so with me. With me it’s a rare occurrence that happens, oh, maybe once or twice…

A year.

If I’m lucky.

So I’m feeling like this because NaBloPoMo is over and I finished the goal and I crossed the finish line with one Blogher, “FEATURED MEMBER POST” medal around my neck and I don’t have to blog. I don’t have to do anything! I’m in Florida sweating and smelling salty air and laughing at everyone else and I’m on vacation.

I’m kicked back.

Dear Life: Do Not Disturb.

Enter those internal voices don’t ever go on vacation. Do you know them? You’ve maybe heard them before and know what I’m talking about? For me, right now, I have two of them going on. On the one shoulder is the guy congratulating me for finishing NaBloPoMo and telling me I did a good job, that I should feel happy, that I should take it easy, write/blog when I want and to go have a bagel and cream cheese with some lox while I’m on vacation in Florida, but be careful not to get too much sun and be sure I’m wearing sun block when I go outside. The other voice, that voice apparently doesn’t like vacations, or me, very much. That voice – The Voice – remembers back to last year when I kept on blogging for another 70 consecutive days after November 30 until I reached day 100. That voice is jumping up and down on my shoulder, trying to choke me with my “FEATURED MEMBER POST” medal, and with a voice that’s louder than an early 70’s concert by The Who is saying, “Don’t stop now. One-oh-one… One-oh-one… One-oh-one…”

No, I screamed. I’m on vacation, don’t you know that? November is over and I did my 30 days and I’m on vacation so leave me alone!

Deep Purple just joined The Who onstage and The Voice grew louder. “How can you stop after just a month?” it shouts. “Yeah, sure, the month was good, dude, thirty days is nothing to sneeze at, but it’s not as good as 31. Or 32. Or one-oh-one… One-oh-one… One-oh-one…”

The Voice was relentless, but I wasn’t going to back down and go running off into the corner and cover my ears and cry. Especially not after he dared to call me “dude” when he knows I grew up in an era where we called people, “Man”, and that I have a hard time taking anyone who calls someone “Dude” seriously. No, I was going to fight back against The Voice. Strike that, I am going to fight back against The Voice, and I’m going to start tomorrow.

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Any seers or sign interpreters out there? I’m typing this and my right palm itches and I’m wondering what that means? I think it means I’m either going to, A) Shake hands with a stranger, B) Come into a large amount of money, or C) Find myself using hand lotion to moisturize my dry skin just after I click the “Publish” button.