Hi great big world! I'm in a fine mood this evening. Thirty minutes ago I returned home after a two hour mountain bike ride on the best trails in Boise, with the most perfect weather and a stranger to accompany me. Kent, the stranger, was a fellow of around 50 years of age who was in Boise for a day or two to interview for a job. He and his wife are seriously considering moving from their home in western Kansas to Boise. Kent was the CEO of some high-tech company but resigned because, well, western Kansas sucks and he wanted to get out. At any rate, his wife informed me today at the shop that he wanted to go for a ride but was unfamiliar with the trail system here. Observing that it was a beautiful day out, I opted to seize it and invited Kent to join me after work for a ride.

But do we really care about Kent and his life? Hell no! Let's move on to a more titilating subject: Me.

I wanted to talk about that which I've alluded to in prior posts. You know, the thing about how I've discovered and implemented the secret to happiness? Uh huh, well, its simple really.

I have committed to doing what I tell myself to do. I am now a slave to myself. If on more than one occasion I tell myself that I would really like to have bigger "guns" or "pistons", then I have no other choice but to do a lot of curls on a regular basis. If I tell myself that I want to know more about current events, then I get a subscription to the newspaper and I reserve the time to read every morning. If I tell myself I'd love to have a clean apartment to come home to after work, or to spend quality time in with my girlfriend, then I allocate a certain amount of time for cleaning up every day.

Specifically, these are some of the things I've committed to doing:

1) Sleep no more than 8.5 hours a night
2) Work out 20 minutes every weekday morning
3) Clean my apartment for 20 minutes every weekday morning
4) Eat a healthy breakfast rich in protein every weekday morning (eggs/egg whites, toast n' jam or peanut butter, milk, etc)
5) Waste no time watching tv (by giving my tv away).

There are a few other guidelines that I'll try to follow, but are not as strict as 1-5.
For example:

5) I need not ride my bike more than 4 times a week. 3 rides is probably ideal. The reason for this is that I am trying to get a feeling for what it might take for me to finally work on musical and artistic projects. Given the few hours I scrap together every week for drawing, writing, or tinkering around on my piano, I'll be 70 years old before I'm producing art of the quality I want to produce. I'm tired of talking about doing it. Moreover, I almost get angry at myself whenever I talk about it since the actual doing of it is so overdue.

6) Fern and I will take 2 days off a week from our usual fun, carefree activities together. This serves more than one purpose. Most importantly, it allows me a solid block of time to work on art or music by myself. Also, I believe very strongly in the notions that a quality relationship requires 1) two people who are individuals doing things every now and then as individuals in order to bolster one's sense of individual pride and identity, and 2) time apart, or quality absences, so that those in the relationship can feel that wonderful feeling of missing a person, which only serves to make the time you have together much more enjoyable. A week and a half ago Fern had some social engagements which (along with me not feeling great) caused us to not see each other for 3 days straight. When we finally got together we had an amazing weekend, having a lot of fun for 3 days in a row. I'd rather not go so long without spending time with her, but I think this example demonstrates the point I'm trying to make.

7) I will wear my helmet every time I ride my bike.

8) Many more rules and regulations to come...