READ THIS VERY SLOWLY...... IT'S PRETTY PROFOUND.

Too many people put off something that brings them joy
just because they haven't thought about it, don't have
it on their schedule, didn't know it was coming or are
too rigid to depart from their routine.

I got to thinking one day about all those women on the
Titanic who passed up dessert at dinner that fateful
night in an effort to cut back. From then on, I've
tried to be a little more flexible.

How many women out there will eat at home because
their husband didn't suggest going out to dinner until
after something had been thawed? Does the word
"refrigeration" mean nothing to you?

How often have your kids dropped in to talk and sat in
silence while you watched 'Jeopardy' on television?

I cannot count the times I called my sister and said,
"How about going to lunch in a half hour?" She would
gas up and stammer, "I can't. I have clothes on the
line. My hair is dirty. I wish I had known yesterday,
I had a late breakfast, It looks like rain." And my
personal favorite: "It's Monday." ...She died a few
years ago. We never did have lunch together.

Because Americans cram so much into their lives, we
tend to schedule our headaches.. We live on a sparse
diet of promises we make to ourselves when all the
conditions are perfect!

We'll go back and visit the grandparents when we get
Stevie toilet-trained. We'll entertain when we replace
the living-room carpet. We'll go on a second honeymoon
when we get two more kids out of college.

Life has a way of accelerating as we get older. The
days get shorter, and the list of promises to
ourselves gets longer. One morning, we awaken, and all
we have to show for our lives is a litany of "I'm
going to," "I plan on," and "Someday, when things are
settled down a bit."

When anyone calls my 'seize the moment' friend, she is
open to adventure and available for trips. She keeps
an open mind on new ideas. Her enthusiasm for life is
contagious. You talk with her for five minutes, and
you're ready to trade your bad feet for a pair of
Rollerblades and skip an elevator for a bungee cord.

My lips have not touched ice cream in 10 years. I love
ice cream. It's just that I might as well apply it
directly to my stomach with a spatula and eliminate
the digestive process. The other day, I stopped the
car and bought a triple-decker. If my car had hit an
iceberg on the way home, I would have died happy.

Now...go on and have a nice day. Do something you WANT
to......not something on your SHOULD DO list If you
were going to die soon and had only one phone call you
could make, who would you call and what would you say?
And why are you waiting?

Make sure you read this to the end; you will
understand why I sent this to you.

Have you ever watched kids playing on a merry go round
or listened to the rain lapping on the ground? Ever
followed a butterfly's erratic flight or gazed at the
sun into the fading night? Do you run through each day
on the fly? When you ask "How are you?" Do you hear
the reply?

When the day is done, do you lie in your bed with the
next hundred chores running through your head? Ever
told your child, "We'll do it tomorrow." And in your
haste, not see his sorrow? Ever lost touch? Let a good
friendship die? Just call to say "Hi"?

When you worry and hurry through your day, it is like
an unopened gift....Thrown away... Life is not a race.
Take it slower. Hear the music before the song is
over.

It's National Friendship Week. Show your friends and loved ones how
much you care. Send this to everyone you consider a
FRIEND or a LOVED ONE. If it comes back to you, then you'll know you
have a circle of friends.

To those I have sent this to... I CARE about you &cherish
our friendship/our bond, no matter how long or short I have known you.

"Life may not be the party we hoped for... but while
we are here we might as well dance."

It's good to treat yourself well. To small business owners they say "Pay yourself first" but the same saying applies to everyone. Make sure you treat yourself well and do the things that will bring you happiness. However this message seems adament about you going out and just doing something you've been planning on. When it comes to the things we want we have to plan them and keep them distanced to a degree. I have many things I plan to do in my life but if I just began to do them and checked them off one by one I'd be broke before Friday. Life takes tact and when it comes to doing the things you truly want you really have to be ready.

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Heit ist mein taug.

duly noted! i know what you mean i have a long list and usually not enough time or money but for today i will take a much needed walk!

"live for the moment" my words exactly. raverboy

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...this is just my perspective on the situation...

Damn..I wish I could be more like that but I'm so set in my ways. I LIVE by my weekly planner. It goes where I go. I'm just methodical like that..but in the long run it pays off..so long as I don't dies soon.

It's a gamble. For me, I'm banking on living a normal lifespan, so I always live in the future. I really want to get some guitar playing in because I love music and I love to mess with my guitar..but I just moved into an apartment and, though it's not a total mess anymore, I'd rather get EVERYTHING organized first..get that out of the way before I touch the guitar. Instead it takes me forever to get organized because it never ends and I never get to the guitar..and when I finally get all organized, I'm so used to doing something that I'm not comfortable just sitting there spending time doing something for me..I have to do something "productive".

A half-way point would be nice, but to each his own, I guess. I'll work it out..it's not out of control, really.

Freddie

weekly planner?? i just go day by day. it's bad when you have an upcomming test that sometimes slips your mind, however for the most part, you don't feel like your life is bound together by a book. raverboy

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...this is just my perspective on the situation...

Freddie,

I'm willing to bet that if someone called up and said are you free tonight do you fancy going out then you would go, unless you had something else planned. You wouldn't not go out just because you hadn't put it in your planner & you always watched a TV program at that time, which is what I suspect this thing is getting at.

One of my friends is like that and it drives me nuts, being more of a fly by the seat of my pants kind of a girl (guess that's why I ended up flat on my back trying to learn skate boarding on my 21st birthday )

It's gotten better, but basically it kinda used to be that way..if my fun time wasn't planned into that day, I'd really think about going out because other chores I had planned to do that day would slip...which is something that happened a lot. Some projects I'd carry over for months and months until I finally did it. But I did have scheduled time to be spontaneous, crazy as it sounds, ha ha...always on weekends.

But like I said, now I'm learning to not feel so bad about putting stuff off. My planner is more like my "to do" list of the week and stuff that doesn't get done gets carried over. I like my system, though...I never forget a birthday!

Freddie

haha i always have plans but i rarely get to them. things such as cleaning my room, doing the laundry, washing my car and basically school and homework. raverboy

__________________
...this is just my perspective on the situation...

you never get to your laundry?

Smell you later..

Freddie

haha, you forget one thing. i still live at home and therefore my moms does the cooking, cleaning, and that includes laundry. yes i am spoiled to be still living at home. raverboy

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...this is just my perspective on the situation...

man, I miss all that independence

I never, ever thought I'd say this but I miss having to do my own laundry etc (I moved back home when my b'friend & I split up). BUt I always did it when I'd started struggling to find clothes to wear & therefore had to do a wash!

I'm gonna get a place of my own though when I've done my big exams.

I actually BARELY moved out of my house last month. Or this month...I got the keys last month but by the time I was staying at my new place it was Sept. Part of it was that I was house sitting the old parent's house because they went on vacation..but the point is, I'm on my own now and while I'm still getting stuff straightened out, I think I'm enjoying it. I've been ready for years but for one reason or another it kept getting put off. Now the plan is pretty set to be here exactly one more year and then leave for Chihuahua, so I took on a one year lease. Haven't started too much partying yet, though.

Freddie