90 Days

I like time frames. I will talk endlessly about one year plans and five year plans and my To Do list for the day outlines nicely in my Moleskine notebook, complete with checkboxes waiting to be X’ed through with quiet satisfaction from an inky Pilot pen. This, of course, is dependent upon me actually looking at my list and then feeling motivated enough to do the things on it. Some days are better than others, is all I’ll say. However, in the world of scheming, I’ve found a most invaluable tool is the 90 day time frame. It’s not too short to be irrelevant, and it’s not too long that my brain shuts it out. I’ve embarked on a few projects using this 90 day reference, one of them being a 90 Day Vegan. My buddy Jamie and I grew up omnivores, but curious ones. Jamie announced over Christmas vacation last year that she was going to be a vegan for 90 days. I am such a tag-along that I begged in on the deal, and we did it. We made it, too. There were some harrowing times. I hang out in coffeehouses, where there are giant cases full of baked goods ripe for the picking. Jamie went to Oklahoma and lived on vegan road food for a week. Vegan road food, as you will discover if you try it, does not really exist. I think Jamie lived on air and told herself it was salad. Mmm. Anyway, we survived and I did a crappy job of it while touring around New Mexico, but I still eat (mostly) vegan. The 90 days allowed me to go through the initial “This is neato! I’m a vegan!” phase, the “Uh oh...what did I do?” phase, the “I CAN’T EVEN GROCERY SHOP I QUIT” phase, and then the last month and a half...blissful flow and acceptance. I felt good as a vegan. Things operated correctly in the J-Po digestive track. Vegetables are great. So are french fries. What more does one need? Now I look back and 3 months seems like a long time, but it went quickly. My new project is...TV in the closet for 90 days. It’s been so easy because I’ve been so busy I lost count of the days. I suspect this might just be a permanent arrangement. Does anyone want to buy a year-old television? Rarely used except for Seinfeld re-runs. Email me. I don’t deliver, unless you live a 90-day’s walk away. Then I just might try it.