arin's attic - 41x365

41 words | 41 years
365 days | 365 people

filed in: x365

*cough* in case you haven’t noticed… - September 23, 2008

filed in: people, memories, x365,

i… got stuck!

i think the idea behind x365 is absolutely wonderful. when i started doing my own, i first sat down and made a list of all the names of people in my life that i could think of. while i had a fairly good number of people, i was nowhere near 365. in part, because some names i’ve just forgotten, even tho i have clear memories of the people, and in some cases, i never knew their name. wanting to take part in this, i set out to do so even if my list wasn’t full. after all, dan did it! (dan being the guy who started x365.) but as i began writing about these people who had touched my life in some way, i began to realize how many of these people were no longer living. the idea was for this to be a ~positive~ thing, but instead it became quite sad to me.

so, i got stuck.

i still love the idea behind it, however. i think i just need to change it a bit to fit ~me~ a bit better. my life is a series of experiences, good and bad, shaped by people, events, and the circumstances around me. i am a sum of all those parts. while there have been many people that i cherished in my life, sometimes it’s the smallest thing done by a stranger that can have great meaning for you. so rather than listing ~people~, i’m choosing to list ~memories~. when i can, i’ll keep it to the 41 words, but if not, that’s okay too. this gives me a bit more breathing room, is a bit more relaxed and can be a bit more ~me~.

now to see if i can ~un~stuck

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how this started:

Dan Waber turned 40 on January 12th, 2006, and wanted to mark the occasion in some positive fashion. So he got this crazy idea (not an unusual event) to write 40 words (no more, no less) every day for a year, and each day he'd write about a different person (in no particular order) who touched his life. But not just anyone, it has to be someone he's actually met in person, someone whose name he still remembers.

Because Dan often thinks up great ideas for things that turn out to be impossible (that darned reality!), the first thing he did was attempt to make a list of 365 people whose names he remembered and who were interesting to him.

The first 50 or so came lickety-split, easy-peasy. The second 50 were not too tough. After that, it got really tough, really fast. When he got to 200 he honestly thought this was going to be impossible. When he got to 300 he was pretty much certain it was impossible and thought he was going to need to relent on the restriction that he had to remember their name.

Then he began writing. 40 words is a tiny lens to look through. How does someone put a mother, an ex-wife, a best friend, or the love of your life into 40 words when that's not even enough for the junior high math teacher, or guy who sold you your morning paper?

Magically, folks are doing it - all over the world . They're creating glimpses of people (some fondly remembered, some not) who've made up their lives, and generously sharing them.

And in doing so, are celebrating their pasts and enriching their present. Really. Try it. Your life will be happier.

If you decide to embark on this or a similar project, please let Dan know, he and everyone else would love to follow along with yours.

November 2008
September 2008
November 2007

memories people photos x365