Sober October

Sober October. I had never heard of this incredibly bleak-sounding concept until it came up at PoopGroup founder Meghan's debate-watching party last week. Evidently there are people who ritually give up alcohol for the month of October, by virtue of the month's rhyme-y sounding name with "sober." Good for them.

It would be really, really (really) hard for me to give up alcohol for a month. Not unless I was so sick that it didn't sound good. So instead I'm turning October into a heathen's Lent. For this month, I'm not drinking coffee. Just lots and lots of green-mint tea. So my blood and pee probably smell faintly like toothpaste.

Additionally, I'm meditating every morning. In this book I recently read, the protagonist encounters a monk in Nepal who tells her, in the style of someone chiding you for not exercising, that she should practice meditating at least once a day. "It's very good for you," the monk says. That is actually the source of inspiration. Because I haven't gone to yoga for . . . three months . . . I've been missing the meditating. One thing I've noticed is that meditating is much easier when you do it at the beginning of the day rather than the end. It may not be as effective--and I may be missing the point entirely--but when meditating in the evenings, at the classes I used to go to, it would be impossible for me to control my thoughts. Work crap, bills crap, roommate crap, state of the world crap, it's all mounted up over the course of the day and all of it wants my complete, soul-rotting attention. In the morning, however, I have a relatively clean mind and outlook. Only morning sounds--birds, alarm clocks, upstairs tenants stirring sugar into their coffee (I hear all kinds of stuff through the air shaft)--manage to interrupt my focus, and I find them to be sort of refreshing. And then I float my eyes open unto a new day that is rife with booze after work.

Anyway, we've got a superbowl feast--including chicken wings and bean dip and that onion dip that has sour cream and mayo in it--happening for the debates tonight. AND Palin Bingo!