The last day of an epic year.

A lot happened.

The intention for last year that I set for myself was to “Turn Pro.” If you are familiar with Steven Pressfield’s work, you know what I mean when I say that. Basically it means showing up for yourself and the people and ideas you want to serve. My idea of what that meant, and what I wanted to happen in 2020 is quite different than what ended up happening, but there is a lot that I’m grateful for.

I was gonna make a V8/ Roman numeral joke… but it didn’t add up! (thank you, thank you.)

Not my best material, but maybe there is something to build on. I also realized that I needed to check in on how Roman numerals stack up after 100. Got it, there are plenty of charts on the web. Also, the highest Roman numeral is 3,999, but upon further research there are ways to go higher using the vinculum… but I’ll leave this link here if you want to read more about numbers and how to convert them.

Better late than never, but I sure would save myself some stress by not waiting until the last minute. Here we are.

Seven out of 100 entries that I’m committing to, and if successful, hopefully I’ll do 265 or 266 more. Is 2021 a leap year? Was 2020 a gap year? 2020 was a year to remember for sure, an unprecedented year for most people living now. I’ve never been a fan of writing off the previous year, because no matter how hard that year was, it brought you here, reading these words right now. And I’m glad that whenever and wherever you are reading this, to be able to share this moment with you. Maybe it’s me 100 days from now looking back. Maybe it’s a new friend or a complete stranger. Whoever you are, thank you for being here.

Jingle Jangle, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, and Soul. These three movies came out for the holidays. Jingle Jangle became an instant classic for me, it was magical, uplifting, visually appealing, and although it feels like Christmas, it actually wasn’t overtly about Christmas at all. The message was something that I hope everybody can get behind, nothing is impossible but nothing is possible if we don’t believe. It was also, as are the other two films, a black led production, both behind and in front of the camera.

Alignment. The jury is still out on how I think life and the Universe works exactly, how destiny and self-determination play out with one another. Or the very real possibility that this is all a simulation, the phrase is “life is but a dream,” after all. But dream, simulation or reality can all coexist at the same time, I believe they do. We’re all Scrooges living in the past, present, and future from moment to second.

After writing yesterday’s post, my wife and I finally busted out the Christmas decorations, strung some lights around the room, and hung ornaments wherever we felt. This could very well be the last Christmas we celebrate in this old apartment of ours, and that is bittersweet, but feels about right. After we did some last minute decorating we watched Jingle Jangle which exceeded my expectations and was a black lead production on both sides of the camera. I could also see this being a stage production in the future, and I see the Gustafson (Keegan-Michael Key) role in my future.

I realized as I was thinking about the heading for this post, that I missed an opportunity to use Roman numerals as I’m numbering each episode of this blog. I may still do that retroactively because I think they look cool, and the number of this one is in my name, Alec Stephens III.

So, last night my wife and I rented a Zipcar and drove to see the Christmas lights at Dyker Heights, something that I’ve never done, nor had any desire to do, but my wife wanted to go. And as happens a fair amount of time, she was right, I had a good time and remembered how much I loved seeing Christmas lights in Seattle as a kid. Equally as impressive as the lights were some of the houses, I’m constantly impressed by the different types of architecture in this city, and just the variety of experience.

I started off yesterday with the first of what I hope will be 100 days of writing. Yesterday was the ice breaker in a practice of daily writing that I’ve had off and on, at different stages, sporadically in my life. Be it morning pages, which I was introduced to in the book The Artist’s Way, or periods when I was writing plays, poetry or music, or times like these when I’m doing a combination of all of those things.

This idea of writing in a blog everyday, I got from Seth Godin (who has a new book out called The Practice), and started kind of the trial run last summer (2019) on Medium under the Bushwick Variety Show moniker. I had some streaks, but ultimately did not keep up with it. However my writing, and creative output in general has been way up from a year ago, so the exercise was successful in overall life improvements, even though the exercise itself was sort of a failure.

Which is a theme that I’ll come back to, over and over again. Failure is necessary for growth. The key is that we have to keep moving forward.

It starts with one step.

I started a blog on Medium a little over a year ago, and had some good streaks going.

Just like going to the gym, it can be hard to begin, but once you get going, you can really get on a roll. But, it is also easy , once you lose that momentum, to get back at it again. And the idea of starting something new can be daunting.

It starts with one step.