Ash Wednesday And 40 Lazy Days Of Change

Today, I saw a woman walking down the street with the cross on her forehead and remembered it was Ash Wednesday. The day when Catholics come out and decide they are going to change their life... for forty days. Forty days a year is nothing. I spend 182 days a year changing things in my life (that is if I lasted doing a challenge every other week for an entire year).

Forty Days... Try One Year
With my competitive nature and challenging spirits I want to announce that Catholics have nothing on me. I am going to give something up, but not for forty days. Oh no, I will give it up for an entire year. Yes, one whole year I will spend not doing something I do so regularly.

I will give up the Internet for one year.

I am not going to start this challenge yet, because I do not want to run into interference with the Lenters.* I shall start on 09/09/09, because that number looks better than some Wednesday that has to do with someone dying, but not really, because he comes back to life, only to die again, and not come back to life again even though he obviously has the powers to do so (sorry this sentence is probably confusing, but so is the logic behind a human god).

*If I start today, then I will have discussions with people that I am not doing it for Lent. Then, it will move into a discussion about religion and blah blah blah. Plus, the real problem will be that if I start today and go for an entire year, I will end on Ash Wednesday and people will think I am a slacker for not giving anything up next year. Does that make any sense? If not, please refer to the logic of a human god who can rise from the dead, but chooses not to, even though he did once just to prove he could.

Are You In A Band? YES!

There was one situation all week that gave me the opportunity to lie and it was not even a complete lie. It was just one of those white lies or whatever they are called.

Are You In A Band?
After work my manager and I went to a bar to meet up with two other guys and drink some beer. We are all bikers (bicyclists not motorcycle bikers, although I guess two have motorcycles) and maybe a little grungy after work. Grungy or we looked super rad. I will pick the latter, because that is what I am. While being super rad, some girl at the bar comes up to my manager and I.

She asks us, "are you in a band?"

My manager replies, "yes."

She states, "I do not want to bother you, I just had to ask, because we (her friends at a table who were not super rad) had a bet that you were in a band and I just won a beer. Thanks."

"Cool," we respond, while thinking of how much she is bothering us (from being non-super rad).

She then walks away because she actually thought we were busy or something (if we were a band and were at a bar drinking, I doubt we would be busy, but she can think what she wants).

I Did Not Lie
I did not lie; I just did not tell the truth. The truth being, I am in a band, but just not with these guys. That and the fact that my band has never rehearsed or written anything, but we did drink once or twice together and discuss how cool our band will be and that is all that matters.

Alan Dickson is in a band and he is also super rad.

What A Crazy Week!

Leaving The Suburbs
While I am taking the train back to NYC from the Jersey suburbs, a hot albeit older woman sits next to me. The first thing I do is check her hand, no ring (just kidding! about the checking, not the no ring). Anyway, I do what I do with everyone on public transportation (including the guy watching a Madonna live performance on the subway), I pretend that I am so cool that nobody catches my attention.

She Caught My Attention
Then she pulls out some information about Miami Fashion Week and starts doing some work involving some show. Now she has my attention (New York Fashion Week just ended, time to get with the program and move onto the next, duh!). Modeling is what brought me to New York in the first place and Miami is where it is going to take me, hopefully.

Time To Act Cool, But Not Too Cool (Think Miami Cool Like Don Johnson)
The expression breaking the ice could be used in my next move.

I lean over to her and said, "Miami, eh?"

Breaking the ice would be the correct expression for what I did, if I was breaking the winter ice on a lake with my face. Luckily, after I smashed my teeth into this sheet and was bleeding everywhere, some natural hot spring turned on beneath me and melted the ice. Unfortunately, this made me fall into the lake which still had plenty of cold water (I would say freezing, but that is not scientifically possible) and there I was shivering trying to pretend that I was cool, but not too cool.

I Will Stop The Metaphor Because This Gets Crazy!
The conversation matured and we talked about Miami, how it is my next big move and she so happens to have a condo near the beach. There was some talk about her kids, which was a little weird, but I do like kids so not a big deal. As it turns out, she was looking for someone to take care of her kids the week she was in Miami. Now she is not.

I bought my plane tickets today. Bring on the beach!

Challenge: How Am I Not Myself?

After living in the suburbs of New Jersey for a week, I am ready to really get into the life. Last night, after watching my roommates comedy show, people were talking in front of the theater asking me what I do.
"I work at a bike shop," was my response.
Then they would ask, "Do you do anything else?"
"No," I would state back (maybe I should have said I have a blog and do challenges...).
After this happened a few times, I decided to spruce up my life and with a business card my roommate found for a Dickson Haircut place on Allen street (for those you who do not know my first name is Alan and my last name is Dickson). I became a hair stylist. Then, I added in my house in New Jersey with the wife and kids, who I sometimes stay with, but sometimes I retreat to my apartment in Brooklyn to get away.



Making up the fake life was fun, except I do not envy it at all. I do not want to have a wife and kids in Jersey and do not care for cutting hair (although I am quite the stylist and have cut hair, including my own).

Walking to the train from the bar I realized it was almost midnight and new challenge time. I had no ideas at all, but wanted something to tie in with my new New Jersey life. That is when I decided I will create a new life. A life where I am not a college dropout. A life without bicycles. A life where I do things that are strange and normal at the same time (like living in New Jersey).

For seven days, if someone asks me what I do, I will lie.

Early Bedtime Breakdown: In The Suburbs > City

Early Bedtime In The Suburbs Is Easy
I have spent two nights in Short Hills, New Jersey and both times I have been in bed before 11 PM. This worked really well as I was tired and needed to wake up early in the morning.

Early Bedtime In The City Is Terrible
Trying to go to bed before midnight in New York City is almost a crime. I felt like I was doing something illegal by telling friends I had to go home, especially when I had the next day off and had no plans on waking up early. This however, was not the terrible part.

The thing about going to bed early in this city is that you are one of the few actually doing so. This seems to be a big problem when you have been sleeping for a few hours and then a noisy neighbor (who happens to be a neighbor that likes to watch movies like the Wrestler at full blast around midnight, posted about here) comes home with a girl. It is 5:33 AM and I am awoken to some creaking coming from the ceiling. That creaking also involves some grunting. Then I hear a woman yell, "give it to me!" This is then followed by what sounds like my neighbors bed crashing through the floor and falling into my room (if this had happened then I could have at least watched the performance, but no I was just left with loud noises keeping me awake). There are sometimes when you pretend not to hear these things and try not to pay attention to them, but this was not that time. I listened until it was over then tried falling back to sleep, which I believe took another hour.

Next time I decide to go to bed early I am going to chug a bunch of alcohol and make sure I sleep through everything.

I Woke Up Today At 7:37 AM

I might have slipped up and stayed out til 12:30 Wednesday night for a friend's birthday, but last night I was in bed by 10:45. I then woke up at 7:37 to hear my cousins shouting.

Even though I have been up for seven hours I do not think I have done much with my daylight. I have been in two states and taken a train and six subway trains, but I do not think of this as much of an accomplishment. Oh well, on to an exciting rest of the day.

I have just over nine hours left, time to get busy (or watch Fringe).

Not Enough Time

Okay, okay... I know I am supposed to be in bed right now, but this just is not fair. Going to bed at midnight does not leave enough time in the day to do the things I need to do. I had to quit watching Biggest Loser when they were going to vote someone out. Do not tell me who got voted out, hopefully I will have enough time to watch it tomorrow. I only have like 500 other things that I wanted to do today that are also put off until tomorrow.

On that note, goodnight.

My Midnight Curfew's First Battle In The Ring

So here I am lying bed shortly after midnight. I figured I would read a book (I co-founded a book club, you should join Dude, Let's Read Books), because reading usually makes me fall asleep. While I am reading, I start hearing a crystal clear conversation:

Man's voice - "You look good."
Woman's voice - "Hey. Hey..."
Woman's voice - "You buying?"

[Okay, so maybe it wasn't crystal clear. The guy was a mumbler and it was not much of a conversation, because it ended abruptly with blaring club music.]

Woman's voice - "Hairband party."

::Woman aaaahhhhing:: (not seeing this led me to either believe she was getting attacked or having an orgasm)

At this point, it was obvious the sound was coming from my neighbor's TV directly above me. Some how from only hearing this much I knew he was watching The Wrestler (if you have not seen it you should, especially if you like movies with boobs... which I am not saying I do, but just in case)... or I was almost sure and was then convinced when I heard a woman yell, "you are a living breathing fuck-up."

I want to thank my neighbor for inviting me to listen to the movie, but I was in bed and not being able to see Marisa Tomei naked really makes the strip club music incredibly annoying when pounding on your sub-woofer.

[I eventually fell asleep after (SPOILER WARNING!!!) the wrestler gets really injured in one of his matches and I ended up sleeping for eleven and a half hours; there is something about my internal clock that does not like to wake up before noon.]

Challenge: Be a Good Boy and Go to Sleep!

This weeks challenge is similar to coffee and will hopefully promote more energy in the morning. I will fight to be in bed by midnight every night. That means I need to get in bed right now...