just getting started
In 2016 I stopped doing things. I didn’t know blogging would be one of those things, but the year was full of surprises. If 2016 had just one word: unexpected. Before the unexpected barged in, though, there was the Monthly Stop program. It was inspired in part by my sabbatical quarter. In January I stopped going to work (more precisely I stopped going to class; you have to do something that resembles work during sabbatical in order to keep getting paid). Another inspiration was Drynuary, the awkwardly-named abstinence movement which hip people join each New Year’s morning to pardon all their holiday splurging. But I was going on two fun trips in January, so I decided Sobruary -- a sonic improvement and a shorter month, even in leap year -- would be better. In February I stopped drinking for 29 days. Not going to class and not drinking was so illuminating that I decided to stop doing something different each month all year. This is the kind of program you get to pass the time wit...