2 hours, 46 minutes and counting

So tomorrow is the day: the day I start this random experiment that came to me one afternoon at work, and one that my husband still doesn't understand.

Giving Up: TV & Movies
Contrary to what some members of my family may say, I don't have too many television shows I simply have to watch: not as many as I used to anyway.

When I was younger, I was a massive "Home & Away" fan, but at one point during the 25 months I spent overseas I turned it on at the gym and the accents scared me so I turned it straight back of and haven't watch an episode since.

Of course, streaming on the internet now makes it ultra-easy to catch up with any shows we miss so giving up TV for a month doesn't really seem that challenging: which is why I'm giving up movies too.

I love movies. I love their look, their feel, musicals (especially!), comedies, dramadies, chick-flicks, westerns...I'll pretty much give any genre a go at least once, though admittedly foreign films do tend to make my head hurt - "Amelie" and "Y Tu Mama Tambien" the notable exceptions.

I lose myself in the escapism movies provide - books fall into this category too. For two hours you escape your everyday life and have an adventure, and affair, or sail the high seas.

So, for the next 31 days I won't be watching any TV or movies. This includes TV shows that we may own on DVD. The only exceptions I'm making are 1) if I happen to be in a pub or bar and there's sport on - and Keno. I'm not missing out on my chance to win $1000's (and yes I know I can still win if I don't watch, but I can't imagine it feeling the same!) and 2) I can go to the movies no more than twice in the month.

Taking-up: Feng Shui

From what I understand, Feng Shui is essentially ying and yang in overdrive, balancing out the 'energies' in your home or workspace to have a positive impact on your health, wellbeing and importantly - prosperity.

I've never really bought into the idea that changing the way my bedroom is arranged is going to improve my life, but every little bit helps I guess!

Too many options, not enough months

I keep changing my mind about things to "take on" - turns out I might be more judgemental to activities and lifestyle choices than I thought...

Perhaps I should clarify...

.... I'm not doing this to see what it'll be like when I have kids - the kid thing was just something that occurred to me as an afterthought. And also, anyone who knows me knows I'm not naive enough to think giving up stuff for a year makes me automatically in the running for future-mother-of-the-year..

It's more that it dawned on me the other day how often we (and I use the term broadly) are told to "give up" this or "take up" that for our physical, emotional and even financial well being. We're told this by our friends, our parents, the media, doctors, nurses, shamans, priests, pastors and anyone else we choose to confide in.

I decided to find out if they were right.

For the next 12 months I'm going to "give up" one of my personal vices and "take up" something I've never had the time of day for, each month. Some are serious, some are flippant. Some may impact on my (and my husband's) day-to-day life others may not impact me greatly all.

I'm not looking for a change of lifestyle, I'm not unhappy and I'm certainly not bored with my life - haven't you ever just wondered that you were living life to the fullest?

T minus two days

Two days until my mission starts and I've been thinking more about why I want to do this. Initially, I thought it was because I was bored at work one day and it was one of those ideas that randomly popped into my head on a Friday afternoon, but the more I think about it, the more I think there's a better reason.

Procreation. Reproduction. Giving birth. Raising kids.

I'm at the point in my life where a lot of people I know are having kids, and I envy them. Not because I want them and can't have them (at least, not that I'm aware of) but because they can be so utterly selfless.

I'm too selfish to have kids at the moment. I cherish my quiet time. I love the fact my husband and I can come home from work and if we don't feel like cooking dinner - we don't. If I want to loll about in my pajamas on the weekend and eat copious amounts of ice cream - I can. I can watch what I want on television when I want, I can stay out late, I have time to do the hair and make-up thing of a morning....

Apparently, you can't always do that once you become aware of some very small people in your house...