Perfect Attendance

Every year or so, you see a feature newspaper article about some kid who managed to not miss a single day of school all the way from kindergarten to 12th grade. You’re expected to be impressed by this and think something like, “Now there’s a lad who knows the importance of making a commitment, who appropriately values education, and who’s really going to go places someday.” And indeed, though I’m amazed whenever I run across such a tale, I also can’t help thinking that the guy ought to have cut himself some slack. There’s surely something to be said for showing up, but there’s spontaneity, too. Great to be the guy who’s always there, but sad to also be the guy who has nowhere else to go.

Nevertheless, I’ve set out for myself the same general task: I’m trying to go 327 straight days writing a 327 word essay for the blog. Lame, sure, but equally random and arbitrary projects have earned people plenty of fame, fortune, and personal satisfaction. Flagpole sitters, people who row boats across the Atlantic Ocean, teams that set up the world’s longest domino drop, an unemployed chef who cooks every recipe in Julia Child’s The Way to Cook.

I haven’t missed a day since August 5th, which makes it about 50 in a row; in order to hit 327, I’ll have to go all the way to about July 2nd, 2007.

I’m sure I can’t possibly have something to say every day of the week until then, but having little or no content has never stopped me in the past.

I think I’m more likely to be waylaid by concerns over being lumped in with that pathetic perfect attendance kid. It’s bad enough to be so stuck in your ways that you never miss a day doing what, after all, you’re already required do; but it’s way weirder to keep on doing what you never needed to do in the first place.