Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Bashful Blogger

Ok so I haven't been keeping up with this blog, but due to the disappointment of a dear friend of mine, I've gotten my butt back in gear and am now updating.

I made it to Day 27 recording my Random Acts of Kindness with full intentions of updating this blog a lot sooner than this. After Day 27, I got even tardier and stopped recording them all together. I know, how shameful. In all honesty, though, I do live my life with the values instilled by the 40-Day Challenge. I have a lot of great people in my life and the love just pours over to be paid forward.

So the Random Acts that I recorded:
Day 9 - I opened doors for people everywhere I went.
Day 10 - I helped the woman in our Mail Room at the university sort the mail while I waited for my printing to finish from the Print Shop.
Day 11 - It was Remembrance Day and since my partner is in the army, he had to get dressed up and march in the service. Before he left for the morning, I went to Tim Horton's and got him a coffee.
Day 12 - I live in an apartment building, so when garbage day comes, all of the bins get moved out for pick up and then moved back once the garbage is gone. My good deed for the day was to move the bins back for the guys who take care of our building.
Day 13 - I had this good deed in the back of my mind for a while and finally did it on Day 13. I put quarters in random shopping carts at Safeway so that when people came to get carts they'd get a freebie.
Day 14 - My job requires me to do certain things and leaves other things to my discretion. Day 14 was a day of extras for the people I work for.
Day 15 - One of the local radio stations (KX 96) was having a contest in which listeners were asked to nominate a person of quality. I nominated one of my friends and she won!

That same day, on his way home, my partner witnessed a single vehicle roll over on the highway in front of him. He stopped and administered First Aid while waiting for an ambulance to arrive. I know that isn't a personal act of kindness, but it was just too great of a story not to share considering the nature of this particular blog post.


Day 16 - I received a surprise coffee on my desk from another person who had taken on the 40-Day Challenge. I already had a fresh coffee so I paid forward the freebie to another unsuspecting friend.
Day 17 - I had a doctor's appointment and, after parking, proceeded to plunk some change into the meters of some of the random people parked. As I sat waiting for the doctor, a random woman sitting beside complimented me on my hair (now, remember, I recently shaved my head). We had a really great conversation about HIV/AIDS in Africa, Stephen Lewis, and family members of hers that had lost their hair to cancer. Wow!
Day 18 - I did a huge extra for one of the professors that I work for and sent one of my best friends a congratulations card on getting a stellar internship at a swanky law firm for the summer. (She cried when she got it).
Day 19 - I did my monthly volunteer stint at Ten Thousand Villages. Man, I love that store!
Day 20 - On this particular Sunday, I made a conscious effort to smile at people everywhere I went. I also created an entry for WUSC into an online contest to win $25,000. I learned of the contest a bit too late for us to get the number of votes needed to qualify for the final rounds, but I guess it's the thought that counts.
Day 21 - I gave a friend my resume so that she could "spruce" hers up.
Day 22 - I was given another "freebie" in the form of a cheese bagel, but I had already filled myself for the morning so I, once again, paid it forward. I also waited for a vehicle to turn into busy oncoming traffic rather than simply blowing right by them.

Day 23 - Ok - here my fine friendly readers, is the sad spot of my 40-Day Challenge - Random Acts of Kindness - while I am sure I did something nice, I don't think I consciously made an effor to because I didn't write anything down. Technically, the rules of the challenge state that I have to start all over at Day 1 because I missed a day.

Day 24 - Here in Brandon, we've been getting a lot of snow; and by a lot, I mean a tonne! When I wiped the mound of overnight snow off of my car in the morning, I also wiped off the car parked beside me.
Day 25 - I did a really fun thing today! On Day 15, I guess it would have been, I was given a bag of "goo" along with a recipe for Friendship Loaf. Over the next ten days I mushed the contents of the bag and added ingredients to eventually end up with complete batter for the loaf. It was delicious. Part of the instructions include making enough start up batter to pass it along to 4 friends. On Day 25, I passed out 4 bags of "goo", the recipe, and a sampling of the completed loaf.
Day 26 - One of the cleaners in the residence buildings here at BU saves all of the empty beer cans and bottles for the WUSC club to take in for money. With some help from friends, I loaded up the empties and got the money for WUSC's many non-profit campaigns.

I know it is shameful, but with only 14 days left, I stopped recording the things I was doing, and in all honesty, likely stopped making a conscious effort to be nice. I suppose that means sometime in the future, I will have to start up again. I am determined to complete this challenge!

And now, after that long read, go and do something nice for someone!