Day 1

Today, Wednesday, is the first day of my life. Well, not my life, but the way I have decided I want to live from this moment forward. I decided my life, as it was before the dawn of 2007, was incredibly boring. I never did anything new, met anyone different, or accomplished anything unique. My goal for the next year is to step so far outside the box that was my life that it is not only forgotten but disappears entirely.

The first day of my experiment was a success, though many might see it as a massive failure. I was staying with my girlfriend out of town. As I would only be there a week, I had no intention of ruining the rest of our time together, so I put aside the major changes to my life for a while. Today was meant to be a simple, relaxing day on the end of our Christmas vacation together. I wanted nothing more than to sit around and watch movies while she worked and then spend plenty of quality time with her after business hours. That, and I had errands to run.

It was January, so I couldn't use the excuse of Christmas shopping. Instead, I needed to go out shopping to start building my stores for when I get my own apartment after graduation. My one and only stop for today was the Granary. It's an eclectic little store down by the railroad tracks that sells all sorts of knicknacks and miscellaneous other things. What I needed was a cedar folding chair to go with my new wooden desk. I had gone by during the Christmas shopping season and knew the Granary had EXACTLY what I wanted.

With no students around during the break, the Granary was dead. The only employees working were the Burnham twins, two old men somewhere between their mid 50s and late 90s. The two make a habit of playing pranks on unsuspecting shoppers, confusing them with their identical features and dress. I had known them for a few years, though, so they didn't even try to play games with me. Burnham #1 helped me find my chair and Burnham #2 rang me up at the front desk. Then they decided to play with me.

Every now and then, Burnham #1 would think he was really clever. He would offer half off the price of an item if you could solve a riddle. The catch was, if you couldn't figure out the riddle you had to have a piece of his (utterly disgusting) home made rhubarb pie. I had never taken him up on his offer, but the chair I wanted cost $50. I could use the extra cash to spoil my girlfriend with.

I cautiously nodded my head and he ran over behind the counter with his brother, Burnham #2. My stomache sank as they both lit up like kids in a candy store.

"This is a 'What Am I?' riddle, Eric," said Burnham #1.

Speaking so quickly that I didn't even realize the conversation had move from Burnham #1, Burnham #1 added a swift "good luck!"

"Forwards I am heavy. Backwards I am not. What am I?"

I stood there for a long time, dreading the rhubarb pie. I was usually pretty good at solving the Burnham's riddles, but this time I was stumped. I racked my brain and paced back and forth. With every step, the Burnham's smiles grew wider.

"I give up. Where's the pie?"

Burnham #1 chuckled as he took an already cut piece of apple pie from beneath the counter and slid it across to me.

"Where's the rhubarb?"

Burnham #1 just similed as he walked across the store and picked up a broom from the back corner. Burnham #2 handed me my reciept and smiled.

"Ton," he said. "Spell it backwards and it's N-O-T."

I said thanks and took my new chair out to my car. Who said my life wasn't interesting to begin with?

Day 1 of 100 - Summary: Not a ton of change.