Pete's Revised BLOG

When I finished researching and writing about the 56 U.S presidential campaigns/elections on February 20th I decided to take a break from blogging. I've had nearly a three week vacation and now feel refreshed so I'm ready to start blogging again with a new format.

I turned 71 on November 20, 2011. When I was walking that day I thought to myself, "Ya know, Pete, you know how many years you've lived but how many days is that." When I got home I got my calculator and did some calculating. I multiplied 71 years times 365 for a total of 25,915 days. Then I added 17 leap year days for a total of 25,932. As I write this on March 9, 2012 I need to add 78 more days (since November 20) for a total of 26,010. That's how long I've been a resident on planet earth.

Looking ahead to the rest of my days I did some more calculating. If I make it to 80 years I will live 29,202 days, 85 years will give me 31,026, 90 years years will be 32,851, 95 years will be 34,676, and 100 years would be 36,501. Do I really want to live to be a 100 years old? The only way I would want that to happen is if I'm HEALTHY. I grew up in nursing homes from age eight to seventeen. I have some terrible memories of some of the patients we had. I don't want to live like many of them did. When my days are at an end I hope to go peacefully and fast.

Having said that I want to explain what ideas I have for my revised BLOG.
When figuring the number of days for the different ages I said to myself -"I've lived close to 75% of my days on earth and I hope the remaining 10%, 20% or 25% will be healthy and enjoyable ones. So why don't I do something to make my remaining days as fun, enjoyable and enlightening as possible - and this led me to thinking of the year 2009, which is the year I wrote my GRATITUDE JOURNAL. For each of the 365 days of 2009 I expressed my gratitude to a person who or a thing that enhanced my life in some way, shape or form. I can honestly say it was the best year of my life - every day I had to think of somebody or something to be grateful for or to. It was fun, enjoyable and enlightening in that it made me think positive every day plus I learned so much by having to research many of the people and things I was grateful for/to.

In my new revised format my goal is to appreciate and relish each of my remaining days on this earth (and I hope that I'll be of sound mind and body for 99.9% of those days). So in this new format I want to continue expressing gratitude but I also want to include several other things that will keep my mind active.
Here are some of the other things I will touch on.

-I'll keep track of how many days I've lived
-What did I accomplish today? Did I do anything to keep myself physically fit? Am I controlling my weight?
-What person or thing should receive my gratitude today?
-Did I learn anything new today?
-Did I do anything to brighten someone else's day?
-What made me laugh today?
-How do I feel mentally today?
-What concerns me or upsets me about what's going on in this world?
-What were some of the happy/positive happenings in the world today?
-What's a good memory for me?
-What's a bad or ugly memory I'd like to forget?
-Did you know?
-What if?
-What memorable events happened on this day in history?
-(And I'll probably think of other things.)