Being. A. Grown-up. Sucks.

Got up at the butt-crack of dawn to teach a class, because I’m doing what I love. Renewed my license, only to remember my tags are expiring this month. Olly has to go for stabs at the vet and to hear he’s in perfectly fuzzy health. Naturopath visit to figure out what’s wrong with me (at least as far as she can tell) and what else I’m allergic to, so I can make grocery shopping and daily life even more of a bullet-dodging adventure. Parking ticket, just because. Thanks to some guy yesterday telling me my car “sounds funny… like you’ve got the parking brake on or something” (I drive a 103hp standard - no amount of flooring it will get her to move with the brake on - she struggles as it is with it off) now has me approaching my car like it’s a bomb ready to go off.

Being a grown up is awesome!

Because when you’re a grown up, you get to jump on the bed, only now you’re too tall so you smash your head on the ceiling. And you can stay up as late as you want, mostly because your brain’s still mulling over that to-do list that is a billion miles long, and you have to get up before the birds even hit their second cycle of REM sleep. And you can eat all the junk food and cookies you want - except that now you’re gluten intolerant, so it’s organic-gluten-free-sugar-free packing material crap sold for five times the price. And you can finally get that butterfly/barbed wire arm band tattoo you’ve always wanted, but your employer would frown upon it, your parents will probably still disown you, and good luck getting another job if that thing is even risking the slightest chance of showing. And you can dye your hair any color you want, but same rules apply here. Ditto for piercings. You can drive, but have to pay for gas, insurance, maintenance, parking, and the therapy to cure the anxiety that hits everytime your car makes so much as an imaginary squeak that doesn’t sound right. And you can have all the pets in the world, kittens, puppies, heck, a giraffe if you want. But remember - food, litter, walks, nail clipping, toys, vet bills, eucaliptus tree importing for that giraffe, and vacuuming - oh the vacuuming. And you can drink, too. All night long with your friends and do whatever you want, just remember that class at butt-crack-of-dawn-o’clock tomorrow because you’re following your dreams. And if you’re not, it’s cubicle nation or retail hades at butt-crack-of-dawn-o’clock instead. But you can stay home from work if you want. Just remember, that means you don’t get paid, so good luck with the car, vet, phone, insurance, dental, doctor and everything-else bills.

Being a grown up is awesome.

Now, that being said, there’s nothing to say we can’t still have a little fun. (And I use the term ‘we’ very loosely here, there’s a good chance I’ll never make it to a full-fledged “grown up,” it’s just not in the genes). So here’s my challenge for you today: unplug EVERYTHING that connects you to your adult world. Turn. It. Off. For ten minutes. Just 10. You can do it. This includes your blackberry and it’s blackberry, your laptop, desktop, pager, cell phone, work phone, iphone, ipad, ipod, tv, radio, whatever. Now, take those 10 minutes and go do something just for you. Go! I’ll wait. Then when you come back, share what you did.