A Paper Day

The thing is

Every day

I would write down

What I’d like to do that day

Sorry, not true

At the end of the day

I would write down

What I would like

To have done

That day

It’s this thing

I read about

In this book

About, uh

Leading a better life

So I tried it

I guess the idea is--

And this happens

By the way

It’s true

Uh, the idea is--

When you start

Everything’s very, uh, fanciful

Right before you go to bed

You think about how

That day

You got up

You went to the office

You came home

You had some dinner

You went to bed

And so you write down--

I would have liked

To have woken up

In Miami

Gone down to the beach

Read a book

While looking at the ocean

Dinner at a nice seafood place

Again, right on the ocean

Come home

To some beautiful houseboat

Make love to my beautiful spouse

And then fall asleep

With a big old smile on my face

Crazy stuff, you know?

Like, the lottery version

Of your life

And every night you do this

And eventually

You get bored

Writing the amazing versions of your day

I mean, it’s fun

But eventually

You start to think about

Other ways your day could go

Aside from just
This day that's just

Beyond incredibly awesome

Like--

You think
Maybe today could have been...

...Sort of awesome?

And even

Sort of okay?

And finally

You wind up writing stuff like--

Went to dinner at that place

I drive by every day

On my way home

That I always say

I’m going to try

Or

Called up a friend

I haven't talked to in awhile
And asked them

If they wanted to get a drink

Or

Drove for awhile
With no destination in mind

See, eventually

You wind up writing

A slightly better version of your life

That’s, uh, attainable?

That doesn’t seem

Like a fantasy

It’s incredible, really

But it’s also, uh, well--

Honestly, pretty scary

Because, once you see how little it is

That you really want out of life--

Fun

Satisfaction

Just some, uh

Basic enjoyment

It’s hard to justify not--

Making it a reality

It’s hard to keep writing about it

Without trying to live it

That’s what happened to me

I started trying to live it

Trying to anyway, but, uh…

Well

Maybe eventually I’ll have such a good day

That right before I go to sleep

I’ll realize--

--I don’t have anything to write about

Imagine having a day like that