Blogaday 8 of 20

Wow, day eight. I think that makes this the longest blogaday I've ever done. That's a lot of days consecutively blogging. Look at me go.

Welcome to January 5th, 2008. It's currently 1:18 AM. That's officially January 6th, but I've never really bought into all of that. I understand that the new day has to start sometime, but I've always felt that that should be sunrise.

Sunrise is such a beginning. Can you imagine going outside to watch the sunrise and not feeling like there's been a fresh start for the world? I think there's something inside of me that just knows that the sunrise means rebirth and new beginnings.

Midnight doesn't have that for me. I don't feel any different between 11:50 and 12:10. It doesn't feel like anything has changed for me.

I think there are probably people out there that would be upset if I were to claim that it was still the fifth. It's not the fifth, I know. But to me, inside, it's still the fifth. The sixth won't start until tomorrow comes. It won't come until I'm ready to get up and face it. There will be a distinct time when I know that it's tomorrow, and that time has not come yet.

And so, happy January fifth, friends.

I worked tonight with mom, moving the university mall Jolene's. They had to move from one spot to another spot. That happens every so often with the stores, so I go and help move. I've been all over most of the major malls around here, excluding fashion place.

Business has always been fascinating to me. I like to go and see how different businesses are doing different things. I like to see their approach and the philosophy they have behind what they do.

The University mall is a very nice mall. Of all the malls that I've been to with jolene's business, it's definitely the nicest one. They've obviously spent a lot of money to make it an attractive building. They have a domed ceiling through all the hallways, painted with yellows and oranges. I'm no artist, and I'm no architect, so I'm going to end my description of the ceiling there, but it's very cool. It sends a message. I like it because it says "Hey, I'm the ceiling, and I'm not the absolute most convenient ceiling to build. I'm not uniform. Somebody spent time and effort to make me the way I am." But at the same time, it's not a ceiling of "Ooooh, look at me. I'm incredibly expensive. With the money they spent on me, we could have cured AIDS." It's a modest and attractive ceiling.

As a sidenote, ceilings are incredibly cool because of how very little they are looked at. Maybe that's the reason that I've always been so drawn to them. When I put my name on the choir room ceiling, I didn't really do it so everybody would see my name all the time. I didn't want to be constantly in front of everybody. I wanted an effect whereas when people did chance a glance up, which they rarely do, they would be a little surprised and impressed. Had I wanted to be in front all the time, I'd have found a way to burn my name into the whiteboard.

But ceilings don't want to be in front all the time. They are very very content to be themselves. I love ceilings because they don't exist for everybody else. They are the way they are because they want to be that way. I think that that lends ceilings a lot of nobility and pride. They are not there to catch your eye and sway your vote or make you buy. They are there to serve a purpose. They are strong and resolute. They, above all else, have integrity. There are no gimmicks behind a ceiling. The ceiling has no reason to lie to you. Ceilings are not billboards and they're not display windows. They are simply ceilings.

And I know, they're ceilings. They don't have feelings. "They" as a group don't even qualify as a group. I'm running around here personifying them when really they're not even them. It's a ceiling.

But it still means something to me, a ceiling. It's that beautiful idea of purpose. A ceiling has a role to play, and it plays it. A ceiling, I really believe, is something that I'd like to emulate. The ceiling is the ceiling no matter the circumstances. No matter who the ceiling is with, the ceiling remains the ceiling one hundred percent. The ceiling does not adapt and mold depending on what jokes his friends are telling. The ceiling doesn't act a certain way when one certain girl is looking. The ceiling is steadfast. Yea, the ceiling is stalwart.

The ceiling isn't beautiful to attract attention or even to make anybody happy. The ceiling is excellent for no reason other than that excellence is the right way to be. That's what's so incredibly cool about it. To be excellent just because. That's impressive.

I want to be like the ceiling. Ceiling is a stud.

You know what's interesting? I've deleted large sections of this post two separate times tonight. That very rarely happens. It's the first time that it has happened with blogaday.

But I feel good about this post. I really do think that ceilings were the thing to talk about tonight. Inconspicuous excellence; that's a ceiling. More than just being sneaky about it, though, is that ceilings are doing it for the right reasons.

If I were going to be a piece of a building, I'd definitely want to be a ceiling.

But since I'm just a guy running around, I'm going to do everything I can to learn from the ceilings. Ceilings have got it figured out.