Annoyance Allowance + going through old journals

Bree and I started a blog to catalog our daily annoyances: Annoyance Allowance. It's not a platform for bitching and moaning, but rather a place to highlight and honor an annoyance, one day at a time. The hope is that after advertising the irritation, we'll have a bit of an easier time moving on. So far, so good: we've been going strong for 5 whole days now, and narrowing down the daily annoyances to one single item has been extremely satisfying. A teaser of what's listed so far: lack of scrap paper, brown bananas, bed head, and several toilet paper-related annoyances. Intriguing, isn't it?

May 21 Annoyance: Missing Buttons

I've been trying to consider a project which would have a daily component for some time now. In 2003 I walked the Camino de Santiago, a 500 mile trek across the north of Spain, and every day for 39 days I walked west - sometimes 22 miles, sometimes just 3, but a little further west each day. 

Day 27 from my journal: "It occurred to me the other day that this is the longest project I've ever participated in - every day for the past month, I've worked towards the same goal, doing the same activity. Every day. I've never done one thing consistently for 27 days!" (Ed. note: I probably haven't even brushed my teeth for this many consecutive days, which is why I get to have a root canal on Tuesday. fun times.)

Also, I found a list of 63 highlights of the trip. A few of the most mind-blowing:

15. The red cup Eric bought me in Pamplona; drinking from our cups at water fountains

26. Baguettes with Manchego and Red Pepper

30. Drinking wine on the church steps in Aztorga  (& the toothless Hospitalera)

36. Peeing in gutters with Christy

45. "Bitches?? You want Bitches, you go to Vegas."

56. Competitions to see who can eat the most off an apple core

Here's an especially delicious diagram of the blisters on my feet after walking west for 19 days:

The Camino definitely let an impression on me, and I've been thinking about a daily project ever since. I'm incredibly compulsive, and the thought of having a daily pattern is really exciting, but I often have a hard time sticking with new projects. Perfect example = this blog. BUT! the new blog! Annoyance Allowance! --- it's not going anywhere! AND we've put out an open call for submissions... to join the Annoyance Allowance Alliance, email a photo to us at annoyanceallowance [at] yahoo [dot] com, and we'll broadcast your annoyance to the world. 

Check annoyanceallowance.wordpress.com daily for fresh, annoying content!