Time to make a few changes

Today is 29 December 2007.

It's 2008 in 2 days - and it's time to make some changes.

I'm 33 this year - and it's the usual stuff - I need to stop drifting and move house, city, relationships and job. I need to learn to play the guitar and lose weight, too.

So why don't I just make the changes? Well I've tried - but I think I've fallen into some patterns of behaviour that are unhealthy - that I need to change.

I'm hoping if I have written record - then I can chart my progress - as my enthusiasm for my good intentions evaporates.

At the centre of my inability to change is Diet Coke, chocolate and creativity (ok, ok, they're not heroin, bestiality and mouth-foaming rage - but they're my vices and I'm in their grip).

Type "diet coke and creativity" into Google right now and it returns: "did not match any documents".

This I don't understand - surely other people know the Zone?

At 17 / 18 years old - I started going for long runs in the evenings - and lost a lot of weight. In the next couple of years I discovered that if I drank diet cola and ate chocolate before the run, then listened to repeptitive music (the Lemonheads or Aphex Twin works for me) while running, then something interesting happens - I enter the Zone.

It's like a short-cut to meditative state. I know people say that they go into the Zone - a trance like state - when they run - but I never really experienced it.

But with diet cola and chocolate I do. It's like both sides of my brain join together (I can feel it) and I can think more elegantly and with more agility. Words and ideas flow. I can make connections where before - in my normal meat state - I cannot. I think it helps me to access bits of my brain not usually available in my waking state.

From what I can tell - it's to do with brainwaves - I enter the Alpha / Theta state - http://web-us.com/primitivebeats.htm

OK then, well why don't I just stop?

Two reasons -

1) The altered state is addictive. I miss it when I've not been there for a while.
2) I got good at going there - and now get paid for it. I rely on my ability to see connections for money. I get paid for my writing, drawing, video, talking etc - I need the Diet Coke, chocolate and creativity buzz to pay the rent.

So tell me again - why are you writing this blog?

1) Fifteen years on - now when I drink Diet Coke - I get hot flushes and feel a bit sick. I can still access the zone - but I don't want to have to rely on a soft drink. There must be another way. I'm going to try and find one - a healthier one.

I'd like suggestions from readers. How do they enter the Zone? What techniques do they use? Have they managed to replace diet cola with something that gives them the mind-buzz?

2) Aspartame. Apparently it's really bad for me. My hunch is that this is correct. But is there any proof? Do readers of this blog have any proof? Is it a big scandal?

3) I'm going to give up Diet Coke on January 1st 2008. I'm going to chart how long I last - and what the effects are.

4) I might write about the alternatives - how can I enter the Zone without diet cola?

5) Other stuff too.