Missions #5 & #8

This weekend I planted trees (mission #8) with a Caltrans mandated hardhat, goggles, and reflective vest and also failed spectacularly for an hour at something I was guaranteed to fail to do successfully (mission #5).  A few days earlier, I had chosen to fail spectacularly at drawing a perfect circle, freehand.  The other option I had considered was to fail to write the Great American sonnet in an hour.  The more I think about it now, though, I might take a shot at the sonnet and do the mission twice — at this moment in my creative life, I’m desperate enough to do nearly anything to get myself to write, even a one-hour quality sonnet.  One of the stated goals of mission #5 is that those who do it can use it as an opportunity to learn to laugh at themselves.  I didn’t laugh at myself drawing circles, but I did at one point mutter “damn” and grin as the chalk in my hand set-off on a particularly wobbly and un-archetypal circumnavigation of the blackboard.  Next, I think I’ll take on mission #6, which has to do with discovering my superpowers, modest though they may be.