it is now February.

I was sitting on a bench downtown on Saturday morning.

I had convinced Emily to go back into the bookstore we had just come out of, and give her number to the strikingly handsome clerk who rang her issue of Interview through, and gave her a free Globe and Mail. Well, it wasn't right after we'd come out; we went for sushi first.

We had talked about the fact that, in her short 19 years, she'd never done something so bold as asking out a random stranger. I rationalized with Emily that there wasn't anything really bad that could happen in her instance - either he'd call her, or he wouldn't. She tried the old "but what if he has a girlfriend?" schtick. So what if he has a girlfriend? If he does, he won't call you. Again, it can really only go one of two ways. If anything, she flattered the young man, and possibly made his day that much better. Funny thing is that she may never even know. And so became my thought of the day: why don't we all take more risks? Why don't people chase the things that they really want? What holds people back? Can it really only be the fear of uncertainty that makes people so chicken shit to do what they want?

And so here's my new February's resolution, because my new year's resolutions didn't hold up so well: take and encourage more risks. It took me a good half hour to convince Emily to do what she did, but it was worth it, even if she doesn't get a phone call from the guy.

Life is too short to live afraid and left wondering.