What do you do on the first?

For some reason, when blogging dates were handed out way back at the start of this column, I lucked into the first and fifteenth of each month. I say “lucked” because they’re easy dates to remember.

As a result, I get first shot each January at wishing you a happy New Year, and, on April first, the dubious honor of swearing that I’m really, truly not playing a joke. As for April 15, income tax day (in the U.S.), I try not to think about that.

Right now, I’m filling out significant dates and reminders in my calendar for 2009. Perhaps because I work at home, I never got into the electronic organizer habit. And let’s face it, I’m just too much of an old fuddy-duddy to keep my calendar in the computer.

As I jot down notations for my blog dates, I note that my other reminders really pile up on the first and fifteenth of each month. For instance, there’s performing a breast self-exam, fertilizing my plants and doing the monthly bookkeeping on the first, and checking under the hood of my car on the fifteenth. No particular reason for these dates; they’re just a simple way to keep track of necessary monthly tasks.

I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty compulsive about scheduling what I need to do. Take dyeing my hair – that’s assigned to the first Saturday of each month. What this means is that, if you run into me around the end of the month, you can check out my gray roots. But that’s nothing compared to what might happen if I didn’t plan ahead. I’d probably go three months and wonder why I was starting to look my age (as opposed to the age I fantasize about looking, which is thirty).

What do you do on the first of the month? Do you schedule your routine tasks, or do you just wing through life, checking your oil when the engine groans and dyeing your hair when the old color fades into oblivion?

I look forward to reading your responses, just as soon as I finish fertilizing my plants and – what else was I supposed to do today? I know I put that calendar somewhere…