Two weeks ago I wrote an essay passionately anticipating that I would be drinking half a cup of coffee every morning. That didn't really work because, after drinking half a cup of coffee that first morning, I didn't sleep the same night.

I immediately wondered how many other essays of mine, about which I was very passionate, soon came to the same end – nothing much happened.

Of the 213 essays I have written thus far, I counted 12 essays (counting the coffee essay) that spoke about a Passion I thought I would continue – and, the next day or the next week, they just didn't go anywhere.

Here they are:

• Wearing my neoprene fisherman’s wading suit in my pool to obtain exercise [one time].
• Place PVC pipes to catch the drippings from my pool [the pipes have moved since then].
• Planning to recoup more from our garden than we spent at the nursery [it didn’t happen].
• Using GIFfun or Web Animation [haven’t used it after a week].
• Giving up changing my own oil [went back to changing it myself]
• Using green screen animation [used it that one time].
• Using beepers to locate missing keys [no longer use them – and often wish I did].
• Using the rectangular sponges from Bed, Bath & Beyond [they lasted about a month].
• Not drinking more than a few sips of water after about 4 p.m. [I wish I could stick to that routine].
• Doing yoga to help reduce the frequency of my coughing [no more yoga].
• Charting the frequency of my daily coughing [nope].

So have I been a failure? I don't think so.

A large majority of the passions from my essays have continued to this day. And even though some (5.6 percent) of my passions didn't really work well, I did try something new. And I tried it, albeit for a short time, with a passion. To modify a phrase:

It is better to have tried a passion, than not to have tried it at all.

Mr. Ebsen may be contacted at robertebsen@hotmail.com