New Year's Resolutions

It is that time of year again: New Year's Resolution time. I've been asked if I'm making any this year. The quick and dirty answer is no. But, as always, the truth is a bit more complicated.

I don't believe in them. Invariably, people's resolutions seem to be vague and self loathing ("I will lose weight," "I will spend less money" etc). In fact, in my random internet wanderings I discovered that our government has a page on its official site devoted to common resolutions, which illustrates my point perfectly.

http://www.usa.gov/Citizen/Topics/New_Years_Resolutions.shtml

I'm all for self improvement, but most resolutions seem way too broad with any concrete steps that might actually help the person accomplish their goal.

So, rather than make a trite and disingenuous resolution, this year I will be declaring the following intentions:

-Sing Everyday. While I am not a serious crooner, singing taps into all sorts of positive little kid memories. Whenever we'd drive anywhere with my dad, my sister and I would sing things like "This land is your land," do rounds of "Row row row your boat," and the sea shanty version of "The itsy bitsy spider" (which might sound weird to you but it actually translates perfectly to a work song appropriate for hoisting sails or an anchor to). I've already made my first volume of the commuting sing-a-long mix of songs I know the words to, there will be more to come. Also, Karaoke will factor in this plan.

-Read Everyday. Now this is something I'm already kind of doing. But now I've decided that I have to read something that is not on the internet at least once a day. There are things that I simply need to unplug to experience. The first book of 2009 is "Freak: The pig-faced lady of Manchester square & other medical marvels" by Jan Bondeson, which is a medical, historical and cultural look at freaks through the ages. Very rad and starting my new year just right.


-Blog More. Now this one is certainly vague, but I've made peace with it since I was railing against vague resolutions and this is an intention. I think this is a neat forum that I'm not fully taking advantage of to express my creative juices. This has the added benefit of being writing practice that I need if I am ever going to advance my career goals.

I feel this list of intentions is both realistic and will help me have an implausibly fabulous 2009. I admit to being freaked out about the dire state of: the economy, our country's moral standing in the eyes of the rest of the world, our many alliances and military engagements, the environment, etc. But there isn't a whole lot I can do about any of that, so I might as well turn up the music and sing as loud as I can.

Happy New Year!!!!!!