141. new year's resolutions

Yeah, it's January 7th, so what's your point?

Strange story first. So this morning I was at this Transformation Hawaii meeting thing and afterwards someone asked me what I was going to do with the rest of the day. Among other things I said I was going to write about my new year's resolutions, and one of them was like, "you mean you write out your resolutions?" And I was like, "yeah, you have to." I think I also said something like, "yeah, I write out my resolutions every year." But then I tried to tell them about my resolutions from last year and then I was stumped. And then I had to wonder if this really was something I did every year...

Fast forward a few hours and here I am at Borders looking over my old blogs and journal entries and I'm realizing that at least for the last two years, I haven't written out my resolutions. I know I've done so at least once or twice (at least I'm pretty sure I did) but not for a while now. And I think it's only hit me just now how natural a part of my life blogging has become. I've become so comfortable with sharing my thoughts and feelings that it was just an assumption that sharing my new year's resolutions is something I would have already done. Turns out I only really started blogging regularly this year and on a weekly basis somewhere around July.

Anyway, here are a few of my new year's resolutions.

1. Stop swearing so much in my writing.
Now, I'm not resolving to stop swearing entirely. Words like "fuck" and "shit" are a part of the English language and I believe there's a time and place for them. Think of the movie This Is Spinal Tap. There's a famous scene where Nigel Tufnel is showing off his guitar amp collection to Marty DiBergi (Rob Reiner). Here's the scene (culled from the invaluable Internet Movie Database):

Nigel Tufnel: The numbers all go to eleven. Look, right across the board, eleven, eleven, eleven and...
Marty DiBergi: Oh, I see. And most amps go up to ten?
Nigel Tufnel: Exactly.
Marty DiBergi: Does that mean it's louder? Is it any louder?
Nigel Tufnel: Well, it's one louder, isn't it?

That's how I feel about swear words. They're one louder than non-profane words. But if you use them all the time then they lose their impact (there was a very funny South Park episode about this - the word, "shit," was used on the air an amazing 162 times. Turns out the s-word is a curse word and because it was spoken so many times, it unleashed a plague upon the city and ultimately conjured up a dragon-like creature that threatened to destroy the earth...or something like that). Now I know some people say that swearing is unsophisticated, that a really great writer should be able to convey the same meaning without resorting to such words. Well, I guess I'm just not that good.

Anyway, I'm going to try to clean up my blogging by not swearing so much, although I still reserve the right to drop the F-bomb (and the s-word) if I feel the need arises.


2. I want to get more intentional about my writing. I mean I want to work more at the craft of writing. Basically, this just means that I want to write more this year. I also want to start being more purposed about editing my story things. So far I've just kind of thrown them out there in all their embarrassing first-daft nakedness and kind of just left them there. I want to be more diligent about going back and polishing them off. I also want to go back to Anonycity and finish off more of what I started there.


3. I want to learn to play double kick pedal. For you non-drummers out there, that means using a special bass drum pedal designed so that the left and right feet can both play the bass drum. This is a staple for metal music drummers who play insanely fast 16th note patterns on their bass drums.

Now my band doesn't play anything like metal music, but still, double kick can add a nice bit of spice to fills and beats. Some of my favorite local drummers played with a double pedal (Shaun O'brien formerly of Ready Go/Jah Ska and the drummer for the now defunct Tone Deaf Teens) and I'd like to be able to as well.


4. I've been thinking about putting this list together for a few weeks now and one of the resolutions I was thinking about adding was this one: "give up on trying to find a girlfriend for one year." I've since discarded that resolution because I think it's stupid, and really with my track record, that's like resolving to blink 20 times per minute (the average resting blinking rate). I mean I've been single my entire life. What's the use of resolving to being single for another year? Thus, this is a non-resolution. I mean, I'm not resolving to not have a girlfriend, I'm not resolving anything when it comes to relationships. If history is any indication, I'm probably going to end 2006 just as single as I entered it and if a potential mate does come along, I don't want some silly resolution hanging over my head, confusing me even more about what to do about it.


So there you have it. My three resolutions (and one non-resolution) for 2006. In writing.

Happy new year everybody!