Happy New Year, Groovers!

Well. It's the first Friday of this new year they're calling 2008. Right now, i'm doing the neck thing. Head down to type a sentence, then head back to flex aching face (sinuses) & try for more air. This 'flu seems to have haunted me, danced around me, po-go'd through me, dragged around me & dragged me around since at least early October.

That's October 2007.

That'd be last year.

Of course it regrouped in time to return with festive vengeance.

And did a jig.

Ta muchly.

Festive Vengeance. Ooh. Band name?

Anyway...

Sorry, I do that.

A lot.

So. What have we learned so far this year? I've learned that a smile stiffens your resolve & makes you stronger. Strengthens your immunity to a mad and occasionally cruel world. And like all antagonistic elements, we're programmed early on to believe that "if you ignore it, it'll go away". Aren't we? I find that this rule can be quite erratic in it's application to "The World" when you take "The World" as one being.

Sometimes you find yourself "kicking against the pricks", but sometimes, yep, the pricks kick back. Ah well... Half the fun is not knowing, right?

So, we prepare ourselves for that and march on... into the great blau yonder. (Some words just 'look' better in German, i think.)

But where are we marching to?

Why are we marching there?

What do we hope to accomplish once we get there?

Have we planned our campaign sufficiently well so that we arrive on the other side of the ridge to the battlefield, soon after sundown the night before? After all, isn't it wise to set up camp, graze, rest up, check our armaments & review tactics before thundering down with the great dawn surprise attack?

I can see a few wrinkled brows from the other side of the screen, so will try and explain my thinking.

We all - or the majority of us, at least - will still be able to remember our 10 New Year's resolutions which we had probably decided & settled on by this time last week. My question is, how many of us can remember - if we ever knew - why we made those resolutions? Of all the things we could do with 365 days, at this point in our lives, why 'those' 10?

What is your mission statement?

What is your mission?

Did you choose to accept it?

Did it self-destruct in 30 seconds?

Please tell me it didn't.

As for me, well; the passing of the 365th day always feels like a gentle nudge followed by 'something' whispering over my shoulder, asking 'well? what's it gonna be?' And I guess somethings simply stay on the 'to do' list until they get done.

The things I reasonably hope to accomplish this year are...

1) Finish recording 'the album'.

2) Get fit & stay fit. (Is that 2?!)

3) Learn to be kinder to and more patient with self.

4) Learn to be kinder to and more patient with others.

4) Try looking at the things that scare me. After a while they might not look so scary. Might even be fun.

5) Photography - if i step out of the door with a camera in my hand, I must also step out of my comfort zone. Challenge my ideas & conquer my fears.

6) Paint more. Conquer fear of canvas! Take classes?

7) Do (more?) voluntary work.

8) Remember how to trust intuition & enjoy the childlike madness of going with it.

9) Visit my father’s grave. I know it's not 'where he is', but it's been far, far too long.

10) "...gonna get the girl, gonna kill the baddies & save the entire planet." (Sadly, not an original idea http://www.lastfm.jp/music/Pop+Will+Eat+Itself/_/Ruff+Justice
, but might be fun.)

Oh I don't know. There seems to be a lot of fear above. Maybe a few excuses.

(That'll be the 'being too hard on myself' bit.)

Seems like an awful lot to accomplish in 365 days. Better get started!

Good luck with your resolutions, if you have decided on any. And please, be kind to yourself; remember they're resolutions, not The Ten Commandments!

"Enjoy this trip. And it is a trip."

Stay Beautiful,

rx

(written early in the first hour of Friday 4/1/08 & posted several hours later...)