It is January 2018 and one of the last things I wrote on my “sixtiestosixties” blog was about New Years resolutions for 2014. I wish I had remembered that before I wrote another post for this New Year’s. I can’t say the discovery came as a big surprise since I can’t even remember what I wrote on my grocery list yesterday. But I was disappointed because not only had I written pretty much the same crap four years ago it was much funnier. This is clearly a case of use it or lose it. I am so out of practice. But I realize if I want to continue posting on this blog site I had better get going because “sixtiestosixties” won’t work forever. I’ll be 68 this year which means I’ve only got two years left under this banner and then I will have to come up with a whole new shtick. I am working on a come back.
I can’t believe I wrote about resolutions twice. I hate them. I make the same lame ones every year and then write about them which is a pretty good indication that not only do I not keep them I don’t even remember what they are. I know I am not alone in this. Why is it that any of us even bother? My theory is it’s fucking January and we all need some hope to make it to spring.
But this year I really did get excited when I saw a suggested resolution from the LA Times reprinted in the Denver Post that I could get behind. (Yes, people, a real newspaper written by real journalists. I am not talking about Facebook shit here.) So I am going to steal the idea and start with it. The resolution? Read more books. This is such a great idea that I am going to try to salvage what little I can from my “Resolutions 2018” draft and just go with it. Let’s consider this a soft reopening. I need the practice.
Resolutions for 2018:
#1 Read more books.
I really love to read but I haven’t been reading as much as I used to. I spend too much time going down the rabbit hole on the internet. My God, does it ever end? I also watch too much Netflix. But I hear so much better with my earbuds and there are no commercials and you don’t have to wait a week to find out what happens. So why wouldn’t I? I also drink wine (or whatever) at dinner time which really helps me get through the evening news that I find totally depressing but the wine also makes me sleepy and I don’t get many pages read before I am snoring away. Reading gives me much more pleasure than libations and certainly more than news so this is really a two-fer. Because in order to stay up to read I have to skip the wine at dinner (or the vodka or gin or bourbon or whatever). So drinking less just kind of tags along. Maybe then I’ll lose some weight around the middle and…oops!.. never mind. Failed that resolution before. Hopefully, reading will also gives me new ideas.
Pick one to go with the hat.
#2 Publish this blog post before January is over.
This is another reason why I am going ahead with this topic. I don’t have any other ideas at the moment. And, unbelievably to me, it’s been more than three years since I’ve posted. I have managed to move twice but haven’t written a single frickin blog post. What am I waiting for? My obituary? I sometimes get these crazy ideas and think to myself “that would make a great blog post”. Then I click on some stupid shit on the internet and my idea is lost is the midst of garbage. Published garbage that is out there while my garbage is not. So I am going to get organized and reinvent a page out of Marie Kondo’s book. I am going to hold my ideas close to me and if they make me happy I’ll write them down. Otherwise I’ll toss them out of my memory like I normally do with things like passwords and important birthdays. Hopefully this method will work better for me with ideas than with real stuff.
What was that idea I had last week?
#3 Write More
If I keep number #2 then this one is already done. And if I publish just one additional post I will have doubled my output. This will make me so much happier than another dinner with wine in front of the TV hearing about this year’s flu epidemic.
So I have made three resolutions to make me happy. What about you?
sixtiestosixties 
Yay! So glad you’re blogging again! Love this!!! X
Thanks!
So nice tO see aa blog again!
Thank you!
Yay, you’re back! Resolutions are so easy to break, I’ve stopped making them. Funny, in January you see so many new faces in the gym, people with earnest looks as they waddle about, but they go missing by February.
Glad you’re writing again my friend, I’ve kissed your posts. I’d give up the hat, keep the Makers. 😎
Can give up my hat. I had it monogrammed.
Welcome back Philis, we’ve all missed you. See you at our 50th reunion I hope. “68 year olds from the Class of ’68” The pix of the pink t-shirt on the Hitchcock writing desk and chair reminded me of my parent’s Schenectady home. When we moved to SC, we sold all that “Early American” stuff to an antiques dealer who didn’t offer us much for it as the new generation was all Pottery Barn/Ikea. Still, a touchstone of times past in Niskayuna. Keep blogging!
Thanks Dave. I plan to be at the reunion. Do I get another dance lesson?
I’ve been reading a lot too and not just my Book Bub cheapos! I have been taking some of the suggestions of the authors interviewed in the NY Times Book section. Recently I got Ta-Nehesi Coates’ book BETWEEN THE WORLD AND ME based on what Kristin Hannah said about it. It is very interesting. I even downloaded the Complete works of WIlliam Shakespeare (for free) and finally read Hamlet! As soon as I finished it, I found a clue in a crossword puzzle that I could answer! My favorite read so far…. THE UNTETHERED SOUL by Michael SInger. HIghly recommend it to everyone who is tethered to the past and future. IT has changed the way I think now and I found my recent trip to SE Asia was put in a more positive light because I kept focusing on positive energy. Love to see you back writing again!
Always appreciate your reading recommendations. I have been keeping a list of potential good reads from different sources.