New Year's Resolutions, Part 2

(My year got off to a better start than this guy’s did. He got a fish hook in his lip soon after this picture was taken because he tried to steal the bait off a fisherman’s pole. He’s okay now)

I started this post on January 2 with the intention of sharing my resolutions, and I still will. Resolutions don’t exist only on the day you make them, and the only way to fulfill your goals is to keep revisiting them. So I am going to share my draft post and then talk about how it’s going two weeks later to see if they stood even the shortest test of time.

From January 2

Happy New Year! My last post was all about 2024 resolutions and how to make good resolutions. I focused on the idea of cutting back obligations instead of adding them, and suggested that keeping resolutions private was a key to success. I will now ignore my own advice, set targets for myself that may be aggressive and/or meaningless, and share them with you. You know, for accountability. Or so you can mock me, like my kids do.

The main idea behind this year’s resolutions is increasing my happiness. 2025 is going to be a tough year, filled with problems that are certain to warrant outrage. Trump and two hot wars are just the start of our worries. So happiness is my antidote. And here’s how I hope to find it. I am focusing on Friendship and Community; Art and Creativity; and Family.

Resolved:

1. Spend more time with friends by inviting people to do something (movie, dinner, etc) at least once a month.How it’s going: I invited 7 people to see Wicked with me the other day and none of them said yes, but I did get to have dinner with a friend I’ve had a hard time scheduling with (she didn’t want to see Wicked) so that was a positive.
2. Ask my friends to please invite me to stuff and I will say yes if I am available. (This resolution is filled by me writing this down, so I get a check mark on at least one resolution).How it’s going: One friend asked me to go see the Mary Cassatt at Work show at the Legion of Honor and I said yes and I’m glad I went. I wouldn’t have picked that show (not a big Impressionism fan) but I’m glad I went because I learned a lot about Mary Cassatt, who actually developed her own form of printing. While I walked around the exhibit, I listened to Erik Satie to drown out the annoying artsplaining around me. Another friend invited me to brunch but I wasn’t available so I will invite her to something next chance I get.
3. Read 52 books.How it’s going: Slow. I’ve started two books I didn’t finish. I did read The Shadow Speaker by Nnedi Okorafor, which was really good.
4. See 12 movies in the theater.How it’s going: I saw Wicked. By myself. I got all the way to 51 years old before seeing a movie in the theater by myself. I can see why some people might like doing that, but I missed having someone to debrief with afterwards.
5. Listen to 15 new (to me) albums.How it’s going: I listened to Erik Satie for the first time. Not a whole album so I’m not sure if it counts. (Satie seems like he was weirdo by the way). I am considering amending this resolution to something more specific, like “Listen to the top artist from 15 different African countries,” or something like that. That would fill a knowledge gap I have with a genre of music I like (possibly).
6. Go to 12 art shows.How it’s going: That Mary Cassatt show sure ticked a lot of boxes, didn’t it?
7. Restart weekly dates with Brook.How it’s going: This is also one of Brook’s resolutions, I think. However, we are in the third week of January and we haven’t had a chance for a date because I’ve been traveling a lot.
8. I didn’t come up with any other family resolutions earlier in the month besides the Brook one (#7), but I did come up with a new one while I was moving my dad and his husband out of their house, and I think it’s so good that I offer it to parents everywhere:

I am not going to let my parents take up the space created by my children’s independence.

At least one of my readers might feel a little irked by that one, but I think she will understand.

I am on my way to the Eckerd College Writers in Paradise Conference to workshop a novel I am writing. I sort of dispute the contention that St. Petersburg, Florida, is paradise, but I’ll try to send a dispatch updating that opinion sometime this week. Be well, my friends, and send your invitations post-haste!