Happy New Year from the Star City

Maybe all I need is some proper motivation. Maybe my goals are too lofty. I dunno. But after overlooking 2006's New Year's resolutions, I see that not a one of them was accomplished.

Allow me to review two of last year's resolutions:

1) Learn to play guitar.

Yeah, whatever. I picked the thing up a few times, and I don't have the patience for it. I know exactly what sound I want to come out of the thing, but I can't sit down long enough to make it happen. So instead I sit around and listen to R.L. Burnside and imagine what I could sound like if I was dedicated enough.

2) Learn to speak a foreign language.

First off, one year ain't long enough to do that. So file this under the "goal too lofty" category. But I'm just entirely embarassed when I travel and I can't speak the language. In meetings, everyone speaks English, so it's all good. Take a walk out of my hotel, though, and I'm lost. Completely isolated, because besides a few token words in Italian or French or German, I don't really want to communicate with anyone. That's not to say I can't enjoy myself, because I can order a beer. I have that one down. But you see my point.

This one is still a goal, though, and I think I can accomplish it. I just have to be a bit more realistic about it. My usual initial strategy is to sit down with a book of Neruda poems, convinced that by translating them, my Spanish will become fluent. And it won't hurt. But I won't become fluent that way, and it is doubtful I'll get very far through the book before being distracted by something else.

So - I'm not going to make any resolutions this year. I would rather go through 2007 and be pleasantly surprised when good stuff happens.