Stand or Fall in 2008

By Dan on Dec 31, 2007 in Blog

Hey kids, are you like me, do you like to make New Year’s resolutions and then neglect to act upon them? Well, there’s nothing like the fear of failing in public to get you off your butt and into gear. Don’t keep your dreams inside where they’ll wither and die in the darkness. Expose them to the sun here at BFS and then know that upwards of a dozen people will think you a miserable failure if you don’t follow through this time.

I’ll jump in first and then you feel free to follow. Or don’t. Just continue down the path of shattered dreams and gross underachievement that you’ve long ago committed to. It’s no skin off my nose, babe.*

I hereby vow to see thee again.

So here are some of my goals for the new year, in no particular order. This is not an exhaustive list as some are too personal to share in a public forum.**

  1. Reach the five figure mark in freelance income.
  2. See Sarah Borges and the Broken Singles twice.
  3. Finish writing the Christmas story I started in 2007 and pursue publication (it’s a Suessian work and could be quite good with a tad more inspiration and a lot more perspiration.)
  4. Help to keep that no good so-and-so from getting to the White House (you know who I’m talking about.)
  5. Finally take the trip we plan every year to the St. Louis Zoo.
  6. Post to BFS more than 79 times in 2008 (it’s embarrassing how unprolific I’ve become.)
  7. Get the kids started on piano lessons.
  8. Learn to swim better with an eye towards completing one of those mini-triathlon things the following year.
  9. Travel somewhere I’ve never been before.
  10. Get invited to a New Year’s party next year. Or at least to a get-together. Not that I necessarily want to go to one, but it would be nice to be asked.
  11. Down State (this is the working title for a project that a couple of other bloggers and I are kicking around. It must remain under wraps for now.)
  12. Less cities, more moving people.
  13. Do some of that stuff where you help out people who aren’t as fortunate. Charity, I think they call it.

Well, there they are. Laid out bare for all to see. It’s my great hope that by this time next year everyone will have forgotten about this post and I won’t have to confess to how miserable I was in accomplishing them. Or maybe, just maybe, I’ll surprise myself.


*What TV character from a 1980s-era police drama was known for uttering this phrase? Not even Google will help you with this one.

**Keep your wise-ass comments to yourself.

Bonus question: what band was slyly referenced twice in the making of this post?

9 Comment(s)

  1. The Fixx.

    Russ | Dec 31, 2007 | Reply

  2. I knew “The Fixx” Russ just beat me to it.

    Was the 80’s character the sleazy detective “J.D. LaRue” played by Keil Martin on Hill Street Blues?

    M.B. | Jan 2, 2008 | Reply

  3. MB

    Very close, but not quite.

    Dan | Jan 2, 2008 | Reply

  4. My resolutions in 2008 are as follows and in no particular order:
    1. Get over my boyfriend – Can anyone recommend a therapist?
    2. Get a new job – preferably in corporate America where I hear they make lots more money than public servants.
    3. Visit my dead relatives at the cemetary more.
    4. See more local bands – need more recommendations from you BlogFree!
    5. Be nicer to my husband.
    (Fooled you guys with that one!) My real #5 is to vote for someone who will win in November.

    SummerGirl | Jan 2, 2008 | Reply

  5. SummerGirl,

    I don’t keep up with the local music scene as much as I once did. Seeing more local bands should be one of my resolutions as well.

    Thanks for commenting,
    Dan

    Dan | Jan 2, 2008 | Reply

  6. OK. Is it “Andy Renko” played by the great Charles Haid?

    M.B. | Jan 2, 2008 | Reply

  7. MB

    Renko is incorrect. You were closer with your first guess.

    The character who expressed his indifference by stating, often with a toothpick in his mouth, “it’s no skin off my nose, babe” was Det. Neal Washington (Taurean Blacque), the straight shooting and sometimes prescription painkiller-abusing partner of the infinitely more troubled J. D. LaRue.

    Thank you for playing. I think this proves that you do still need me on the trivia team.

    Dan | Jan 3, 2008 | Reply

  8. I’ll bite…
    1) Finish the book.
    2) Post at least 100 new rewinds.
    3) Copy Dan’s #2, 9, & 11.
    4) Lose 40 Pounds.
    5) Win a trivia night with only 3 players. Doing it with 4 is so 2007.

    Russ | Jan 3, 2008 | Reply

  9. Russ,

    About your trivia night resolution, be careful there, Icarus, lest you be singed. You need those other seven players, if for nothing else than to supply appetizers and fetch you Newcastles.

    I look forward to the book. Maybe I can get a Sunday AM article out of it when its published.

    Dan

    Dan | Jan 3, 2008 | Reply

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