New Year, New B

I blogged last year about my love for New Year’s; the starting over of it all.  I made my resolution; I sort of kept it.  I say sort of, because how do you really measure “be aware of the time I’m spending?”  I have some great memories from this year, and I think I made more active decisions this year, regarding life choices.  Sooo okay I’m going to give that one to me, what the heck. It’s a new year.

I am 55% excited and 45% terrified about my resolution for this year.  It’s simple, concise, easily measured, but it’s also one of those mythical BIG STEPS INTO ADULTHOOD that could make or break my spirit if I don’t succeed. 

I am going to finish all my started projects this year.

Okay looking at it on paper (screen?) kind of takes away from the drama, but this is a Big Deal.  It came to me, as if in a dream, a few weeks ago when the realization basically punched me in the face:  I have never finished anything that did not have a specific deadline. In my entire life.  

I have sewing projects from the 6^th grade, originally meant for friends that I moved away from but to whom I now hardly speak.  I have two novels (short stories? er, free form poems?)  that I have not touched in over three years.  I have scrapbooks, frames, a Rosetta Stone, pictures, and sewing alteration projects galore collecting dust in the closet in our second bedroom. I hardly finish my meals; I always seem to have something terrible rotting in the fridge that I was totally going to reheat/bake/chef my little heart out, but never got around to it.  I currently have five black bananas in my freezer, just waiting to one day be reincarnated into banana bread.  If I can ever wrench them from the shelf, that is.

I’ve been told that I am this way because I am an artist; I have too many huge ideas and a too short an attention span before the next big creative wave.  And I totally bought into it, for years, bought into the whole “messy artist” persona: the absentmindedness, the clutter. But that kind of thinking does me (and the neat freak* who somehow persists to love/live with me) a great disservice.

My little apartment holds twenty-four years of big ideas, projects, and life-changes gone unfinished.  Where does that put me, in the grand scheme of things, when the only artist I know of who truly gets away with unfinished work is Tupac?  And I mean, I feel pretty good about the quality of work that I do, but I am not Tupac.  This is something that I know.

So this year I am finishing projects. All the ones I started long ago, and all the ones I will start in the future.  Maybe along the way I'll learn how to manage my time, or how awesome it is to actually finish stuff.  Though I have to admit, those two foreign concepts sound a little crazy to me. But I am excited. And I am about to get real crafty. 

Finished products from B.Graham? I hope the world is ready.



*I feel I should mention that he read this and insisted that the "freak" bit is an untruth. 

Still-A-Little-Bit-New Year's RoundTable

Well, the New Year has come and gone, and we’ve had a month to mull it over. 2009 is becoming a memory and 2010 still has that new car smell, but maybe at this point could use a rinse at the ole Gas ‘N Go. These Gentlemen have gathered ‘Round the Table once again, and shared their resolutions for 2010, and how well they have stuck with them for these difficult, and bitterly cold, first 34 days.

David Pratt
New Years Resolutions are a tricky thing. Last year, I made a slew of resolutions regarding individual accomplishments for myself. As best I can remember, I followed through on exactly none of them. I don't think anything sidetracked me or prevented me from going through with what I had set out to do. The goals I had in mind just seemed less important as the year went on, and they went to the wayside.

There is something to be said for Resolutions. They inspire people to try and make something better of this year than the one that came before it. Gym memberships skyrocket. Resumes fly out to dream jobs. People get asked out on dates. Whether or not anything comes from these activities, I can't say. Typically, after a few months pass, people give up on trying to shake out of their routine and try again next year. Some few stick with it and manage to make a significant alteration to their daily habits, but they are the exception to the rule. That said, every little change helps, so we can't discount the usefulness of the practice. However, like writing a book, going to college, or parasailing, it's just not for everyone.

I've decided this year I will make a Resolution. I'm not going to plan a new workout, or to churn out new writing, or anything like that. I'm resolving to spend the next year simply being the best me that I can be, and seeing what comes from that. If it makes me question some of my own behavior occasionally, we can call it a success. If nothing changes, then I didn't lose anything, either. We've got a whole year to find out.

Happy New Year.

Brett
I didn't have a New Year's Resolution. I am on a neverending (not-usually-successful) binge of self-improvement. IT IS ALWAYS JANUARY 2 FOR ME KIDS. WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH YOUR LIFE?

Stephen
New Year's resolutions are fun to come up with, but not so easy to keep. This year should be an exception though. I want to get into Farmville this year. The popular facebook application keeps popping up in my news feed, and I get a lot of invitations, so it must be entertaining. Add that to the fact that I don't really know that much about agriculture and have always wanted to learn more about it, and Farmville seems like the obvious choice for a priority in 2010.

So far I haven't set up the Farmville app, but once the spring rolls around weather conditions should be more cooperative.

ali d
I felt kind of wishy-washy about a resolution this year, honestly, but I felt that I should have one. It does seem to be 'the thing to do' at this time of the year. I mean, there are definitely ways I can be improving my life. Why not reflect on them?, etc etc. So I decided that if I really want to get somewhere with my vocal performance (and I do), I should probably be actively working on that.

My very simple resolution was to look into getting voice lessons again. Not going once a week, not singing scales every day - just look into it. And I didn't even do that. I got busy with work and rehearsals and instead sat around tired and cold on my couch during my time off.

So I decided upon a very simple NY Resolution because I felt I'd judge myself if I didn't have one, and now I'm judging myself because I didn't even achieve my very simple NY Resolution. Next year I think I'll resolve to give myself a break.


Matt Lindeboom
Ugh. I’ve never liked the idea of New Year’s resolutions. I think I’m tainted towards the concept because I’ve seen so many people take it up for fashion's sake only to cast it aside. I tend to see the New Year's Resolution as an inconvenience that floods my gym with new people from January 3rd until about March when status quo returns and I can get back on the treadmill or use the bench press without waiting. But it’s a fantastic idea, isn’t it? Each year you have a chance to make yourself a better person. Renewal and rejuvenation. Each year can be new, its just about dedicating yourself to the work. You resolve. And yet I still feel this snarky cynicism towards it. I dismiss it as one of those rote activities Americans perform each year, up there with buying halloween candy and watching the Super Bowl for the commercials. My attitude could also stem from a contrary nature.


I think resolutions of those sort should be deeply personal. Therefore, that I should dedicate myself to a personal change spurred only by the convention of the New Year feels disingenuous (also kitschy). But I do make resolutions. My senior year I gained a lot of weight, didn’t watch what I was putting into my body, and generally was not conscious of myself. Looking back I feel like I gave up on something. I lost focus. After graduation I took a job as a teacher in Thailand, and through a consistent work out routine (but mostly the huge diet change brought on by a rice dominant culture) I lost all of the weight and then some. Coming back, I vowed that I would never let myself lose focus like I did again. I’ve gone to the gym three to four days a week for more than a year, and I look after what sorts of foods and drinks I put into my body. As a result I certainly feel better and more alive. But I’m not at my goal. In fact, I’m not even sure a “goal” exists. I have no point in mind where I will say, “Oh great! I’m here! Guess that’s over.” It’s a lifestyle I’m trying to lead. One of vigilance and learning. One that I have to renew every single day. There are days I fail out of weakness or laziness, but out of those days I have make my focus stronger. I’ll just have to keep it up til I’m dead.

Max Nova
I had a few for this year:

First - Be more stylish. I think I've made a few subtle stylistic changes, got a few nice pairs of pants, a good pair of shoes, some awesome socks and am moving in the correct direction.

Second - Learn to cook more stuff. I have this one every year, and generally fail. I think it's kinda pointless until the spring when there's fresh produce to cook with and all that. Maybe I'll get it together in a few months.

Third - Make someone laugh every day. I think I make people laugh pretty regularly, but generally I just think I should be more myself in general situations. I tend to be very reserved in situations with people I'm not close with, I should try to loosen up a bit more. Thus far, it's too early to tell how successful I've been.

Damo
2010 is shaping up to be truly transformative for myself and the community. My goals of personal development, public advocacy, and community building are going better than I could have dreamed and I am honored to be surrounded (and supported) by so many incredible people.


There will undoubtedly be bumps in the road, but what can I say? I'm blessed.


Ozkirbas
Personally, I've stopped doing New Years resolutions. Mostly for the single, solitary fact that they rarely - if ever - are successful. Given they're fun to say and share (and it's kinda lame to be that person who speaks like a WASP and says things like "Ohhhh, I don't do resolutions"), so I've concocted one of my own - a resolution so fitting, a resolution so fulfilling, a resolution so undeniably infallible that God himself has spoken to me from the heavens and said, "Holy shit! I'll write that down!" And that resolution, Gentle Readers, will be revealed to you - here, today - in the space below this paragraph. I present to you, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, my New Years resolution:


"I resolve to be awesome"


But, wait there's more! No, Gentle Readers, it is not enough to simply "be awesome," or to do "awesome things," or to "perform good deeds," or to "wear a suit everyday." No, no that wouldn't be awesome, but lame - which is the exact opposite of awesome! And, the specific thing my resolution is trying to help me avoid! No, Gentle Readers, in order for this vague, impersonal resolution to battle against it's inherent implication of lameness, in order for it to exist as the contradiction of something "totally lame, yet totally awesome": I, too, must begin living - nay - continue living as this contradiction, as well. In order to satisfy this particular definition of awesome, I must battle societal expectations. I must wage war on social convention. I must tear down general presumptions about what to "like" and how to "behave." I must attack the institutions of "what is lame" and "what is awesome." In order to be awesome - I must continue doing things considered lame, but prove that, through whatever inherent awesomeness that makes me me, that I am still, truly an awesome person.


Fact: I write for a blog titled "These Gentlemen"
Fact: I write for a blog titled "These Gentlemen" and frequently write about a re-imagined, science fiction television program titled "Battlestar Gallactica."
Fact: I write for a blog titled "These Gentlemen," frequently write about a re-imagined, science fiction television program titled "Battlestar Gallactica," and still manage to enjoy the company of attractive women.


What have I done in the past month to fulfill my resolution for the year? You tell me... Planet Earth.


B.Graham
I love New Years resolutions. I don’t know if this is just another compulsion to organize my life in clean segments or what, but I really, really love New Years resolutions. And I’ve learned over the years that it doesn’t make sense to resolve to do things I just know I won’t do. Example: Last year I did NOT resolve to go to the gym more often, because let’s be serious, but I did resolve to take better care of my body. And I did that, mostly, and by the end of the year I had lots of medical bills but a lot less pain. Which works out somehow, I think. I hope. Guh.

So this year I’ve made a few (hopefully) doable resolutions.

I want to continue to take better care of my body because I’m reaching the point where it reacts with a much bigger :(! when I abuse it than it ever did before. So far I’ve been eating a bit more often, but not as nutritionally or balanced(ly?) as I could, even after allowing that I require the occasional Big Mac or icing from the can. Two real meals with at least somewhat balanced nutritional value a day is the goal, here, and it’s going to be a tremendous challenge.

I want to avoid picking unnecessary fights as much as I can this year. That will be (and has been) easier than eating well, but there’s that pesky convincing-myself-this-is-really-unnecessary-while-in-the-moment thing to deal with that is going to be… well, hard. So that’s in, shall we say, development.

And, as previously mentioned, I want to be aware of the passage of my time. Not that I think I can cram my year with memories to make time go slower (though that’d be nice, wouldn’t it?), I just want to end this year feeling like I’m spending my 20s instead of saving them for some rainy day. I want to be more aware that there are no rollover minutes in real life, and act on it. So far that hasn’t amounted to much more than a lot of jumbled ideas and plans, but a few are in my daily planner (a lasting relic from another 2009 resolution), so there’s that.

So, 2010, there we are. We've made our beds and are sticking to our guns and other sundry phrases. We're livin' the dream, doin' what needs done. We're resolved. We're resolute. We're... you know, working on it.

And we'll see you next time, as the RoundTable turns.

Resolute

2010 snuck up on me this year, more than any other year has. I don’t know if it’s just because I’m getting older and the years are going by quicker or if it’s a greater phenomenon, but 2009 whizzed by and I’m left looking back and struggling to remember what were my goals, what did I accomplish, how did I spend the last 364 days? And the answer I come up with is this: I have spent the last 364 days being happened to. First Obama happened, and I did have something to do with that. Then the Economy happened, and I rode that wave with the rest of the country. I didn’t lose my job, but my main source of income was in working with Circuit City, and we all know what happened there. So I became part of the legions of the underemployed, hopping from non-paid freelance to ill-paid freelance, barely staying above water and only that because I am fortunate enough to have supportive parents. So I let that happen for awhile. I finally started to get some footing around August, when I moved to a cheaper apartment and got another job. Part-time, but you take what you can get. I was (finally) being proactive! Then a new job practically threw itself in my lap. Full-time, full benefits, and with my mounting medical bills I literally couldn’t afford to pass it up. Now there is money in the bank and I am supposed to be using this month to plan out the next few years. I’ve let time get away from me again, though, and 2010 is tomorrow. For the first time in my life, I know what people mean when they say “one day you wake up and you’re [insert ‘old’ age here].” Living is proactive.

So that’s my new year’s resolution: to be aware of the time I’m spending, and make choices for my life instead of just letting it happen to me. It was very easy to let life happen to me when I was in school because I still felt like I was going somewhere. Real life is so much harder in that sense, and I have to be vigiliant. So wish me luck, and let this be a cautionary tale. A lot is happening in the world that we can’t control, but I don’t think it’s going to stop any time soon. So don’t just wait it out.