Resolutions Reconsidered

All of us make them, and most of us break them. Unless you're like those two jokers Rhett and Link, who keep the bar low enough to come out ahead. Nice work, guys.

Of course, they don't have Sal to worry about. Last year, I drew up a "Top Ten" list of resolutions. She took on the self-appointed duty recently, of giving me a hard time over whatever resolutions I made that I probably didn't keep anyway. Well, as we say back in Ohio, "them's fightin' words!" Below is the list from last year's post at this time entitled "Resolutions," with an assessment of how I did under each one, in blue italics.

10) Pick up the guitar and the banjo again and play like I used to before I entered the Art Institute.

Didn't really happen, but I bought Paul a bass guitar for Christmas of '07, and he eventually got his own advanced model. Plus he moved to a new place with two musicians, who keep their axes and equipment in the living room, ready for action. At least I'm passing the legacy to the next generation. As to THIS generation, see 9 and 8, below.

9) Complete refresher courses in the summer on cascading style sheets and javascript.

I managed to pay for tutoring in CSS, and licked that problem successfully. Javascript instructors were harder to find, however. Now I need one to brush up on PHP and MySQL. Any ideas, people?

8) Finish my studies at the Art Institute. (See 10 and 9, above.)

Between a lack of funds and a lack of availability of required classes (not to mention remedial work necessary to keep up with state-of-the-art developments), it's gonna be THIS year. Really.

7) Finish getting my house in order, do a serious spring cleaning, and cut the rented storage in half.

See 10, 9, and 8, above. Someone told me that I really don't have to keep credit card or utility bill statements going back more than a year. We'll be revving up the shredder for an all-day session real soon.

6) Reduce my credit card debt, and refinance the mortgage.

This actually happened, sort of. Mortgage companies will avoid sitting back while someone forecloses, if they can help it. And in my case, they're helping. So I'm helping myself. This is happening.

5) Brush up on my Latin, and train at least a dozen guys to serve the Traditional Mass.

This happened too, although not quite a dozen. We discovered that guys of middle and high school age have better things to do on a Friday night than serve Mass. Who knew?

4) Brush up on my -- oh, who am I kidding here? -- learn Tagalog.

I was taught a few handy phrases, which Sal and I use around the house when we're arguing. My attempts at the language are the source of constant amusement among her "kababayans" (strictly speaking, people from the same hometown or province; in popular use, fellow countrymen).

3) Earn the scout commissioner's "Arrowhead Award," and possibly the "Commissioner's Key." (These are essentially training awards. They like for us to look busy.)

I managed to look busy last year without the awards, by trying to save two Scout units from going under. Why they tanked in spite of everything is the subject of another post.

2) Lose the thirty-five pounds I lost and gained back in the last five years.

I lost the five or ten pounds I gained this past year. Could have been worse.

And the number one resolution...

1) Get at least one step closer to heaven than this time last year.

The jury is still out on this one. But as John and John (They Might Be Giants) are quick to remind us with their usual theological astuteness, I'm running out of time.

(Notice anything different about the New York City skyline?)
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