Happy New Year
"Lets All Party Like its 1969"
"Every year people make New Year's resolutions. It's supposed to represent a contract between you and yourself. And, if you make it in public, all the better. This will allegedly make it harder to back off of your resolutions for fear of being labeled a loser. No one really believes this, mind you, at least not for long. Give it a few days, maybe a week, and everyone will have returned to their normal slothful state of indifference. Meaning that we can all get back to being that poorer, less productive version of ourselves that makes life so much easier. Not that New Year's resolutions are bad, they're just another ritual, like so many other rituals that are generally meaningless, mostly harmless, and largely insincere. But if it makes you feel better, do it! So, here's our lists of epic intentions for the year to come."
Mark's New Year's Resolutions
1. To be less of a jerk – This is an easy one in some ways, just be nicer, not so hostile or snarky. In other ways, it’s tough. Why? Because a healthy dose of hostility is necessary in a world where so much effort is placed on making "us" feel good about "us" over and above just about every other consideration.
2. Give more time to those in need.
3. Be a better husband, father, grandfather, friend, neighbor, son, brother, etc.
4. Do more to fight the forces of evil. This one sounds good, but, relies too much on some special intuition regarding who and what is evil. Maybe I should just change the word evil to injustice. That’s not a whole lot clearer, but, it is a lot more socially acceptable.
5. Get in better condition; lose weight, exercise more, eat healthy.
6. Write something that will stand the test of time. How much time is the only question?
7. Make some meaningful music. Again, the question about what is meaningful is pretty open ended, leaving me plenty of latitude for self-interpretation.
8. Buy a better camera for shooting cinematic masterpieces about local flora and fauna. Preferably one that works great and is really cheap.
9. Spend as much time in nature as possible, especially wherever bodies of water abound for both swimming and recording images of wild and ferocious crocodilians. Let me stress the swimming and crocodiles are separate things.
10. Expand the traffic for “Weekly Southern Arts”, hopefully increasing its readership from the few to the many.
Mark Magula
1. To be less of a jerk – This is an easy one in some ways, just be nicer, not so hostile or snarky. In other ways, it’s tough. Why? Because a healthy dose of hostility is necessary in a world where so much effort is placed on making "us" feel good about "us" over and above just about every other consideration.
2. Give more time to those in need.
3. Be a better husband, father, grandfather, friend, neighbor, son, brother, etc.
4. Do more to fight the forces of evil. This one sounds good, but, relies too much on some special intuition regarding who and what is evil. Maybe I should just change the word evil to injustice. That’s not a whole lot clearer, but, it is a lot more socially acceptable.
5. Get in better condition; lose weight, exercise more, eat healthy.
6. Write something that will stand the test of time. How much time is the only question?
7. Make some meaningful music. Again, the question about what is meaningful is pretty open ended, leaving me plenty of latitude for self-interpretation.
8. Buy a better camera for shooting cinematic masterpieces about local flora and fauna. Preferably one that works great and is really cheap.
9. Spend as much time in nature as possible, especially wherever bodies of water abound for both swimming and recording images of wild and ferocious crocodilians. Let me stress the swimming and crocodiles are separate things.
10. Expand the traffic for “Weekly Southern Arts”, hopefully increasing its readership from the few to the many.
Mark Magula
Tom's New Year's Resolutions:
1. Be kind to those around me.
2. Be kind to everybody else.
3. Be patient with drivers from out of state. They aren't actually the spawn of Satan, it just seems that way.
4. Lose weight, exercise more, etc.
5. Finish my novel, "Angel."
6. Continue making meaningful music with Mark.
7. Increase my income, decrease my debt.
8. Make more friends, i.e., increase WSA readership!
Thomas A. Hall
1. Be kind to those around me.
2. Be kind to everybody else.
3. Be patient with drivers from out of state. They aren't actually the spawn of Satan, it just seems that way.
4. Lose weight, exercise more, etc.
5. Finish my novel, "Angel."
6. Continue making meaningful music with Mark.
7. Increase my income, decrease my debt.
8. Make more friends, i.e., increase WSA readership!
Thomas A. Hall
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