Happy New Year | I Resolve…

Happy New Year, Everyone!  I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Years, and here’s wishing everyone a safe, happy, healthy and prosperous 2017!  Now it is time to get to that part of the New Year which we all approach with the best intentions and sadly, for the most part, fail to follow through on.  Of course, I’m talking about the New Year’s Resolution List.  I think that the problem with New Year’s Resolutions is that we tend to set our goals unreasonably high.  Okay, I understand that if you are setting goals, you might as well set them high.  If you do not reach your intended goal, at least you have probably achieved some notable success along the way.  I get that.  The problem is, we expect too much of ourselves, and unless we are completely and totally committed to something, we probably will find ourselves backsliding.  So, at the risk of being called a slacker and a backslider (any more than usual), here is my list of ten New Year’s Resolutions.  Hopefully I will be able to follow up on them in the months ahead…

1.  I resolve to keep my studio clean and organized.  Guilty as charged, I make this resolution every year.  I clean and organize my studio early January every year.  By the 22nd, it looks like Thing 1 and Thing 2 have been through the room.  Don’t get me wrong, it doesn’t look or smell like a locker room.  It simply is not organized.  I prefer organization, and do my best work in such conditions.  But, try as I might, I simply cannot keep my workspace as efficient as I would like.  I have seen pictures of Einstein’s office, and it looks like a bomb went off in it.  However, Einstein was a genius trying to figure out things like Why Is There Air.  I’m just trying to paint a few pictures and write a few blogs.  But, I will stick with tradition and make this a resolution.

2.  I resolve not to go postal when intellectually and courteously challenged motorists refuse to use their turn signal.  This is going to be a tough one.  Nothing pushes my buttons more than waiting at a stop sign and some Bozo turns right without using their turn signal.  Or, indicator, depending on which side of the pond you are on or from.  You are strolling up the road.  You are going to turn right.  You see a car waiting for you at the stop sign.  Turn on your right blinker.  It’s standard equipment on every vehicle.  It’s located right there on the left hand side of the steering column.  Up for a right hand turn, down for a left hand turn.  It even resets itself after you make the turn.  The car waiting at the stop sign advances through the intersection.  You make your right hand turn, and we both get on with our lives.  It is not a difficult concept.  If you cannot see the car ahead waiting at the stop sign, you shouldn’t be driving in the first place.  See, I’m getting all worked up already…

3.  I resolve to keep my car clean, inside and out.  This is another one I make every year and end up failing miserably.  I once read we spend 4.5 years of our lives in our car.  It seems we would want to keep it clean and orderly, but that simply does not happen.  I’m not one of those people who flip out when my floor mats get a little dirty or my console gets a little dusty.  Nor do I drive a rolling dumpster.  I’m somewhere in the middle.  Someone can ride with me, find a place to sit and put their feet and not be afraid to touch anything.  The outside is a little different.  I will drive through the $8 car wash up the road, but rarely wash and wax my car myself.  I resolve to do that at least once this year.  Does going to the detailing place and paying $25 for them to do it count?

4.  I resolve to keep our yard clean and trimmed.  I have always tried to keep my yard maintained well.  When I was a kid, I had no choice.  I cut the grass.  That was one of my chores, along with taking out the trash, drying the dishes (pre-dishwasher), and making my bed.  The last one has stuck with me throughout my life.  I even make the bed when staying in a hotel, much to the amusement of friends and loved ones.  But, I digress.  This Christmas, I got one of those leaf blowers that straps to your back and sounds like a Funny Car.  So, I became That Guy.  You know, That Guy in the neighborhood that fires up his leaf blower at 8 am Saturday morning.  I can pretty much assure you I won’t be doing that, but there are a lot of trees in our neighborhood.  Hence, there are a lot of leaves.  I needed some serious horsepower to clean up the leaves that fell after The Drought.  I got it, with plenty to spare.  Just please don’t throw a hand grenade at me.

5.  I resolve to not eat liver, fried bologna or Spam.  Okay, so this one is a no-brainer.  I cannot eat liver.  I have tried all different kinds cooked all different ways and it remains the one thing I simply cannot get down.  Now, call me un-Southern, call me neophobic, but I have never eaten fried bologna or Spam.  And I can pretty much assure you that at this stage of my life, I probably won’t.  Now, I love bologna.  I have eaten bologna sandwiches my whole life.  But, let’s face it, it’s not exactly the most nutritious lunch in the world.  It seems to me that if you fry it, you might as well load the cholesterol up in a syringe and inject it.  Honestly, I never had even heard of fried bologna until I was grown.  We simply did not eat it when I was growing up.  Nor Spam.  As many times as I went camping in the Boy Scouts, it is a wonder I never ate Spam.  And, it’s not something I had an aversion to.  I simply never ate it.  And, from what I understand, I’m not missing much.

6.  I resolve to spend more time with my VW Cabriolet.  As I have reported in this space, my ’69 VW Cabriolet is now in storage in the basement of my step-son Lars’s house.  I am eternally grateful for that, but I have been remiss about spending time tending to it.  We were there Christmas morning, and I went down to check on him (I refer to my Cabriolet as “him”).  He refused to speak to me.  I can’t blame him.  So, I resolve to go over more often, change his oil, adjust his valves and take him for a few blasts around the block.

7.  I resolve that 2017 is the year I will finally purchase a motorcycle.  I’ll get back to you on this one.

8.  I resolve to play more golf.  All right, quit laughing.  Golf is played outdoors.  Not on an Xbox.  So, maybe what I’m saying is I resolve to spend more time outdoors.  Jackie is encouraging me to start playing again, and there is nothing I love more than walking nine holes on a beautiful summer evening.  There was a period in my life I was completely and totally obsessed with the game.  However, I eventually realized I was nowhere near good enough to ever win any more than a few bets.  So, I eventually got to the point I do not devote a fraction of the time to it than I used to.  That being said, I have stood on the Swilcan Bridge in the eighteenth fairway at St. Andrews.  I have been to the mountain top.  It’s all downhill from there.

9.  I resolve to do a plein air painting.  A plein air painting is one that is done outdoors.  Not working from reference material, but painting what the eye actually sees.  It is something I have never done and, as an artist, I feel I need to do.  Sounds like a good excuse for a trip to the beach or the mountains…

10.  I resolve to try not to do anything I will regret.  I have regrets.  Some people say that they have none.  That’s great, but there are things about my life that if I could go back and change, I would.  So, I resolve to try not to make any such mistakes.  One thing I am is thankful.  I am thankful that The Good Lord gave me a gift and I have the opportunity to share that gift with the world.  I am thankful I am able to sit here and write this blog.  I am thankful for each and every one of you reading this, and I hope my paintings and pontifications bring joy into your lives.  If so, mission accomplished.  For most artists, however, it is a tough way to make a living.  A few of us reach fame and fortune in our lifetime, some after we are on the other side of the sod.  Most of us, however, have to work a real job.  I am thankful that I have one that affords me the ability to take care of the one I love.  And, I am thankful that I have love and I will to do whatever I have to do to honor that.  I am thankful to be blessed with a beautiful daughter and grandchildren.  I love life, and each and every one of you.  

I realize that this has been a long blog entry.  If you have made it this far, thank you for reading.    Now, let’s plow on through 2017… Still Cruisin’!  –J.