Below are my New Year's Kerouac-olutions for 2010 A.D.:
1. Read Atlas Shrugged
2. Read The Subterraneans
3. Lose 20 pounds
4. Read Dr. Sax
5. Read Vanity of Duluoz
6. Read Maggie Cassidy
7. Use the Versaclimber or hike an equivalency 3 times per week
8. Attend Lowell Celebrates Kerouac! 2010 with Crystal
9. Get tenure at UMF
10. Have my second book well under way
11. Build a woodshed and a deck (or cause them to be built)
12. Visit Arkansas
13. Write 100 poems
14. Wrap up mom's fiscal affairs
15. Upgrade to a better camper situation
16. Win the songwriting competition at Podunk
17. Win the band competition at Podunk
18. Meet Helen Weaver in person
19. Collaborate on a piece of music with David Amram
20. Figure out how to use my Blackberry as a modem for my laptop
21. Clean out and organize my office
22. Wash my car at least once during the year
23. Buy Crystal flowers at least once a month
24. Drive cross country along Jack's route
25. See Jason
26. Get my stock portfolio back to at least even
27. Go rock climbing with Keith at least once
28. Try acupuncture for my right hand dystonia problem
29. Consciously appreciate the Hell out of every day the temperature is
above 70 degrees and it doesn't rain
30. Make it to 55 years young with no major health events
FYI, below were my New Year's Kerouac-olutions for 2009 A.D. with the outcomes (in parentheses):
1. Read The Subterraneans (FAILED)
2. Blog every day (FAILED)
3. Attend Lowell Celebrates Kerouac! 2009 (DONE)
4. Read Ann Charters' Kerouac biography (DONE)
5. Publish Charlie's book of poetry (DONE)
6. Increase my blog traffic to 50+ visits per day (FAILED)
7. Continue the monthly free book giveaway (FAILED)
8. See my book reviewed in a "legit" newspaper or magazine (FAILED)
9. Send a copy of my book to David Amram (DONE - IN PERSON)
10. Accomplish at least 20 additional Kerouactions from The Beat Handbook (FAILED)
Let's hope I can do better than a 40% success rate in 2010.
Happy New Year everyone. Dig the ride!
A great list of resolutions. By the way, have you read Memory Babe? I see you read the Ann Charters bio in 09. Just finished Memory Babe, which I think I prefer over the Charters book. Good luck with your resolutions. I am just about to turn 56 and have had only one "major" health issue: just had a stent put in a heart artery to open it up. No heart attack etc, just got a 'feeling' something was wrong. Now I have a new start, a second chance. Why am I tellig you this? Absolutely no idea. Have a good year, and I am also about to get to Subteraneans..but after reading Memory Babe, I feel like I've read it already!!
ReplyDeleteWriterman, thanks for posting! Memory Babe was the first Kerouac bio I read. I preferred it to Ann Charters' bio, but I hesitate to admit that since Nicosia is absolutely persona non grata with the Lowell crowd. Jack's books come alive when you've read a bio because they are so biographical! Glad you caught your health issue in time and have a great 2010.
ReplyDeleteRegarding "Atlas Shrugged," you might find my still-in-progress collection of podcasts on the novel of interest.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ExploreAtlasShrugged.com
-- Diana Hsieh. Ph.D, Philosophy
-- http://www.DianaHsieh.com
Diana, thanks! I will check it out!
ReplyDelete