New Year's Kerouac-olutions for 2018 . . . Not

As usual, here is a report on my 2017 New Year's Kerouac-olutions. There's time left in the year but it's not going to change anything.

Here is this year's list with an update for each entry.

1. Go somewhere with Crystal we've never been 

UPDATE: We spent most of September in France and Italy.

2. Buy Crystal flowers at least once-a-month (a streak)

UPDATE: I blew this one badly.

3. Attend to home repairs (shed, deck, driveway, chimney flashing)

UPDATE: Got the deck repaired and stained. Shed, driveway, chimney = fail.

4. Start acting like a writer (i.e., write)

UPDATE: What a joke. I'm no writer. Writers write.

5. Read something by Kerouac I haven't yet read (e.g., Some of the Dharma, The Unknown Kerouac)

UPDATE: Fail.

6. Keep The Daily Beat streak going for another year

UPDATE: Fail.

7. Work out at least twice a week (three if possible)

UPDATE: Been doing well with this goal, especially since Europe. I pretty much go to Planet Fitness every other day. It almost offsets my horrible diet and my drinking.

8. Take a road trip to Pennsylvania and visit Charlie on one leg of the trip (which would satisfy #1)

UPDATE: Visited Charlie, albeit the excuse for the overall trip was the death of my friend, Tom Hoover. We attended his services in Pennsylvania.

9. Visit the California Dales

UPDATE: Fail. We're going to try and make a trip in March.

10. Sing and play guitar more

UPDATE: Probably did this more than last year, but not enough.

I didn't even hang with Richard much, get to Jack's grave, or meditate regularly: all things I mentioned in last year's post as things to do in 2017. Of course, I spent a good part of the summer in severe back pain, finally getting a grip on it via a new chiropractor. But that is an excuse.

"Try? Try not. Do. Or do not. There is no try." ~Yoda

For diehards, here is the link to last year's post, which contains links to all previous Kerouac-olution posts: http://thedailybeatblog.blogspot.com/2017/01/new-years-kerouac-olutions-for-2017.html.

So, what are my 2018 Kerouac-olutions? 

NONE. NADA. ZIP. Not in the right frame of mind to post a bunch of hoo-haw that won't get done.

No resolutions, no disappointments.

Here's to a non-disappointing year. (What a low bar I have set for myself.)

Where I've been redux

You may have noticed that I haven't blogged since mid-November. Let me go tangential here and say that I don't know exactly how you would notice that. That is, even though I am a blogger, I don't "subscribe" to any blogs and get notifications, and consequently I am ignorant of how it works at your end. But indeed, if you noticed, I thought it might be apropos to comment on my absence.

In a nutshell, I just need(ed) a break. Not so much from blogging -- hell, I wasn't blogging often enough to make it a burden -- but from the avowed content of my blog: all things Kerouac.

Now that may seem blasphemous to say, but it's the truth. I found myself struggling to find something to say -- which has happened in the past -- and I diagnosed it as just general boredom with the topic.

So, I haven't been thinking about Kerouac, reading Kerouac, or writing about Kerouac for nigh on to a month. And it's been good for me to do that.

I don't know when or if I'll take up the gauntlet again. When the muse strikes, I will answer the call.

It's not like I've been missed. Only one person even commented about it. But that sounds like fishing for a compliment. I'll leave it there since it was first thought (best thought?).

Maybe after the craziness of the holy days subsides I'll venture back to a weekly post about something Kerouacian. Maybe not.

We'll see.