Verse Chorus Verse: John Lennon – “(Just Like) Starting Over”

I stopped making New Year's resolutions when I was kid, realizing at an early age talk was cheap. As years went by, I was far too cool to do anything as clearly lame and contrived. For the first time in a long time, however, I find myself revisiting the idea.

What's so lame about having goals? Why is it contrived to start a new year with hope and a plan to do something better or different? Even if it is lame and contrived, I graduated high school in 1992. My ambition should have advanced beyond trying to get a seat at the cool kids' table two decades ago.

It's January 1, 2010. Happy New Year and welcome to it. I'm hitting the reset button and- well, maybe not starting over but I'm ready to begin again.

Resolution #1: 365 VCV Entries

Verse Chorus Verse was born on August 10, 2009. Since starting the series, I've successfully written about one song most days. There were a few times I wrote about two songs in a single day. Sadly there were a fistful of days I had nothing. My #1 goal for 2010 is 365 Verse Chorus Verse entries, preferable one entry every day. We've taken one small step in that direction today. I'm encouraged when I look at how many days since August I did write versus the number of days I didn't. This goal is ambitious but I'm resolved to make it happen. Today we take one small step in that direction.

Resolution #2: 50 Books

I spend way too much time sitting around doing nothing. It's good to take time for rest and relaxation but I'd like to draw a line and cut down on the amount of time I waste. Not only that, but I'd like to spend more time reading. If I had my way, I'd be ridiculously and independently wealthy and the time it takes to read more could come directly out of my time spent working rather than my wasted time. In a bit of foreshadowing, none of my resolutions are likely to put me on the path to sudden wealth, so we're going to have to make the reallocations that are most realistic.

I bought a Kindle last summer and since buying it, I did read a lot more than I have in recent memory but I'd like to read more. How much more? I thought about making a resolution to read a book per week but I like round numbers so I dropped it down to 50. This is probably stretching things, especially since I want to write 365 VCV entries, but I'm going to be ambitious and optimistic. I've already started on this goal as well.

The easiest part is over. I've called my shots and dedicated myself to these pursuits. Step one is achieved. Time to get back to that book.

Happy New Year.