Mood:
a-okNow Playing: Elvis Costello
Hello Darlings,
Have you made any New Years resolutions? Wait, don't tell me. Let me guess.
1. You're heading back to the gym
2. You're going to curb your foie gras intake
3. You're going to dial back the on-line shopping/porn
4. You're going to stop dating douche-bags
5. You're going to kick your gambling habit
Listen up, don't go changin' to try and please Miss O. She loves you just the way you are. But really, let's all try to be douche-bag free for 2011. One of my dear pals dated a guy a few years back who tried to back-pedal out of their relationship by claiming he wanted to be "commitment-free" for the New Year. Um, delete. No, first club him with a blunt object, and then delete.
There is one resolution that I champion all year round. I would love you more if you quit smoking. Darlings, are any of you still smoking? I'm not going to lecture you about your health, but think of the mouth wrinkles. Unsightly! If you won't quit that unseemly, stenchy habit for the good of your lungs, then do it for vanity. Ok, I've said my piece/peace. (Miss O reserves the right to re-visit this topic or any other of her choosing for the next decade. or four. It's important to get things in writing.)
I like resolutions, the idea of a fresh start. Oui, bien sur, every day, every hour can be a fresh start. I used to write out my list of resolutions in marker, on legal paper (one year as many as 20!) I would tape them to the fridge as a helpful reminder. I need to spend some time defining my goals for 2011: most of them will be professional/creative projects I would like to finally accomplish. To wit, 15-months ago, I wrote the first page of the book I have been planning to write for the last...15 years. I've written two more pages since, so I think I may be on a roll. Miss O has a doctorate in procrastination so be sure to check back in with her on these goals;)
Anywho, one of my goals for the year is the completion of a project entitled 52 Girls. I won't get into the details now, because then you would be privy to the shadowy inner workings of Miss O's brain. Suffice it to say that it should unfold at the rate of one "girl" per week for the year. The title of the project is taken from the classic B-52's song...which leads me on a whole other tangent...
The B-52's eponymous debut album was the first real record I owned. Bought with my own money. The B-52's and Elvis Costello, My Aim is True.* The year was 1980. I was -2 years old. Don't try to do the math, just accept that I am 29 and always will be.
*My next purchases were 45-singles of Let's Get Physical, Our Lips Are Sealed, and Always Something There to Remind Me. It would be a long time before I would commit to an entire LP again.
I was introduced to both Elvis and the B-52's by my big sister, still the hippest person I know. What joy to slide those vinyls out of their sleeves. It was always done with a hushed reverence. I know technology and mp-whatevers are the way of the future, but it's just not the same as gingerly handling a record, or a book for that matter. Sure, an e-book is easier to carry around, but I love paper. So sue me. Miss O is a fan of the vintage, the retro.
I am so retro that I still go to the library (I have to credit Honey for this.) Our local branch is also a mediatheque and this week I decided to get back to my roots: I checked out those two epic albums that contributed so much to my musical formation, my musical personality. And... they are still freakin' awesome! And yes, I still knew every word, every beat, every guitar riff. I was in a new wave time capsule.
I just might get too sentimental "like those other sticker valentines". What can I tell you, my aim is true.
Darlings, Miss O wants to know: what are the records and the songs that formed you?
To resolve or not to resolve? Think of 2011 as a clean slate. What are you going to do with it?
