Monday, me and the lizard

Most people I know are cynical about New Year’s Resolutions. We’ve all “been there, done that” and often failed at it. I am no exception. Still, hope springs eternal or something like that. I’d like to think I am attracted to making resolutions because I am such a goal oriented person. But if I were truly a goal oriented person, I wouldn’t keep crapping out at the resolution game, now would I?

One of the things I resolved to do during the recently arrived 2011 (Mmmm, it still has that New Year smell….) is to write more. So, see–that’s what I’m doing right now–writing.

I used to blog on Myspace and I had a pretty good time with that for a while. Now that Facebook has become the dominant social network on the planet and made Myspace so insecure it is flailing around, throwing down new formats and such, I can’t log into Myspace without getting a headache. This isn’t just about resisting change. No, they have seriously jacked up that website. And I thought Facebook was too “busy”…

What Facebook is, is not a place to blog. So, I went in search of something else. I have a Blogger blog that I set up a long time ago as a place to archive my old Myspace blogs. But a friend recommended WordPress and I wanted to start fresh, as it were, so here I am.

I thought I’d begin by writing morning pages–20 minutes of stream of consciousness writing as recommend by Julia Cameron in The Artist’s Way. Julia is down on typing your morning pages–she recommends writing in long hand and she has a point–but it is hard to hand write a blog.

I am going to write morning pages every weekday in January to sort of prime the pump. And I have some other ideas. Mostly, I just want to write. I have no idea if anyone will read this blog, but I have always felt that if you write it, they will come. We’ll see.

I have found that I tend to look at life a little differently when I am actively blogging. Perhaps it is because I am always looking for material so I look at life with “Blog-goggles” on and that skews the perspective in some usually interesting new way.

I should mention that while I am typing this, there is a lizard loose on my computer desk. As I was beginning this blog, he walked across the top of my monitor. I am not afraid of lizards, but I don’t want them in my house. There are cats in my house.

Cat + Lizards = No good can come of this.

He was too quick for me when I tried to catch him and now he is thrashing around in the pile of receipts that my partner obsessively saves because he seems to shop only for the pleasure of returning things…

That was an example of what happens when you do this whole stream of consciousness thing for 20 minutes. You never know what surprises lie in store for you as you just try to keep writing…

I slapped some vacation days up against the New Years holiday, so I am finishing up a 5 day weekend. It has been pretty nice.  The partner and I celebrated New Year’s Eve with French Onion soup (a recent specialty of his) apple pie, porn and bourbon.

Shocked? You weren’t expecting the bourbon were you? The partner doesn’t like champagne.

The lizard has quieted down now. He must be nestled in that pile of receipts. I hope I remember to tell the partner there’s an amphibian in his receipt pile.

My 20 minutes are up. Time to move on for now.

Happy New Year. Happy Monday.

Tags: Morning Pages, New Year's Eve, stream of consciousness