Robert

I think that livejournal is a kind of constructed universe. We all live here in a kind of stylized dialogue, which is "real" and "not real" all at once. I have no desire to make "real life" resolutions, because I know what I am supposed to do, and I need to just darn well do it, rather than go on about it.

But maybe Livejournal presents an opportunity to make resolutions, as resistant as I am to New Year's resolutions this year.

Therefore, here are my LiveJournal resolutions:

1. I want to make more observations and fewer pronouncements in my posts this year. At the same time, I want my posts to range wild and free, across a world of topics and opinions. I want to break the chains of recurrent themes, and seek out new topics.

2. I want to make my comments more resonant with the posts, and less debating or cheerleading. I want to be as postive as I can, without being saccharine. I want to remember that other people have radically different views of the purpose of comments in their journals than I have of the purpose of commments in mine.

3. When I read something nice, I want to comment to show I read it, even if I don't have something cool to say.

4. I want to hit the random key more often, the way I did when I was first on LiveJournal. I found the most fascinating journals this way.

5. I want to recognize that so often the written word without the nuance of facial expressions can give rise to misunderstandings, and I want to avoid getting too disappointed when this occurs.

6. I want to begin a side journal in which I write something more consciously "literary".

7. I want to continue to use LiveJournal as a means of expanding my knowledge of the real world, and avoid any tendency to use LiveJournal as a basis for avoiding confronting the real world.

8. I want to write more things about fossils.

9. I want to catalog for myself here the things I wish to remember. I may even catalog here some things I wish to forget.

10. I want to post pictures and graphics I create in my journal, and to put together a better personal website page.

11. Once in a long while, I want to check the spelling on a comment.

12. More frequently, I want to edit before I first hit post.

The trend for people I know has been to leave LJ and just put up their own personal weblog websites. I think I'll stay here, as it is less trouble. I like these resolutions, because all but 10. seem easily achievable.

The disaster film The Poseidon Adventure is on the TV movie channel tonight. The whole thing is such a period piece, life circa 1972, except for the giant tidal wave knocking the ship over and all. What was I in 1972? 13? I seem to recall high heels on men's shoes, and hair much longer on everyone than it is now. Glam rock was in, disco was still to come, and dances alternated songs by Alice Cooper with songs by Curtis Mayfield. There does have to be a morning after, after all, no matter what the night before brings. Leslie Nielsen in the non-comic role of the beleagured captain is worth the price of admission on his own. I wish that someone would discover something about this film akin to the Wizard of Oz/Dark Side of the Moon coincidental soundtracking phenemenon. I think it would be great if Ziggy Stardust or the Runes album or the first Black Oak Arkansas album fitted neatly with every word Ernest Borgnine, Roddy McDowall or Red Buttons said in the film. I must sign off, though, as the tidal wave is coming, and I can't remember if Shelley Winters survives.