Long live the resolution

My 32nd resolution was to break no more than 12 of the other resolutions, but adding up my successes and failures, I see that I failed to keep 15 of them (make that 16 since I didn’t keep the 32nd, either).

Hey, 50/50! Not bad, if you ask me. Sit-ups and hiking? Check! I also did my taxes early, got that paper shredder I wanted and managed to change my wiper blades (though by default since they came with the new car that replaced the dying one, but it counts). I witnessed more sunrises, did more for noble causes than last year and hid all Facebook app users from my news feed.

On the “fail” side: I didn’t hang out in Tijuana, finish writing my novel, solve the Israel/Palestine conflict or figure out how to keep my girlfriend. C’est la vie.

2009 Rollover Resolutions for 2010

1. Tijuana! What am I waiting for? Time to get back across the border and check out the music, art, culture and raw energy of the city, to abuse the Spanish language and befriend my international neighbors, to bring toys to kids in orphanages and drink L.A. Cetto vino tinto at El Lugar Del Nopal. It’s 15 minutes from my door to the other world. Time to conquer drug-war paranoia and bring TJ back into my life.

2. Beat all deadlines at both jobs. Old habits die hard.

3. Visit CityBeat-endorsed events. Local taste-masters like Candice, Anders and Seth will be heeded. They rarely steer me wrong, so I need to let them drive me out of my comfort zone more often this year.

4. Finish novel. The first novel is on a shelf, but this one will be on the shelves.

5. Clean out and organize my garage. This has been on the list for seven years now and it will keep rolling over until it happens. This feels like the year! Really.

New Resolutions for 2010

6. Learn more guitar. Got a better one, on loan from a good friend, so it deserves to be played with more skills than I have.

7. No longer accept “it is what it is” as an explanation for anything unless the person who says it is bald and wearing a sheet.

8. Do not become a tweeter or a twit or whatever you people call yourselves.

9. No more women under 30—i.e. learn from mistakes. OK, maybe 28, but that’s where I draw the line. Really. I mean it.

10. Try making tejj again. Ethiopian wine. First attempt was an elaborate failure, the kind of thing you’d usually not try a second time. I will get it right or get sick trying.

11. Hike as much of the Anza Borrego as possible. I’ve spent the last two years covering a lot of ground in San Diego’s wilderness, but the desert is still mostly uncharted territory for me. I’ll try every desert hike in Afoot & Afield in San Diego this year.

12. Leave the phone at home once a week. Don’t want to forget what life was like before omnipresent instant access to all people and information in the world.

13. Stay off of TV. This year I cancelled cable and gave away the set. I resolve to not change my mind this year.

14. Quit coffee again. Just kidding. Maybe cut down to twice a week? Once a day? Oy.

15. Travel more. Since surviving the ’04 tsunami in Thailand, I’ve been pretty earthbound. Time to shake it off and get out there in the world and see some different stuff.

16. Write more features. This year I hope to get out and scoop up more newsy items for this scrappy little hometown anachronism I call home base. Finally having CityBeat business cards will help.

17. Work tirelessly for progressive candidates in the November 2010 congressional election. A lot of my friends seem irrationally critical of the president. Who is to blame for the lack of a public option in the Senate’s version of healthcare reform? Those who do nothing to help get more progressive Democrats elected to Congress.

18. Keep San Francisco in my life. Since my girlfriend left me and moved there, I have felt a rift growing between the city by the bay and me, but I need to remember that it has been my home away from home for decades, that I have a sister and good friends there and that although my ex-girlfriend’s arms are no longer open to me, the bay bridge will always be.

19. Buy some music. Why not? You know, for old times’ sake.

20. Ride bike to work. It’s pretty far from O.B. to Carlsbad on an old 1940s road bike without gears. But it’s doable, and this year, I’m doing it at least once.

21. Wear a suit and tie on the days I don’t ride my bike to work. It befits a man. Just ’cause I live in O.B. doesn’t mean I have to rock a hoodie and jeans all the time. I’ve already started down this path, but now it’s time to really elevate the sartorial caliber. I’ll never be a Nicolas Engel, the flaneur of Little Italy, but at least I can leave the hiking boots for the trail.

22. Try new things. I will try 10 new things this year. One of them will be to attempt to navigate San Diego’s city-streets bureaucracy to improve the highway signage near Sports Arena Boulevard. Others will be white truffles, crack cocaine and something that blatantly flies in the face of my fear of heights.

23. Add a reader’s resolution. I’ve only got 22 vows this year, CityBeat readers, so I’m interested in jacking one of your 2010 New Year’s resolutions. Send your resolutions to dak@sdcitybeat.com. I’ll choose one challenging resolution and compete with you to git ’er done. Beating me will be your added incentive, and as we now know, you’ve got a 50/50 chance of taking me down.