I don’t think much about resolutions. One way or another, people do what they want to do, and all too often our desire conflicts with our resolve. But yesterday morning, as I was walking around downtown, waiting for everyone else to wake up, I stopped at Van Vorst Park to eat a banana and watch a father build a snowman for his son.
Why is the snow melting, dad?
Why do you think?
Huh?
Why do you think the snow’s melting? Do you have any ideas?
No.
Is it very cold right now?
Yeah.
Well, it’s cold, but it’s not really freezing. The snow needs really cold air, and the rain we had the other day also made some of the snow melt.
Oh.
It made me smile. All of it: The walk, the park, the banana, the snowman, the father and the son. It was then that my mind turned to the great number of records I had purchased in 2009. I bought more records in 2009 than in any other year of my record-buying life. There are a few reasons for this, of course:Reason: Because I made a little bit more money.
Reason: Because I had finally paid off my credit card debt, I had more money to spend on myself. And money spent on myself most likely meant new records.
And then the big one: Reason: Because so many of the people around me were developing new romantic relationships or solidifying old ones with vows and/or children, I spent more time alone. And time alone meant time with records. Records, in a way, became my vows, my children. (Of course the records don’t love me back—not really, anyway—and I don’t really love all my records the same. For instance, I clearly love Grizzly Bear’s Veckatimest more than I love M. Ward’s Hold Time. But I’ll save those thoughts for some other day.) Yesterday morning, as I was walking around downtown, my mind turned to the great number of records I had purchased in 2009. While in one way or another this great number of records helped to make me happy, I think it is a shame that I didn’t spend more time listening to them. It occurs to me that I may have spent too much time trying to keep pace with every intriguing new release that showed up at Other Music, and at Hospital Productions, and in e-mail newsletters, and in blogs. There are so many outstanding albums released over a course of a year, it is impossible to know them all. There are albums stacked up against my bookcases that remain sealed, dozens more that I have only listened to once or twice. And, obviously, if I’m shopping for records, I’m not necessarily listening to them. (Yes, there is something beautiful and revitalizing about flipping through so many stacks of new and old records at the record shop—it is one of my favorite things to do—but I can experience that sort of beauty without purchasing every album that looks cool to me.)
1. Work harder
2. Play harder
3. Go deeper
4. Love more
5. Avoid hangovers Five seemed like a good number, so I decided to stop there. I have been repeating these five items to myself ever since. And as I repeat them, I am also considering how and why I will achieve them.
