Karen and I hosted her annual New Year's Bash the other night, and I spent much of the time in the kitchen. I made Dr. Write's famous Caesar salad, sweet potato stars baked in orange juice and nutmeg and brown sugar, a Chilean chicken stew called cazuela de ave, brownies, and Pisco Sours for all of the guests. To what do I owe this New Domesticity?
After midnight, someone posited the question of New Year's Themes, and what were they for everyone? Not resolutions or goals, necessarily, but themes. Can you distill everything you'd like to do in 2009 into a one- or two-word theme?
This held some appeal for me since I always have a long list of specific unattainable goals, instead of an overarching theme.
To follow Dr. Write's lead, here were my goals from last year:
1. Create a new branded web presence (no)
2. Take 2 trips (yes! Boulder Utah, Seattle, Chile)
3. Make $xxx and save half (no)
4. Finish Way of the Puck (no)
5. Rewrite The Secret Unbelievable (an old script) (no no no)
6. Live an Interesting Life (no)
7. Be Happy (sometimes, yes near the end)
Actually, looking at these 2008 goals I realize that they were much broader and more achievable than in years past. But still I did not meet them.
So, confronted with this idea of a New Years Theme for 2009, and lacking anything clever to say, I declared that my theme is:
Supra
or... Supra Blank
Transcending... whatever.
Pressed for specifics, I said that I would like to transcend the notion of success and failure, whatever that means. This binary framework is largely unproductive, but it is pretty much the sole metric with which I have traditionally judged my worth. I would like to play past that and just try to have fun this year.
And blog more, of course.
Some others at the party were:
-Enjoy
-Strength
-Sit With It
-Make It Happen
-Etc.
What is your New Years Theme?
3 comments:
Sweet potato stars? already sounds transcendent to me.
I like your idea about going past success and failure, which are too limiting as terms for living a life, I feel. My theme is more of what is good. My only "less" goal is less fretting, because it cuts in on being present for what is wonderful. Good luck with Supra. Also, I fully endorse your "blog more" theme.
I too would like to get beyond success and failure. Which is maybe what supra means? Floating above and saying, "yes, I used to care about you, success and failure, and now I just look down on you."
I'm glad to hear about your domestic bliss and would love the recipes for everything you made.
Pisto sours? I think I had this and it was pretty good.
Theme: Incremental Change
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