Public v. Private

The New Year is almost here . . . so I strongly encourage everybody to get in all the swearing and overeating you can in the next for days, because we're all gonna do better in January.

I've had several suggestion-type resolutions come to the old email, and I'm whittling towards a resolution and someone to work with.

One of the things that I'm most interested in finding out through this experimenting with other people's promises: resolutions, as with so many things in life, are a deeply personal mode of operation. Where some folks want to quit smoking cold turkey, others want to ween. Where some have a scientific weening, others ween by feel. From a different angle: where some folks want "to be in better shape," others want to run a nine-minute mile or benchpress their own body weight.

Of course, there have been group resolutions (I'm generalizing now, and I know it) for as long as there have been personal resolutions, and these have had their own pros and cons. Personally, I'm excited to see how this all pans out: the very private process of resolution butting up against the largely public product of the blog.

Congratulations Are on the Way

Okay, so I think this will be a good project for a number of reasons. First off, misery loves company, pleasure loves company, hell, company loves company some times, and a number of resolutions will bring a combination of those things.

Beyond that, having someone else to encourage and celebrate even the most mundane event makes that event seem worthwhile.

There are other reasons, but I want to be clear about this: I like positive feedback. This will be a place where at least a few people will congratulate us on a regular basis for sticking to our promises. It'll be fun. It'll be rewarding. People will like us. Email me.

For the blog, you can be anonymous if you want -- I'm excellent at keeping secrets -- or I'll call you The Jackal, and, no, not just because I'm reading The Day of the Jackal right now.