Following My Own Advice

One of the things it says on the back of my business card is “Let yourself fail.” I did a fantastic job of that today.

Gwen has been teaching me how to knit, which I’m enjoying. Unlike sewing, it’s a purely additive craft, which means that if I make a mistake, I can just unravel it to undo it. I seem to have figured out both knit stiches and purl stitches on their own rows, so today I made my first attempt at alternating between them within the same row. In the process, I made a fairly simple mistake with somewhat remarkable consequences. Gwen’s comment upon seeing it was, “What did you do?”

While I was doing it, I could tell something wasn’t right. But, knowing that it was easy to undo, I finished the pair of rows I was working on, rather than bailing out in the middle. That meant I had a nice big sample of mistakes to get feedback on. Tonight, Gwen confirmed what I thought was wrong, so when I get a chance I’ll back up through those two rows and try it again.

Gwen keeps telling me that when something unexpected happens while I’m knitting that I should’t panic. I think the amazing tangle I showed her might have convinced her that I’m in no danger of doing so.

It Lives

It’s possible that over the last six months or so you’ve heard me mumbling (or Tweeting) about a new podcast project I’ve been working on. Even if you haven’t, The Paulcast is now live (and on iTunes).

Every Day is New Year's Day

I’m going to rent myself a house
In the shade of the freeway
Gonna pack my lunch in the morning
And go to work each day
And when the evening rolls around
I’ll go on home and lay my body down
And when the morning light comes streaming in
I’ll get up and do it again
Amen.
Say it again
Amen.

Jackson Browne, “The Pretender”

I’m not big on New Year’s resolutions. Last year I linked to Scott Berkun’s article on why we’re so bad at keeping them and how to make better ones. This year, I noticed Alistair Cockburn’s Post-hoc New Year’s resolutions, and I thought it was fabulous. And I find it strange that we often wait for a special occasion, like the changing of the numbers on the calendar, to try to make change in our lives, when we have the opportunity to do it whenever we want.

So I’m not making any New Year’s resolutions. Sure, I’ve got things I want to accomplish in 2012. The way I’m going to get there, though, is by making Today’s resolutions, and This Week’s resolutions. I don’t live my life a year at a time, so I don’t like trying to make resolutions at that scale. I’m going to pick the things that I need to do now, and do those every day until I need to do something different. When will that happen? Maybe a year, maybe less; I’ll know when I get there.

I understand the symbolism of New Year’s resolutions, and I understand the importance of symbolic resolutions to help inspire you. More important, though, are resolutions that help you do the hard work, day after day, that get you to your goal. And those can happen any day of the week.

Different Perspectives

I’m enjoying the long weekend, taking advantage of the opportunity to do a lot of cooking, hang out with Gwen and her parents (who arrived from Texas on Friday), and generally relaxing. I’ve resolved not to try to get anything done. Whatever happens, happens. Thus far, it’s going pretty well.

The cats, on the other hand, can’t figure out why we’re still hanging around the house. I think they’re plotting to kill us all so they can get some more sleep.

On Stage Again

Last night was my first Friday performance with the Ventura Improv Company in a while, and it was great fun to get back to. We have a slightly different mix of experience levels in our Friday night shows than we do on Saturdays, and we use it as an opportunity for newer members of the troupe to work with our more experienced players. Despite doing this for almost five years now, it’s still hard for me to accept that I’m in the latter group. Last night, though, I felt like I held up my end of the bargain.

I’ll be performing again this month, on Friday, December 30th. That show will be with my long-form team, Instant Karma, as a build-up to our annual New Year’s Eve Gala. If you’re in Ventura that weekend, you should come out to one or both shows. It’s certain to be a lot of fun.