(Roving correspondent Kristen Tobiason revisits the scenes of our past glories. Today, we take a cup of — non-alcoholic — kindness yet for auld lang syne.)
Making a list and checking it twice. … It’s that time again. Time to make the list we never keep — Empty promises to our inner selves: To get on the wagon; quit smoking; lose 10 pounds; leave the ball and chain; or finally quit the job at the factory and become a rock star, for real this time!
Having already quit smoking, I am finding that my resolutions this year are not groundbreaking attempts at reform but just some small quality-life tweakings. It’s pretty tame.
Here’s what my current list looks like:
1. Return to 5x/week yoga.
2. Get the turntable fixed.
3. Write more and maybe even get out the drawing pencils.
4. Remember to send out b’day cards and thank-you notes.
5. Quit freaking out about getting older.
6. Meditate regularly.
I can imagine what my resolutions would have been when I was younger! (Yipes.)
Maybe something like this:
1. Smoke less, or at least smoke filters instead of non.
2. Lose enough weight to resemble Twiggy or Edie Sedgewick.
3. Don’t drink so much or quit doing it the night before work.
4. Quit dating musicians; they only cause trouble.
5. Ask Mom or Dad to pay that security deposit for the apartment I want.
6. Stop selling really good records when I need money.
So what would have been YOUR resolutions as a much younger self? And how has your list changed over time?
— Kristen Tobiason
More views of San Diego then and now:
- Then and Now: Saigon Palace
- Then and Now: the Chicken Pie Shop
- Then and Now: Off the Record
- Then and Now: Rock Palace
- Then and Now: The Ken Cinema
- Then and Now: Adams Avenue Theater
- Then and Now: Topsy’s
- Then and Now: Greenwich Village West
- Then and Now: Funland
- Then and Now: Studio 517
- Then and Now: La Posta
- Then and Now: Presidio Park
- Then and Now: El Cajon Blvd. Denny’s
mine are pretty pedestrian, too. waaay different from my old self:
1. write more
2. get clear about and find a career that i enjoy. (just working isn’t cutting it.)
3. get out more often. travel, join a club, anything…
4. 20 minutes of yoga EVERY day.
when i was younger?
1. stop loving musicians… they cause trouble. (kristen, i. t. a.)
2. get out of san diego… move to sf.
3. write more.
4. stay home more.
5. save money.
when i look at it all listed it looks boring on both counts.
but the writing is still a need. so yeah, i should stop reading other peoples books and begin my own.
Ah. Sweet year-end reflection.
Here’s what I left out from my young list but have decided to share them anyway:
7. Learn how to drive (I guess I’m over the initial embarrassment Matthew. It’s kind of funny I didn’t drive until my late twenties. NOBODY wanted to teach me. LOL)
8.Stop flirting with other girls’ boyfriends. It’s not nice.
I am loving the evolution that has happened from my younger list -- too bad it took almost 20 years to grow up (kind of -- have become childlike as opposed to childish) and have gone from a chain smoking, boy crazy waif to a healthy goody two shoes mother!
My favorite part of this blog is seeing the “Then and Now” qualities of everyone involved. We’re different, yet still the same.
1. Stop shooting no-doz (check)
2. Stop drinking so much (check)
3. Wear the damned condom (mute point)
4. Write the epic poem (not yet)
5. Seduce that girl … or that one … or….hmm Maybe try that guy?
6. No, its the girl there.
7. Read Joyce’s Ulysses all the way through.
8. Read Homer’s Ulysses all the way through.
9. Stop smoking (check)
10. Stop falling in love (total UNcheck)
“Don’t drink, don’t smoke, what do you do?”
Do yoga!
Kristen,
How the times have changed. In 1983 you would have received a citation and a heavy fine for quoting Adam Ant. Who would have thought twenty five years ago that I would ever admit to liking the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, or that Toby Lifehater would fess up about his love for Air Supply?
Speaking of cigarettes, the other day I was on my yearly, unavoidable trip to a mall, and I saw three people smoking cloves! I was hit by the overwhelmingly familiar scent of Jakartas, and I instantly looked around, half expecting to see Jody, Shawna and Mara standing there, or hear the rumble of scooters starting up.
The aroma triggered a flash of memories and feelings. The funny thing is, I think they were actually Indonesian people, which I suppose is at least a good excuse.
Toby likes Air Supply! HA!!! I am SOOOOOO going to give him shite for that. neener neener neener…..didn’t somebody recently cop to liking Seals and Croft too?
Ok. I have Fleetwood Mac Rumours. And Steve Miller Fly like an Eagle. Love the intro. I’m so glad I’m not cool anymore.
I used to love smoking! Up until the point where it became habit. I first starting smoking french Gallousie and Gittanes. After Tommy got the job at Racine and Laramie, it was Dunhills, Rothmans and sometimes Balkan Sobranis -Russian cigarettes called Sputnik -- basically anything exotic with neat packaging. It wasn’t just a habit. It was a hobby. Pat got me into smoking Chesterfields. He told me that it contained the key to the Emerald City.
My lungs are thanking me for quitting and so is my husband!
omg. cloves. yum. i still hit one once in a greeeeat while just for nostalgia. and yeah, i am aware of the ramifications! but oh the smell… and the sugary goodness. i can’t stand smoking for the most part, but those djarum/jakartas are divine!
ray that is so funny that you thought of us. jody and me and shawna and robin used to smoke them in obscene quantities.
and yes to the holiday ham!
i thought of one thing that stands out in the “admit it here and not be shamed” category:
i LOVED abc. loved them. and one day at dirks house he took a copy of their album and stuck it in the oven. made a warped mess of it and then tacked it to the wall. proclaimed it his opinion on new-ro. period. full stop. i was mortified. i still love them. and they will go down as my guilty pleasure along with dee-lite and journey.
Kristen:
To be fair, he actually likes Hair Supply, a heavy metal tribute to Air Supply. I do, too--they are awesome!
Seals and Crofts? We used to call them “Arts and Crafts.” “Summer Breeze” is okay in that in evokes a certain seventies feeling, but most of these chumps’ work is HORRIBLEE. I googled the lyrics to their song “Hummingbird”:
Oh hummingbird, mankind was waiting for you to come flying along.
Heavenly songbird, we were so wrong. We’ve harmed you.
Oh hummingbird, lend us your wings. Let us soar in the atmosphere of Abha.
Lift us up to the heaven of holiness, oh source of our being, oh hummingbird.
Hummingbird don’t fly away, fly away. Hummingbird don’t fly away, fly away.
In you I’ve found a fragrance. I’ll love you ’til I die.
I just love you, love you, love you. I don’t even know the reason why.
Let me quote them once again for effect:
“I just love you, love you, love you. I don’t even know the reason why.” That reminds me of the cuppy cake song. WARNING: DISTURBING VIDEO AHEAD!
Oh yeah, and Matt: One NEEDS to numb the throat and impair the gag reflex in order to smoke a holiday ham.
One more thing Kristen: “Time keeps on slippin’, slippin’, slippin’ . . . into the future.” That’s just brilliance, right there.
Thanks Ray, I’m laughing so hard I can barely type.
Unpunk band (duo) I always liked: Yaz
Fly Like an Eagle -- SMB -- 1977
Get Up, Stand Up -- BM&W -1973
Slipping Into Darkness -- WAR -- 1971
Resolutions: Procrastinate less
Live more
Here’s to a kinder, less totalitarian new era.
New Year’s resolution: Fly to San Diego and spray-paint on the bridge near University and Palm:
Ray Brandes Is My Cuppy-Cake Gumdrop
bahhahaha!!!! matthew! that’s far better than “steve f g is dead”, but, creepily, no less disturbing.
ray, you are on a roll. hair supply… time keeps on slipping. and man, that kid is not what you want to see first thing in the morning. the warning was unheeded, unfortunately. i think i will have nightmares. you owe me a drink.
Ava: My daughter and I have discovered it makes a fine mashup with “I Am the Walrus”: You’re my cuppy-cake gumdrop, singing Hare Krishna, man you should have seen them kicking Edgar Allen Poe!”
Get Closer to GOD!
Climb Mt. Everest.
Love.
matthew: o man… link that for me so i can show henry. he will thank you and so will i!
pinhole camera
gum printing
learn to make stinky cheese
Here’s what some of us were doing exactly a quarter-century ago: