There must some easier way for me to get my wings!

Some end-of-year musings...

I've always thought that I am here for a reason. Not some lofty reason that may change the world, simply one that may change someone's life...for the better.

Maybe I've already done that one thing, and I'm on borrowed time. Perhaps that one thing hasn't happened yet. Or it isn't one single thing or event. Maybe there are many yet to come.

One can't help but think these thoughts after watching a certain holiday movie, an annual event for some of us. You know the one where an enthusiastic, life-loving idealist is allowed to see what the world would be like had he not been born. In George Bailey's case, everything and everyone in his life goes to crap without his presence. He is given the opportunity to see one possible outcome of the so-called butterfly effect.

What if that story had gone the other direction? What if everyone had been better off without the principal character? I'm quite certain the book and subsequent script to It's a Lousy Life has already been written, many times over. Instead of a guardian angel named Clarence, George runs into a character named Bill. And Bill needs to shepherd some lost soul farther down in the depths in order to earn his way back into Hades. Bill shows George just how wonderful life would be without his presence! How everyone and everything is much better off without his influence. I picture an eternally pessimistic, self-loathing, manic depressive Paul Giamatti character as the lead. Tommy Lee Jones could play Bill. Brittney Spears would make an appropriate Violet Bick. Sharon Stone as Mary. Marlon Brando (RIP) as Potter. And Gary Busey as that pharmacist guy. Greg Kinnear as Harry, George's brother.

It's a Lousy Life, the movie...it's just a matter of time before we see that flick coming out near the holidays. Fortunately, it will most likely go straight to video and cable, as no one wants to see that sort of story over and over again just before Christmas!

That brings me to my own personal pilgrimage into New Year's Resolution Land. A precise and wonderful land chock full of good intentions, wishful dreams, and abundant good will. A place where I make pledges, promises, and personal predictions about my upcoming new year. An abstract region whereby I actually jot down some words describing my fantasies and daydreams. Another opportunity for real disappointment and unrealistic expectations.

I wax nostalgic quite often. Aaahhh! There...I just waxed again...last year's New Year's resolution blog post.

Let's see: Lose weight (didn't happen, in fact, I gained). Make more money (we won't even go there!). Be a more loving and caring husband, father, son, etc, etc (a work in progress, the jury is still out on this one). How lame! But, alas, no different than any other year. Let's move on.

As lousy as I am about keeping resolutions, I had better not make the one resolution I have been thinking of: Stay alive in 2008. I'll pass on that one.

So with that in mind...here is my one and only New Year's resolution for 2008: Do anything better this year than last!


A final thought. I'll leave you with a joke I heard in a Kate Clinton monologue recently. Her pessimistic, depressed friend always asks her when she calls, "Is anything O.K.?"

Cheers! Visit a pub in 2008.