Resolving to Have a Resolution

1/1/12
It’s New Year’s day, and Spike is taking care of its viewers by showing the entire Star Wars trilogy.

I feel like I’m writing from the future, though staying in the last significantly populated time zone, I’m writing from the past. 2012 is upon us, and I have missed a New Year’s Resolution, which was to finish the book. I was sure I was going to, but here we are. It’s two and a half years after I wrote the last word, finished the epilogue, with the three first chapters in their newest form, which I thought was a vast improvement. There was a small level of arrogance, though, I’ve found, as I attempted to cram several useless names into the reader’s head immediately and expect them to keep up. I’ve got a new plan, and it won’t take much work, I think. So not counting it, I have less than a chapter to go, as I finished another today. In fact, I have five scenes left which I will condense into four. Then I’m done with 6a.

Much of writing is clearer to me now than when I started, and I’ve noticed another sort of arrogance in my writing that I have been eradicating: expecting the reader to care about flippant words I throw in with half a thought. I may have a view of one of my characters as dangerous (let’s call him V), but it’s far more interesting when I undermine the view, especially through the eyes of another character that does the same. Instead of having all of the characters around him say he’s dangerous, he should think of himself as such, and the others should have a new view of him. Of course, this is one case. I hope I’m keeping a more even hand when I describe a character. Anyone care to help me when it’s done?

This may be the chronologically last time zone in the world, but it’s got to be one of the most fun, and one of the most habitable. I can only blame myself for being away from my friends for so long, so here I am, keeping odd hours and running myself all over town. Gifts for people here, check. Gifts for people back home, nearly check. I’ve gotten Mac & Jack’s, Mexican food, burgers from here to Issaquah, seen the fireworks at the Needle, the RR from Twin Peaks, and gone hiking in some mountains. It really is difficult to see a difference in natural beauty between western Washington and Oslo, except perhaps the mountains are bigger here. I’m recharging batteries I feel like I’ve long run down. This is Seattle, and you can do anything.

My sister and her husband are treating my extremely well, better than I feel I’ve been in a while (certainly in Oslo). Verene is buying organic food left and right, I’m joining her for vegetarian meals, and she’s interested to go anywhere with me: the perfect guide. We’re even drinking raw milk, which, if I had the money for it, I would be a convert. They also hosted this Christmas and it was…hmm…let me put on my Achebe mask for a moment: they threw a Christmas with much food and drink, so that no one went without feeling full at all times, whether from chocolate, or eggnog, or sweet palm wine, nor did anyone feel excluded from the present opening or the games that ensued, whether family or friends, old or new. Those that went and everyone agreed it was one of the best they had ever seen.

But things are looking up in general: I’m getting more hours at work automatically, I still get a Saturday or two off so I can go to the Stortinget tours, and it looks like my grand adventure isn’t at a close yet: I will end up in either Japan or go back to San Francisco next year, and both sound wonderful. A chunk of the big debt has been knocked off painlessly, and it’s going to keep going down, with the next bit coming on soon, it looks like. I’m going into Norwegian level 3 this coming semester, which, if I pass, will put me at the level of conversational.

2011 has been great. I started in Slovakia watching fireworks over the Danube; romanced in Italy; rocked out in Paris; sky-dove, surfed, and wrote in Cape Town; walked a small corner of the Middle East; and ended up in Seattle below the Needle, waiting for the next year to roll in. What’s more, I spent times with a girl I loved that I’ll never forget, even if we can’t be together, and had times with friends that made my life. It ends here, starring my old friends, who are some of my best. It’s difficult to say quite what they’ve meant to me, but I’ve been wanted this entire time, had no bad day, gotten to see everyone, all disagreements and strange feelings two years buried. Being in Seattle offers distance when I want it, and proximity when I find it convenient, as well as walking access to everything I’m interested in, it feels like a city in itself. I challenge another city to match Capitol Hill.

Since finishing the book is too easy a resolution (am I the only one that still does this?), I’m moving onto 1c, and have chosen French. That’s my goal for the next year, and I can do it. Each flick of the tongue, opening of the nose, it’s small flutters of beauty. Feminine, subtle, and airy, I have been obsessed with this language for too long. 2012 is going to be a dazzling year, I can feel it: one filled with new adventures, even if they be a little more austere.

Just checking in to show I’m still alive, and thanks to being back, very much alive. Here’s hoping the new year sees me on this blog a little more, too, as much as I say it. You’ll hear about updates to the list, at the very least: 38a. is approaching quick, and b. seems to be within reach, should I choose to do it. Hope to see you all in the new year. I hope you all had a good 2011, and happy 2012 all around,
-Schuyler

Summation of the Action: Coming to DC in a few days, and one more chapter down. It’s a-comin’, oh boy, it’s a-comin…