DEAR ALIZARIN: For Auld Lang Syne

First, above is a link to answer all the silly questions about what does "Auld Lang Syne" mean. Jeez, didn't anyone learn about Burns in high school? We aren't really supposed to understand it.

New Year's Eve.

As my dear friend said a few hours ago: "Phew, I now have plans for New Year's Eve and the rest of my year is set."

As I am reading the wonderfully meditative The Life of Pi, it is curious to think about our obession with time and marking time and keeping time and filling time.

Which brings to mind my viewing of one of my favorite books/movies, About a Boy, in which the main character divides life into units of time to be filled. A concept I am reminded of as I move into my two month break from school. There is always the adjustment period on how to move from a rigid schedule to none at all.

And then there is that 'magic' moment where in our minds the numbers flip like the countdown from Lost from 2-0-0-5 to 2-0-0-6. As if this is more important than each minute that passes us into a new year. Is it? Why, despite all this logic, do I still anticipate that moment -- marking it, enduring it, and getting on the other side of it?

I recently read a piece, I think in the Yoga Journal, about intentions versus goals. So, at some point over the next 24 hours I will think of my New Year's intentions/goals/ resolutions and look over the ones from last year (see the essay on the essaying page). Maybe I'll post them here, just to hold myself more accountable.

Cheers!
Lychee

DEAR ALIZARIN: Optimism is . . .

Alternating the sides of the bed on which I sleep in order to avoid the single person valley in the middle of the bed.

DEAR ALIZARIN: I have witnesses

Well, my dear, with the school year coming to an end and holiday parties on the rise, I decided to take the opportunity to make a more concerted effort into meeting single men in LA. Yes, blaming it on this city is a lame excuse, so, I've been out, lipstick and all, as you suggested.

After parties and bars for the last two weekends, looking fabulous, there just are no single men in LA. Not one. If there were any men at any of these events, they were all either with their spouse/significant other or gay (and even then, not available). The string quartet our choir director hired for the Christmas concert was from the YOUTH symphony and the tenor were all too old. The tenor soloist was a prima donna with a beautiful voice but no manners. Even the party hosted by a single (well, he has a girlfriend) male colleague had no single men there.

I even hit one of the hippest music/comedy clubs in LA with Grooveva, who met her latests beau online, and even with her expert wingwoman skills, we couldn't find any eligible bachelors. Well, there was the guitarist she had a fling with, but it is just a bit creepy to pick up on guys your friends already had flings with.

Finally, my cousin's Hollywood holiday party. She's lived here for over ten years, so surely she must know some single guys. Nope. Not one. At least here I did have a lovely chat with another English teacher, an administrator for a neurosurgeon, a screenwriter rep and an actress. There I have Lalalaleyla as my witness.

So, just wanted to let you know I take your advice to heart, and, though I am having a fabulous time celebrating the holidays, romance remains elusive.

DEAR ALIZARIN: 10 Random Things Blogging Tag Game (A Chance to Make it ALL About Me!)

Apparently, we've been 'tagged' by Miss Grooveva.

The gauntlet has been thrown and now we must face shame or meet the the challenge to list 10 random things about ourselves.

I feel that everything about me is more or less random. For instance, how did I end up in LA, alone, teaching English and yoga? That possibility never crossed my mind that Sunday when my thumbprint was taken and I was forced to think of what I wanted to be when I grow up so that my thumbprint could be transformed into a happy version of me in that profession to be framed and hung on my Christmas tree for eternity. I have two, actually, on my tree at this moment. In one, I am a cheerleader with green pom-poms. I never wanted to be a cheerleader. I imagine I shrugged my shoulders and the woman from the Sunday School sweetly said, "I know! You want to be a cheerleader! All little girls want to be cheerleaders!" Or maybe I did say cheerleader and have repressed such an embarrassing memory. The other is a disco dancer, a fate I more believable dreamt of at the age of seven. Shockingly, I am not a disco dancer. Yea, shocking.

So, as if could get any more random than that, so I will start by trying to explain:

1. In elementary school, my sister and I choreographed our own dance to Rick James' "Super Freak." Not only did my mother not object to her daughters dancing to a song about a "very freaky girl, the kind you don't take home to mother," but she sewed our sparkly purple satin and sequence costumes for the occasion.

2. I was in the 'special ed' aural skills lab group in my music theory class in college.

3. Yet, after two years, my choir still allows me to sing with the alto section. I actually manage to stay in tune most of the time, though if my fellow altos are not there, it gets ugly.

4. This week in yoga class I did my first backbend and it was rather easy.

5. One of the only times I miss having cable television is in December when I know I am missing the numerous airings of "White Christmas" and "Holiday Inn" (I am not sure which one I really miss as I always get them mixed up).

6. I actually like my Ikea furniture, partly because I really don't want to own anything I am not willing to sell cheaply in order to pick up and move if I so desire.

7. I was once a red crayon for Halloween.

8. I really do not miss working in the film/tv industry.

9. I met one of my best friends when she invited me to the women's naked party in college. (I didn't go to that one, but did go to one later in the year).

10. I walk, take the subway, and carpool and the city of LA still lets me live here.

And an extra one because I am no on a roll in contemplating my randomness: I like Christmas music (just not before Thanksgiving or after New Years).

Alizarin, now it is your turn.

And I suppose the idea is to tag someone else, so Leyla and Derzblog (time to come out of retirement!) . . . you are it.

Lychee