A meme to end the year; a resolution to start the year

I've never been inclined to make New Year's resolutions. Hopes for a coming year, yes. Thinking of things I'm looking forward to in it, yes. But not resolutions.

As this year ends, I find myself feeling rather differently about the whole resolution thing. Much as I like traveling, time away from home went way out of whack this year. Looking at each individual trip, yep, I wanted or needed to take it. Put 'em all together in a 12-month period and it added up to Way Too Much. For values of Way Too Much that add up to 165 nights away from home, plus whatever nights I stayed at debgeisler and benveniste's that I didn't remember clearly enough to count 'em in my tally. Arisia, February, early April, August, all those Wednesday nights in October, and the SFFY stays, I've got. But I know darned well that four months didn't pass without an overnight between April 9th and August 9th. Not a chance. I've already forgotten specifics of other time away this summer, too. I do remember enough to know I was gone at least 45% of the year, and I wouldn't be surprised if it were closer to 50%. Yikes.

I am resolved to spend more time at home in 2007.

For all that time away, I didn't get to all that many places -- fewer than in an ordinary year, actually, and only one out of the country. ( Here are my results for the travel meme I picked up from PNH )

Emma! Fred! Steve! Time Travel Surprise

Sometime in the process of unpacking and settling into The Zeppelin Hangar, two VHS tapes I didn't remember having turned up. By the time that happened, my VCR had broken, so they went unwatched until yesterday. And while I was watching them, benyalow used his DVD recorder to convert the tapes so I now have them in digital form, and can watch them again and again whenever I please.

Which is how it came to be that right now, while I'm typing this LJ entry, I'm also watching and listening to the likes of fredcritter singing "Quinn the Eskimo," coffeeem singing "Downtown," and skzbrust drumming along through it all. And more...so much more. Emma, from the delightfully ridiculous "Goober Peas" to Mark Henley's "November Song," which still grabs me after all these years. I expect it always will. Likewise, Fred's renditions of "Ripple" and "Red Dancing Shoes."

The tapes don't say, but memory tells me willshetterly was the videographer. The first tape has partial coverage of a concert at Borders Books on February 5, 1993. That would have been the Borders in Bonaventure, next to Ridgedale Mall in Minnetonka. The Fabulous Lorraine Garland joins in for a few tunes, looking very fetching in Fred's hat.

Early on, there's a bit of baby noise, and Emma mentions "...our celebrity cute baby guest." That most likely was Gavi; she would have been about 6 weeks old at the time. And since they were in a bookstore, Steve of course had to sing "Railroad Bill." So many memories...all the way back to Marc Glasser performing it at the fallcon after Chicon IV, thereby introducing Andy Breckman's song to Minneapolis fandom...

The rest of that tape and the second are from a show at the New Riverside Cafe a week later, February 12th, 1993. Dakoka Dave Hull and Adam Stemple sit in during that show. Tasty! ( Further natter of interest to Will, the musicians, and perhaps to the Usual Suspects, as well )

I'm thrilled to have this record of these shows. Big fun, and then some.