In which I don't even try to be clever in my first subject title.

 So normally (that is, normally for me) I would start out with an introductory and/or explanatory entry explaining who I am, what my intentions are for this blog, and all of that. I would try to make it funny, or at least mildly clever, and make a valiant effort to spark the reader's interest somehow. But I'm not going to do that this time.

 

Why not? Because, quite frankly, this is not for you. It's for me.

 

That may seem rather self-explanatory, but this is actually a big deal for me, because in the past I've always been "catering to an audience," as it were. I mean, obviously I'm writing TO someone other than myself, otherwise most of what I'm saying here would be pointless. After all, why would I have to tell myself any of this? But beyond this sort of exposition, I am hoping to make this more for my benefit than anyone else's. Sure, you're welcome to read if you so choose, but I'm not going to promise that it will be a rollicking good time. I'm not even sure what it means to rollick, or if that's even a proper word. 

 

Anyway, so this whole entry is apparently all about you after all. But that's okay, I can make an exception just this once. But in the future I will strive to talk more to myself, in reference to whatever I've decided to work on and/or obsess over. Two recent examples I've come up with being "52 in 52" and "Dunputoffen." 

 

The first is my newly-formed arbitrary minor goal of learning 52 new (to me) songs in 52 weeks. (As in either singing it or playing it on the piano or saxophone, well enough that I'm comfortable recording it.) Ideally it will be one song per week, but I am prepared for the possibility of missing a week and having to subsequently double up on other weeks. (I am also allowing for the possibility of MORE than 52, but I will be more than happy with just the 52.) I'm including in this total any song or parody that I might create during the year (though not the songs I've written in the past and just haven't recorded. Those will have to be part of the next category.

 

Every month I'm going to try to complete what I've decided to call a "Dunputoffen." (Subject to name change if I should decide that its stupid-sounding name undercuts the sense of achievement.) It can be anything, the only self-enforced criterion being that it has to be something I've put off for a considerable length of time for whatever reason. And unlike the 52 in 52, which will probably just take a list form without much explanation usually, each Dunputoffen I will explain (to myself and/or you, depending on how you want to look at it), so as to justify (to myself) its place in the Dunputoffen ranks, and perhaps explaining (or wondering) why it took me so long to finally do... whatever it was. 

 

I'm giving myself a pass in January, though there may have been something I finally accomplished that month, I'm not sure. As for February, I finally recorded my Groundhog Day carol ("Hooray For Groundhog Day"), a song I'd perpetually delayed recording for nearly two decades. I guess I grew tired of its shadow looming over me (pun regrettably intended.) 

 

As for the 52 in 52, I've already done eight songs, and we are in the eighth week of the month, so I am luckily up to speed already. Rather than list the first eight now, however, I will include them once I write the entry for the 9th song, whenever that might be. This is partly to encourage me to actively pursue this goal [since the first eight songs were done at random and with no goal in mind] but also because I'm tired and don't feel like tracking them all down right now. But in the future there will be links for my own benefit/perusal. You might be free to listen to them, depending on the access level I've assigned them, but I won't guarantee it. Like I said at the beginning, this is primarily for me. Though I'm happy to let you observe somewhat vicariously. (Obviously, or I wouldn't be doing this as an online blog.)

I will probably use this blog for other things besides what I've just described, but these are the only concrete ideas I've had so far. (That I feel like mentioning.)

 

*glances at above paragraphs* Wow. Imagine how long this would've been if I'd written an introductory entry...