Robots, Resolutions and Riddles

 Carolyn, the robot races sounds like a great time. For some reason it reminded me of Twain’s “ The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County ".  



 It's a cross between that and a micro-soap-box derby. It sounds like you and your guests had a  rollicking evening. 






And speaking of soap-boxes , we all know the drill at this time of year. New Years comes with New Years 
resolutions.  There’s all of the generic ones like eat better, listen more, be in touch with the dwindling family more often, and just try to be less of a hindrance and more of a help. I think these are the kinds of self-improvement things that don’t  need  the  new year to bring them to mind. They're ones that are in the back of the head constantly. 



 The kinds of resolutions I'm thinking of are more like a 12 month bucket list. While we’re not all terminal patients with a long way to go and a short time to get there, like Morgan and Jack, a year gone is 365 non-refundable days  ( yeeooww, how deep! ) So the thinking is, next time around let's buck up on a thing or two.

BTW, didn’t that whole " The Bucket List"  flick/motif just  tap into our cultural consciousness big time from the moment it appeared.    It's a satisfying  movie all 'round-  a great story told by a skilled director and animated by consummate actors.Rob Reiner, it seems, can do little wrong as a moviemaker. ( Hell, I'd canonize him for "Spinal Tap" alone!)


  Anyhow, enough of the  Siskel and Ebert  for now. Back to the Resolution Report!


Well, even though I really can’t remember any that I’ve made in the past and  kept religiously, let's roll the bones again. So here goes with my 2013 list of literary resolutions:


1)  Delve into some current/recent  sci-fi, or some seminal items from the last two decades  that I missed- suggestions anyone??


2) Actually read some of that stuff that has momentarily caught my attention then fallen back into a bottom drawer in my memory dresser. Here are a few that I will take a  run at hopefully:  Max Brooks'  zombie book ( to be dealt with in a future blog )   Reread some Twain incl. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court and Tom Sawyer, and maybe stray off into some lesser known works of his, if there are any !  I still have those other Harry Harrison Stainless Steel Rat e-books that I downloaded and which were parked in a dust gathering corner when this blog and related endeavors ramped up. Carolyn, you warned me that I wouldn’t get to them right away and you were right. 

3)  Limit riddle clues to five lines per item.

4)  Get the lead out on my own writing efforts.

So, there we are -  four resolutions that, with what Alfred P. Doolittle ( the dustman, not the Doctor ) calls " a little bit 'o luck " will be kept over the next year.



Hot Diggity !!   Now, on to the riddles.

 Carolyn, you and your intrepid partner,  totally and  truly aced the last two ( and I thought at least one of them was obscure and difficult, but I did overdo the clues a bit still. See resolution # 3 ) The first was a dictionary and the second was a wrench, monkey or otherwise, ( at the time I figured I was so smart and smug putting the word “wrench” right in the clues -  I’m morphing into a riddle nerd,  I fear ! ) 

This time around I'm guessing that the first of yours is  sunglasses  and  the second is  a wall calendar.          


A  couple to start off 2013 with:

Do at one end undo at the other

Simple, dependable processor

Ears, pockets, pads, cases, necks and pushers

Golfers lie with it 

Sometimes a single drumstick

 Less elegant than a bottle

More practical than a cup

 Historically, clay for the commoners  glass for the upper class

Synonymous with doors in a literal non-sequitur fashion 

Don