Saturday, January 7, 2012

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, Off To The Lists We Go

If this were one of my stories, the title above would involve a walled or hedge-lined berm upon which swords, maces and other weapons are swung by knights or knights-training at their peers.
As this is a Blog on the Internet, what we are paying attention to at this time of year are the other kinds of lists.
First on my list-of-lists are the ones wherein we try to identify the things we liked most… or least from the previous year. Books, movies, songs, etc… They all wind up on somebody's lists.
Some people write lists in order to sway public opinion for… or against particular people, places or things that go bump in the night. Cities, politicians, artists, authors, musicians… They all wind up on someone’s list.
Make it on enough lists and you graduate to some ‘Great list-of-lists’ that someone, somewhere, is keeping… most likely in order to know what you like so they can sell you more of it.   
I won't bore you with my own lists, partially because they're lists of plot mechanisms, story-line queues and Pet PeevesI keep mine in cages and rarely feed them… but primarily as I know plenty of other people with either more fertile imaginations or axes to grind have already done theirs.
So, I wish you happy hunting, with my blessings.
Next on my list-of-lists is the New Years Resolutions list wherein people promise to do… or not to do, that is the question… better in the coming year.
Since these lists have the life expectancy of a glass of ones favourite alcoholic beverage… like the ones consumed prior to the making of 'The List', we'll ignore them and move on.
My second-to-least favourite kind are what have become known as Bucket-Lists; a list of all the things we want to do and places we want to go before we kick the proverbial bucket and become nothing more than a cached-copy in the archives of the Internet and a side-note in the great Wiki-on-the-web-of-life.
Most bucket-lists are, in-my-not-so-humble opinion, hyperbole.
Perhaps I've been lucky, or simply fortunate, or maybe not. I've been able to travel and see much of the world around us (and have wished at various times and in various places not to have), and do most of the things I wished I could do… especially those I wished when I was a child … but none of my lists had anything to do with buckets.
They were my dreams… my goals in life that through blood, sweat and grit I could, and did accomplish. Some have been worthwhile, others weren't worth the yak-spit they incurred or the shekels they cost… and some I have yet to do, but as I am a glass (or bucket) half-full kind of person, I have no intention of emptying mine. I intend to have it sloshing over the top, looking to fill yet another.
Last but not least; my least favoruite kind of lists (and I imagine yours as well) are the ones we make to remind us of the things we need to do 'when we get a ‘round tuit' and then promptly ignore them… The infamous To-Do List(s)
Authors Note: I have a drawer full of 'Round Tuits' that have been for the most part doing nothing more than collecting dust… in case anyone would like to help me out with a list or three.