Who do I still think I am??

This one's about partying like it's 1975.

30DBC PROMPT: "If you made any New Years resolutions in 2013, tell us how you've made out so far."

Hey folks...happy last-Friday-in-June to everyone, and happy last-of-my-prompts-this-month also! I think the only thing I despise more than a bad prompt that doesn't lend itself to a fruitful entry is actually having to come up with a prompt.

I'll be the first to tell you that even I have no business whatsoever trying to answer this prompt, because I didn't bother to make any New Years resolutions this year, or for the last several years. The only reason I came up with it is because Monday will be July 1st, meaning a full six months will have passed since you promised yourself something you likely didn't follow through with. Or, depending on your outlook, you've got six more months to come up with a rock-solid head start on actually formulating a resolution you can stick to. It's all in how you see things.

I just happen to know myself too well. Often enough I have good intentions, but I'm too moody and get sidetracked too easily to stick to the discipline necessary to uphold a resolution. I'm also a realist and a non-completest. I realize sometimes life has bigger plans and gets in the way of things you want to accomplish, so sometimes projects get started and never quite make it to the finish line...in the meantime, we find ways to adapt to something that doesn't function as intended. Maybe you've gotten used to sitting at a table where one leg is shorter than the other by just enough to cause the slightest wobble, or you learned to live with that little hum the tv makes, or resigned to walking with a limp because your body's decided it's done enough healing in one lifetime. The acceptance becomes easier than the fix, even though repair is more beneficial in the long run. As creatures of habit, the short cut tends to be the norm.

Having said that, there's also the emotional factor of disappointment. What's the purpose of setting a goal if you're just gonna look at it a month later and be like, "Nah, it's not happenin' this year" and carry on as if you didn't spend four weeks trying to lose ten pounds and think a dozen chicken wings are gonna erase the memory of the attempt? That's being pretty heartless to yourself. Maybe it's just me, but whenever I'd make a promise like that to myself (about anything related to a resolution, at any given time of the year and regarding anything) and I failed, I took it personally. It was like letting myself down. That's just how I'm wired. Then I realized that the best way not to make myself feel like that was to not set myself up for failure in the first place. I lessened my own emotional burden. And it worked...I found myself with better things to worry about.

I'm not saying that'll work for you. And if you did manage to keep your resolutions, hey, good for you. That's great. But if you didn't, that's still ok too. You look good with a few extra pounds, everybody lets a few choice cusswords slip out now and then, nobody likes a quitter, and maybe that journal will write itself. It's not the resolution you need to stay true to...it's the person making them that you need to think about.

BCF PROMPT: "What historical events happened the year you were born?"

Here's another prompt which really doesn't require any kind of writing talent. All you need is a general working knowledge of the internet, which makes today's prompt about 1% more challenging than yesterday's multiple choice/best of two answers skills puzzler.

Let no one be confused by the notion that I've recently taken up sarcasm as a second language...I was born there and speak it fluently.

Just for the sake of being a good team player, I Googled "Historical Events 1975". Much to my chagrin, an image copy of my birth certificate did not show up. 1975 was just another year, it seems. Nothing tremendously earth-shattering or noteworthy. Things happened, much like they happen every other year, but nothing that you could really look back on and start a sentence with, "Well, I remember back in '75 when..."

Allow me to explain my standing on the topic with the use of bullet points. In 1975 (according to http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/1975.html):

Bill Gates and Paul Allen create the company Microsoft.

Sony introduces Betamax videotapes and Matsushita/JVC introduce VHS.

BIC launches the first disposable razor.

Jimmy Hoffa (ex-Teamsters boss) disappears, never to be seen again.

Indira Gandhi, India Prime Minister, is found guilty of electoral corruption.

The Vietnam War ends as Communist forces take Saigon and South Vietnam surrenders unconditionally.

The IRA murders Ross McWhirter, the co-founder of the Guinness Book of Records.

The first ever strike by doctors in the US causes hospitals to reduce services.

And my favorite...not because of the technological advances made since these inventions, but mainly for the way this particular website headed up this section of the article:

Inventions Invented by Inventors and Country (or attributed to First Use)
         Personal Computer (USA, Microsoft)
         The Digital Camera (Steven Sasson and Kodak Company)
         Laser Printer (USA)

Sure, there's some cool little things there, but you could probably substitute a couple proper names, situations, and adjectives out and have virtually any other year in history. Wars always happen, people always die, governments always make some crazy assumption or mistake, and new stuff always gets "invented by inventors inventing new inventions". That's the way it's always been, and, save for the random "big story" every few years or so, the way it's always gonna be.

MUSICAL BREAK!!

According to this list (http://www.bobborst.com/popculture/top-100-songs-of-the-year/?year=1975), this was the Billboard #1 hit of 1975. Thankfully, VH1 has not asked me to appear on a special episode dedicated to this era of music entitled "We Are 1975".

THE DAILY BOX SCORE:

14: My favorite song out of Billboard's Top 20 for 1975. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhUkGIsKvn0

When history looks back upon 2013, the defeat of DOMA will surely be remembered. Hopefully by then nobody will care that gays can be married and receive equal treatment as such, but that love between any two people is way more important than all the time and effort it takes to keep people who truly love each other apart.

Activity time!! Google "gay" and see what happens. Don't ask; just do it. Bonus activity!! I Googled Chuck Norris, and this screen came up: http://www.nochucknorris.com/

Why, when I want to know anything about anything, do I use Google? It's easy.

Well, it's been fun trippin' down memory lane through a time I don't exactly remember (wait, was that 1975 or my mid-twenties?), but I'm gonna get outta here while there's still daylight (and plenty of it) to waste. Peace, Google it, and GOODNIGHT NOW!!