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Margaret Hair

Margaret Hair's column appears Fridays in the 4 Points arts and entertainment section in the Steamboat Today. Contact her at 871-4204 or e-mail mhair@steamboatpilot.com.

Every year, I spend about five minutes on Dec. 31 trying to come up with five New Year's resolutions. I do this realizing that most people think about ways to improve their state in life for more than five minutes a year.

And every year, I run into the same problem - my resolutions always are too general to actually put into action. Where it would make sense to resolve to adopt a specific exercise plan, I decide to "do something healthier every day." Where it would make sense to alter my habits to allow for more free time, I decide to "get it together."

So this year, I am not making general, life-improvement resolutions. Instead, I'm making localized, arts-and-entertainment-focused resolutions. It seems more likely that I'll stick to an itemized list of goals that has the added motivation of being directly tied to how well I do my job, and overlaps with the area of interest that occupies most of my time.

Throwing my five-minutes-to-think-about-it rule away, here's what I've come up with so far:

¤ Go to at least one gallery featured in the First Friday Artwalk every month, starting today. New local and regional artists seem to pop up with every gallery opening.

¤ Go to at least one live music event a week. This can include a Monday open mic night at Mahogany, Thursday karaoke at The Tap House, or any other interactive performance that involves someone - booked at the venue or not - playing to a crowd.

¤ Listen to an album by one Colorado band every two weeks. After a year and a half living in the state, it's time to get to know the regional music scene.

¤ Play a musical instrument at least twice a week. Because I'm sure my roommates secretly love listening to clarinet scale studies when they get home from work.

¤ Write something that won't get published.

¤ Take a dance class of some kind. Dancing never has been my strong point - I know, it's hard to believe - but there are too many options available in Steamboat to not take advantage of at least one.

¤ Paint something I would want to hang on a wall. The qualifications for this are way lower than you might think.

Once I tackle those, I think "get it together" will come on its own.