Work on album steaming along
Video showing draw for debut single competition
This blog has been non-existent over recent months for a number of reasons:
1) Was working on a personal writing project which kept me busy
2) Was asked to help out in an editorial capacity on something else I was previously involved in, which I reluctantly agreed to as it was interfering in the writing project
3) Unfortunately my mother passed away suddenly during this period and lots of time has been taken up sorting out matters following her death
4) Writing and recording songs. There has been positive news on at least this front. In a couple of days I should have eight tracks recorded for my upcoming album. The plan is to record 11 in total. The first single will be “Wishing on a Photograph” having been chosen by Twitter and Facebook followers and friends. Am in the process of getting a promo video sorted out.
The interim stage name is gogowowwow, but this will most likely change as some people don’t understand the irony is intentional.
All my songs recorded to date can be heard on my SoundCloud page.
Why I’m starting my New Year’s resolutions on the most depressing day of the year :-)
..
“Blue Monday” is weighing down heavily upon us all. For January 16th is officially the most depressing day of 2012.
If you didn’t know this fact already, you soon will. Since the phrase was first used to describe the most miserable day of the year as part a publicity campaign by Sky Travel, it has featured annually in the print and broadcast media, starting with the Sundays and then regurgitated on the infamous Monday itself. Easy column inches for thirsty hacks who are only now getting back into the swing of things after the mini silly season that follows in the wake of Christmas.
There are those who dispute the science behind making the third Monday of January the arbitrary worst day out of 365 (or 366 in this leap year). Then there are those who suggest that it is actually the following Monday because this is the last full week of January and besides, it is the week that those lucky enough to be on a salary have gone the longest without pay, after overspending the previous month.
It doesn’t really matter and is not worth getting one’s knickers in a twist about. Blue Monday is nothing holy or profound, nothing ordained from high or from those who claim to accurately interpret communications of a divine nature; it is simply the orphaned child of a publicity stunt. There has been no foolproof analysis carried out to assess what is the actual worst day of the year. It is a totally subjective experience, even allowing for shortage of money, cold weather, seasonal affective disorder etc. For example, I felt pretty awful on the 26th of February last year 
.
But hell, it was great media campaign, shown by the fact that even if Sky Travel is no longer with us*, “Blue Monday” will pop up its head for God knows how many years to come.
*********
And this is exactly why I’ve chosen January 16th 2012 as the official start of my New Year’s resolutions.
It could have been any random date in mid January, but Blue Monday makes perfect sense. There is a resonance and symmetry to picking the acknowledged most miserable day of the year to start afresh and clean out all the unwanted personal clutter holding back the bright new you.
So what other reasons did I have for not starting on the 1st of January like everyone else?
a) I am a self-confessed resolutions genius
b) Because I am lazy and procrastinate
But mostly
c) Because I felt that taking a few weeks out to plan and get used to the idea was a better bet than rushing in headlong and risking failure.
By now, a significant amount of people will have already started to waver in their resolutions. I didn’t want to be one of those harsh and cruel statistics.
Well begun is half done. But it doesn’t help that there is always a bank holiday in the first couple of days of the new year. Many people are out socialising with friends or family the first weekend of the new year and as a result are again tempted to over-indulge. It might be a last hurrah in everyone’s book, but well begun is of course half done and if you haven’t started on the 1st of January, why should you logically start on the 2nd or 3rd or 4th. Sure, we’ll start the following Monday, like and get it done good and proper.
Despite the temptations of the bank holiday period, most people who start resolutions of a non-food nature usually get through the first week intact. But six months down the road, roughly half of all people have failed to keep up what they started. Why is this?
I think it boils down to people trying to do too much too soon and then getting disheartened when they aren’t able to keep up the pace. I was watching a couple of episodes of this year’s Operation Transformation and one of the key bits of advice was not to do more than the fitness and dietary programme specified. Gyms across the country bet their continued existence on people dropping out after a few sessions. Imagine if everyone kept up their gym attendance throughout the year. There’d be queues out the door at peak times for sweaty treadmills, cross-trainers and weights. Most of us wish that there will be a few drop-outs so that we have a bit more personal space to perspire. But most of us end up being that drop-out.
It’s a vicious cycle. You don’t live up to your expectations, you get dispirited and thereby tee yourself up for further slip ups.
Far better to beaver away on the 16th of January and watch all the resolution-breakers gasp in awe at your bravery and sheer determination. Little do these foolish mortals know that today is your first day to attempt anything.
Bask in the admiration. Feel like a god. Embrace your inner iguana. It will spur you on to greater things.
And for those watching my disciplined performance, don’t despair. You can still to plan and plot and work at improvement rather than absolute perfection. If you find you can’t live without your 20 a day two weeks after giving it up, at least bring it down to 19. If you can’t live without your breakfast roll, at least walk to collect it and make your lunch a healthy, low-calorie snack. But work incrementally my friend and you can’t go wrong. One hundred extra metres walking a week. One less biscuit a day. You get the drift.
Says him, who hasn’t even started, you say. Well for some to pontificate, you lecture. Let’s come back in five days and see how the god is operating then, you snipe.
All true.
So this is why I say it loud and proud and before the world (theoretically):
Blue Monday is my D-Day. This year sees a record number of Paul Gogarty resolutions. And I aim to keep the lion’s share. So here we go!
But, em, don’t expect me to come clean you what my resolutions are….
It’s not because certain bloggers and media types love to publish something quirky about me on account of me being a former TD who used a rude word to another member of parliament (remember the coverage for “Ode to a Crisp Sandwich”, for example). Sad fact, but newspaper bosses would generally rather use existing staff to write something about me provided by me for free than pay me to write it myself. So if they’re that bothered, they can cough up and I will gladly fess up. I know the more maliciously inclined hacks are just gagging to highlight a trumpeted resolution that ends in complete and utter failure. But honestly, that’s still not the reason.
And it is certainly not because I am playing coy but secretly full of self-importance expecting people to beg for titbits about my fabulous lifestyle. Who gives a monkey’s as they say.
But some people might actually be genuinely curious as to why AN Other has decided to make resolutions on the most depressing day of the year. So, for those, I’ll tell the real reason for being so reserved.
It is simply because I hate people pontificating about all the good things they are going to do and then failing miserably. If I can’t give a 100 per cent commitment that I will keep my resolutions, then why broadcast them so widely. I hope to do well this year. I expect to do well this year above all other years. But human nature being as it is, it would be foolhardy to shout out loudly that I will succeed, when to err is human.
I will do my very best, is all.
Here’s a little compromise (see? compromising already). If you have read down this far enough to be interested and if you are good at solving trivia quizzes, then here are my six key personal resolutions for the year in acronym form:
ETBVETR
LALAS
RAAOS
DOA220MOEPWAL
WTN
WALADBRTAONCBEMOSM (OMG I’ve forgotten what this one is already. Understandably)
Clue: The first one is “Early To Bed and Very Early To Rise”. And please note, I have deliberately not been prescriptive. This does not mean retire at 10pm each night and rise at 5am. To specify means guaranteed failure and means you limit yourself a few good nights out. But on average, I intend to get to bed at a reasonable hour and get up early before the working day, family life and other commitments eat into my productive time. With the exception of leisure time, those few hours rising before 8am are far more useful than a few hours after midnight.
By the way, the last one I have worked out is “Wait At Least A Day Before Replying To Abusive Or Negative Communications BY E-Mail Or Social Media”).
One commitment I make is that I promise to come back in 12 months and reveal whether I have lived up to my own personal expectations in relation to all six resolutions. And if I have got even half-way there, it won’t be a Blue Monday at all, it will be the pinnacle of a year of endeavour and genuinely worth bragging about in terms of discipline and self-motivation.
Best be off to bed then.
Best of luck in your own endeavours and any resolutions you may have made. And let me know if you have kept some of them at the end of 2012.
GRi
Copyright © 2012 Paul Nicholas Gogarty. Original excerpts of this piece may be used online or in print. The full article containing original work must not be published in print without the author’s permission.
*RIP 2010
(Know You) All My Life
Another reason why I haven’t been posting much recently… Happy New Year all.
This was only written in the last week, believe it or not, so was good going to get it down in the studio so fresh.
Alone on Mars
I have started what will hopefully be a series of visits to the recording studio to put down as many tracks as I can afford. This follows on from my rediscovery of singing. I am taking the opportunity to get stuff put down, irrespective of who else actually listens to it, or buys whatever is released commercially in the future.
Having done a few ditties on TV and at gigs, the first song I started with was not an obvious one, never having been performed in its current form until my small bit part in a fundraising gig in Vicar Street last night which featured notables such as Steve Wickham, Eleanor McEvoy, The Lost Brothers, Nick Kelly and Donal Lunney. Great live performances by all.
As for my one lonely song, let’s just say it was a different style to the others, largely because of the arrangement and a decision to use a backing track rather than bring an acoustic guitar on stage. But the crowd seemed to enjoy it and despite a difficulty in hearing the monitor when singing, my spy in the audience told me that I didn’t go off key.
‘Alone on Mars’ was mostly written years and years ago, except the title was ‘Standing There’. Much of the lyrics remain the same, but the theme has been updated given my age from one of unrequited teenage love to a universal theme we have all experienced at some time in our lives, that of feeling alone and within ourselves, even though we are surrounded by loved ones.
The song is linked above for your convenience and this version has lyrics attached to the tracks.
GRi
When is a blog not a blog?
When it’s a series of articles rather than a web log. Been too busy too long doing interesting stuff like the Celebrity Bainisteoir, being in the recording studio, minding kids and doing odd bits of work.
Not the way I intended at all at all.
So we’s at a crossroads, like. Do I start inputting regular titbits of observation or continue with intermittent essays. Time will tell. I’ve never had more time free but less time in reality. Go figure.
GRi
