January is the month of resolve, when Baby New Year arrives with a bigger to-do list than the one stuck on Santa's refrigerator. "Hereby resolved," it reads: "More hikes, hot tea, teddy bears, hugs and Justin Timberlake."
1 New Year's Day, Oatmeal Month, and why New Year's resolutions are harder to get through than a bowl of cold oatmeal:
• Resolved: to lose weight. But some things just never go away -- fruitcakes and muffin tops.
• Resolved: to save money. But weight loss remains the first goal, and there's only one place to go with a jar of saved-up nickles and dimes. Waffle House.
• Resolved: to walk the dog. But does the dog look like he wants to be dragged out in the cold? Even for a waffle?
FIRST FOOT FORWARD
First Day hikes at state parks throughout Arkansas, including Pinnacle Mountain State Park near Little Rock, Devils Den near Fayetteville and Lake Catherine near Hot Springs. Details at arkansasstateparks.com.
BORN TO RIDE
The-British-are-coming alarmist Paul Revere's birthday, 1735.
STEEP DEMANDS
2 National Hot Tea Month -- when Americans try again to understand the British passion for tea and crumpets, only to wind up with the same question as always: What's a crumpet?
JUNEAU, OR YOU DON'T KNOW?
3 Alaska Admission Day, 1959. Alaska admits after December's earthquakes, the state needs more Anchorage.
ELECTRIC COMPANY
4 Percy Jackson musical The Lightning Thief through Jan. 5 at Walton Arts Center, Fayetteville. Details at waltonartscenter.org. Call (479) 443-5600.
PARTRIDGE IN A BARE TREE
5 Twelfth day of Christmas -- when the partridge climbs down to relax with a cup of hot tea and a merry olde crumpet, a flat cake traditionally served on a tuffet with curds and whey.
Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet,
Sad to say Christmas is ended;
Along came a spider
Who sat down beside her,
And said, "Boo-hoo,
"I feel unfriended."
WORKING WITH A NET
6 Be Kind to Food Servers Month: They feed the feederless.
ON TAP
7 English inventor Henry Mill patents the first "artificial machine" resembling a typewriter, 1714. But the world had to wait 130 years more for a typewriter that actually worked, and 30 years after that for the first author to peck out a book, namely: (A) H.G. Wells, (B) Mark Twain or (C) Jules Verne.
Answer at Jan. 22.
HUNKA, HUNKA
BURNIN' CAKE
8 Elvis Presley's birthday, 1935.
ON THE UP AND UP
9 National Take the Stairs Day, but down doesn't count.
ALL FERN ONE,
ONE FERN ALL
10 Houseplant Appreciation Day -- when the doctor orders an ivy.
NUN THE WORSE
11 A priest and a nun fall for each other in The Runner Stumbles Jan. 11-12, 18-20 and 24-26 at The Weekend Theater, Little Rock. Details at weekendtheater.org. Call (501) 374-3761.
FINE DIME HAD BY ALL
Tri-State Coin Show through Jan. 13 at Hot Springs Convention Center, Hot Springs. Details at hotsprings.org.
WASSUP FOR SUP
12 National Soup Month. Chicken soup may be good for the soul, but chili is better for January.
SHOW-ME STATE
13 International Skeptics Day, also Make Your Dream Come True Day. Coincidence? We think so, yes.
TRAIL OF CRUMBS
14 How to tackle National Clean Up Your Computer Month: One byte at a time.
OH, YOU LID
15 How to celebrate National Hat Day: To the brim.
FORECAST: BRAINSTORMS
16 International Creativity Month. At least, that's the idea.
'TAKE BACK THE NIGHT"
17 Justin Timberlake, 7:30 p.m. at Verizon Arena, North Little Rock. Details at verizonarena.com. Call (800) 745-3000.
WHERE THE BLUEGRASS
GROWS IN WINTER
Ozark Mountain Music Festival with Hog Slop String Band, The Mighty Pines through Jan. 20 at Basin Park Hotel, Eureka Springs. Details at ozarkmountainmusicfestival.com. Call (888) 388-4776.
SILLY-WILLY-NILLY, SO THERE
18 Winnie the Pooh Day celebrates the birthday of the Pooh Bear's creator, A.A. Milne, 1882.
"People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day." -- Pooh.
DRIBBLE ME THIS
19 Harlem Globetrotters, 2 p.m. at Verizon Arena, North Little Rock. Details at verizonarena.com. Call (800) 745-3000.
TRAMP, TRAMP, TRAMP
Fort Smith Symphony Orchestra concert, It's Time for Chaplin, features the film score from the silent comedian's classic, City Lights, 7:30 p.m. at ArcBest Performing Arts Center, Fort Smith. Details at fortsmithsymphony.com. Call (479) 452-7575.
POE PROSPECTS
Edgar Allen Poe's birthday, 1809, and how he might have updated his creepy tales in light of horrifying predictions for the new year, 2019:
• The Fall of the House of Usher: Increased mortgage rates scare off homebuyers.
• The Raven: More self-serve check-out lanes make people wake up screaming, "Unexpected item in the bagging area!" More of these torments, really? Quote the raven: "Ever more."
• The Pit and the Pendulum: It's tax time, already.
"ALL NIGHTMARE LONG"
20 Metallica, 7:30 p.m. at Verizon Arena, North Little Rock, North Little Rock. Details at verizonarena.com. Call (800) 745-3000.
ASTROLOGY DEFIES SCIENCE --
HOLDS WATER, AFTER ALL
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Is today your birthday? If so, tell the waiter yes, bring water. The water-bearer sign of the Zodiac favors office coolers, garden hoses and Adam Sandler in The Waterboy. Wade in with demon-possessed Linda Blair, 60 on Jan. 22, wild mustache-tamer Tom Selleck, 74 on Jan. 29, and recently-sighted-in-Arkansas Justin Timberlake, 38 on Jan. 31.
SQUEEZE PLAY
21 National Hugging Day -- could be worse, could be a pinch on the cheek, besides.
EMBRACEABLE YEW
Squirrel Appreciation Day remembers the 1957 Disney feature, Perri (the little-girl squirrel), and its bad-advice song lyric: "If I could catch her, I'd give her a hug."
FUN, FUN, FUN
The Beach Boys hold tight, 7 p.m. at Robinson Center Performance Hall, Little Rock. Details at ticketmaster.com.Call (800) 745-3000.
WOULDN'T IT BE NICE?
Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the federal and state holiday.
TYPE-A PERSONALITY
22 Pound-the-keys quiz answer: (B) Mark Twain claimed he was the first to "apply the type-machine to literature." This made him also the first to cuss out the ancestor of today's word processor, and he gave it up for fear it was "degrading my character."
STARTING FROM SCRATCH
23 National Handwriting Day. No typing, please print.
CAN-DO ATTITUDE
24 Beer Can Appreciation Day. Canned beer goes back to 1935, but thirsty enthusiasts had to puncture the can with a "church key" opener. One day, tool-maker Ermal Fraze forgot to bring his opener on a picnic, which led him to invent: (A) Kool-Aid, (B) The pop-top can, or (C) Ability to open a can with his teeth.
Answer at Jan. 30.
SOAR SUBJECTS
25 Eagles Et Cetera Festival, eagle-watching tours and programming through Jan. 27 at DeGray Lake Resort State Park. Details at arkansasstateparks.com. Call (501) 865-5850.
PSSST! HEY, BUB!
Live horse racing through May 4 at Oaklawn Racing and Gaming, Hot Springs. Details at oaklawn.com. Call (800) 625-5296.
"I haven't seen so much mudslinging since the last election." -- Groucho Marx, A Day at the Races.
CHOPIN WOODWINDS
26 Arkansas Symphony Orchestra concert, "Chopin & Mendelssohn," 7:30 p.m. Jan. 26 and 3 p.m. Jan. 27 at Robinson Center Performance Hall, Little Rock. Details at arkansassymphony.org. Call (501) 666-1761.
SHOW AND TELL
27 How to celebrate National Mentoring Month -- like the Little Red Hen. Take a know-nothing under your wing, even if you wind up doing the whole job by yourself.
SNAP, CRACKLE --
28 Pop! -- for Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day.
FLAT STATEMENT
29 Kansas Admission Day, 1861. Kansas admits the only thing flatter than Kansas is flat beer.
MYSTERY SECTION
National Puzzle Day -- when the jigsaw picture winds up short the last piece, and nobody can puzzle out what became of it.
PSSSSSSCHT! HEY, BUD!
30 Down-the-hatch quiz answer: (B) The pop-top, in 1959, and beer cans have been pop-pop-popping like bubble wrap ever since.
YOU THERE, STRAIGHTEN UP
31 Last day of Get Organized Month. It's now or never, and never never sounded so right.
Coming next month: February! Write to Ron Wolfe at
rwolfe@arkansasonline.com
by Jan. 15 to suggest February calendar entries or how to celebrate February as Creative Romance Month, National Grapefruit Month and Canned Food Month, such as: Spoon, spoon, Spam. All entries require a web address and/ or phone number that is answered during business hours.
Style on 01/01/2019