WHAT’S SO FUNNY: Who’s here, a Horton?

In the past I’ve put forth a few New Year’s resolutions in this spot, but my only resolution this year is to make it all the way to next year.

It’s no longer something to take for granted. At my age, Steve McQueen had been dead for nine years. I notice now that I’ve developed a few little vertical lines under my lower lip, like Edward Everett Horton. The very fact that I know who Edward Everett Horton was indicates I’m no better than about 80-20 to be around next January.

On the other hand, it might be a good year. Years with nine at the end have always been memorable for me.

1949: I was born Daniel Vincent Johnson in Chicago. It’s a long story.

1959: I fell in love with Liz Ely, another fourth-grader, but she was too tall, or I was too short, so we never made it to the stage where she could reject me for myself. I’m not sure she ever actually saw me.

1969: The Chicago Cubs were poised to win their first pennant since 1945 but collapsed at the end of the season. In a world of change, that statement, word for word, was as accurate last October as it was in ’69. You can dust it off and use it over and over.

1979: Prominent psychics, asked at the end of the year to offer predictions for the final two decades of the century, said that before 2000 a major earthquake would shiver Southern California into fragments and possibly send it sliding into the Pacific. I remember this because 1979 was the year I moved out here, and the psychics were in such agreement that it depressed me.

1989: Emily Katharine (Katie) Kiraly was born. Also my first novel was accepted for publication, indicating that fame and prosperity were just around the corner.

1999: The final year prior to Y2K chaos and the end of the world, aka “Party Time.”

If these previous nines taught us anything, it’s that in end-of-decade years, events defy expectations. I’m no longer Daniel Vincent Johnson, Liz Ely is I-know-not-where, the Cubs and California still confound the psychics, prosperity remains around the corner and the world refuses to end.

So, since we clearly don’t know what’s coming, and we don’t know how many more nines we’ve got, let’s resolve to appreciate this year as much as possible and stick around for the next one.

That’s my plan, anyway. If I’m going to look like Edward Everett Horton I might as well try to last as long as he did.

SHERWOOD KIRALY is a Laguna Beach resident. He has written four novels, three of which were critically acclaimed. His novel, “Diminished Capacity,” is now available in bookstores, and the film version will soon be out on DVD.