subscribe09.09.09
Wednesday September 9, 2009
And I’ve been pulled out of the aether by a date.
I have to post today, if for no other reason than to electronically shout, “September 9, 2009 — 09/09/09!?” and giggle. When the year 2000 came upon me, it was something of an amusing idea that the next twelve years would be filled with one day a year of “02/02/02″ and other such dates of default awesome. Once we have 12/12/12, though, that’s it for a century. I used to think that meant I was living in special, auspicious times. Perhaps numerically, that’s still true.
Today was another significant day around the neighborhood, though it mostly passed me by. Dozens of school children were on the neighborhood streets today. It was the first day today for most of them, which always makes me feel old now a days. I get nostalgic, too; I actually glanced at kids’ sneakers and backpacks today and yes, they were all brilliantly un-scuffed and hardly worn. As a kid, that was always my favorite aspect of going back to school — the new stuff. New clothes, new shoes. For years I’d had to get a new pair of school sneakers (had to have them for gym class) every year and retire the old ones, which always struck me as both a fun rite of passage but also something of a sad one. I have fond memories of some of those shoes. One pair I’d worn mostly to pieces; years later I found sand and grit still embedded in the blue canvas fiber, leftover from all the times I’d gone sloshing in summer mud with them.
In other update-type news, I’ve been busy. I’ve been rereading some stuff and writing — writing a lot and often — which has been both successful and marvelous, but I do admit, part of me wishes I had both the time and the inclination to read as many new books as I did months ago. In 2007 and 2008, for instance, I devoured book after book on a weekly, if not occasionally daily, basis. But I think my college-starved voracity has stabilized.
(I didn’t read for pleasure in college — at all — until some time during my senior year, which left me feeling quite vaguely bereft until I got my New York Public Library card and its attendant addictive benefits. Studying abroad was probably what ignited the passion for reading once more; turns out when you don’t have a TV in your dorm room in a country where the TV is also not in your native language, but you discover their bookstores carry English language books… well. The rest is chronicled in back entries of this blog.)
I’ve actually been buying books lately, too. For a writer, I don’t really own as many books as I’ve read, which has always struck me as practical (I love my library and my library card!) but also a bit strange. I actually started acquiring new additions to my permanent collection for the simple reason that I wanted to reread them and well, that’s usually my only criteria for a bookstore run. If I’m going to read a book more than once, I will own it, otherwise it’s wasted shelf space. I suppose this means my permanent collection is very well-distilled, by default — only what I consider “good” or those books I’ve gotten as gifts usually end up there. The bookshelf it’s currently piled on (a Billy bookshelf from IKEA, a classic) has shelves stacked two rows deep. We should probably invest in a second bookshelf — well, technically the collection has spilled onto other shelves, but I’m not going to count those — but meh. I know where all of my books are, even if the 800+ page ones are stuffed in the back behind the 300 page ones. (Spine-reading efficiency, you understand; my entire bookshelf is categorized by sizes and shapes, then author and genre. Aesthetics come first on the bookshelf.)
September is probably my month of nostalgia. I do feel it, a little, in May and December (May for school, December for holidays and the new year), but in September that feeling is compounded by my love of learning. I do miss school, the regimented feel of it, the focus and definition it gave me, though strangely I really have no particular desire to go back there now. I just miss the first day of eighth grade. The first day of second grade. Those first days when the binders were too new to have broken rings, when you could make promises to yourself you’d end up breaking (“I’ll do my homework this year the moment I get home. I won’t procrastinate.”) and you could at least try to reinvent yourself. I have no desire for any of those things now a days, not really, but there’s no real “first day” for me anymore, not in the same way. January 1st is just cold. I think I’m finally starting to understand why parents make such a big deal out of the first day of school for their kids. Maybe the importance of the ritual, the time of year, the newness and excitement of it all isn’t just for their kids.
2008 and other such reminiscences
Wednesday December 31, 2008
I suppose this is the obligatory “year in review” post. I never really write these accurately. They always turn into much longer, ramblier reminiscences.
I find myself thinking about the past year usually around my birthday in November, simply because the birthday milestone always strikes me more deeply than the new year’s milestone. (Their relative proximity helps.) I usually can’t remember to write the new year’s date until past April, anyway. I’m usually good throughout January but into February and March I have a last year’s date relapse until in April I start writing the correct year automatically. Then I find sometimes in September I’ll accidentally write “2007″ or “2002″ or whatever the case happens to be and I’ll stare at the paper, say, “It’s September, for goodness’ sake!” and then giggle at the date.
It’s flurrying presently and with the windchill it feels about 20 degrees Fahrenheit which both adds to the new year’s flavor and makes me very happy that Bryan and I are not the sort to want to go to Times Square to watch the ball drop this evening. I haven’t yet met any person who lives in New York City who has any desire to actually go do that. (Especially in rain or snow.) Additionally I haven’t met any residents who live/work in Manhattan who like being around tourists. For the most part the tourists walk slowly, gawk, and get in the way of New Yorkers attempting to go about their daily routines, and if you know anything about the New Yorker stereotype you know we’re all impatient, ornery, and loud-mouthed. (It doesn’t take more than a month or two of residence or employment here to develop at least one of those traits. Even my very even-tempered friends feel the New Yorker temperament pulling at them.)
But back to the “year in review” part. (See? I’m bad at staying on-topic.) 2008 was busy. Busy and full of change, but looking back, nearly every year I’ve ever had has been both busy and full of changes. If I look back and call a year “slow and boring and all the same” I will cry. That’s not living life well, to my mind.
2009 will, in all likelihood, be busier than 2008. In 2009 there will be an epically historic presidential inauguration, my bridal shower, our wedding, our annual ski trip to Utah, our honeymoon to the Caribbean, two Pennsylvania receptions in May for the March wedding, and then a move from our current studio apartment once this lease is up at the start of the summer. I can’t wait to move to a bigger place. After the move, who knows what will happen in 2009. Hopefully the economy will be back up (or getting up), things won’t seem nearly as bleak in general when we look out at the future.
2008 started with us as we were at the end of 2007. Bryan was working as an investment banker, gone most of the week and when he was home he was either exhausted or too wired, mostly glued to his computer while I was glued to mine. We watched a lot of television; I did a lot of stuff alone, like eat dinners and listen to music and pretend to work out on our home’s elliptical. Over the summer, things got weird and interesting. Bryan got pounded by his bosses. He pulled all-nighters and had no time to breathe. He got to the point where he could not countenance working there any longer and took a leave of absence in July. During the leave he called up a contact and arranged an interview — and found himself another job. He formally quit and moved jobs in August and then we found ourselves in a strange place. We were finally able to set a date for the wedding, now that Bryan’s job wasn’t going to be able to keep him from attending it (as might have been the case with banking). Bryan was working normal business hours (9 to 5 or 6) instead of banker’s hours (9 to 12 or 2am) and we had so much more time together. We had to rearrange the studio apartment to give us some peace and some more space to work; we started eating meals and enjoying the city together. Things settled back to normal for the fall and in November I threw myself into NaNoWriMo with gusto, ultimately winning. December burred by in activity associated with the wedding and now it’s finally at the end of the year.
This year I read a lot of books, though I feel as if I read more at the end of 2007 than I did for most of 2008. Even so I encountered a lot of new authors. I accomplished a lot with my books and my worlds, though I wasn’t as consistent a worker as I could have or should have been. I look forward to 2009 as I look forward to every new day: I know I can be better than I have been and I’ll keep striving for that.
Now at the end of 2008 I’ve been tremendously busy with wedding planning stuff and in early 2009 I imagine it’ll only get worse and more hectic. Only a few people are coming to this wedding and it’s taking up so much of my energy to plan it. I can’t even imagine having a wedding involving hundreds of guests. (I can barely imagine the cost, either.) But 2009 will bring that wedding and it’ll happen regardless of whether or not it goes off perfectly or with a few hitches. I’m confident things will work out and I’m trying somewhat desperately to not be a nitpicker, perfectionist, or obsessive control freak about every detail. I’m trying to be calm and relaxed about it all. We’ll see how it all ends up.
What else happened in 2008?
It was the first full year of my life I didn’t attend any school, as I can recall. (I started nursery school full-time in September of the year I turned 3 that November, with pre-school the year after that. I started Kindergarten at 4.)
I look back and marvel at how fast all of it went by. What happened in 2008? The seasons changed, the layout of the apartment changed, we explored more of Manhattan than we ever have… we got older. And it’s done already. I remember thinking, back in the late 1990s, that 2010 was so far away. But as of tomorrow, 2010 will be next year. I’m… flabbergasted. I still remember when that year seemed something futuristic, unreal.
I think sometimes that the years I spent in high school were the longest years of my life and every year that leads me further from that time makes that sentiment all the more real. These years beyond that have gone by fast — speed-of-light quickly, a few of them. Like the college years. I was having too much fun for time of have lingered pleasantly around those years. “Time flies when you’re having fun” and all of that? Why is it so true? I didn’t have a lot of fun in high school and the days seemed to hang on me. For a lot of it, I was miserably focused on work, reading, and writing, not really looking up and staring at the world beyond a vague wish/prayer for it to be over as soon as could be arranged. Perhaps most of my elementary and secondary schooling years were that long. Fifth grade seemed to take an eternity. Eighth grade was a good year, I think; that one went fast.
I guess I’m glad 2008 is over. 2007 being over was much more somber because it meant so many things were real. 2008 ending is just a year ending. I’m looking forward to too many things in 2009 to be forlorn about this year’s end.
So happy new year, everyone. I hope your 2009 is exciting.
the latest updates
-
