Happy Holidays (New Year's, in Particular)

It's here: 2006!

I have a confession to make. I never planned anything for this year and, truth be told, never even considered it. When I was growing up I was moderately interested in the year 2000 and the turn of the century (which occurred at the end of that year), and was aware of 2001 because I'd seen the movie when it came out, but never really thought that there'd be years after those.

Except for sometime in the 2010s, when I should be able to retire and only knew about because of those annual pension notices and occasional reminders from Social Security, as far as I was concerned there'd be 2000 and then ... nothing. Just an unopened book. Now I see how wrong I was.

A similar thing happened when I turned thirty. I was jazzed about that, but before I knew it I was thirty-one, an age that has none of the romance about it. When you're thirty, it's a big deal. When you're thirty-one, or thirty-three, or any other age, it's boring. Nothing to it. No excitement.

And now it's 2006. I still remember when it turned 2000 and all the idiocy surrounding elevators, planes, and spacecraft plunging toward the center of the earth, and hourly reports from the asshole VP overseeing our Y2K preparations ("No problems reported in Kamchatka..." As if...), and that seems both just yesterday and a long time ago. I still need to figure out this temporal stuff.

The only thing I've really noticed is something that makes me feel both mortal and old. Until the last few years all references to dates and events were things in my future, things I'd see later on. Now, with disturbing frequency, dates are being bandied about that will come and go without the benefit of my presence and that I'll never see.

Peak oil in 2050? Okay, fine. I hope it's fun. I hope you'll excuse me. I somehow doubt I'll live to see Mickey Mouse ever become part of the public domain, either, but I do expect to be around when the current Republican nonsense wanes. I'm not sure I'll see whichever country next rules the globe, but I might.

These things, none of these things, ever last, but we humans place an undo importance and impatience on current events. I guess that will stay the same, no matter what number is assigned the year.

Now I need to go check out all those "ten best" lists...