A Brand New Day

A few days ago, it suddenly struck me: I don't care about the new year. Never have, and the more I consider it, the more sure I am that I never will. It's easy to think you care when you have hundreds of places telling you how awesome new year's eve is going to be, or when people are asking what you plan to do or, if you're unfortunate enough to be that age, what your new year resolution is.

Truth is, the only change is a number on the calendar, and that shouldn't fluster you at all unless you're in school and have teachers who force you to write the full date on every used page of your notebook. Sure, some people use the new year as an excuse to party, but who's stopping us from doing that on any other day? Who says we can't have fun without donating an organ to pay for a party filled with strange people on a day when we don't have to study or work within the next 24 hours? (If you do get a day off, you're among the lucky ones.)

Now, Earth is way older than any of us can imagine being (unless Doctor Who is amongst us reading this, in which case I'm more than happy to eat my words), so who on earth decided that January 1st is its birthday? I'm not sure Earth herself keeps track or even appreciates us making a big deal of it. If anything, Mamma E probably wants some peace and quiet rather than people setting off fireworks in her atmosphere.

But if I had to say one positive thing about the new year hype, it's that it can't be all bad if it resulted in this:

Lea Michele makes every other version of this song sound like the musical equivalent of dinosaur poop.

As for the whole forget-about-or-be-thankful-for-the-past-and-move-on thing, we need to do that all the time. Every day is the beginning of a new year, and there's no reason for us to treat only one particular day with so much unwarranted attention.
In keeping with that spirit, here's another great song. If you watch Lie To Me and have heard it already, well, listen again!

So if you wish me, I shall be civil and thank you graciously, but if you want me to wish you a happy new year (though you don't really care that much either, do you?) wait until your birthday. Until then, good day to you.

Presents?

It's that time of the year again when almost everyone is anticipating presents. And I can't think of presents without thinking of this scene from 30 Rock:

For those of you who didn't want to wait for a video to load (although that's a short clip totally worth watching) this is basically it:

Dotcom:    Hey Trey, we just picked up your birthday party invitations from the printer.
Tracy:        Wait, What is this? "Give to charity please. No presents."?
Dotcom:    Yeah, that's what you told me to put on the card.
Tracy:        No Dotcom, I said "give to charity? Please, no! PRESENTS!"

Haven't you wondered why people talk about the two things like it's an either/or situation? You have people who spend absurd amounts of money on things they don't need (although anything must seem practical after the gifts baby Jesus was given) and others who act like they're sacrificing everything by buying stuff for less fortunate people instead of for themselves.
However, cynical optimist that I am, I like to think it's because awesome people don't talk a lot about their presents or how much they're doing for society, or both.

Christmas to me usually means music and food and family. The whole wrapped presents under the tree affair doesn't excite me much, partly because we don't have a tree and partly because I like to get presents when I need them. We're not a family that gets new clothes and stuff just because it happens to be festival time or someone's birthday. Besides, I have very specific and limited wants that no one seems to get. Presents never happen.

Okay, that's not true; we get presents when we get presents, and the more unexpected the timing, the better. I was simply thinking of one of my favourite lines from James Valentine's Jumpman series. It's been several years since I read it, so these may not be the exact words, but it went something like this:
The past is gone, the future is unknown, and the present never happens.

This character in the book explains how, for example, when you consider the idea of the present being now, by the time you've said or thought "now", it's already in the past. Like you're reading this now. It's already happened. Mind-blowing, come to think of it.

So, Christmas is upon us and I shall enjoy it. Doesn't matter that I won't get a present. Not presently, at least. Or now. Or now. Well, you get the idea.
Have an extraordinary merry Christmas!