Hello, blog. It's the first post of the year, and what have you got to say for yourself? Or rather, what have I got to say for myself that I can post so that you have a nice, timely front page?
Well, it's been a quiet couple of weeks, after that somewhat crazy week of events and parties. I had a birthday. That was exceedingly quiet, because I didn't mention it to many people. They always forget anyway, because they get wrapped up in worrying about Christmas, so I decided to avoid the disappointment of people forgetting by just not mentioning it in the first place. I did have a nice cake, though.
Christmas itself was also quiet (except for El Tim's extremely loud video games, oh ow, my head), and New Year's Eve was so quiet that I spent it in bed, finishing a trashy Len Deighton novel. I checked the clock when I finished it, and by incredible timing it was exactly 11:59pm, so I watched the digits tick over to the new year and went to sleep.
I'm not big on celebrating New Year's anyway, and I'm certainly not one to make resolutions. It seems like such a weird time to make them, in the middle of winter when most sensible mammals are hibernating. It's the time of year when you're more inclined to curl up with hot chocolate under a duvet, and eat lots of stodgy food, because spring is still a couple of months away and there's not enough daylight or fresh fruit and veg to start a whole new regime. At least, if you're trying to eat seasonally, anyway, which I try to do. And even if you're not, there's still the weather to contend with. I don't know about you, but monochrome grey skies are the biggest demotivator I face.
Springtime is a much better time to make new year's resolutions: in the natural world everything is starting over and fresh, which seems like a great subconscious encouragement to starting over and fresh oneself. Dead of winter? That just seems daft, especially when January first is really such an arbitrary date. Who chose it? And why then? I have a feeling this is something I once knew, but I've forgotten it now.
on Jan 6th, 2009 at 9:02 am
I always make my resolutions on my birthday – seems like a much better date to take stock of my life and think about what I want to achieve over the next year.
on Jan 7th, 2009 at 8:25 pm
Yeah, makes sense, except my birthday is Christmas eve, so it's in the middle of winter and thus affected by all the things that affect my mood listed above!
on Jan 7th, 2009 at 10:41 pm
Perhaps you should celebrate a birthday solstice on June 24th…
on Jan 12th, 2009 at 3:24 pm
I used to do that when I was a kid, 'cos I always had my birthday during the holidays. Adults think it's pretentious though! Stupid adults.