Happy New Year!!
Today the spirit moves me to comment on New Year’s Eve, one of my least favorite holidays even when I was young. In part it’s because I’m not a drinker (have I told you that I’m not a drinker?). In part it’s because I’ve always been hyper-conscious of the passage of time. And as I’ve gotten older, and time has curiously accelerated, that consciousness has only increased.
2019??? Excuse me, but how on earth did we get that far into the 2000s? I’ve only recently gotten it into my head that the 1900s were a long time ago (almost 20 years), but it still doesn’t feel that way to me. I still have to do the math to remind myself.
One thing I must say is that the past year has been exceedingly interesting. I have a hunch that 2019 will be, as well.
Tonight I’m having a very quiet evening. Maybe seeing one friend. I’ll stay up till midnight because I always stay up till midnight. And I’ll hope the year 2019 turns out to be interesting in a good way.
And to all of you: Happy New Year!!
[NOTE: This is an edited version of a previous post.]
Happy New Year to you, Madam Neo. Finding your blog has definitely been a good thing. And I agree that 2019 is going to be *very* interesting.
Happy New Year !
I can remember in college thinking that 1960, when I would graduate, would never come.
I will complete my seventh decade in this life early in 2019. However did that happen?
Happy New Year to you and all commenters.
Happy New Year.
I’ve gone in what seems like a few moments from having three children who, it seemed, were taking forever to grow up, to having a slew of adult children and inlaws and three grandchildren who — I hope with all my heart — will slow down their growing up enough to let me share at least a goodly part of it — and, with any luck, maybe a few more. It happened so fast that try as I may, I can’t get my mind all the way around it.
On the other hand, the time of having no children seems so incomprehensibly long ago that it must have been someone else’s life — which, of course, it was. The movement of time is one of the deepest mysteries, surpassed only by the mysteries of love.
Happy New Year to all. A tumultuous year ahead. The rabid banshees of the left will be screaming for impeachment, which I think will happen. Their street thugs will become ever more violent, the sjw warriors will continue to demand men can be women and people should be allowed to identity as giraffes, and if you don’t accept these truths you are a deplorable monster.
This is will be a watershed year. Hang onto your hats and be of good cheer.
This too shall pass, good, bad or in-between time passes, as noted above each decade seems to pass faster and that’s all right because the pay is the same either way. It’s best to laugh when we can, ignore stuff we can’t change and have stuff to do, places to go and things to see in the coming year.
Thanks Neo for your great postings over the past years and all of the commentors who share interesting views.
OldTexan,
Yes too this shall pass, as do all things. But every once in a while we reach a crossroads. 2016 was a srange, IMO, crossroad. 2019 seems to be a swiftly approaching another crossroad. Be of good cheer. I could post as OldIowan but parker is my middle name, so it is stuck to me.
Likewise, the best of the New Year to you, Neo, and to all of the commenters here.
What T said.
“And as I’ve gotten older, and time has curiously accelerated, that consciousness has only increased.”
I saw that explained one time as a sort of a “time warp” thing —
When you are a child of 6, each year is 1/6th of your life, and that’s a big fraction.
When you are 60, each year is only 1/60th of your life, and that’s not very much at all.
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A Riff on New Year Musings
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
(they will be, sadly, as will some of our close friends and family)
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne!
(so many of the old days have long since grown dim,
yet some remain as clear as on that long-ago day)
For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne;
We’ll take a cup o’ kindness yet,
(so drink to the happiness, good will, and love that we knew)
For auld lang syne.
(for the sake of those days that have passed.)
Happy New Year to all.
My daughter who is 38 and who expressed no interest in children a couple of year’s ago, announced that she is expecting next July. It will be a very good year,
Just got back from a New Year celebration with friends and I’m watching the fireworks in London. I’m ready for bed. It was a good night, and I hope for a quieter new year. Have a great time everyone and a very happy new year.
Happy New Year!
As long as we’re getting old, we might as well get as old as we can get!
Mike K,
What a blessing to your family. A Happy New Year for you and yours.
Time’s arrow. Such a mystery.
God bless you all in 2019
Well, I normally sleep through New Year’s Eve; and I had planned on tonight being no different, except my neighbors set off a lot of loud, very loud, fireworks.
And since the noise has me up and I cannot get back to sleep, I figure I might as well read up on Neo!
Happy New Years to you, Neo, and your readers!
I also noticed this Fox News report:
Hillary calls 2018 a dark time for our country.
Ha! two things come to mind – like Obama, she doesn’t know when to just shut up! And second, the past two years have been better for me than the previous 10 years! I do hope this coming year is as “dark a time for our country” as 2018 has been. I’ll be “depressed” all the way to the bank. snicker.
Have a happy healthy, and WEALTHY, 2019 everyone!
Happy New Year to all!
Happy New Year, Neo! Your blog is a real bright spot in my daily reading, and I am grateful that it is still around. I still miss Shrinkwrapped and Dr. Sanity and once in a while I drop in and read old content. It sure would be nice to hear from them one of these days!
I don’t like New Year’s Eve either, it has always been hollow for me. But I do like the Rose Parade and am looking forward to watching it today. And I kind of like all the end-of-year summaries and the sense of a new beginning. I’ll enjoy putting up the new calendar today, plus setting out the page-a-day calendar I got for Christmas–more like a photo display than a calendar, should be a fun little morning ritual to unveil each new picture.
Time has really gotten very strange for me, just as you say. I’m 63 and although time has been speeding up for quite a while now, I didn’t realize that the rate at which time is speeding up would also increase — but it sure is, life just goes faster and faster. Years fly by as if they were months. Meanwhile, I’m slowing down. There’s a sense that I’ll never catch up. I need to change my habits and my frame of mind to get rid of the youthful notion that there’s plenty of time, and I need to improve my ability to focus my time and energy on what matters.
Happy New Year to all Neo readers, I appreciate this community!
Nice to be in 2019. : ) Heck, here’s my little forecast for the halibut — the sound-and-fury stuff (aka American leftism) will become a little more irrelevant this year than last year, when it was less relevant than the prior year. And so on in its progress toward the dead-fads dumpster.
Happy New Year to you, Neo, and all my fellow readers and commenters.
One of the good things about being born at the tail end of 1949 is I’ll always remember how old I am.
Happy New Year to all. Thank you Neo for giving us this blog. It’s always nice to be among friends, even though the chances of any of us meeting face to face is remote.
Happy New Year and thanks for an interesting blog. Your comment about ‘how did 2019 get here so fast’ prompted me to comment. I found out last night that I’m to be a great grandfather in 2019! WTH!? I am sure, until I stand up, that I’m just in my early 20s. Of course when I stand up I remember that I’m 70 and my joints remember every step of the way here.
Whew! As an old boss often said, “Dates in calendar are closer than they appear.”
Amen!
Keep up the great blogging and enjoy today!
Here’s hoping that you have a very happy and satisfying New Year. Thank you for the gift of your insightful and interesting writing.
Happy New Year everyone!
“Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.”
– Groucho Marx
I don’t know where else I can vent about this: I turned on the Rose Parade on ABC, and there was the Rose royalty float, as usual with attractive young women in gowns, holding bouquets of roses, and waving. ABC felt called to point out that the Rose Queen was the first ever wearing glasses, that she’s the first ever Jewish queen, and ALSO the first ever “from the LGBT community.” Sheesh. The glasses were obvious, and she’s still very pretty. Why on earth to I need to know about her ethnicity and with whom she would like to have intimate relations?
I can only hope I won’t be hearing about football players’ private lives this afternoon.
Mike K on December 31, 2018 at 6:33 pm at 6:33 pm said:
My daughter who is 38 and who expressed no interest in children a couple of year’s ago, announced that she is expecting next July. It will be a very good year,
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Congratulations!
Happy New Year to all y’all, especially you, Neo. Your blog is a great service.
And a very loud second to everyone’s comments about the swift passage of time. I can’t help noticing that we all seem to be of grandparently age, if not actually grandparents. And that we tend to be somewhat melancholy about the future of this country. I at any rate have never been under illusions about its flaws but I don’t think it’s just Old Guy Griping that makes me feel that much of what is/was good is being rejected or just forgotten.