Another Year Wasted

[vovat]

Happy New Year! Now this is a totally arbitrary holiday, isn't it? I think the reason the year begins in January has something to do with when the new Roman consuls took office. That's very relevant to today's society, isn't it? If they're going to make it that close to Christmas, why not just combine the two? Oh, wait. Because that means schools might not give the entire week off. Speaking of which, I always felt gypped when they made us go back on the second of January, although I guess that wouldn't be the case this year. At least our new year isn't in the seventh month. What the hell were you smoking when you came up with that, Moses? Then again, we have a ninth month called "seventh month," so I guess the Gregorian calendar isn't always that sensible after all. I believe the reason for that is that the winter months originally didn't have names, because no one wanted to bother counting the days, and when they added in January and February they didn't change any of the existing names. Our calendar year really was cobbled together, wasn't it?

Anyway, thanks to my irregular Walmart schedule, I ended up just getting off work at midnight. As arbitrary as New Year's is, I still kind of like to observe the tradition of marking when the year actually starts. Not that I've always done that, mind you. A few years ago, bethje and I were in the car on the way to Atlantic City at midnight. Another time, she was asleep, and I spent the whole night on the computer. Now that I think about it, I guess it's really not tradition so much as obsessive-compulsiveness.

My new quarter at school starts in a few days, but for some reason Blackboard is still showing my classes from last quarter. I wonder when they're going to change, or if I have to do something to enact that change. I'm taking one on-campus and one online course again; I didn't much like my last online course, but I didn't really have a choice with this particular class. Before my classes start, I'm trying to fit in as much time as I can for playing video games. I've made it up to Dourbridge in Dragon Quest IX, and last night I checked out the beginning of Bowser's Inside Story. I've also been having a lot of dreams that are bothersome for some reason or other, and those are never as restful as the other kind. A lot of them seem to involve having to go back to high school and work on some project, although travel dreams are also fairly common. What's up with that crap, subconscious?

For what it's worth, I don't make New Year's resolutions. I really should make an effort to be less sloppy, but that's not likely to happen. Aren't people with OCD supposed to be neat? Figures I'd get the disorder but not the only part that could be potentially beneficial.

Also, according to Harold Camping, the world is going to end this year. Mind you, he said the same thing about 1994. Still, you can't be too careful, right? :P

Comments

[rockinlibrarian.livejournal.com]

Aren't people with OCD supposed to be neat? Figures I'd get the disorder but not the only part that could be potentially beneficial.

That's like being a disorganized librarian. I AM organized! It's just alphabetical and/or Dewey order doesn't help keep ones schedule/desk/kitchen/laundry organized!

Possibly the new year ought to start on the winter solstice, but the months don't line up properly, so that's as close as you get.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Yeah, not all parts of my life have to be equally organized. Just because my own books are strewn all over the room doesn't mean I'm not scrupulous about keeping library books in order. Besides, I do keep all my Oz books together.