Gung Hay Fat Choy and Big Choices

Well,  I reckon that at least my sister read the last post - she sent me a Chinese New Year's Card.

So, that makes it official - I can finally tie off the loose ends of last year and begin moving forward into the new year with some new projects. The last great act of last year was our Mauimoon in Hawai'i, from which we returned two days ago and in which you can share by clicking here or on the new Pog and Vodka link in the right sidebar. That was a heck of a way to close out the season and the year, and, of course, it presents me with a collateral challenge.

To review what I have been waiting to begin:

1. I still won't know a "normal" week for a while. In the seven weeks between now and the start of my teaching Spring quarter, I am scheduled to work 12 days as dean. On the one hand, cool; on the other hand, weird.

2. All that free time (see #1) will allow me to get purchase on those new and different creative, artistic, and self-improvement endeavors.

However, it's one thing to begin a new writing routine or workout regimen, or to finally get serious about learning the instrument you've been fooling around with for with several years, or to stick to a blogging schedule, and it is another thing entirely to contemplate a major life change.

What ho, you say - doesn't #1 cover that? Doesn't moving from dean back to instructor qualify as a major life change?

Well, yes and no. It will certainly be a major change in many aspects - schedule, responsibility, daily routine, income, and so forth. But I will still be an educator, still in higher ed, and still at the same institution. From a certain perspective, the changes are trivial.

Tut-tut, you say - why bring up this major life change business at all? Wasn't the whole point of this new year whatsis just to jump-start some personal productivity?

Well, yes, but then there was Maui. And when you're in Maui, you naturally start thinking how great it would be to just never get on your return flight and stay forever, folding T-shirts at Crazy Shirts in Whaler's Village or the Lahaina Cannery Mall and hitting the beach every day. Then you remember you're not twenty-three anymore and can't live in a crappy apartment with three roommates, but the seed has been planted and you start trying to figure out how you got where you are. And you remember that when you were in grad school, having a tenured position in an English department was not one of your explicit goals and that you kind of wound up here by accident, and you wonder what to do about that.

Or at least I do.

And that's the collateral challenge: even as I construct this new-old life as a college teacher, filling it with stuff that is important to me - reading, writing, creating, and so forth - I am questioning where it is leading in the long run, which for me is getting shorter every year. Maybe this blog won't just report on the progress of my projects, but will help me reflect on that big question out as well. Here's hoping.

Up, up, and away.

My Cusp Runneth Over

lim·i·nal adjective \ˈli-mə-nəl\ : of, relating to, or being an intermediate state, phase, or condition : in-between, transitional

As the new year rolls up on us, it is a time for renewal. For many, this takes the form of resolutions, kept with varying degrees of success; in this space, it has traditionally been a renewal of values. This time, however, I find myself at the center of a veritable storm of rejuvenation and renaissance, with all kinds of changes and growth happening all around me, so much that it seems this holiday-transition time is never-ending: limitless liminality.

It started on November 16, when I bought a showroom-new car for only the second time in over forty years as a driver. Fairly big deal, and the least of the developments to come.

On December 3, I informed my institution that I was leaving my position as Dean for Student Learning and asserting my right under tenure to return to teaching faculty. The decision was the outcome of a constellation of considerations and not made lightly; I think it will be a fruitful choice in the long run.

Two days later, during Coco's birthday celebrations, I asked her to marry me and she said yes. After eight years, it seemed time. The household happiness index has never been higher, and it keeps rising.

On January 6, in a tattoo parlor in Greenwood, Coco and I had Sanskrit symbols inked on our ring fingers and tied the knot right there.

A few days ago, on January 18, I went under the knife, snicker-snack, for a vasectomy.

And we're leaving for Hawaii in a week and a half, for a slightly delayed Maui-moon.

In between all those significant events were the usual Big Three of holidays - Thanksgiving,  Isaac Newton's Birthday, and New Year's Eve (with bonus ear infection and urgent care visit!) - as well as the birthdays and anniversaries of several friends and family, visits from abroad, and extended cat-sitting duties.

There are two upshots to this:

1. I can't remember what a "normal" week feels like.

2. Although all this change has inspired me to different creative, artistic, and self-improvement endeavors, I feel like I haven't been able to get purchase to move forward on any of them.

Here's the solution: I am delaying my own personal New Year's until Sunday, February 10. If the lunisolar calendar that has served the Celestial Empire for something like 4000 years is good enough for something like a billion and a half people, then it's good enough for me, at least this year.

So, you may be hearing from me in the next few weeks as I try to knit up the ravell'd sleeve of change, but the big change will be delayed a bit. When lichun gets, here, though, there will be red envelopes for everyone and renewed vigor all around. Just have patience...

...this may take a little longer than I planned.