Auld Acquaintance

 

with apologies to George Herriman

So, it's finally over.

Yes, of course, nothing is really changing: the Virus is still here, the fate of the Senate races in Georgia (and therefore the Senate) are still undecided, and Inauguration Day is still three weeks away. Nonetheless, it will feel good to close the calendar book or rip the last sheet from the wall and at least pretend to start afresh.

This year's turning has its own special spin for me, what with the whole Interim president thing officially staring at 12:01 am 01/01/21. It's going to be a tough row to hoe, but the fortune cookie I received with our holiday dinner gives me great hope:

Not only is it a true fortune, in the sense of being an actual prediction rather than an old adage or generic advice, but the "Learn Chinese" vocabulary word is work, so that's all rather fitting.

As we took our walk, today to include Marine Park, Coco suggested that we each find a rock to symbolize the new year. Mindful of this fortune, I chose one that reminded me of a distant mountain range on the horizon, emblematic of the journey ahead, difficult to traverse, but leading to better things. Of course, my geekitude couldn't let it alone there, so I combined it with one of my D&D minis for this diorama of the Indomitable Spirit of Accomplishment:

On a tangent for a moment: I have mused before about the duality of the Gnome Monk and Dwarf Bard that echoes on my life. I like this fellow because he could be either a large gnome or a small dwarf, and stripped down as he is, who knows what his occupation is. That he appears o be in a kilt and Doc Martens is just a bonus.

(Actual Gnome Monk and Dwarf Bard)

So, back to business: I have played around with resolutions from time to time, but I prefer to think of them as course corrections or resetting of routines. There's just a few things I want to do differently, besides going dry for January (which is fairly routine for me). 

I need to get out of the doomscrolling habit, especially in the morning, so I may actually sleep in later rather than spend so much morning coffee time on news sites and Twitter.

That morning stretch will be better spent extending my exercise time rather than soaking in the bad news and worse comments. I have been trying out some different routines, both bodyweight and dumbbell based, and will try to establish a good mix and rhythm to continue and expand my practice.

I am also going to be very diligent for the first weeks of the new year in unsubscribing to everything I don't want to receive, even the stuff I support. Evey charity I have donated to, every political campaign I have given to, and half the websites I have visited send me email, sometimes more than once a day, and it's wearing me out. Time to check out for a bit.

And I need to carve out more time to read for pleasure. I am hoping that suspending law school will allow for that.

Besides those few things, we'll just keep on keeping on. As I said at the start, it's not like the world is actually gonna change tomorrow.

But it's nice to believe that perhaps it can.

Let me just end with perhaps my favorite picture of the year:

Happy Covid New Year, everyone!