otoh

Today is New Year’s Eve on the Chinese traditional lunar calendar. This is the last day of the year of the monkey. Tomorrow is the first day of the year of the rooster.

Monkeys are mischevious and monkey years may be disruptive. Hmm, let’s see. In just a few months last year my state was hit by four hurricanes and helped reelect a warmongering president with a dubious vocabulary.

[Okay, time out for a major tangential digression. It occurred to me recently that William Shakespeare made up a lot of words that have come into common use and he is widely regarded as a great poet and playwright. Perhaps we just don't appreciate our commander-in-chief as a poet on the cutting edge of developing new language....]

Since I was born in a year of the boar (pig), I’m hopeful that another barnyard animal will be less traumatic. Traditionally, though, pigs are most compatible with dragons, goats, and other pigs. I think I understand why “May you live in interesting times” is considered a curse…. But I’m remaining guardedly optimistic for now (although you might not believe that if you read last night’s post).

Here are links to more than you ever wanted to know about Chinese New Year:
http://www.c-c-c.org/chineseculture/zodiac/zodiac.html
http://www.gio.gov.tw/info/festival_c/spring_e/spring.htm
http://www.chiff.com/home_life/holiday/chinese-new-year.htm
http://www.math.nus.edu.sg/aslaksen/calendar/chinese.shtml
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_New_Year

I often get junk like this in my head (and often it’s when I don’t sleep well). I don’t even have a full moon to blame it on this time. The easiest way to get rid of it is by writing it down. And, while I certainly don’t have to write it HERE, you don’t have to read it either.

I saw it going better
Or differently at least
The smorgasbord of living
Turned more famine than a feast
And all those loving phrases
that I shoulda coulda said
spoken only by the voices
in my knockin wooden head

My eyes that once saw starlight
And promise right from birth
Are glazed and sullen staring
At a frigid arid earth
What scares me more than wasting
Life lying on the shelf
Is knowing that I know it
When I’m lying to myself

I could get up, I could get out
Move my lazy ass
Participate more fully
Not just let life pass
But all those promises are made
With one unfulfilled condition
The wish I make and always break
To end this damn depression

I’m usually a channel-hopper when I drive. Country. Soft Rock. Oldies. Light Jazz. Pop. Classic Rock. Those were the presets on my car radio. Until those genii at ClearChannel suddenly dropped the oldies format. Radio is a cruel business. Well, at least, commercial radio in the U.S. in markets like central Florida is a cruel business. There was no warning. They just stopped.

We’ve been through this before. I remember driving home late one night hearing The Beatles “Twist and Shout”. When it ended the same song played again. What the heck, it’s a good tune, so I listened again. And then it played again. Turned out, they were playing that one song all weekend. That time it was more a change in personnel than in format.

The last time the oldies format was dropped by a local channel another channel picked it up within a few days. I was dismayed a few years ago when they modified their format from 50’s and 60’s to 60’s and 70’s. (Yes, I know in the recording industry anything more than a year old is an oldie. But to me, THE oldies are the rockabilly, early rock and roll, early Motown, R&B, soul, beach music, hot rod music, folk, British invasion, summer of love, Monerey Pop, Woodstock, bubble gum, etc. that mainly hit between ‘55 and ‘69.) And recently they transformed from all oldies to “The Biggest Hits of All Time”.

I can only hope that, once again, another local station will pick up the oldies format. I can’t yet bring myself to consider XM (satellite radio). For now I’ve reprogrammed that button to an R&B/Soul station.

Groundhog day seems to me to be such a bogus, made-up excuse of a holiday that it hardly deserves mention. But in the spirit of continuing trivial reasons for a party, there is some mildly interesting info at http://www.groundhog.org/.

A much more interesting take (from my perspective) is using the day to encourage job shadowing. Most of the people I know still don’t know what they want to be when they grow up. And kids have very limited perception of what most people really DO at work — even in jobs they have some kind of contact with on a regular basis. Getting the chance to follow someone in their vocation for a day can give the insight necessary to make informed decisions about educational and career choices. So for a real groundhog experience check out http://www.jobshadow.org/.

Of course, the most fun I’ve ever had with 02/02 is the movie Groundhog Day starring Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell [Link to IMDB]. Aside from fantasizing about spending every day with Andie, that wonderful southern belle, I like the way they play with serious questions in a funny way. What would you do if you had the chance to live today over? What would you do if you HAD to live today over?

Rita: Have you ever had déjà-vu?
Phil: Didn’t you just ask me that?

So simple. So silly.

I intended to write about second chances tonight too, but there’s another bogus holiday coming up soon and perhaps I’ll wait till then.