Blogging in the New Year (And some "Reflections on Fall")
Actually, I stole the title of this entry from Paul at Encyclopedia Giachettica. I recall that he had a blog entry that he titled that way (the "New Year" part), except when he did it, he was talking about blogging in the real new year. That is, the one that starts in January.This is my blog's personal new year. As of September 20, we're officially into year two of the Heart and Mind blog, and this post is the first addition to the blog in the new year.
So...what can I say? Well, I can say a lot, but I've already pretty much said it. Back in July, I kind of jumped the gun with the celebratory speeches when I got excited to witness that my little blog had reached the 60-post mark. (See it here.) When everything's tallied up, we closed out the first year with 70 essays here at Heart and Mind. I'm still amazed, because that averages well over one entry per week and, quite honestly, it doesn't seem like I was that active with it. I'm very excited. I know that 70 might not seem like a big number for bloggers who generally post just a couple of lines or paste in hyperlinks to other sites and say, "This is pretty funny." But for the style of writing here, where I avoid the links and stuff (not that there is anything wrong with it...), I think it's pretty cool. Thanks for reading, and I hope to keep bringing you more stuff in the current "year."
But blog-calendar or not, it is a new year, isn't it? To me, fall is always the time of rebirth and rejuvenation. I know that seems odd, because it's actually the opposite: spring is rebirth and fall is when things start decaying in anticipation of the desolate, lifeless winter. But for my money, fall always seemed like a time to make a fresh start. We've had enough heat and barbecues (I also had a musing on that subject a few entries back, and it even referenced the fact that I was probably going to write this blog eventually) and there's something refreshing about the more temperate weather. We start looking forward to when we'll put on some sweatshirts and start seeing those harvest-y kind of signs around town about apple cider events and hayrides and things like that. We're not there yet, but we're on the way. And, my lawn is starting to get a little more life back in it.
Well, let's state something that's probably obvious here. There is a reason for this sense of rebirth that is directly related to what we all did for years and years and years: school starts in the fall. As kids, we never looked at years by the real calendar. We thought in terms of school calendars. September was the beginning, a fresh start, and something altogether new, even if we didn't want to be back in school. I think that having gone to school for so many years really helped solidify this sense that fall was the beginning. After all, since I joined "the grind" post-college, there's been no start or stop to the schedule. It just keeps going: 5 days on, 2 days off, repeat ad nauseum. That is very depressing, but despite that, I still feel like there's something new in the air every fall.
posted by Steve @ 10:20 PM
2 Comments:
One thing that struck me was how you metioned fall as a rebirth because of the end of heat, and all the fallish things you were looking forward to.
For me, all these fall things are still some sort of bizarre ritual you all use to delude yourselves into beliving winter isn't the horrible thing looming down on us that it really is.
For the few of you reading this who don't know, I was born and raised in Florida, and only moved north a year and a half ago. Last winter was my first taste of snow, and this will mark only the second time I have done the whole northern seasons thing. Florida has a grand total of two seasons: hot and hotter.
To me, the change of seasons was never really noteworthy because there wasn't much change. Instead of 100-degree highs we stayed around the high 70s, maybe got into the high 50s at night in the northern part of the state. Up here, it is just so different. There are plenty of things everyone up here talks about in relation to fall and why they like the season, but for me, it just means I get to look forward to six months of being freezing (I get cold when the temperature drops below about 72) and miserable. Fall is like the hand of doom, ushering in days of grey, cold misery, and that is at least part of why I have found myself feeling sad and unhappy lately. This year seems worse than last year, simply because I know what's coming.
So yeah, I just thought I would share. It just really struck me that people who have lived in the north all their lives see this change of seasons very differently than those who lived in the south. Its almost like a different language sometimes.
The one thing that always gets me this time of year is the whole getting dark at 4 thing. Now, I've lived in the northeast all my life, but every single year it gets me, and I despise it. And daylight savings only makes it worse. I hate leaving work while it's dark. I hate going into my second job while it's dark, though that will soon be remedied. I hate when it's 7 O'clock on a weekend and I feel like I should be in my sweats getting ready for bed, while I'd still be out washing my car or shopping or something outdoorsy if it were bright and sunny in the summertime. Damn Earth's tilted axis and elliptical planetary orbit!!
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