Wednesday, December 30, 2009

an end is nigh

This week between Christmas and New Year's is a kind of dead zone. A time of cleaning up around the house and repeats on the radio and television. And a time of the Year End Reviews.

I have a love-hate relationship with the Year End Reviews. And now we have the End of the Decade Reviews to contend with. (I know it isn't really the end of the decade, but...)
The end of the Naughts.

I used to love reading these lists. I thought of them as a gentle reminder of things that had happened in the past year. I think I even saved some of them and kept them tucked into the last pages of my journal for the respective year. Now, somehow, I think of them as brain twisters. Was that this year? I thought he died years ago? You actually found that incident memorable?

When I was younger, it was so much easier to place certain events or songs. I remembered them according to what grade I was in. Once that reference point was gone things got a little murky. I would reference events according to where I was living. Not necessarily the year, though. I still have trouble remembering exactly which year I lived in High Park, or moved to that small town in Central Ontario. When I figure it out, I am suddenly more aware of how much time has passed and am shocked. Or perversely, was it only five years ago that that happened? have I really only been blogging for a year and a half?

My short term memory is confused. And reading these lists only confirms my suspicions.

I am getting older.

On another note, I am glad to start the new decade so we can stop saying - deep breath - two thousand and nine, and swiftly move on to saying twenty ten.

29 comments:

  1. I'm always stunned...well maybe that's too strong a word...to see the number of celebrities and recognizable names that are lost in a year's time. I think I've always been this way and it has nothing to do with my advanced age!

    Happy New Year! Pop some bubbly for me!

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  2. it is amazing some of the shifts that popularity can go through, especially in a decade of naughts.

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  3. Susan: I've been watching the Golden Girls marathon today and actually had to check on when Estelle Getty and Bea Arthur died.
    Stunned isn't too strong a word for this phenomenon

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  4. Char: looking back, I'm beginning to believe this may actually have been a naughty decade

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  5. You know, I've become so curmudgeonly that I can't even be bothered to look at those retrospective lists any more. As you note, they're reminders about the passage of time, and ever since I hit the half-century mark, I really don't need any more reminders! (Also, I have no idea who many of the people on those lists even are, nor do I care to find out.)
    Happy New Year anyway! xoxo

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  6. Wow... based on your last sentence, it seems like you may have read my post:

    http://tinyurl.com/y8qhq2c

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  7. Pinklea: no point in purposefully annoying, or depressing, yourself at this time of year! have a drink on me!

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  8. Jim: I haven't, but will head over there now. I take it we are on the same wavelength?

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  9. I don't bother with it anymore as I don't know who half the people are and find the events sad and an indictment on the way we live.Hope we do better now the noughties are out of the way!Happy New Year!

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  10. Happy New Year. I quite like the notion of the naughts rather than the noughts, and wonder are we moving to the aughts or oughts - not that either makes sense for the new decade.
    Lists compiled by journalists can be profoundly irritating, especially when they are full of details about pop music, actor or model celebrities, about whom I neither know nor care. It is a pity there are so many things which can induce grumpiness.
    But I am off to view the fireworks tonight.

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  11. Goosebreeder: the lists aren't all about who died the past year/decade. I need to be reminded about the dramatic events of the past year, too!

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  12. Persiflage: I don't remember so much being made of what to call this decade since the year two thousand (another irritating phrase).

    Fireworks - yay. it is far too cold for that tradition here on New Year's

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  13. Twenty Ten. I like that. I probably would have just said "two thousand and ten." Your way is better. And if I live ten more years we can look back and call this next decade "the teens" which sounds goofy as hell.

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  14. Happy 2010! I agree, it will be a nice shortcut.
    The thought that we remind you of your parents is somewhat chilling. We told our Small Grandson today,( in the car, as we had yet one more pointless spat) to never end up like us, & he assured us, he "will make sure I never do!!"
    How cutting was that!

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  15. I sometimes think my memory has just gone, let alone going! I forget the simplest things, but later I can remember them, when its too late!

    And I have just written your last paragraph in my blog - before I read yours! I reckon there must be plenty like us!

    Happy New Year to you!

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  16. 2K10!!! WooHoo! 09 is leaving and it gave me quite a ride. It was great! So 10, I am looking forward to you! Don't disappoint me now! Or I will be pissed!
    Happy New Year
    Hugs
    SueAnn

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  17. Geewits: I'm all for shortcuts in verbiage. I don't know if they had a nickname for the Nineteen teens - maybe they were too busy at war to think about it.

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  18. Meggie: sorry for the chilling thought. I hope 2010 is kind to you.

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  19. Gilly: it is a little scary how much I seem to forget...

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  20. SueAnn: that's it - be firm!
    May 2010 be good to you, or else.

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  21. Well, they are reminders of the passage of time and of aging, but they are also reminders of how much living you've done. I like reviews for that reason, espeiclly when I review omy own life. Ups and downs but so full!

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  22. SAW: strangely, I've never made a review list of my own personal year, I liked to keep track of what was going on around me. they seemed to put some order to a chaotic year.

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  23. Happy 2010, Violet Sky. Our country, South Africa has the dubious pleasure of hosting the FIFA world cup. Phew! I'm off to North Africa in a week's time to join hubby who works in Khartoum, Sudan. Blessings and hugs for the new year and decade! Thanks for visiting my blog and your kind comments. I love a peek at your world too. Jo

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  24. Don't worry about getting older. As Einstein once said, "Time only exists so that everything doesn't happen at once."

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  25. Don´t worry about getting old...because it will happen anyway!

    I think a year end list is okay and I like to read and even make them myself. A whole decade is too big for me to understand. Maybe after 5-10 years I can see it better.

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  26. Jo: so 2010 will be an exciting year for SA (I'll be watching from afar)

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  27. Barry: cliches are so true, aren't they?! (I hope February comes quickly for you)

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  28. Chrome3d: some years I feel more melancholy about aging than others. I do like to write journals and see how my life have evolved; it feels more subtle than a list.

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  29. jeeeee zussss, thats why I now walk every where. You can't escape from the bloghters on the bus or train, nd the airplane nows youcan't even shoot 'em or blow them up.
    Maybe thats abit harsh...howvever, you know what I mean...

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