right out of the crisper drawer

Nice clean start to the year this year, beginning on a Sunday and everything. 

Been thinking a lot lately, fueled by nearly three weeks of being back at home with my parents for break, how arbitrary the "new year" is when it comes to an actual routine. Sure, the days change over and there is an expiration of a lot of deadlines and whatnot, but when it comes down to the nitty-gritty of the daily routine, nothing much changes. You just have to get used to writing a new number at the end of the date. You just keep going on with whatever you were doing the day before, eating your leftovers and drying that load of laundry that you hadn't gotten to. 

It's even worse for a college student, because the new year comes at the middle of break. I've got over a week and a half before I even start classes. There's just this awkward period of sitting around waiting while the new year goes on without me. Sure, I have work and that is always good for keeping me busy, but even that is just a continuation. All the spiffy new stuff doesn't get to happen until mid-January. 

That's when my birthday rolls around, along with classes. And that of course got me thinking about how birthdays are much the same when it comes to "the more things change". You spend so much time looking forward to them - or, y'know, not, as some you do - and it seems like with each year added, you should somehow magically gain the knowledge and wisdom that you could see everyone else had at that particular age. But it's an arbitrary thing. Sure, you're a whole 'nother three hundred and sixty-five days older. But you aren't magically a different person because of that. You might be a different person, but it's taken you those three hundred and sixty-five days to change. Revelations don't happen merely because time has passed.

It's kind of depressing, almost, realizing how rather over-hyped these things are. And relative. I mean, the new year comes at different times for everyone, doesn't it? I mean, seeing as how there are so many different time zones. So while we're ringing in the new year, there's still someone somewhere who's still got three hours to wait. Unless you're in the last time zone. 

That almost makes me jealous, actually, the thought that someone gets the last chance to ring in the new year. It's like going last in class for a presentation. The first person has much less pressure on them because they're the ones starting off and so there's nothing to compare them too yet. They get to set the standard. But the last person gets to see what everyone did before them and what they did wrong. They get all those extra hours to prep for the new year, to see what everyone else has done wrong already in those hours, and to get it right. 

Wow, rampant nihilism. Way to start the new year, no?

Because even though the coming of the new year is pretty useless when it comes to just moving on with one's life, it still manages to hold this weird sort of emotional appeal. Even if we really aren't starting over fresh - because it's not as though the baggage just gets left at the door - there is still that freeing sense of turning a new leaf. It's mostly in our heads, but for a lot of things, that's enough. 

So yeah, bring it on, 2012. I'm looking forward to you.