Here we are once again, riding the last gasp of an expiring year, a new one on the way. I will not bore anyone with inane resolutions because I don't believe in them. Nor will I trouble anyone with my top ten list of anything as there are more than enough of those to go around. While I love Christmas and Solstice and all of the holiday fun, for me, New Year's Eve has always been tainted with a bit of the amateur night tawdriness. Years as a bartender I suppose, jaded and all of that. Perhaps I am just a New Years grinch.
While I have been true to my news boycott, I have been hearing the rumours, strange whisperings on the wind, that "things" may be getting better. Happy days may, indeed, be here again. Holiday spending is up, nearing pre-recession levels and as we are always told, more and ever-rising spending is the lynch pin of the economy of the United States. By the by, no one has ever explained to me how any economic system can be based on the impossibility of ever increasing consumer spending but there you have it. The answer must lie in some mathematics that I am unfamiliar with. Nonetheless, holiday spending is up and that is good for everyone. Out with the old debt, in with the new debt.
Yesterday I spent an hour over coffee with a fellow in the West Coast moto community but one whom I had previously not had the pleasure of meeting. Our business concluded, moto parts loaded for their journey South out of my shop and into the hands of needier persons, we adjourned to palaver.
In the course of our far ranging discussion, which included the state of the world, ex-wives and the business of exporting vintage American motos to Japan, we happened upon the subject of current events. I, as briefly as possible, outlined my news boycott and this blog. My companion, rather than giving me the quizzical look I have become accustomed to in such situations, more than understood and offered his own experiences at stepping out of the pack of news hounds. It was interesting to compare notes. While he did not boycott the news altogether, He had stopped actively gathering news and for the very same reasons I had: with the hope of being happier.
It was good to gather a different perspective on this experiment, my news boycott. I am ending the year quite a bit less "informed" on the state of current events than I began it. Over the last few months I have definitely read more, though not news and I certainly write more than I have in some time. The writing is a good exercise for me, both as an activity and as an outlet. Whether of not it is good reading is surely up to the reader and I would not venture to weigh in.
So from my smaller, more local world, I wish everyone a very Happy New Year, whether or not introspective milestones are your cup of tea or not. I do hope that everyone prospers in the coming year but, of course, that is impossible. Life being what it is, there will be times that are prosperous and times that are problematic. Tomorrow is just another day, with all of the trials and triumphs that come with a new day.
Now where did I put that silly party hat? "Toot-Toot!!!!!"
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