New Year's Eve at last! But now it seems too soon after a week that felt as if it would go on into perpetuity. How funny. It's almost 9:00 a.m. - what have I been up to since I woke at 6:00? The day is speeding past already, a clear sign that the spiral of the year changed direction and is now almost completely unwound.
When I was a kid I often thought about the year 2000. When I did the math, realizing I would be 47 was terribly disappointing. In my mind that was so old, I imagined I wouldn't even have the energy to celebrate. Ha!
I never thought beyond Y2K, never. 2012? Holy cow.
Even the people who ranted and raved about the Mayan calendar forecasting the end of the earth on December 21, 2012 have backed away from that theory, possibly because people who actually understand the complicated Mayan calendar have pointed out how that dire conclusion is just silly. I wonder if it's a relief to those who were so into the idea of doomsday. I guess I'll never know.
It's not just the Mayans who created a calendar with several layers to accommodate, more or less, the slippery nature of linear time. We, too, have multiple calendars including one that goes on forever. I'm talking about the seven day week that never stops, not for new years or new decades or new centuries, not for landmark events of any kind. Nope, it's SundayMondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFridaySaturday forever and ever. Except in Samoa where they jumped the international date line this year. They went from Thursday to Saturday, just like that. Snap!
It must have felt very weird. We adjust our 24 hour clocks occasionally and our 365 day solar year every four years in one fell swoop, by adding a day to February, but the seven day week is uninterruptable. Should say almost uninterruptable. That makes our time keeping as complex as that of the Mayans.
Funny, trying to get a grip on time, hey? The truth is, time has a grip on us, no matter what our atomic clocks and electronic calendars synched in the cloud tell us. Father Time, we are your children. Indeed.
Happiest new year to all including those who are already a part of year 2012. Cheers!
5 comments:
the wheel in the sky keeps on turning but we humans have to organize it. we pick an arbitrary set and impose it on the universe and then claim that it means something. we are so silly in our self importance. on long river trips out in the wilderness I would loose track of the days of the week. it was so unnecessary to name them.
happy new year Reya, may 2012 bring much happiness your way.
oh, new layout!
I love that last photo!!
In the Bill Bryson book I'm reading, "A Short History of Nearly Everything," he talks about the birth of the universe and how many years ago it occurred. And I thought, but wait a minute -- there was no solar system back then. So how could there have been years? It made me appreciate the slippery nature of time!
I'm listening to Chicago's,
Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?
Fabulous song, fabulous thoughts, Reya!
"time has a grip on us"
sure does, especially when we don't understand it (and by we, I mean me!).
Happy 2012 Reya.
Cheers, and many blessings.
Ha. Yeah what is time? If you figure it out, write it down! We all want to know.
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