Somewhere to Start

I realize that I'm not sure how much I'm feeling the holiday season, and by "feeling" I don't mean the colloquial sense, like "I'm not feelin that." It's like I don't really sense that it's here. With the moderate temperature and the clean, snow-less ground, playing frisbee at 2:00 AM doesn't invoke the holiday season nearly as much as it invokes the summer of 2006. But I think I'm ready to move on now, to 2007.

In one of my two SO-EXCLUSIVE (that's my personal blog, not an adjective) freewrites I said that I wasn't so eager to see 2007 come. 2006 was just one of my best years ever. But now, as I listen to india.arie's amazing new album Testimony: vol. 1, Life & Relationship, I'm starting to feel 2007. I'm starting to feel the new year, which is I think the best thing that Christmas gives birth to. It's funny; the track that I'm hearing now is "Summer," in which she says that she's sad to see summer go... that's funny, though; I'm pretty sure the album was released right in the middle of the summer. Then, as I lean back in my chair, I just happen to shift my glance to the pin where my 2006 graduation tassel and my little disco ball hang. It's like this precise moment came together for me to say goodbye to... well, not precisely the year 2006, not precisely my first semester at Tufts, not precisely the summer of 2006 (did I ever say goodbye to that?), but in reality--the groove that I developed throughout that time. And I know that no God's will put this all together for this to happen, that this isn't some predetermined event (there's something more than "particle A pushes particle B and this orientation develops")... but that I'm lucky to have this perfect moment for me to say goodbye.

Say goodbye to hollywood;
say goodbye, my baby!
Say goodbye to hollywood;
say goodbye, my baby!

You notice that the above punctuation could never happen without me. I've got something that I can take with me--more like a hell of a lot of somethings (intentional spelling), so goodbye 2006! Ahoy 2007; ahoy, ahoy for me.

Oh, I forgot to explain why the disco ball and the tassel so strongly made me think about the new year... I just thought so much about how that ball (with the "2006" on the tassel below it) could've served as a 2006 New Year's Ball to drop.

I didn't drop it, but yeah. And welcome to Chris, who just happened to sign on!