Remembrance of Things (Long) Past

Permit me a personal remembrance.

1990 was a watershed year.  I was 35 and at the prime of my physical and mental abilities, except for the relative lack of life-knowledge you might expect someone to have acquired by that age. A discrete lack of responsibility for anyone other than myself up to that point could be given as a reason, and I'll happily live with that conclusion, should you make it.

The 80's had been a tough decade for me; a failed attempt at post-graduate academics; a failed relationship which left a long-lasting friendship in ruins; and, of course, a long slog with that Republican Saint, Ronald Reagan in charge of national matters. (He'd been an actor I'd admired growing up, but as a politician he wrecked havoc on the progressive gains of the 70's, in which I and many of my generation had invested much hope).

I had also lost my father to lung cancer, and my mother had been diagnosed with the same disease; she would lose her battle not long into the 90's.

1990 rang in with rumblings of War in the Middle East, the consequences of which we are still experiencing, but that had little impact on me at the time.  My attention was taken with a new love and a new career.

The new love was truly new; but my new career had actually been percolating for much of the second half of the 80's.  I had changed from science to computer programming, and it was a refreshing change to enter a field where the importance was on capability rather than credentials; on talent rather than seniority.  Those of you in the business today know that this has largely changed, but trust me, the field of computers  and IT was heaven for the independent-minded oddball back then.

The 90's turned out to be my big decade; the best of my life, despite ominous signs of national political turmoil to come.  My new love turned into a lasting relationship.  It brought happiness, stability, two wonderful children, and a healthy dose of responsibility.  My career has been stable enough too since then; no great achievements or successes, but steady employment and something meaningful to do.

The end of the last decade of the 20th century saw me in a situation the goodness of which I wouldn't have imagined at the end of the 1970's.  I hadn't achieved stardom or won the Nobel, and I certainly wasn't Jacques Cousteau or Kenny Roberts, my two 70's heroes, but I was in a good place.  A very good place.

The '00s come next, but from then to now is a story I'll keep to myself.  My purpose here was to reflect on what for many of my generation was the seminal decade of our lives.  It seems such a long time ago now, but if you think about our collective hopes and their ups and downs through the years leading to the 1990's, then think of how we felt at the end of those years, and finally reflect on where we are now, you might begin to understand the foundation for the general malaise many of us are now feeling. And this despite the Hope raised by the 2008 election and recent re-election of the nation's first African-American President, something we would have hoped for but hardly expected at the end of the 90's.  A bright light in an otherwise politically dim time.

Here's hoping you are experiencing your seminal decade now, and that if so you are mindful of the seeds that are sown for our future, good or ill, as well as the current benefits you are reaping.  Too many of us didn't when it was out turn, and look how that's turned out.

Beyond The Fringe

Fox's Sci-fi drama Fringe is coming to an end. This we've known for at least a year, since Fox representatives were never shy of trashing the show publicly.

At one point, the show was going to be 'hard canceled'; you know, ripped away from our screens without a warning - or a plot resolution.

But something caused the suits to relent, just enough to allow the series to wrap up in a way that would be satisfactory to its diehard fans. Or so it was hoped.

Just this week It was revealed the very next episode to be aired would be the series' last; a two-hour wind-up of all the mystery contained in those years of episodes gone by.  Apparently the whole season was too much to ask, or perhaps Fox has some other ailing show to place on the Friday night deathwatch, and can't wait for the space.

In any event, the scene has been set for a 'Lost'- like fiasco that will leave nobody happy except the bean counters. Expect the writers, confronted with such a task of compression, to resort to narrative, rapid scene shifting, flashbacks, and every other cliche they can use to 'get 'er done.  I suspect it will all have been a dream, or whatever passes for such in a universe of ever-shifting realities.

Walter, Peter, Astrid, the whole Fringe division (of both universes), and most of all Olivia, don't deserve such a fate.  

Do Dogs See The Stars?

Tonight in Los Angeles it was clear and cold, and more than the usual few stars shone above.

I was out with our big goofball of a dog, taking in the night air and trying to work off some of the Holiday largess.  It wasn't going so well since we seemed to stop every 20 yards for a long sniff or a pee. (The Dog, not Me).

It was during one of the longer of these stops that I happened to look up and see Jupiter and Mars.  Not stars of course, but all the brighter for it.  And then I found myself commenting on those planets' beauty to the Dog, as if he could see and comprehend the wonder.

He just burrowed his nose deeper into the unkempt winter growth and spared not a glance above.

Just then it dawned on me that perhaps alone of all Earth's creatures, Man both sees and appreciates the Stars.

Sure some birds navigate at night using stars, or so I've read (somewhere), but they don't think 'how beautiful' while navigating, do they? I'll bet Magellan's navigator did.

We humans not only see Stars and find them beautiful and memorable enough to cast as mythological Gods, we yearn to understand what makes them tick, and maybe one day visit them.  Jupiter and Mars have already been buzzed or landed on by robotic human craft.  If we don't blow ourselves up, or burn through all our resources too quickly, it's only a matter of time before humans visit in person.

So what of the Dog?  Since he can't smell the stars, he couldn't care less. But there's a better than even chance that, should humans establish a permanent presence on another planet, there'll be Dogs with them, sniffing and peeing every twenty yards or so, nose pressed into whatever passes for unkempt winter growth.

All Hail The New Year

We all need a Plan for the New Year,

So, try this:

When in doubt, choose Hope.

(With the New comes the Possible.)

Let cautious optimism trickle up.

(With the Old Year behind You, there is the chance you'll get it right.)

Let peaceful intent become peaceful Action.

Think Seven Steps Ahead,

But look where each Step Falls.

(Don't Crush The Flowers)

Try to let go of the Past,

(Except for that part where you screwed up and need to remember to not do it again.)

Think progressively.

Live earnestly but with sensitivity.

Have Fun, if You Can.

Be Content, If You Can't.

Work On Your Plan for 2014 ...

The End Of '12

Against the expectations of a fair number of Apocalypticals we seem to have made it.

The World-As-We-Know-It didn't end, but 2012 soon will.

Many good people will have gone with it.  The World has shed some famous souls this year past, and their passing will be sorely felt, as will the more private gaps left by their fellow-travelers into the mists - those who were known only to their friends and family, or who gained a brief notoriety from the circumstances of their deaths.

Many are gone, but the World goes on.  And we should hope for a better year in 2013.

Not that 2012 was a complete disaster.  We didn't have another super-tsunami, and the US re-election of Barack Obama seemed to buoy the spirits of many.

But 2012 won't be missed.  'Superstorm' Sandy reminded us of our fragility. Conflicts continued in Afghanistan and Syria; Congressional deadlock and the 'fiscal cliff' left US leaders with the well-earned contempt of the general public; and Hollywood continued to release '3D' movies.

Of course, we don't yet know what 2013 will bring us.  It's been a hundred years since we last lived a year with '13' in it's name, and 1913 was a mixed bag (1913 events).  It's amazing how true it is that the more things change, the more they remain the same, but I sure hope 2013 doesn't sow the seeds of global war as 1913 did.  Or should I say, I hope those of us living in 2013 are better at avoiding the pitfalls of arrogance and blind self-interest than those of 1913 were.  (Well, OK, it's a long-shot.)

No matter what comes next, it's safe to say that we have once again persevered another transit about the Sun.  What the next roundtrip will bring shouldn't worry us too much as we celebrate on December 31, 2012.

Happy New Year

14 December 2012

If you were anticipating the approach of the Mayan Apocalypse, or just looking for signs it was on schedule for the 21st of this December; then you would have seen and heard hard evidence in every news outlet in America on the 14th.

Even if you don't believe the World is Ending on December 21, 2012, you would be forgiven for believing that American Public Innocence - or rather the popular myth of it, had ended with the deaths of those 20 children and their teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut.

For certain it wasn't just the people at the school, the 20-year old gunman, or his mother the first victim, who died on the 14th; we all of us lost something that we might never get back.

If we are to have a chance at redemption after this tragedy, we must finally heed the calls that began in earnest with Columbine, but have lapsed to barely register in public discourse.

Somehow, some way, we must get to a point where these mass killings by guns can no longer happen as easily as they seem to do.

We can't fail in this.

Not if we want the memory of the 14th of December, 2012, to mean something more than just another step down the road to our Apocalypse.

12-12-12

It's not often a day assumes once-a-century significance on nothing more than its name, but then there's Wednesday, December 12, 2012, or 12-12-12.

The coincidence of having all digits the same has been a yearly experience since the second year of the new millennium (2001), but the run is over.  After tomorrow, we won't see the like again until 01-01-2101, some 89 years in the future.

I haven't got 89 years in the tank, do you?  If you are old enough tomorrow to understand what's up, probably not.

So this is it.

Make the most of it.

Engaged?  Move up the wedding.

Getting Divorced?  Why not add a little more significance.

If you have to sign checks this week, do them all tomorrow.

Save a newspaper (double-bonus: you can get one now, but in 2101?)

If Wednesday is your Birthday take lots of pictures with date stamps visible.

Planning to sign a contract for a new car or house soon? Do that tomorrow.

Whatever you do to mark this Wednesday, 12-12-12, as special, enjoy the precipitous vibe.  It'll prepare you for (1) the Fiscal Cliff, and (2) the Mayan Apocalypse (whichever gets us first).