Round Numbers & Symmetry
2020, More Than Just a Hashtag!
Being born in 1980, I was able to get used to round number years being tied to milestones as I grew up. For example, I turned 10 in 1990 and 20 in 2000. 2020 was to be no different, with a somewhat daunting 40th birthday. However, this year also has some other notable milestones and anniversaries tied to it. First, as I already mentioned, I turned 40 this year. Unfortuntaely, due to this lousy pandemic that we’re dealing with this year, my dreams of a giant ribeye steak and a dinner out with friends were not to be. Of course, with two little ones in the house, that scenario was probably not very likely to happen anyway. There’s always next year (I hope).
The next anniversary milestone requires a little bit of number crunching. If you consider the 4 years I spent in Pennsylvania for college as “Pennsylvania years”, then I have now equaled the longest time spent in a single state. I have lived in California since 2002, when I graduated from college – 18 years. 4 years in PA, and the 18 years before that were in my birth state of Connecticut. 18-4-18… symmetry. I like that. It’s almost hard to believe that I’ve been in this area for 18 years. It feels like a long period of time that has gone by in a blink of an eye. The perception of time is funny that way. Lately, I’ve been working on trying to be more present, to be in the moment as they say. The idea is part of my goal to live more simply. If I can enjoy each moment as it is happening, then I don’t need to think (i.e. worry) as much about what will happen next, or what happened yesterday. It’s a process, and I definitely have room to improve.
One More
There is one more symmetrical milestone, and I wish it were a brighter one. I lost my dad to cancer / old age when I was 20 years old in the year 2000. This year marked 20 years since he died, but on top of that 20 years of living on this planet without my dad, after 20 years with him. While I don’t think about him every day (I still think about him often), I think the influence he had in my development was so strong that every day bears an imprint from that influence. Perhaps that’s the way of nature, or perhaps I just think about that a little more now that I am a parent myself. At any rate, I think this anniversary was tougher than the past few only because of the aforementioned symmetry. Memory is notoriously fallible and I worry that, as time goes by, my memory of my father will fade. I suppose it might in 20 more years, but only slightly. There are a lot of great, solid memories that won’t be evicted any time soon.
Album / Music Update
Not much yet. I’m waiting for some album art from my brother and/or his podcasting partner, but I’m not sure if I’m going to get it anytime soon. I don’t want to push, either, as there really is no need to rush. I just have an arbitrary deadline in my head, since getting motivated to complete my artist page on bandcamp. More next time – I hope. In the meantime, the creativity seems to be flowing lately. I have another ambient tune recorded, and I already have several other ideas in various stages of development. I’m either going to release these as singles, or attempt to collect a few into another EP, depending on how prolific I can be and how cohesive the output is.
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