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Now, be honest with me. Didn't all those beautiful live television shots of fireworks on the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Statue of Liberty - and Peter Jennings bringing us all the pictures and stories and foo foo marking the dawn of the millennium around the world -- didn't all those things seem like they happened just yesterday? Come on, now! Wasn't all that stuff last week or last month? Am I nuts? Certainly THREE YEARS hasn't gone by, has it?
OK! So I accept Pope Greg's calendar as my official timekeeper, and another year ends. Don't want to accept it, but I do. And just what have I learned in this wonderfully palindromic year, 2002?
Well, I've learned that patience is much more than a virtue. It's a godsend, which seems odd considering the drastic increase in the speed by which we live. I recall when we had no problem waiting days or even weeks to get a piece of information or whatever, and now, we get "ticked" if it's not at our fingertips. I've learned we get impatient when someone even suggests that we be patient. "Next week is fine" has been replaced by "I need it YESTERDAY!" Patience is truly an "acquired talent".
I've learned that like "dog years", there are "Jeep years", too. And through very detailed research, I've found that a "Jeep year" is about five "human years", which makes my little ragtop about sixty. Passes its physicals, but needs more and more medication to do so.
I've learned that keeping up with, and actually spending quality time with old friends - "years ago" friends - is really neat. I had never, ever, realized that. Not necessarily to reminisce, but just to learn new things. Not keeping up with old friends is like leaving the game in the first quarter. How'd it turn out? And, hopefully, there hasn't been a "final score" yet.
Heard any good rock groups, lately?
I've learned that, for lack of a better way of expressing it, I'm getting ridiculously old. 'Youth-for-Life' used to be my mantra, and still is to a degree - with a little pinch of realism tossed in. I recently worked on a computer project with some neat folks MUCH my younger. They think FORTRAN and COBOL are rock groups on the West Coast. It's neat to hear their "take" on this whole "computer age" thing ... and I've learned that they're really interested in my perspective, too.
And finally, I've learned that some things just flat don't change! Sometime after next Wednesday morning I'll tackle this little box I keep for receipts and stubs and stuff, and prepare for the next REAL New Year, which comes April 15th. Have I really done this three times since those beautiful fireworks on the Sydney Harbour Bridge?
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