The Trouble with the New Year

Rock Baby by J. Binford-Bell

The trouble with the new year is we are sold on idea that we get to start over. Things are going to be different once 2011 is over and the brand new year begins. And then the December bills hit. We discover that our new get in shape program seems to be plagued by the same issues we had with the old get in shape program. Taxes are not that far off and we are still broke from those we had to pay in the old year.

Warm weather seems forever in the future. So there will be other heating bills like the last 2011 bill that awaits our attention. One year I would like to have the money and time to prepay everything for January in December and launch the new year truly new.

At times I feel like the photograph above - an eroding rock being a base for lichen which has taken hundreds of years to get to that point but is new as opposed to the rock - their growth and erosion now totally linked forever together - till death do them part.

Trying to get on the stick and get a new renter soonest but then the state the apartment is in I don't want to show it until the one that gave notice has moved out. It is a hoarder's haven. Hardly room to walk. And daily I learn more from others about why it is my renter so suddenly up and left (hasn't been back in town since serving notice) and in spite of my well developed guilt complex (owed me money for 5 months and I was getting rude about it) doesn't look like it was my fault. May be reluctant show up in our small town again. Or give me a forwarding address.

I always begin with Anne Frank - that all people are basically good at heart; and in with end with my father - Anne Frank was wrong. I do believe that we are producing more narcissistic personality disorders these days. Would love to be able to talk to Dad about that.  Meanwhile I am trying to cinch down the budget belt which binds this time of year in the best of times. Keeping the house a bit colder, picking and choosing my invites to lunch out, rethinking February expenditures over and over. Oh, and the balance of January.

While trying to rethink my policy on approval of tenants yet again. I was blessed with great renters the first 10 years of owning the duplex. And have been plagued with a run of three awful ones. I think I am in for a run of good luck. Please universe send me the perfect tenant and send them soon.

Will also take a part time job, art sales, art awards, art students, and pet sitting gigs. And any massive improvements in the economy. Getting tired of being cold and broke.

Comments

  1. Dave KingJanuary 18, 2012 at 3:26 AM

    Maybe we should just agree that the new year starts in April. (April 1st?)

    (Superb image.)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ien in the KootenaysJanuary 19, 2012 at 10:00 AM

    January is a ridiculous time to start a new year. Mine is either in early spring, or in September after the summer break. I love your rock/lichen image, both the photo and the metaphor. Did you get your money out of the renter? Good luck with it all! Do NOT count on massive improvement of the economy. Plan for collapse, and if it doesn't, bonus.

    ReplyDelete
  3. JBinford-BellJanuary 19, 2012 at 11:11 AM

    I have decided to begin the new year on Imbolc which is February 4th and the day my black hole of a renter is gone.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

I write for me but I care what my readers think. Please be polite and no scamming.

Popular posts from this blog

Swimming

Image
For much of my college career my fitness workout was swimming on the B squad of the swim team. I remember it as the days before heated pools and women coaches. I also remember being so exhausted and cold I could only lean against the shower wall and throw up. Not exactly warm fuzzy images but I was in awesome shape. Needless to say it did not leave me with a overpowering desire to swim laps. Point of fact for years my swimming became really informal: Swimming to shore after the canoe tipped over, challenging my sister once a summer to across the lake and back, seeing how long I could back float without moving a muscle, and a scuba course. I also played around with other ways of staying fit: aerobics, bicycling, jogging, skiing and dance classes. All of which seem to be bad for the knees, back or feet. After my ski accident my physical therapist steered me back to the pool. Damn if I was going to swim laps! However, aqua fit was just getting rather seriously taken so I took it. It r
Read more

The Pruning the Crown of Thorns

Image
Crown of Thorns Before I am a lover of Euphorbias . They are from the deserts of Southern Africa and Madagascar. They have evolved physical characteristics and forms similar to cacti of North and South America and are often incorrectly referred to as cacti. My big Crown of Thorns was one of my first of a growing collection of these succulents from the spurge family of Euphorbiaceae. I picked it up as a 6 inch plant in a New Iberia nursery when my sister and I were touring the northern gulf coast. I believe that was 15 years ago. I made an attempt at limiting its height a few years back to allow it to devote more energy to the new branches and make it a denser plant. That failed. And the height of the plant continued to challenge the window space and soon the long branches were leaning over and leaning against the window. I googled and found the proper way to prune this treasured plant. Still it was very difficult to cut off the four longer branches. Even with a plan. The f
Read more

Eagle Nest Dam

Image
Tour of Eagle Nest Dam Eagle Nest Dam is the largest privately built dam in the United States. It was begun by the Springer family in 1917 and completed in 1920. It and the reservoir beyond it one was privately owned by the CS Ranch which recently sold it to the state of New Mexico. Eagle Nest Lake is now a state park, but the dam and the waters in the lake are another matter all together. Water is well regulated in New Mexico especially during a drought. The lake is now at 25% of its normal capacity, and the water in the lake are water right lease holds of Raton, Cimarron, and historic ranches in the area like the UU Bar and the CS Ranch. Game and Fish department also get involved because the Cimarron River is an active fishery of the state. Our guide was a state engineer and the Gateway Museum secured permission of the land owners below the dam for us to gain access to the area. Some 100 locals and tourists attended this rare event. I have lived here almost twenty years and th
Read more