All that you hope for...

Hey; long time, no blog!  I have been very busy the last few weeks, working on my submission for Seth's book, with which most of you are probably familiar (correct grammar just for Rice!).  That, along with holiday stuff, has taken up all of my time, including some of the time I would normally spend eating, sleeping, or going to the bathroom.  The deadline for submissions was yesterday, the last day of  2010, which seems fitting.  It feels like the completion of something important, which it was.  So now I'm ready for the new year, and I wanted to share a few thoughts with you.

The designation of January first as the beginning of the year is, of course, arbitrary; in fact, in many cultures and traditions throughout the world, it has, and in some cases still does begin at completely different times.  But to us, and to all the places in the world that have adopted our system, (whether they wanted to or not), this is the day.  We humans are inclined to measure things- to divide the passage of time, for instance, into hours, days, months, years, and centuries- for the sake of organization, and to the provide the order and commonality so necessary for the existence of society.  And it does, after all, take 365.25 days for our planet to orbit the sun, so we had to mark it somewhere.

Consequently, to most of our brains, this is the first day of the new year.  Mentally, we can wipe the slate clean of last year, and potentially, make the next chapter whatever we wish.  (I know, I'm mixing my metaphors here, but whatever- you know what I mean, right?)  The future is like a clean, white sheet of paper, waiting for us to make our marks.  I'll organize my studio, making space for new ideas, attempt to adopt a new attitude about my job, and consider where I want to go next, looking forward to the new year.  I'm hoping that all of you are doing the same; my wish for you is that this year will bring to you all that you hope for.

 HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Astral Journey

Where do we go from here?

 

p.s.  On a different subject entirely, I just wanted to add a note about the whole "answering-comments-on-your-comments-page-versus-with-personal-emails" thing.  I've asked for opinions before, and have thought about it off and on since then, and have come to sort of a conclusion.  I've noticed that a lot of you have switched to the "no-reply-at blogger..." instead of your email address.  Personally, I prefer to respond to comments through individual emails, and here's why:  I don't think you can really connect with someone by posting a short response on your comments page.  You don't have the opportunity for that back.and-forth exchange that can lead to real friendship.  I like those conversations that give us the chance to get to know someone better.  Also, it's so much easier to answer when all you have to do is click "reply".  So, I will try to go back and respond on my post's comments, but I'll almost always answer if you have an email address I can reply- er, to which I can reply.  Occasionally I forget, but I'm only human.

Responses, anyone?