It's December

I can't believe that we're already in December. December is take stock month for me. I think about the year that has been. I reflect on the year that will be.

It has been a big year, all in all. The biggest thing I did was buy an apartment. Yes, in January I got serious about the process, in February I traipsed about in the winter with my broker, visiting apartment after apartment, until I found THE apartment. Which I subsequently lost to another bidder. And, accordingly, was heart-broken and devastated. And then I found THE apartment, but decided to wait around until I found THE apartment. And I can safely say now, that the apartment I have chosen, was, in fact, the one all along. But sometimes you have to go through trial and error, make some wrong decisions, find out later why they were wrong even though they seemed perfectly reasonable at the time. A bit like relationships, really.

I moved into my apartment in mid-May. Moving was chaos. Shutting down the other apartment. Starting up this apartment. I did some minor renovations. Nothing serious, but enough to leave furniture piled up in the center of the room, while walls were being painted, cabinets were being stripped, heaters were being changed. Then came the beginning of a long series of big purchases. A bed and mattress for the guest bedroom. A bookcase to put away all the boxes of books. Lamps for the living room. Lamps for the guest bedroom. Plants came. Some died. Most are alive. They are my friends -- I talk to them, and I worry about their growth and well-being.

There is still plenty to do in this apartment (not least of which is getting blinds for the guest bedroom!) but my apartment has reached a definite state of live-ability. I can live here and be happy. In fact, I am happy. I am happy on this Sunday afternoon as I watch the winter rays struggle to get to my window, just barely lighting up my room.

Of course, this year has not been just about the apartment. It has been about new friends, new people whom I have met, and have made subtle or not-so-subtle impacts on me, the way I view the world, they way in which I wish to be viewed. Yes,, this is all abstract sounding but c'est la vie. I write an abstract blog de temps en temps. Deal w/ it. And I throw in snippets of French to make this seem literary or interesting.

What do I hope for 2011? Oh, I don't know. I think I want to do more fitness stuff. Although I say this year in and year out, and truth is I'm sufficiently healthy (thank you, God!) so I'll probably just stay at the same level. I keep thinking of doing something "big" like an Olympic Triathlon or a half-marathon and maybe maybe but I'm not all that organized in my life.

I want to go out more. I'm a social being, but I've found myself becoming just a little bit more holed up in my apartment or at work over the year. Perhaps this is inevitable. It is part of growing up -- but perhaps not, I don't know. We shall see. Time shall tell, etc.

Moving on from this wishy washy stuff, I saw Harry Potter the other day. So good! so good! so good! (sung like one sings these lines in "Sweet Caroline"). I liked 98.5% of it. (I didn't like the scene where Harry and Hermione got just a wee bit steamy b/c I think it felt forced. Yes, I know the point is that they're 17 years old, so they're young adults, and their bodies are doing all sorts of strange things, but, regardless, the scene felt forced and perhaps a wee bit unnecessary. Or perhaps I am just A PRUDE.). But i liked the rest of the movie. Some beautiful scenes, and while some people have felt that the movie dragged just a wee bit, I was happy to be transported to another place and time. In fact, I would like to tele-transport in 2011. Take me places, world.

Which reminds me of that poem by . . . someone. If I had world enough and time. Oh, let me google it and then continue this post. Hang on a wee minute.

So apparently, unsurprisingly, of course, I didn't quote accurately. The words are from an Andrew Marvell poem, "http://www.bartleby.com/101/357.htmlTo his coy mistress" and the words are "HAD we but world enough, and time." Trust me to write out the plural and make this singular and all about me. But yes, if you could do anything you wanted with resources and time, what oh what would you do? I keep thinking I would go to medical school and just become a doctor but who knows if I really would do that? Sometimes we think we know how we would change our history, but forget that there was, well, perhaps not an inevitability, but at least a strong certainty or reasoning for why we made the decisions that we did. And it's good not to write out those reasons from our history b/c they make us who we are.

I babble, I babble.

Which makes me think of two things (since I'm stream of consciousness writing now, this is what happens when I sit on my bed on a sleepy, cold Sunday afternoon, with my laptop on my lap, I can't help it). The two things:
(1)) Babylon, by David Gray, one of my favorite songs, and brought to mind b/c of Babble and Babylon.
(2) The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T.S. Elliot, b/c "I babble, I babble" makes me think of "I grow old, I grow old." Unless of course I'm mis-quoting that line, which as we have found it, is quite possible. (The line is probably "we grow old" and in typical loner fashion, I have written out the plural.

Ah, life is the plural! I must remember this.

Enough.