Space Enough, and Time

ONE FEATURE that I like about this blog that my old blog (which can be found here) is how it allows for filtering for different strains of thought.  As I type this, I’ve got ten official “categories” running.  By using the drop-down box at the top of the page, a reader can trace thoughts and commentary on any of a number of things.  Most of the time, what I post about is related to something found on the internet or passed on to me by another.  But there’s one option I wanted to emphasize, a strain of thought that kind of exists on his own with few if any links: The Long Story.

The second way of reading this blog, beyond any daily posting of videos or links, is to follow The Long Story that I’m trying to articulate over these next few weeks and months.  We are all of us in the process of growth and change.  The walls of life’s maze shift all the time it seems.  I thought that when my friends Amy and Danny left Hawaii that I had turned the last difficult corner for a while.  I now see and understand that is not the case.  My college political science professor spoke often of “the vicissitudes of life.”  That was over a decade ago, and I still find myself working through life’s changes.

So: two ways to read this blog.  The first is to follow it as a series of links and images, thoughts on movies and music and television.  The second way is the more personal way, the hop and skip and weave of a life trying to be lived and written about in a world continually changing, always moving on.  It’s a long story, of course.  I used to refer to it as “the long game,” but I now know that this isn’t something you play at, it is something you live and share and tell.  You’ll be seeing more Long Story entries over the next couple of weeks.  Some important reflection is definitely on the way.

I HAD EVERY INTENT to write something personal and profound here today, on the day I turn 36.  Believe it or not, I have some stuff I want to say.  But the last few days have been packed, packed with both activities and ideas.  The Maui trip was good: full of dolphins and whales and fedoras lost and replaced.  Heck, I even got some dancing in (much to my surprise).  It was also a good “growing” experience for me, helping me come a little more to terms with growing up and being an adult.

Today, of course, was the big day.  Breakfast with a friend and then Sunday school and church.  Then I made my way to Dole to catch Cabin in the Woods, which I’ve been waiting more than a year for.  It’s full of Mutant Enemy goodness, with a few good twists that have good echoes of great Buffy possibilities.  Not a flick the average movie-goer would like perhaps, but it was a good trip for me.  And then tonight was dinner with neighbors, which is always nice.

And so the big 3-6.  I know that every year is a turning point, life like a maze.  And that’s part of the excitement and the fear.  The longer I’m here, the more things and people around me change.  That’s part of what I need to work out, make some sense of.  But a good day to the start of the year, for sure.