Where has the time gone? I have a theory.

I've been feeling guilty because I didn't do a year closing message. Or a year opening. Or an eligible works post. And the last 2024 episodes of ISBW and DD will be posted at the first of 2025. But this is my pattern. if I miss something I am supposed to do, my jerk brain says that when I do make a post, it will be pathetic groveling and not worthy and will just shine a light on the fact that I haven't posted in forever.

ALT- illustration of Bart, the bully in my head, who looks like a potato, saying "your instincts are right, no one wants to her from you." Art by numbersninja

I am not going to address the state of the world, just me. I am exhausted; I am not a politician; not good at debate or arguing; I feel a real sense of helplessness. I am going to resist the way I know best, which is to make cool stuff and encourage people to be nice to each other and to take care of themselves. That is simplified and has an optimistic tone, but yeah, I'm going to live my best, help where I can, and hope that the people whose job it is to actually fight all the shit do so effectively.

[I wrote the above last week before the fires in LA, so that's yet another thing going on, and I'm so heartbroken for so many people. Give to whatever charities you can, this will take years to rebuild.]

Personally, I'm doing Dry January (full disclosure: beach vacation means Dry January started for me on Jan 6) and intermittent fasting. I don't like what aging is doing to my body.

I like behavioral changes that don't require thought. Counting calories, tracking food, etc, are too tedious to me. But both Dry January and IF just ask a yes/no question: "Can I do this thing now, yes or no?" Super easy!

And of course, writing. If I had a writing resolution, it would be to get out of my own way. And that's really, really hard, because of assholes like this one.

ALT- illustration of another one of my bullies, a purple puddle with tentacles saying "Why bother? no one will notice. If they notice, they won't care, if they care, they hate it." Art by numbersninja

I had an epiphany today. I've been reading a lot of holiday letters and year end reports, and nearly everyone says "I can't believe it's 2025." or "Where has the time gone?"

The thing is, I don't remember people saying stuff like this in the 80s and 90s. "Gosh, 1994 already?" I guess it was partly because of the fact that we didn't have the Internet so that we could hear SO MANY people complaining about the passage of time, but I think it's more than that.

My theory is, we were so focused on the turn of the millennium that we made a LOT of art about that time. There was Prince, with 1999. The fear of Y2K. Clarke's books 2001 and 2010. Then we had the people who were convinced the world would end in 2012. I remember thinking in 2012 that we had gone past all the big date references, what else was there to look forward to? Or fear?

Another thing is that the 2000s always felt far away, like the future. Even now it sounds futuristic. In 2007 Flight Of The Conchords released their album "The Distant Future".

It's not that 2025 came so fast, it's that we could never comprehend living this far into the future.

Anyway, that's my theory.

(Also, Gen X didn't really expect to live this long without some kind of nuclear winter.)

~~~

This year, I am also going to do talk a bit about Midsomer Murders. It amuses me. Yes, I am a 51 year old woman excited about a murder show.

Every once in a while I will text my friend Jen (of Udden fame, agent extraordinaire) several random thoughts about this bizarre show. We talked about doing a podcast together, but the thought of another show to produce makes me want to cry.

There are numerous bingo cards or drinking games out there, since it's a weird show that uses some tropes to delightful effect.

• Barnaby breaks the law.
• Secret gay/secret incest*.
• Famous actor before they were famous (Orlando Bloom, Henry Cavil)
• Absolutely ridiculous fight with no stakes at all that everyone takes very, very seriously. (There's lancing in wheelchairs with French bread.)

Anyway, I have read most of Caroline Graham's Barnaby books. She's an interesting author who gives her characters amazingly detailed lives that don't/can't translate to the show. I'll get to them as they come along.

I want to write about the episodes as I rewatch them. The structure of these stories are different than most murder mysteries, which are typically tightly plotted, but these go all over the place in the name of a red herring. And besides, they're fun.

*Secret gay has since turned to "secret affair" that's less about gender and more about cheating.

**But no secret gay incest. Yet.

Hope you stick around. Stay safe, 2025. Stay kind.

Mur