Anxiety

So this is turning out to be a very interesting autumn - an interesting year if we count graduating from school, and buying an apartment. These are no small changes.

I'm up for a job that I can't stop thinking about. I've had four, perhaps five interviews, soup to nuts - the first guy, the hiring guy, the owner, some guy in Germany checking my language skills. It is exactly the kid of job that I want. I should know by next week whether I've got it. I'm trying hard not to worry about it, think about it too much. But I do.

I've had other interviews. I've met people at work. My company is splitting in two and there is a great deal of uncertainty. I'm looking for opportunities all over.

I went to Disneyworld, had a family vacation. THAT was awesome. I have a niece and nephew, the perfect ages, 8 and 13 respectively. I spent time with my brother and his wife. We all went swimming and snorkeling together. It was a great holiday.

A friend of mine died, in roughly the same period. SHe was diagnosed about a month before I closed on my home. She passed away just a few weeks after holiday, in the midst of interviews.

So yeah, big year. The wheel keeps turning.

2010

And off we go. If when I was younger, a new year brought a sense of wonderment, now, for the first time, I have a sense of awe at a new decade.

When we rolled to a new millennium, I was still in my twenties and didn't fully grasp the flow of time. Now, I have a fully demarcated, named decade to refer to to. Not only that, but ten years in the same city, in the same career, and awe at how much and how little things can change in a decade.

Being an amateur student of history, I can also references shows about specific decades: the fifties, sixties, seventies, etc, as if an entire decade could be summarized in a clip reel of fashion, music, and special events.

What did the aughts bring us? Two recessions, two nebulous wars and two regional wars; a decade of terrorism and financial failure. The rise of 'emerging markets', especially the so-called BRIC countries. A black president, love him or fear him.

What might the coming decade bring? The work of economists and other prognosticators. Who knows? Ups, downs, turnarounds. Perhaps a mission to Mars, or to the asteroid belt. Oceanic farming and dee-sea explorations. Green technology, a green economy.