I know I mentioned this before, but this month, I turned 52. It was during that introspective time, that I started looking at what I was doing with my own time.
I’m always on the lookout for new things to try, but I’m also liable to drop back into the comfort of something I’m already familiar with.
Sometimes this isn’t the best choice – I’m pretty sure I know what I’m going to get when I open Twitter, but I still do it. Though I’m making an effort to cut back on that.
Sometimes it’s a great choice. Sometimes you’re in a space where you need to know exactly how things turn out and just enjoy the ride.
And other times, you may find something unexpected – if enough time has gone past.
I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned it here before – though I can’t remember when – I had re-started listening to the audiobook version of “World War Z” by Max Brooks. I was in a zombie place and had listened to it before, but just enough time had passed for me to be a different person and I picked up on something.
Different from the movie, the book is told in a series of interviews from the points of view of many different people all around the world. One particular story came from South Africa, and there was this line in the story there to give a little bit of detail to the character:
“The Springboks were trouncing the All Blacks – again!”
The first time I’d listened to the book, that line went in one ear and out the other.
Between readings (over the space of a year, maybe) I’d started getting really interested in Rugby. When that line came around again, I knew exactly who the Springboks and the All Blacks were.
Even now, several years again since that reading, I can still remember the pleasant shock of recognition. I was driving and I heard that line and the word “Bullshit!” exploded from my lips and I laughed.
(Needless to say, I’m a fan of the New Zealand All Blacks.)
More recently, I’ve started re-listening to The Fellowship of the Ring, and I’m enjoying the experience. I can’t help keeping my memories from the movies running alongside the text, noting what cot cut, or moved. Add in the amount of time that’s gone by since I’ve seen or read either, I’m a different person and am – in a sense – experiencing it again, not quite for the first time, but with a newer set of eyes (which makes almost no sense, seeings how the mileage on my peepers includes TWO changes of prescription).
Now I’m not saying that you need to drop everything and go back and re-read, re-watch, re-play everything. It’s good for there to be a balance between the old and the new. There’s also Risk involved. Some things don’t age well and experiencing them now, may tarnish the memories you’ve got of them.
I won’t go into detail, but the original Ghostbusters is a good example for me.
So keep your eyes ahead for the next new and enjoyable thing (Wheel of Time season 2, anyone?) while leaving room in your pockets for some old and comfortable favorites as you go.
Thanks for reading. Be safe out there. Be Excellent to Each other – and yourself.
I’ll see you on Thursday.
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Weird Wild West
Trials
Predators in Petticoats
