Thoughts on decades

We are the cusp of a new decade – shall we call it the 20s? Or as my niece has been posting on Facebook, the “Roaring 20s?” Wasn’t that the Great Gatsby? Didn’t that already happen? The decade in which much of the “Greatest Generation” was born, the decade when my father was born (1928), most of whom have passed on by now? This got me thinking. These past two decades didn’t really have ready-made NAMES, did they? The 2000s? The Oughts? The 2010s? The Teens? Did the period from 1900-1909 and 1910-1919 … did those decades have “names” or not? These are the inane questions that keep me up at night … and that I have posited for years on this fancy blog, which lumbers on for yet another year. For younger generations – perhaps including most of our current team members – “blogs” like this are akin to “snail mail” to most people … a quaint, antiquated way to disseminate information. When I mentioned to freshmen on the team that I post race results and splits on this blog, it was met with a collective shrug. What, it’s not on Insta? Snap? Tic-toc? Might as well not exist!

After more than 4,000 posts – and yes, part of one decade and the entirety of another decade – we will stubbornly plunder forward. We continue, knowing that many (most?) consumers of this sort of information are accessing it through Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, Facebook, etc. The number of posts for 2019 (well shy of 300) is the fewest in 10 years. Page views are down. Yes, the cumulative page view number is impressive … but it took more than a decade to accumulate that number! Alas, New Year’s Eve lends to introspection – thinking back, looking ahead. Where will we be in 10 years, at the end of the next decade? Will we BE in 10 years, at the end of the next decade? Will this blog be defunct, part of the digital detritus of the constantly evolving world in which we live? All questions to ponder, questions without answers, questions …

While you ponder those questions, please hum along with me and listen to my favorite musician and songwriter, as he ponders some of similar, end-of-year thoughts (see song lyrics below). Happy New Year.

New Year’s Eve, by Warren Haynes

Next year's gonna be better
Next year will surely be the one
And it's right around the corner
Hell, it's just about begun
So what am I still sitting here for
When everyone's inside?
What am I doing drinking whiskey
And looking for a place to hide?

Yeah, old buddy, I sure miss you
You and old "What's his name?"
And I know if y'all were here now
This party wouldn't be so damn lame
There'd be dancing, and fighting,
And cussing, and laughing
Raise our voices to the sky
Bring the new year in right
Instead of watching time go by

Yeah, sometimes I wonder what
The world would be like
If I didn't have strangers as my best friends
I'm sitting here on new year's
Thinking 'bout old friends and old times
We'll never see them again

Yeah, sometimes I still wonder what
My life would've been like
If I didn't have angels at my defense
I'm sitting here on new year's
Singing 'bout old friends and old times
We'll never see them again

But next year's gonna be better
Next year will surely be great
Well, I guess I should say "This year"
Geez, how did it get so late?
What am I still sitting here for?
When did everybody leave?
What am I doing drinking whiskey?
Oh yeah, it's New Year's Eve