I came home for Christmas this year (as I do every year). I was unusually bored. It could be that I was procrastinating working on the job search. It could also be that many of the friends I had here are either not here any more, married, or both. More likely is the fact that I went from life at 150MPH to life in a slower lane when the semester ended.
At first this was frustrating.
Thinking about it now, though, I’m realizing that in two weeks, as I’m just finishing my first day of classes of the 2nd term, I’m probably going to wish I had boredom on the calendar. Wish I was back here right now. Funny to imagine.
I think it’s important to be bored every once and a while. It clears the mind. Forces you to decompress and relax. Boredom also causes you to appreciate the busy time, the time when you have tons to do, and helps you realize what parts of the busy time are most meaningful.
I saw Benjamin Button last night. It was a good movie. I’d recommend seeing it (though I’d recommed seeing Slumdog Millionaire first). A few thoughts:
The movie was too long. There were so many episodes in the movie that could have been cut without changing the overall story. At 2 hours and 48 minutes, I was definitely fighting to stay interested by the end.
The movie was really heavy. I understand that mortality and time are very difficult topics. But, for a Christmas release, I was surprised. The characters in the film were mostly uninspiring, because both the way they were written and the way they were portrayed, which left one hoping to be inspired by the message, which ended up being forced upon the audience at the end in a heavy-handed epilogue. Further, the stilted use of the hospital deathbed and Hurricane Katrina as framing devices was straight up depressing.
Perhaps this was all the intent. But the wonder and curiosity evoked by such a fantastic premise were lost on me.
All things considered, though, it was fun to spend the time pondering life in reverse. And the film did not once disappoint from a design and production standpoint. The settings were all richly crafted and the work done to age the characters was nothing short of magnificent.
On the way home tonight, I had to stop to pick up a few greeting cards for various events coming up. I suppose I wasn’t entirely shocked to hear the Christmas music playing in the shop. The holiday season seems to be in full tilt. On TV, the ads are already featuring family scenes involving red bows and copious amounts of snow.
Now, it’s not like this really comes as a surprise. The same things happen at the same time every year, holiday-wise. But you’d think there was a way to ease into it, perhaps?
My mother used to start playing Christmas music in the house and in the car on October 1. Too early, but you couldn’t fault her for having such passion for an entire three month block of the calendar.
At any rate – I gather that the trees will start plopping up on New York City street corners in another week or two. Hard to believe autumn came and went in the course of a day and a half (the leaves are still on the trees here, aren’t they?).
’tis the season.