Back in the Saddle Again

9:15 PM Monday, January 16, 2006

[Enough about the furshlugginer holidays]

No, this is not a review of "Brokeback Mountain," although I thought about writing one. It's a good movie. Go see it. But don't fall for the hype, pro or con. The film is much more complex than what the hypemongers are saying.

So what is this about? It's really about the end of the slowdown from the holidays when many people take a break and don't get fully productive again until the second week of January or later. I've written about the related festivals here, here, and here. Now, I'm writing about the extinction of the general mood that goes along with the season, the mood of dolce far niente, or in Americanese, "goofing off." There was more to that mood, however, than mere loafing. There was the process of rethinking last year and the changes to be made for the next one. For many there had been visiting relatives and friends and revisiting both the idealistic and critical notions we have of those people. That process included the pangs of missing (or of guilt from avoiding) those people we don't visit. When is enough enough? For me, in recent years, it's been the MacWorld Expo in San Francisco, a festival of frenetic productivity, that signals that it's time to get back in the saddle again.

Thinking about the whole process brings up some intriguing questions: What about those people who work extra hard during the Christmas season, such as retailers and postal workers? Is it different for them? What about denizens of the southern hemisphere when Christmas is like June for us northerners? Yes, this is a "Gods and Myths" blogpost. The gods are Productivity and Fun, worshiped by most Americans, even (especially?) by the most devout monotheists. The myths? The biggest is that both will bring instant happiness (emphasis on the instant).

But, hey, why write about Christmas and New Year when they're over? Haven't we already heard enough about the furshlugginer holidays? Yes, we have. That's the point, exactly.

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