Posts from — December 2009

This Christmas feels different to me (or perhaps differently). Gone—as usual—is the excitement. I think the last time I felt that was in 2003. It’s Christmas, and I’m a Charlie Brown, searching for some other meaning. Not some meaning lost; some meaning found. I have found it, but I do not have it. I am trying to make it my own.
It’s been bittersweet. Incredibly so. The end of this semester has; nothing has turned out as I wanted it to. That should upset me, I guess. I began the semester with a goal, and I failed that. But I’m still working at it. It has morphed so much, it has come to consume me. It had been one fleeting moment of awe and I have been living in it since August.
We all want our Christmas miracle; this year, I know what it is. And miraculous it would be.

To whom that my lips have uttered those words,
I meant them. But when I feel them today
I just worry and fret, because to say
them now is to mean them, and hope they’re heard,
hope they’re internalized, hope that they’re known,
and hope that they resonate somehow, for
it is all I can say. I wish no more
than to mean them, and to make them my own.

But for me to say them, you must listen.
Listen, for now I speak: what once was a
quest, a game, has shown me many things
and given me a life I can’t hasten.
You must know that when I think, when I say
those words, they are from the joy you bring.

I make this claim not to be outrageous, but because it affects the way I go about my daily activities downtown. I met someone for lunch today, on Dickson. I was lucky enough to catch a parallel parking spot right in front of our restaurant, so I didn’t bother going to the WAC lot. The only difference between those spots and the WAC one? They have a two-hour time limit.

After lunch, we decided to go to the library. Now, normally I’d just walk to the library from Dickson, as it’s only two blocks. But I had my car with me. So I got in my car and drove the two blocks to the library’s parking garage. I mean, sure, I could have just moved to the WAC lot, but what’s the point? It made more sense to drive to the library.

I’ve had the same problems with the square before. Free parking on the square, two hour time limit. What would otherwise be an on-foot excursion is limited by the fact that we have to move cars every so often. This was especially an issue when I hung out at the square a lot during the summer of 2007.
Thankfully, these aren’t usually issues on Saturday, when most pay parking is free. You can just dump your car and walwk around at will. Of course, this leads to another problem: congestion.

I’m not really sure what the best option is, I just know that not having a consistent place to park downtown where I won’t have to move my car (the WAC being one, of course, but they frequently fill up and are flirting with going for-pay) reduces the distances I walk and increases the ones that I drive.

Granted, I’m about to move to Center street, so I’ll be downtown. My car usage should decrease by about 80%, and I couldn’t be more excited.