Dan Antion

Where to Begin? – #1LinerWeds

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Lately, I have been surrounded by messages about beginnings. Many of the blog authors I follow published a “looking back / looking ahead” post. We began a new fiscal year at work. We/they began a new business year at AIIM International, the first in six years in which I am not on the Board. We swore in and continue to swear at a new Congress in Washington, DC. The regular NFL season crashed to an end (for me) and the playoffs began. The non-conference basketball games ended for the college teams I follow, and conference play began. My dental insurance has begun a new coverage year; hence I am off to the dentist later today.

Despite all of this, I chose not to focus on looking back and looking ahead. I resist the notion that January 1st defines my accomplishments or my plans. However, two things have caused me to think of beginnings in more general terms.

One – I recently discovered the song “Closing Time” by Semisonic. They are an alternative rock band from Minneapolis, Minnesota. According to the No Facilities research department, a.k.a. Wikipedia, they formed in 1995. That was when I was listening to country music, so I missed them. I heard this song at the bar and searched for it in SoundHound; I found the haunting tone to be soothing.

Two – Ivon Prefontaine published a blog post about New Beginnings. I’ve been following Ivon for a long time. He’s one of the people I follow whose writing almost always makes me think.

I don’t put a lot of faith in random connections, OK, maybe I do. Finding these two things within a week of each other made me start thinking about transitions. Not so much beginnings, but how the cycle of endings and beginnings continues throughout our lives, until…well, let’s not go there.

As you might know, I began a series of endings a couple of months ago. I note each one as it comes, but I’m not bothered by their passing. As the song says:

“Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end”

350 words into a One-Liner – I think it’s closing time. If you’re not familiar with the song, give a listen.

This post is part of Linda G. Hill’s fun weekly series One-Liner Wednesday. And, given the time of the year, it’s also part of Just-Jot-January. If you have a one-liner, I’d encourage you to join in on the fun. You can follow this link to participate and to see the one-liners from the other participants.

The gallery is another bit of random stuff from an ordinary day in and around our place.

Maddie behind one of the gates that keeps her from bothering the cats.
Hi MuMu – yes, I’ve come to brush you.
I wanted to take MiMi’s picture, but she buried her face.
Sunset.
Maddie is pointing at something.
No one is going to steal that peanut from him up there.
Maddie thinks there are intruders out there.
MiMi is trying to get comfortable.
“You’re not going to sit here, are you?”
MiMi likes to be upside down.
“I like the sun when it warms up my belly.”
I think she’s checking to see if my laptop is on the desk.
“Hi there. Is it time to get up? I mean, is dinner ready?”
Someone likes the afternoon sun.

91 comments

  2. I will definitely check out that song, Dan. I understand about transitions, closings and beginnings. More than I could go into in a comment. There is both comfort and contempt in the familiar, ordinary routine, isn’t there. A nostalgia tinged excitement that comes with change of any kind. Good luck at the he-shall-not-be-named today. I have trouble with the “D”word. 😱
    PS That last image is awesome. A perfect shot. Happy Wednesday Dan. Sorry your football season was disappointing.

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  3. I posted about the best thing that happened to me the last year, because I needed to focus on what was good–no beginning and endings posts for me either.

    Your snapshots of Mumu, Mimi, and Maddie are fast becoming my fave things on the internet.

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    • Thanks Damyanti. I think yours is a good approach – focus on what was good. More good things will undoubtedly follow.

      MiMi has been in rare form lately. I think she’s ready for spring (just as winter is arriving).

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  5. I love that song by Semisonic – one of my favourites – however when you mentioned Closing Time, my first thought went to the haunting song by Leonard Cohen – so very different. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-0lV5qs1Qw

    I like your idea of transitioning rather than abrupt endings and beginnings. In truth, those don’t happen quite as often as the gradual change – at least for me. I can see how transitioning is quite meaningful for you this year – you’re not quite ending nor beginning right now.

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    • Thanks Joanne. I’ll have to check out that song.

      Closing time is interesting, in that I worked a few jobs early on, where I was on duty at closing time. They were all the kind of thing that started with lots of people, activity and noise, and ended in silence, with me turning out the lights and locking the door.

      The transition heading my way is more like a bus transfer. Getting off this line, stepping on to the next. Keep the lights on.

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  6. Life is filled with thousands of closings and beginnings. I closed out an existing chapter at work in December and started a new one with a promotion. That ended the year in a good way, but January is here and it’s the beginning of the cold, dark months. There’s always something.

    As for the furry kids, I wonder if the understand beginnings and ends. Perhaps when it comes to brushing (“damn, he stopped again”) or walking (today is a new day for a Maddie walk). Have you done either yet? ;-)

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    • Congrats again on starting this year from a new position. I hope it works in your favor.

      I have brushed MuMu. I sat with Maddie, but she looked like she would have rather penciled me in for “around 9:00” after her nap.

      Winter is in the forecast. Now they are saying we should brace for a long cold and stormy stretch. I was just getting used to slightly longer days and looking forward to warmer temps.

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  7. Excellent song choice for your post. I was listening to country at that time in life too…so I missed them as well, and dang…they are only 90 miles from where I live, so jeez, how did I miss them?! But, I can start a new beginning and listen to them now. PS – way to keep it under 400 words for a Wednesday! And the random photos brightened my morning, too! I wish you a happy visit to the dentist, too!

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    • Well, either way you’re a winner, Judy! At least it looks like you’re going to miss New England’s first real winter event.

      I go through that every time Pitt plays WVU in something. I want them both to win.

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  10. If all of us could actually acknowledge that endings bring new beginnings, sometimes in ways that are astonishing, I think a lot of worry and pain would be eliminated. I don’t know about you, Dan, but I couldn’t even count the endings found woven within my life. Now you’ve got me thinking. Great post!

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      • Whereas I could write a book about my endings, Dan. How incredible each individual life is, isn’t it? Some endings are so deep and intense we really don’t recover and we are forever changed by them as well. I know. My Mom’s death is one such ending. There are still so many GOOD things coming from this event. Amazing when we look back and SEE.

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  11. Great post Dan. At 79 I’ve certainly had my share of beginnings and endings, but who hasn’t? You know…..one door closes…another door opens. But I like the term “transitioning”. No doubt we all transition daily and never even know it. We think we’re just going with the flow!

    Enjoy the dentist, especially not having to pay the full fee. That’ll put a bigger smile on your face than the cleaning!

    The 3 M’s take center stage once again. Talk about transitioning……what’s up with MiMi? She’s gone from “Get that camera away from me and let me sleep” to “Wait! Let’s try different poses and lighting exposures.”

    Two storms predicted here. Not looking forward to them, but it is winter and we’ve been lucky so far. Hope Maddie gets her mountain!!

    Will listen to song later. Although I like lots of different kinds of music, I’m a country fan to this day.
    🐾Ginger 🐾

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    • Thanks Ginger. I still enjoy country music. I don’t really listen to any one thing anymore. I have music I like, in various formats, and I stick with that. Still, it’s good to discover something new (to me) once in a while, or to rediscover something old.

      MiMi often goes into an acrobatic routine. Normally, she’s up in her high cradle and I’m not able to get photos. She loves to be upside down and to hang her head over the side like that.

      I’m not sure what we’re going to get this weekend. The forecast includes snow, ice, rain, freezing rain and cold. I guess I’ll just plan on dealing with whatever comes.

      “Enjoy the dentist” isn’t one of my favorite expressions, but i appreciate the thought.

      “Transitions” seems to fit a more fluid process than one that’s on/off, and I think that’s how my life has been.

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  14. Wonderful post. Our lives are full of beginnings and endings, some big and some small. They are the transitions that thread through our lives. Love your menagerie!

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    • Thanks Frank. It’s interesting to note the connections. I used to try to figure them out, now I just try to pay attention (that’s hard enough).

      MuMu seems to show off the tuxedo effect more than MiMi. That might be because MiMi is often in motion.

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  18. I’m a person who doesn’t like to start new things. I’m good at maintaining and ending things, but to begin makes me anxious. Thus I really like your one liner today. If I think of a beginning in light of the ending it came from it’s like just carrying on– and not like starting anew. Win, win.

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  20. Dan, I Iike the “haunting” song and the last words that you quoted. I’ve had many beginnings & endings in my life, and just take them as they come. I think of them as adjustments, some joyful, some painful. That’s life (for me) in the “ageing” lane. The next phase of your life will (begin) a whole new way of thinking & doing. Knowing you, there are exciting times (planned) ahead! Happy Wednesday! 📚🎶 Christine

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  21. I am going to avoid getting to philosophical. Let’s just say priorities change. Closing Time – I did give it a listen. Now I can say I have a clue about who played it. Good tune. It sounds like winter might be ready to remind us it has been too kind up until now. Keep warm and safe. And remember Mt. Maddie was not built in a single storm/day.

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  24. Great subject Dan! Endings or beginnings can both be difficult and uncomfortable. They’re supposed to be easier as years progress, but no, it’s almost the opposite!
    My beginning has been for the last 4 years, after moving to North. Calif. and sure hope that I can say very soon I moved on from my beginning!

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    • You are correct. I am retiring, in November. The things that had me thinking about this post were all the little things that live through cycles, Nature, work, projects, entertainment, it all moves in waves.

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  26. “Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end” . . .
    Reminds me of a poem called Four Quartets by TS Eliot. “In my beginning is my end . . .” it thus starts. He was abstract but once you picked up the flow you could enjoy reading his works.
    I have thought that perhaps nothing really ends. The circle or the cycle just goes on and on, no end and no beginning. God or Nature loves circles, cycles, and curves. It designs everything with them. But we, the lost creatures who call themselves humans and who glorify themselves in vain, invented the straight line and then defined our lives in the same manner. Speaking of beginnings and ends. Of life and death. Making the world horrible because we thought there would be an end. We thought our deeds end when we stopped doing them, when our lives ended.
    But things just go on and on. On and on. The circle or the cycle never ends. This is how I came to believe in life after death.

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    • Did you ever read “The Last Question” by Issaac Asimov? (http://www.multivax.com/last_question.html) It’s a wonderful story about the point that you’re making. It is easy to see that life is non-linear. Despite our efforts to fit it to a line, it’s on a curve and very often, the curve circles back on itself. As for making the world horrible, we do that over and over because we never learn from the past.

      Thanks, as always Peter. I love your comments!

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      • I have read only two books by Isaac Asimov. I, Robot and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? I looked for them because I loved the movies on which they were based. I will look for the one you have mentioned. You have inspired a new kind of thought in my head: that even the violence committed on earth also follows a nonlinear path and will always just go on and on and on. The good thing is that the struggle for justice, for what is right, will also go on and on and on. We are stuck in a loop.

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          • I read it and loved it. Thanks for letting me know about it. If we could reverse entropy we would travel back in time. It’s strange how movies based on the time-travel concept do not mention the irreversibility of entropy. In the movie Looper (2012), Bruce Willis comes back from 30yrs ahead to his younger self and says, “30yrs from now is yesterday.” Made me burst out with laughter. It’s a really fine movie.

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  28. Hi Dan – everywhere in life is a journey and it has to start, then end, then something else comes along – we always start at the bottom … life is life – you have a few things going on this year that life is moving along its natural course … enjoy all the parts – cheers Hilary

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  29. Oh, thanks for the video, Dan. I didn’t realize I knew the song until it started playing. Great choice.
    Loved the random-day in the life photos.
    It’s actually good that you seem to be sort of bittersweet about leaving your job. That means there are some good memories. Soon you’ll start a new chapter.

    When I handed in my departure papers on Dec 31st, and took my last trip down the elevator, I just felt empty. There was no completion of that career story. It was dismantled and then stalled 2/3rds through.
    So I’m not starting a new chapter to round off the story. No — instead I’m starting an all new book! :D Tallyho!

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  32. #1 Song, a good one, but be glad you missed it in the 90s as it was overplayed
    #2 MiMi is tote dorbs upside-down, right-side-up and all over
    #3 The Hanged Man tarot card (also upside-down) is ever the symbol of ends into beginnings for me — but tarot was also overdone in the 90s
    I think I am right smack dab into GROWTH, no ends or beginnings in sight.
    “Bloom where you’re planted” as they say.

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  34. I know that song but didn’t know the band or name of it. That’s usually how I go about popular music unless it’s a song that really resonates with me. That one didn’t at the time it was popular. It’s good but wasn’t among my favorites then.

    Endings… 2018 ended sadly for me, but 2019 has an ending coming that I’m looking forward to, and new beginnings that I’m really excited about. Life for me cyclical when something ends something else opens I just hope there are more good things happening than not so good ones.

    Is it Mu-Mu who is upside down showing off? She’s adorable!

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  36. Dan… wow, this post seems to have really resonated with so many people!
    I always liked that song (even though I didn’t know the group’s name), but I had not seen the video, so thanks for that.
    Loved the random photos! (But you know I like “random things.”) Happy hump day, my friend. Stay warm.
    Mega hugs.

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    • Thanks Teagan. I started this day in Boston, scraping ice off my car in the hotel parking lot. I’m home, the driveway is clear and lunch i good. I’ll catch up with my blog buddies later today.

      I’m glad I found this song, and I appreciate Rob’s recommendations for the other songs I missed while living the Country Music life.

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