Wintering in a dark without window
Susan/Circle:
Christ, the bleak of January has hit me hahdah than Britney hitting the floor on New Year's Eve.
Mike:
Seriously. January is teh suck.
Susan/Circle:
The black nothing between now and Truck Day bunched in us like a bat.
Mike:
This is the time of nothing doing.
Susan/Circle:
This is the time of hanging on for the bees — the bees …
Author's Notes:
The "Britney hitting the floor" line is lifted from this post at Dlisted.com.
Meanwhile, the remaining dialog (and title) for today is pieced together from bits of Sylvia Plath's poem "Wintering."
The imagery, of course, is fitting for this time of year for Red Sox fans, when there is no news and baseball and Spring seems so distant, but, more than that, I really like how the "This is the time of hanging on for the bees" line can be read as meaning not just "bees" as in the honey making buzz buzzers but also as the "B's" that adorn the Red Sox caps. For both bee and B are harbingers of Spring and all that comes with it.
Welcome back, H.B. and Happy New Year.
BTW, according to her manager, Britney was just "tired," and it was a "late night for her." Let's give her the benefit of the doubt, okay? :)
Posted by: Bob | 2007.01.03 at 09:12 AM
Don't anyone stick his/her head in an oven, okay? We'll get through the next two months :)
This time of year is when I wish to be a kid again. Every March we'd spend 3 weeks in Sanibel Island and get to at least a couple of spring training games in Ft. Myers. My father would start the countdown of days right after New Years...and turn the waiting into a fun game. The anticipation got us through. That said, I may have to book a flight down there this year just to have something to look forward to.
Ditto what Bob said: welcome back, hb and everyone!
Posted by: Natalie | 2007.01.03 at 09:22 AM
Teh suck is right.
Posted by: Kaz | 2007.01.03 at 09:22 AM
At least we have teh suck to look forward to as opposed to
JBrown (hardest workin' man,etc.)
GFord (who knew he was such a statesman)
SHussein (thwaaappp)
Here's to the Double O Seven (yuk)
lc
Posted by: louclinton | 2007.01.03 at 09:26 AM
being the scotch glass is half full kinda guy that i am im taking some comfort in the fact that the days are getting a wee bit longer now. and on a personal note to rob in ct. spot on about the oban
Posted by: mikeya2k1 | 2007.01.03 at 09:29 AM
Is it 12 o'clock yet?
Posted by: Dave S. | 2007.01.03 at 09:33 AM
...and let us not forget the spoked B's.
Posted by: Harwich Rich | 2007.01.03 at 09:58 AM
No snow on the ground, 40 degree days, and everyone is thinking along the lines of Sylvia Plath? What more do you want? Winter is psychologically over as far as I am concerned. I am wondering if I can get a load of mulch delivered this week. If the Pats make it all the way to XLI, that will make January a very beautiful month indeed.
Posted by: yazbread | 2007.01.03 at 10:04 AM
No snow on the ground, 40 degree days, and everyone is thinking along the lines of Sylvia Plath?
Two comments:
1) I actually read the Plath poem as being fairly upbeat. The fact that her hive still lives, albeit in a slow moving way, holds all the promise of the coming season.
2) The weather, be it 40 degrees in New England, or 70 degrees in LA, really doesn't have much to do with the bleakness from my point of view. It's more just the lack of Red Sox related news. And this latter bit is more troublesome if, say, you try to create a daily strip/weblog based in a large part on Red Sox news.
Posted by: h.b. | 2007.01.03 at 10:20 AM
I just finished 'Feeding The Monster' last night. Reliving 2004 in the book has me all fired up for the season already.
Posted by: COD | 2007.01.03 at 10:30 AM
BTW, I spoke to our new friend, baby Graeme, on the phone yesterday. He said "Haagle," which I took as his take on the J.D. Drew negotiations.
Posted by: Bob | 2007.01.03 at 10:35 AM
COD, I'm with you. I happened upon the SI Numbered edition of The RS 04 WS Triumph (heh, my number was about 980,000). I consumed that up like I was eating sushi with a 20 oz. Sapporo.
lc
Posted by: louclinton | 2007.01.03 at 10:53 AM
Happy New Year all! If we need some news to get us through to Pitchers and Catchers, how about Foulke-y having his physical for his contract with Cleveland? Still have to give the guy props for his 2004 performance, whether he likes Burger King or no. :)
I liked the Plath poem. And agree with you, hb. It is optimistic - or at least so was the manner into which I decided to read it.
Finally, mikeya2k1, so glad you liked the Oban, too. I was pleasantly surprised on my New Year's Eve Day visit to the local liquor store to actually find it on the shelf. Slid down really nice that night, and helped bring back some good memories of our trip to the Highlands, to boot.
Posted by: Rob in CT | 2007.01.03 at 12:11 PM
...and January just keeps getting worse. So, now with Ph.D. almost in hand, I'm not getting a stipend this month to finish the last bit of work left to do and I've had no time to find a job with everything that had to get done in order to graduate.
Anyone need a house boy...ahem, Dr. House Boy, that is...
Posted by: Kaz | 2007.01.03 at 02:24 PM
Right hb, not much going on.
Baseball affords unique opportunities to discuss a ton of shit when nothing's going on, like for example: Should Jim Rice or Don Mattingly make the HOF?
Posted by: Jason O. | 2007.01.03 at 03:16 PM
True, Jason, but one's heart must be into it in order to create a strip out of it and for me, frankly, the HOF stuff bores me completely.
Posted by: h.b. | 2007.01.03 at 03:22 PM
Good point, I like to spice up an HOF discussion with hallucinogenic drugs or a woman's thumb jammed up my ass.
Fuck it. It's January. Whatever it takes to get through...
Posted by: Jason O. | 2007.01.03 at 03:27 PM
I like that you used the "or" rather than the "and" above because, speaking for myself, I like to keep the pleasure of mind alteration from hallucinogens wholly separate and distinct from the pleasure derived by having my anus and prostate stimulated.
But, of course, that's just me.
And, again, I see no reason why both couldn't be acted upon consecutively.
However, if we are not talking hallucinogens but, say, narcotics, (heroin springs to mind) then I'm 100% in favor of a concurrence of the drug effect combined with the prostate stimulation.
Posted by: h.b. | 2007.01.03 at 03:46 PM
Do you consider MDMA an hallucinogen? Because if you do, it's time to bump to the rhythms of the rave and open up the old sphincterino!
Hey Jason...I'll jump into those shallow and tepid January cold-stove waters: neither Rice nor Mattingly deserve to be in the Hall, and I love them both (well, with Rice it's more like big time respect). I'd say that Rice is more on the cusp than Donnie is, but he still doesn't make the cut. He just isn't in that hallowed territory, and close only works with horseshoes and hand-grenades.
Posted by: Dave S. | 2007.01.03 at 04:19 PM
I don't put MDMA into the hallucinogen category, but I do agree with your assessment that it's another that could be combined quite well with the cornholio action.
Truth be told, the good old chronic 420, while a hallucinogen, would also, depending on the setting, lend itself to the aforementioned dual pleasures.
Or so I've heard...
Posted by: h.b. | 2007.01.03 at 04:47 PM
Jason, you might want to ease off those hallucinogens just a touch. That's your own thumb...
And as much as I admire both men as topics for HOF bar discussions, I'm afraid I have to agree with Dave. Tons of respect - no plaque in the Hall.
Posted by: Rob in CT | 2007.01.03 at 05:12 PM