In Medias Anno Mundi

RESTART THE CLOCK.
Yesterday was my birthday. My friend Jeremy calls the upcoming year, "the Jesus year," but really, all I want to do is watch this clip of Battlestar Galactica over and over again:

HOPEFULLY THIS YEAR IS JUST AS AWESOME, BUT LESS TERRIFYING.

I once showed this clip to a film class I was co-teaching, to jump-start a discussion of in media res. What's happening? Even if you'd already seen the mini-series preceding the series, there are all sorts of things we have to infer, plot-wise, character-wise, mood-wise. What are we supposed to know, and what do we have to guess? What do we need to figure out? What connections do we find essential? What are we willing to lose, in order to keep on going?

It's dissertation year, and job market year, and my last year at Purdue, and these are all the entangled things I came upon when thinking of my birthday. That, and steak. I planned to have steak, and ordered a fancy burger instead. I don't know what that says about my resolve.