Happy New Year to all!
And yes, I still fall within the “Happy New Year” Statute of Limitations when writing this, so it’s not annoying yet.
It feels that every January, I just have to write the obligatory January-type blog talking about how insanely fast time is flying by.
Last year, I talked about how the year 2024 actually felt like the future had arrived. Now one year later, I feel as if time is moving too fast and the future is quickly becoming the present before then becoming the past.
I mean, how the hell did we arrive to 2025? It came out of nowhere.
My Twitter account turned 14 years old this morning. Literally half of my life has been on the bird app:
2024 felt like a lightspeed blink despite so much happening within it. But now, here we are in 2025 and the past grows ever older while the future quickly becomes the past.
I’m starting out the new year curious as to where the time has gone…
To begin the year, I’ll be attending the Chicago Bulls v. New York Knicks game to celebrate the career of my favorite basketball player: Derrick Rose.
The Bulls are celebrating Derrick Rose’s career for what’s hopefully a jersey retirement ceremony on 1/4 at the United Center. Rose is from Chicago and remains the youngest MVP in NBA history that brought hope to Bulls fans for the first time since the Michael Jordan-led dynasty in the ’90s.
Rose last played a game for the Bulls in 2016, which is NINE calendar years ago. Which also makes this alley-oop against the Pistons (my favorite play of Rose’s MVP year) almost 13 years ago to the day:
Derrick Rose will always be a hero to me. His retirement is a celebration of a wonderful career that sparked life, hope, and excitement in the greatest city in the world.
Since then, the Bulls have been mediocre at best and I haven’t been as excited about the organization as much as I used to. I mean, how can I?
The Last Dance documentary about the rise and fall of the the ’90s Bulls championship dynasty as well as Rose’s own documentary, proved that the Bulls organization HATES its fans but loves their money, treats legends of the game like filth, and perpetually makes the wrong front office choices.
The Bulls continuously celebrate the past because it’s all they have. As a fan of theirs, I’m forced to do the same.
So yes, to begin 2025, the Bulls are my first vehicle to look back wondering “where did the time go?”
Something else that caught my eye as the calendar turned to 2025 was that it has been 1000 DAYS since we’ve last heard anything about Kingdom Hearts IV.
That’s right. One-fucking-thousand.
Which means, it’s been 1000 days since this:
Not that my YouTube page has been consistently updated in the last 1000 days anyway, but still. I thought this moment would’ve been something that helped me create video content for Kingdom Hearts more consistently.
But now, we’re here 1000 days later and we know nothing else about the game or when it will come out. My YouTube channel hasn’t been visited by me as frequently as this blog has.
In my blog about KHIII turning 5, I mentioned how the Kingdom Hearts series taught me patience; I still feel the same. I can go days, weeks, or even months not wondering about what comes next in the series. But knowing that Kingdom Hearts IV will eventually be on the end of whatever trials life throws at me between now and then gets me through some of those trials.
However, that doesn’t mean the dry season hasn’t been DRY.
The dryness forced me to get the Platinum Trophy for Kingdom Hearts III this year, finally conquering Black Code Mode and defeating Data Xion with limitations:
See? I played the shit out of KHIII this year just to do that.
Again, I still have patience for what’s next, but that doesn’t mean looking back 1000 days ago and realizing nothing has changed in a Kingdom Hearts sense won’t make me wonder “where the hell has the time gone?”
I can’t help but think about how the COVID lockdown was five years ago now, too.
So much about the world we know has changed since then. So much about life has changed in that time. The way people treat each other. The way we work. The way we live. All of it is different.
I turn 28 this year. I’ve been forced to grow through plenty since the COVID lockdowns. Some part of that growth is realizing that at some point, my head was down pushing forward (probably too much) until I rarely came up for air (probably WAY too little).
Seriously folks, enjoy the moment while it’s here: the White Sox literally had one of its most successful seasons in its 125-year history and the worst season in the history of baseball all within this time frame.
But writing this now, I feel like Ferris Bueller’s advice at the end of the movie has finally hit home:
“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while – you could miss it.”
To me, this quote now means something different. It no longer means “do everything you can with the time you’ve got because life’s too short.” Because, I do, A LOT. Concerts, ballgames, friend get-togethers, late bar nights, dates, karaoke performances, travelling, weddings, etc. I’ve done more in the last 5 years than some might do in a lifetime! So, I don’t feel like I’m ignoring Ferris’s advice in that aspect.
I just think the quote now means to me that the stopping and looking around might be a little bit shocking and that “missing it” will be missing all that you’ve done rather than all that you didn’t do.
Yes, I know that’s not what the intention of the character nor the filmmaker meant by the quote. But, that’s just how I see it now.
Five years can come and go in the blink of an eye. Shit, 20 years can come and go in the blink of an eye. But no matter what, you’ll find something about the past that you’ll miss and you won’t realize it until it’s gone.
Please do stop and look around every once in a while. Reflect. Appreciate. But then move forward into that great unknown. There will always be more to look back upon, but only if you give yourself something to look back upon.
I have no idea what 2025 has in store for me. It’s just another day in another year. But a lot more can change than just a number on a calendar.
I wonder what I’ll be looking back upon after this year passes.
Who knows? But I still can’t believe where the damn time has gone…
I guess, to turn the title of the blog into a different question for myself to ponder as I plunder on in life: “where will the time go?”
I’ll let you know the answer by next year or beyond.
~DS
The Danny Diaries 