No. 623 – Millenium Blues

Performer: Matthew Sweet

Songwriter: Matthew Sweet

Original Release: In Reverse

Year: 1999

Definitive Version: None

Like a lot of people, I’m fascinated by end-of-the-world scenarios. I’m intrigued by someone else’s vision of what he thinks it will look like. That said, I don’t give them much credence. I firmly believe that most are rooted in both the universal existential fear of death but also the self-centered realization that the world more than likely is going to on without them. Better for everyone to go at once.

Still … perhaps it’s not a bad idea to hedge one’s bets. When Harold Camping a year ago took his followers on the wild goose chase claiming he was able to determine from The Bible the precise date of Jesus’ return—laying aside the specific passage that man CAN’T know it, of course—I went to work that day and happily mocked the world’s continued existence.

But at the end of the Nineties when the talk had turned to Y2K computer-meltdown fears, I … well, I didn’t buy into it. It seemed like a Microsoft-made hoax to gin up purchases of new computers and accrue hours of reprogramming.

I hedged my bets nevertheless. I took the day off from work as a vacation day, and I made my request in January to make sure I got it. If the crap really did hit the fan when the clock over at midnight, Jan. 1, 2000, I sure didn’t want to be at the freakin’ Dispatch of all places. I wanted to be home with Debbie.

As the fateful day approached, it became more evident that if anything would happen, it would be minor. As midnight approached in Australia, Debbie and I were glued to the TV. The nice thing, I suppose, was that if something major DID happen, we’d know hours before it hit here and could take appropriate measures.

Midnight struck and Sydney erupted in incredible fireworks … and nothing more. So far, so good. To me, the only real concern was Russia. There was a lot of speculation that the Soviets hadn’t built in the year 2000 into their nuclear arsenal, but as each hour passed and the sirens didn’t fire up, we knew we were OK. It turns out, all that happened was we rolled over the calendar to a big, scary round number.

I mention this, because we have the next end-of-the-world date coming soon, Dec. 21, 2012. That, you might know, is the day that the world is supposed to end according to the Mayans ... except it’s not. You can find all of this elsewhere, but the long and short of it is all that’s happening is the Mayan calendar is rolling over to a big, scary round number … and the calendar will continue, like ours.

Mayan researchers have found other calendars that refer specifically to dates that go well beyond Dec. 21. (And, come on. It can’t end THAT day. I’ll only be in the 530s with this here list at that point.)

I don’t have a vacation day scheduled for that day. All my paid time off will long have been vanquished before then, but … just in case … I’m not ruling out the possibility that I might call in sick that day.