My years are not advancing as fast as you might think, but perhaps there are some changes.

Since my late twenties, I'd suppose, I've had a little ritual surrounding this particular point on the calendar. I figure I can't be the only one.

I always try to make sure, on this first day of the month, that there's tasty food in the house, cash in the wallet, beer in the fridge, etc. before I go to bed. I run around and check things before I turn in, as if I were carefully leaving milk and cookies for Santa Claus.

I just want the day to be prepared, in case I wake up that next morning, Groundhog Day morning, over and over again. I figure it'll save me a ton of time, if it's anything like the movie.

Usually I tell myself that one of these years, I'll arrange to be within walking distance of Andie McDowell when I wake up on this date, which would also save me a ton of time if I wind up looping that day. The first thing I figured out about that movie was, once you figure out you get a free reset every time you wake up, hell yeah you taking chances on her. Why not be prepared? Be nearby?

This year, though, is the first one where I realized that there are probably guys out there that are a lot more serious, and creepy, about that idea than I am. Poor Ms. McDowell probably has to live in seclusion for this day each year, lest she spend it courted by whackjobs in over-energetic ways. When I thought of this, I felt a sudden sympathy for her plight, and considered her as an actual person for the first time ever.

Then I thought to myself - "wow, the way I'm feeling, it's like my attitudes are evolving as I repeat these same old things. I think the way I feel about Andie McDowell now puts me a little over two-thirds of the way through the movie."

I'm kinda scared to go to bed, as I have about six different levels of meta all tangled now.

I don't know if I'm before or after the part where I have to drive the train tracks tomorrow.