December 30, 2024
Wist
Wistful means both pensively sad and wishfully yearning. Wistful sounds like you are full of something, wishes or winds. Wist is an obsolete word for intent. Wishful sounds like wistful. Seems to me its more forward-looking a word than we give it credit for.
Snow's been falling for hours and hours. This morning I stood at the bus stop. Each branch balanced a slice of snow an inch high. I saw a young father throwing snowballs at his toddler daughter, much to her delight.
The snow has covered up the skulls and the dimmed day makes the skyline outside my office window look like stupas half-hidden in fog.
As an antidote to that damn Counting Crows song, here are some others for you to play wistfully in your ears. If you want to be maudlin, do it in a honky-tonk meets babushka style with Dolly Parton's rendition of "Those Were the Days". Personally, my favorite song for the New Year (and one that succinctly sums up 2024, is Belle & Sebastian's "Loneliness of the Middle Distance Runner".
Finally, I can't quite think of anything better at the moment then sitting on a couch listening to Conor Oberst with your lover:
