Comparing Past Septembers
September is traditionally my least favorite month because of the loss of heat, daylight, and nature's life cycle, not to mention my long-standing association as September being the month school begins. So moving to September from August, one of my favorite months, is not a great transition. Still, there are some good benchmarks that I reach/reached in September and I've had a few outright great ones. Let compare them a decade apart....
September 1983 vs. September 1993 vs. September 2003
Winner: 2003--I hit a flourish late in the summer of 2003 with one of my all-time favorite road trips and rode a wave of good fortune for the next couple of months, particularly with two impressive college girls chasing after me at the same time for a less-brief-than-you'd-think stretch. I had another great road trip midmonth--this one to northern Minnesota--where I scored dozens of new towns and townships in my quest to get to every Minnesota town. And primetime network TV was in year three of its renaissance with a number of exciting returning favorites along with newcomers like "Threat Matrix" and "The Handler" that at least started out promisingly. The month easily beats its competition in this category.
September 1984 vs. September 1994 vs. September 2004
Winner: 2004--Three pretty strong options here as September 1994 kicked off by far my best year of high school, but 2004 wins because it was the final inning of the 2004 Presidential race, the most exciting Presidential campaign of my life where I was most engaged on a day-to-day basis, posting daily on three different political blogs. It was a very exciting fall, and I incorporated a three-day road trip in northern Minnesota and the Dakotas that was also colored by the advertising and yard sign wars of the Presidential election and the South Dakota Senate race between Tom Daschle and John Thune. The month also produced two new TV shows that were mainstays on my viewing lineup for several years to come--"Lost" and "Desperate Housewives".
September 1985 vs. September 1995 vs. September 2005
Winner: 1985--Easy choice here as this was one of the most pivotal months of my life. At the cusp of the best TV season in the medium's history, I was gifted my first ever Fall Preview TV Guide....and so was born a legend. My already significant obsession with TV reached a whole new level, and just in time for the series that would become my favorite TV show of all time to premiere late this month...."MacGyver". The rest is history.
September 1986 vs. September 1996 vs. September 2006
Winner: 2006--No slam dunks here but the 2006 midterm elections were definitely the most exciting midterms of my life and the political climate was really starting to break towards Democrats by this point in the race. I also had a very memorable 10-year class reunion on the last day of the month and some deferred gratification from a certain female classmate I always fancied while in school.
September 1987 vs. September 1997 vs. September 2007
Winner: 1987--There were no slam dunk winners or losers here as each month had its high points and low points. I deferred to 1987, however, when the Minnesota Twins were in their first playoff hunt in my lifetime and when I was excited to return to school for the first time in my 17 years of formal education. My reasoning: the beginning of the fourth grade would allow me to pick up where I left off with my elementary girlfriend.
September 1988 vs. September 1998 vs. September 2008
Winner: 1988--This was the worst trio of choices I've come across thus far and I seriously considered granting no winner at all. In 1998, I returned to my junior year of college to find that the girl I had hoped to go out with had transferred out of campus....and I got stuck with a roommate I didn't care for. In 2008, the excitement of the Presidential campaign was soured by the onset of a terrifying financial crisis....and a girl I was hitting it off with began to slip away. 1988 was no day at the beach either as an early personality conflict with my fifth grade teacher was not setting up the year in school to be very good (although it would go on to be my all-time favorite year in school) and the new TV season, including MacGyver, was delayed because of a writer's strike. But the tiebreaker that lifts 1988 above the rest was that year's Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, which for some reason was delayed into mid-September that year. It nonetheless perked up my otherwise mundane month.
September 1989 vs. September 1999 vs. September 2009
Winner: 1989--While 1999 had its virtues, it was hard to go wrong with 1989, when Nintendo became a larger player in my leisure time following my uncle's purchase of an NES system. It was pretty exciting to return to school and trade Nintendo stories with classmates who had various games I hadn't played yet. And of course MacGyver kicked off another fantastic season in September 1989.
September 1990 vs. September 2000 vs. September 2010
Winner: 1990--The fierce battle between 1990 and 2000 during the summer months extends into fall as both months were again memorable for mostly good reasons, but 1990 was by far the most pivotal with the start of seventh grade and the merge with the Ellendale-Geneva school district just in time for that district's hot young girls to come of age. I also remember the trip to Des Moines with my mom for her grocery store employer's 50-year anniversary (or something!) sampling all the food and watching a musical performance by Leslie Gore. Couple all of this with the sixth season premiere of MacGyver and it narrowly edges out 2000 when the exciting election campaign was heating up.
September 1991 vs. September 2001 vs. September 2011
Winner: 1991--For obvious reasons 2001 was a disaster even though I had some good things going personally, so I'll defer to 1991 when the final season of MacGyver kicked off and I was making social inroads as I started eighth grade. The Minnesota Twins were in the playoff hunt and poised to move on to the most exciting postseason of all-time as well, adding to the excitement in the air this fall.
September 1992 vs. September 2002 vs. September 2012
Winner: 1992--MacGyver ended its run the previous spring but things all came together that my aunt was videotaping old cable reruns of MacGyver beginning in mid-September of 1992, and it was the earliest episodes that I got to revisit first, some of which I hadn't seen in seven years. It was incredibly exciting, as was the upcoming Presidential election where it looked as though something that never happened before in my life was about to happen.....a Democrat winning the Presidency. All of this transpired amidst the more mundane backdrop of starting 9th grade, which for some reason was a source of trepidation for me.
Obviously, I'll be evaluating Octobers past next month.
September 1983 vs. September 1993 vs. September 2003
Winner: 2003--I hit a flourish late in the summer of 2003 with one of my all-time favorite road trips and rode a wave of good fortune for the next couple of months, particularly with two impressive college girls chasing after me at the same time for a less-brief-than-you'd-think stretch. I had another great road trip midmonth--this one to northern Minnesota--where I scored dozens of new towns and townships in my quest to get to every Minnesota town. And primetime network TV was in year three of its renaissance with a number of exciting returning favorites along with newcomers like "Threat Matrix" and "The Handler" that at least started out promisingly. The month easily beats its competition in this category.
September 1984 vs. September 1994 vs. September 2004
Winner: 2004--Three pretty strong options here as September 1994 kicked off by far my best year of high school, but 2004 wins because it was the final inning of the 2004 Presidential race, the most exciting Presidential campaign of my life where I was most engaged on a day-to-day basis, posting daily on three different political blogs. It was a very exciting fall, and I incorporated a three-day road trip in northern Minnesota and the Dakotas that was also colored by the advertising and yard sign wars of the Presidential election and the South Dakota Senate race between Tom Daschle and John Thune. The month also produced two new TV shows that were mainstays on my viewing lineup for several years to come--"Lost" and "Desperate Housewives".
September 1985 vs. September 1995 vs. September 2005
Winner: 1985--Easy choice here as this was one of the most pivotal months of my life. At the cusp of the best TV season in the medium's history, I was gifted my first ever Fall Preview TV Guide....and so was born a legend. My already significant obsession with TV reached a whole new level, and just in time for the series that would become my favorite TV show of all time to premiere late this month...."MacGyver". The rest is history.
September 1986 vs. September 1996 vs. September 2006
Winner: 2006--No slam dunks here but the 2006 midterm elections were definitely the most exciting midterms of my life and the political climate was really starting to break towards Democrats by this point in the race. I also had a very memorable 10-year class reunion on the last day of the month and some deferred gratification from a certain female classmate I always fancied while in school.
September 1987 vs. September 1997 vs. September 2007
Winner: 1987--There were no slam dunk winners or losers here as each month had its high points and low points. I deferred to 1987, however, when the Minnesota Twins were in their first playoff hunt in my lifetime and when I was excited to return to school for the first time in my 17 years of formal education. My reasoning: the beginning of the fourth grade would allow me to pick up where I left off with my elementary girlfriend.
September 1988 vs. September 1998 vs. September 2008
Winner: 1988--This was the worst trio of choices I've come across thus far and I seriously considered granting no winner at all. In 1998, I returned to my junior year of college to find that the girl I had hoped to go out with had transferred out of campus....and I got stuck with a roommate I didn't care for. In 2008, the excitement of the Presidential campaign was soured by the onset of a terrifying financial crisis....and a girl I was hitting it off with began to slip away. 1988 was no day at the beach either as an early personality conflict with my fifth grade teacher was not setting up the year in school to be very good (although it would go on to be my all-time favorite year in school) and the new TV season, including MacGyver, was delayed because of a writer's strike. But the tiebreaker that lifts 1988 above the rest was that year's Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, which for some reason was delayed into mid-September that year. It nonetheless perked up my otherwise mundane month.
September 1989 vs. September 1999 vs. September 2009
Winner: 1989--While 1999 had its virtues, it was hard to go wrong with 1989, when Nintendo became a larger player in my leisure time following my uncle's purchase of an NES system. It was pretty exciting to return to school and trade Nintendo stories with classmates who had various games I hadn't played yet. And of course MacGyver kicked off another fantastic season in September 1989.
September 1990 vs. September 2000 vs. September 2010
Winner: 1990--The fierce battle between 1990 and 2000 during the summer months extends into fall as both months were again memorable for mostly good reasons, but 1990 was by far the most pivotal with the start of seventh grade and the merge with the Ellendale-Geneva school district just in time for that district's hot young girls to come of age. I also remember the trip to Des Moines with my mom for her grocery store employer's 50-year anniversary (or something!) sampling all the food and watching a musical performance by Leslie Gore. Couple all of this with the sixth season premiere of MacGyver and it narrowly edges out 2000 when the exciting election campaign was heating up.
September 1991 vs. September 2001 vs. September 2011
Winner: 1991--For obvious reasons 2001 was a disaster even though I had some good things going personally, so I'll defer to 1991 when the final season of MacGyver kicked off and I was making social inroads as I started eighth grade. The Minnesota Twins were in the playoff hunt and poised to move on to the most exciting postseason of all-time as well, adding to the excitement in the air this fall.
September 1992 vs. September 2002 vs. September 2012
Winner: 1992--MacGyver ended its run the previous spring but things all came together that my aunt was videotaping old cable reruns of MacGyver beginning in mid-September of 1992, and it was the earliest episodes that I got to revisit first, some of which I hadn't seen in seven years. It was incredibly exciting, as was the upcoming Presidential election where it looked as though something that never happened before in my life was about to happen.....a Democrat winning the Presidency. All of this transpired amidst the more mundane backdrop of starting 9th grade, which for some reason was a source of trepidation for me.
Obviously, I'll be evaluating Octobers past next month.
posted by Mark at 11:46 PM
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