Comparing Past Januarys
Beyond the holiday season and in the dead of winter, I have less nostalgia for January than I do most of the months we've already reviewed but there were a few really good ones and I'll press forward with my reviews until May when I've completed the series....
January 1984 vs. January 1994 vs. January 2004
Winner: 1984--Easy victory here as this was the first year I really got into TV, going so far as studying the local TV listings printed in the paper and reviewing which shows were on which channel, broadcast and cable. I didn't have cable growing up, but my grandparents and other friends and family did, so I was intrigued when I visited their place and explored their selection of channels. Of course, the transition to 1984 was right at the epicenter of the mid-80s action show trend, where every nonaction show that was removed from the schedule seemed to be replaced by an action show and they dominated the airwaves for the next 2 1/2 years. January 1984 was also the first month with our new Irish setter Luke, who we picked up on New Year's Eve.
January 1985 vs. January 1995 vs. January 2005
Winner: 1995--Eleven years earlier, my family picked up the aforementioned Irish setter Luke but it was January 1995 when the legendary German shorthair Pokey joined the Hagen household. He was a nine-month-old hellraiser who brought some spunk to a lethargic residence. Beyond that, January 1995 was the final month of my junior year "fall semester" in high school, the semester I remember the most fondly of my high school years. Unfortunately, it was January 1995 when the angst of pending graduation more than a year away began to fill my heart with the early stages of dread. Without question, it was the last hurrah of my carefree youth years.
January 1986 vs. January 1996 vs. January 2006
Winner: 2006--Certainly in my adult life, few months have been as consequential as January 2006, the month I started my new life in central Iowa with a plum state job. I had been unemployed for several months and ran out of unemployment checks when I drove down to Des Moines for a job interview that I assumed was for a session-only position. Imagine my surprise when I found out it was a permanent, full-time job. I had to start the job ASAP given their timeline which meant the need to find a place and be moved in just five days after getting the job offer. It was a very manic couple of weeks but exciting to move to a new town and get a solid new job that felt like a good fit for me. I knew immediately that I had found my place. While my peak weeks of "Monsters books"-mania in January 1986 was noteworthy, they're light years beyond January 2006 in terms of overall impact on my life.
January 1987 vs. January 1997 vs. January 2007
Winner: 1987--No clear winners here but between my first Cub Scout Pinewood Derby win, the peak weeks of my Saturday night "Wonderful World of Disney, "Sidekicks", and "Sledge Hammer!" trifecta on KAAL, and my blossoming elementary romance, 1987 tops its rivals.
January 1988 vs. January 1998 vs. January 2008
Winner: 1988--Here's a classic win by default. There was little to get too excited about in January 1988, aside from the very earliest stages of my Nickelodeon obsession that would come to full fruition the following month. Beyond that, I won another Pinewood Derby and was excited about the reconfigured network TV schedule that began the new year. Not a ton to get behind but still better than its rivals.
January 1989 vs. January 1999 vs. January 2009
Winner: 1989--Tougher call on this one as January 1999 was pretty good as well, but I was finding my groove in January 1989 at school, improving my grades and getting in less mischief. It was also the peak period of my recess computer games on the old Apple IIe, particularly Word Munchers and Oregon Trail. "MacGyver" was right in the middle of its best season and all was generally well in the world.
January 1990 vs. January 2000 vs. January 2010
Winner: 2000--My college had a one-class January semester called J-Term, where students could take a single class for three weeks in January and get three credits. This was my best J-Term, a Paideia II class that got into debates on race and illegal immigration where I was far more engaged than usual during my college classes. I was also fairly active in creative writing this month, beginning a nightly fix of "A-Team" reruns on TV Land, and had the excitement of the 2000 primaries and caucuses to keep me amused. I had a little bit of trepidation about my pending college graduation but nothing like my angst about the end of high school four years earlier.
January 1991 vs. January 2001 vs. January 2011
Winner: 2001--A couple of good choices here as January 1991, the dawn of Operation Desert Storm, was also a very pivotal and interesting month, but January 2001 was my first January ever that I had off and it was kind of cool to be chilling every day in the dead of winter with no schedule. I was hitting it off with a couple of girls at the time and it was exciting to chat with them at my convenience....and in a long, cold, and snowy winter, I had plenty of opportunities to put on some boots and trek the snowy fields surrounding my parents' place that January. I would say that I got in on the full Minnesota winter experience more in 2001 than any other January, ironically at age 23.
January 1992 vs. January 2002 vs. January 2012
Winner: 1992--Meh. No great choices by any means but definitely was the best was the lead-up to the 1992 Presidential primaries and caucuses, my first year of actively tracking the primaries and the most exciting as I was fully invested in Iowa Senator Tom Harkin's candidacy, waiting for his campaign to catch fire at any given moment even though it never did. While this was exciting, it was hard to get over "MacGyver" being pulled from the airwaves in December 1991 and having nothing to watch at the sacred 7:00 hour on Monday nights anymore.
January 1993 vs. January 2003 vs. January 2013
Winner: 2013--Oh sweet Jesus! They're all terrible! Nothing good to say about January 2013...it just wins by default against two months that are even worse.
Overall I've had a few decent Januarys over the years. We'll see if I can say the same next month about Februarys past.
January 1984 vs. January 1994 vs. January 2004
Winner: 1984--Easy victory here as this was the first year I really got into TV, going so far as studying the local TV listings printed in the paper and reviewing which shows were on which channel, broadcast and cable. I didn't have cable growing up, but my grandparents and other friends and family did, so I was intrigued when I visited their place and explored their selection of channels. Of course, the transition to 1984 was right at the epicenter of the mid-80s action show trend, where every nonaction show that was removed from the schedule seemed to be replaced by an action show and they dominated the airwaves for the next 2 1/2 years. January 1984 was also the first month with our new Irish setter Luke, who we picked up on New Year's Eve.
January 1985 vs. January 1995 vs. January 2005
Winner: 1995--Eleven years earlier, my family picked up the aforementioned Irish setter Luke but it was January 1995 when the legendary German shorthair Pokey joined the Hagen household. He was a nine-month-old hellraiser who brought some spunk to a lethargic residence. Beyond that, January 1995 was the final month of my junior year "fall semester" in high school, the semester I remember the most fondly of my high school years. Unfortunately, it was January 1995 when the angst of pending graduation more than a year away began to fill my heart with the early stages of dread. Without question, it was the last hurrah of my carefree youth years.
January 1986 vs. January 1996 vs. January 2006
Winner: 2006--Certainly in my adult life, few months have been as consequential as January 2006, the month I started my new life in central Iowa with a plum state job. I had been unemployed for several months and ran out of unemployment checks when I drove down to Des Moines for a job interview that I assumed was for a session-only position. Imagine my surprise when I found out it was a permanent, full-time job. I had to start the job ASAP given their timeline which meant the need to find a place and be moved in just five days after getting the job offer. It was a very manic couple of weeks but exciting to move to a new town and get a solid new job that felt like a good fit for me. I knew immediately that I had found my place. While my peak weeks of "Monsters books"-mania in January 1986 was noteworthy, they're light years beyond January 2006 in terms of overall impact on my life.
January 1987 vs. January 1997 vs. January 2007
Winner: 1987--No clear winners here but between my first Cub Scout Pinewood Derby win, the peak weeks of my Saturday night "Wonderful World of Disney, "Sidekicks", and "Sledge Hammer!" trifecta on KAAL, and my blossoming elementary romance, 1987 tops its rivals.
January 1988 vs. January 1998 vs. January 2008
Winner: 1988--Here's a classic win by default. There was little to get too excited about in January 1988, aside from the very earliest stages of my Nickelodeon obsession that would come to full fruition the following month. Beyond that, I won another Pinewood Derby and was excited about the reconfigured network TV schedule that began the new year. Not a ton to get behind but still better than its rivals.
January 1989 vs. January 1999 vs. January 2009
Winner: 1989--Tougher call on this one as January 1999 was pretty good as well, but I was finding my groove in January 1989 at school, improving my grades and getting in less mischief. It was also the peak period of my recess computer games on the old Apple IIe, particularly Word Munchers and Oregon Trail. "MacGyver" was right in the middle of its best season and all was generally well in the world.
January 1990 vs. January 2000 vs. January 2010
Winner: 2000--My college had a one-class January semester called J-Term, where students could take a single class for three weeks in January and get three credits. This was my best J-Term, a Paideia II class that got into debates on race and illegal immigration where I was far more engaged than usual during my college classes. I was also fairly active in creative writing this month, beginning a nightly fix of "A-Team" reruns on TV Land, and had the excitement of the 2000 primaries and caucuses to keep me amused. I had a little bit of trepidation about my pending college graduation but nothing like my angst about the end of high school four years earlier.
January 1991 vs. January 2001 vs. January 2011
Winner: 2001--A couple of good choices here as January 1991, the dawn of Operation Desert Storm, was also a very pivotal and interesting month, but January 2001 was my first January ever that I had off and it was kind of cool to be chilling every day in the dead of winter with no schedule. I was hitting it off with a couple of girls at the time and it was exciting to chat with them at my convenience....and in a long, cold, and snowy winter, I had plenty of opportunities to put on some boots and trek the snowy fields surrounding my parents' place that January. I would say that I got in on the full Minnesota winter experience more in 2001 than any other January, ironically at age 23.
January 1992 vs. January 2002 vs. January 2012
Winner: 1992--Meh. No great choices by any means but definitely was the best was the lead-up to the 1992 Presidential primaries and caucuses, my first year of actively tracking the primaries and the most exciting as I was fully invested in Iowa Senator Tom Harkin's candidacy, waiting for his campaign to catch fire at any given moment even though it never did. While this was exciting, it was hard to get over "MacGyver" being pulled from the airwaves in December 1991 and having nothing to watch at the sacred 7:00 hour on Monday nights anymore.
January 1993 vs. January 2003 vs. January 2013
Winner: 2013--Oh sweet Jesus! They're all terrible! Nothing good to say about January 2013...it just wins by default against two months that are even worse.
Overall I've had a few decent Januarys over the years. We'll see if I can say the same next month about Februarys past.
posted by Mark at 11:48 AM
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