Depression vs. Obsession

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Depression vs. Obsession

January 2006. A bleak month.

Second only to December for suicide. January seems the harbinger for Depression and bad things.

By Januaries end your New Years resolution will be toast. You’ll go down and buy a carton of cigarettes or a case of beer. Wow beef sounds good tonight, I’m sick of eating only vegetables. Pizza for lunch? I’m in! Your speeding again, and you promised to slow down. Your cell phone is out of minutes by Jan. 26 and you seem to be talking more than ever.

Realization starts to set in that you did not get from Santa all the bonsai related things that you asked for. In fact you received a new subscription renewal for Field and Stream, and you haven’t fished for 16 years! Another neck tie! I'm a construction worker for heavens sake, what do I need with another tie? I only wear them to weddings and funerals, and I rarely want to go to either.

All the Christmas credit card bills show up about now. You take stock of what you have done. Good gads I spent that much! All those last minute gifts you had to buy for someone at work you hardly even know but managed to buy you some useless piece of crap, and you feel obligated to buy them something. How about that lazy brother-in-law that plugs up your toilet and always borrows your lawn mower but never manages to return it. Why do I always have to spend 50.00 on that guy? It’s the season right.

You will get all your interest statements this month and should see them in the mailbox anyway. I have all mine and can not believe what I have paid in interest this year. No wonder Jan. is good for suicide.

By the end of the month you get your W-2 from your employer. It’s amazing just how close the interest paid and the income earned are to each other. In fact I seem to be running in a deficit. Who’s with me here? Looking back on your income for the year brings up suicide again. Funny how suicide and Jan. just seem to fit together naturally.

January brings forth a whole new crop of laws that have taken effect on Jan. first. Of course we know nothing about them till we break one of them and get saddled with a huge fine. Funny how they sneak those in on us when we least expect it.

Your power and gas bill should be arriving soon for Dec. Its funny how easy it is to turn up the thermostat for that lazy brother-in-law, and never give paying the bill a second thought. Of course it’s always nice to get a surprise from the Gas Company.

The fuel bill for your car comes in now too from the holidays. That 300-mile drive to Grandma Jones house just cost you a hundred bucks and you totally forgot to set aside some money for the increased fuel consumption.

...But... there’s hope...

We have our Obsession. Bonsai!

January is a most amazing month, both for bonsai and for the coming of spring. In January we start to lay out all the projects that have been building for months. The supplies you have been secretly stock piling in the basement or spare bedroom will finally be filled with soil soon and then you will breath easy because you didn’t get caught hiding all your goodies. Once it’s filled with dirt its home free.

Plants have a way of perking up over night once they hit Jan. They seem to sense the fact that Groundhog Day will be coming shortly. In fact, 9 days and ole Mr. groundhog will stick his ugly head up for a look-see.

In many locales around the world, in the Northern Hemisphere, we are getting ready to repot. This is a time wrought with excitement. How fun it is to see the fruits of our labor from the year before for the new spring. We may be taking off a recent layer, or maybe a tree that has been in a grow box for many years will finally see a show pot for the first time. Maybe we have a chance to fix a repotting error from last year. Ah... I finally get to put my best tree in a burnished signatureTokonome.

Many decisions have to be made during this time of the year. How many trees will be repotted? Do I have enough pots? Can I buy more?

Club activities that were shut down for the holidays resume again in January. New club officers may be taking over and be adding new points of view on directions that the club should take. The schedule of events is made at this time of year on activities for the whole year. This is a time that all members enjoy because it gives us a chance to maybe try something new in the New Year.

Many clubs have exhibitions during the winter months to see the trees in their winter clothes. This is the best time to view bonsai since the conifers look extra rich, and the deciduous look wonderful with all their finely ramified branch lets to view.

Many people enjoy putting down their seed beds at this time of year. For those that enjoy sowing seeds, this time has many benefits that are only starting and will be enjoyed throughout the rest of the year.

This is the time of the year to go out and look for something to dig up. That tree in your neighbors yard or a trip to the mountains or desert. Yamadori plant material is something that can only be felt at this time of year. The fun of digging it up, the study for the line of the future bonsai, and the earth shattering feeling that the plants gives as signs of life begin to emerge next month.

These are only the tip of the iceberg of what this month has to offer. Maybe a new baby for some, maybe death for others. What ever life has to offer remember that January is short lived and there is always April 15th on the horizon..."Let Bonsai be your Counterbalance".

Yours in Bonsai, Al Keppler

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A tree a day...thats all we ask.

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