{"id":32,"date":"2005-12-31T19:56:09","date_gmt":"2006-01-01T00:56:09","guid":{"rendered":"\/blog\/?p=32"},"modified":"2014-08-28T08:27:42","modified_gmt":"2014-08-28T13:27:42","slug":"new-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.holypotato.net\/?p=32","title":{"rendered":"New Year’s"},"content":{"rendered":"

The parched soil scrapes and crunches beneath my hands as I pull myself up on the ledge and catch my breath from the climb. I look solemnly at the grity ground swelling around my fingers, afraid to look up to see how much further this cliff rises. Knowing I cannot delay forever, I lift my gaze to find to my great surprise that the land has levelled off.<\/p>\n

This is the end then; I’m out of the pit.<\/p>\n

I take off my shoes and dig my toes into the ground, playing with pebbles to distract myself from reality. It’s overwhelming to think about, after over a year spent in that hellish place. Part of me fears I’ve gone mad, inventing hope where none existed before. <\/p>\n

A moment, at least, I can spare to reminisce. So much pain that year, and so much hard work wasted on dead ends. I’ve accumulated a lot of scars from the experience, not the least of which is the damage done to my stubborn pride. It’s clear that I’m not the man I was before I was lost there, a change that I’m sure must be apparent on my face — not that I’ve seen a mirror for a year. Sadly, I doubt the changes were for the better. <\/p>\n

I sigh and put my shoes on. Time to move forward. My knees crack as I rise, and I doubt I’ll ever again stand my full height, with my back twisted and hunched. I try to survey the plains before me, but find that I can’t pick out any discernable features: the landscape has been plunged deep into shadow by what I’ve left behind. Definitely flatter though, of that I’m sure.<\/p>\n

Perhaps that’s better, I think to myself: small hope seems more real, and I almost feel greedy for wishing that these trials were over all ready.<\/p>\n

Not knowing for sure what lay ahead, only that it couldn’t be worse than what I had been through, I plunge ahead into the darkness three steps before halting. Already the dry, caked earth is not so harsh and unrelenting; no longer seeming to resist my every step with a malevolent purpose and infinite patience. My spirit soars again, and I spare just one more moment to turn and spit in the gorge.<\/p>\n

I don’t bother to wait for it to land.<\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Happy New Year’s Eve, everyone!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The parched soil scrapes and crunches beneath my hands as I pull myself up on the ledge and catch my breath from the climb. I look solemnly at the grity ground swelling around my fingers, afraid to look up to see how much further this cliff rises. Knowing I cannot delay forever, I lift my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holypotato.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holypotato.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holypotato.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holypotato.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holypotato.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.holypotato.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holypotato.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holypotato.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holypotato.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}