The Present Indicative, 9 December 2025
My Current Mood: The Year in Review
You work and work for years and years, you’re always on the go
You never take a minute off, too busy makin’ dough
Someday you say, you’ll have your fun, when you’re a millionaire
Imagine all the fun you’ll have in your old rockin’ chair
-Enjoy Yourself (It’s Later Than You Think)
Last week I received my Duolingo 2025 Year in Review.
33,430 total XP (whatever that means)
494 days in a row
2,029 minutes spent learning Latin, French, Spanish, and chess
I’m a top 4% learner on the app. Not that I’m bragging. I’ve had the time to improve my linguistic limits in 2025, as well as SPECIALIZE Indicate Marketing: committing to a weekly newsletter, and delivering a semi-regular podcast. I don’t know if it’s answered a need for you (yet) but it’s sure delivered value to me. The exhilarating tightrope walk of planning, learning, interviewing, editing, writing, scrambling, and then publishing something…thoughtful…and relevant to the week, but also evergreen. Like an uncut Christmas tree.
Enjoy yourself, it’s later than you think
This is the time many of our apps look back at the year that was. Spotify’s Wrapped. Tidal’s Rewind. And a host of others, because imitation is not just a form of flattery but excellent business. I won’t yuk anyone’s yum. Nostalgia is the pleasure and sadness of what was and is no longer. It combines the Greek νόστος (nóstos), a Homeric word meaning “homecoming,” and ἄλγος (álgos), meaning “pain.” And Homer’s Odyssey is chock-full of nostalgia–confronting the impact and aftermath of the Trojan War–to such an extent that at one point Helen (of Troy) has to drug the wine of everyone present to forget the sorrows brought up by storytelling. So much for processing grief.
Enjoy yourself, while you’re still in the pink
I don’t Spotify. I listen to WWOZ when I work. It’s a community jazz and heritage radio station out of New Orleans. And they celebrated their 45th anniversary last week on December 4. They played 7-inch New Orleans vinyl 45s to commemorate the occasion. To quote my son out of context, “That sounds like magic!” And it was. I love that humid historical gumbo of French, Spanish, African, Italian, and English. I love the food. I love the music. I love the people. I love the magic.
And like all magic it’s transient. Fleeting. Evanescent. But New Orleans finds a way to keep making it. New Orleans is a city underwater that refuses to leave. And it only closes for Ash Wednesday. I want my music curated by dedicated experts not algorithms. Again, no yuks to your yums. I’m sure the machines find music to suit your motives. But I want to be informed by another person’s experience. This one DJ plays often ends his weekly set of country, rhythm and blues with the same song. I was not familiar the first time I heard it. The opening verse leads this newsletter, and the lines of the chorus are the subheadings.
The years go by, as quickly as a wink
The song as broadcast on WWOZ is performed by Todd Snider, and the arrangement is his voice, an acoustic guitar, a backing vocal, and a little harmonica. It’s simple, unadorned, and feels like it was recorded in one take by a busker.
But simple is not the only way to play the song. A quick search on Apple Music (what have you) and you can find over fifteen different recordings, arranged in different genres. You want big band? Bluegrass? Zydeco? Ska? Doris freakin’ Day!?! The song is flexible enough to hang different verses with different implications based on the singer’s range and intentions (I link to Louis Prima up at the top to give you another taste) but they all boil down to one takeaway, and it’s the title and refrain.
To my ear, Snider’s version gets it right. Less is more. Nothing is promised. And we must appreciate this moment or else be haunted. Todd Snider just passed a month ago. Another artist lost too soon, and a reminder to take this time with serious levity. You can’t be nostalgic if you live in the now.
Enjoy yourself, enjoy yourself, it’s later than you think
I’ll be taking the rest of this year off. Enjoy your break from me. I’ll be back in 2026 inspired to interview, edit, write, scramble, and publish something thoughtful and relevant to both of us. I’m open to new creative outlets as I finally finished a series of three paintings I started last year, and could not find the right colors until a friend gave me some perspective a few weeks ago. One of the three paintings is featured here. A study from the Ipswich Old North Burying Ground.
In Related News…
BUT DON’T GO YET! The Future Indicative is here! My last podcast on the trends, technologies, personalities, and narratives of business for 2025! Episode Four explores the possibilities of payments. Steve Estrada will close this year contemplating crypto and the community it can democratize. Thank you for listening!
The Future Indicative, Ep 4 Part 1
The Future Indicative, Ep 4 Part 2
Get busy living in 2026!
Alex Effgen