Check this

Well, here it is, the second day of the new year.

And I had to go write a check.

OK. So I write down the amount, who's getting it and what it's for. Then I scribble my signature.

Finally, I fill in the date: January 2, 2018.

Oh, wait. Dammit. Did it again. I do it every year. The first check in January, and I put down the wrong year. It's automatic. I've had 365 days of writing down 2018, why wouldn't I write down 2018 again?

 I simply take my pen and try to morph the number 8 into a number 9. I do this by pressing down harder on the 8 with my pen and I simply bully the 8 to become a 9. It has no choice. It's 2019, so there. I'm pretty sure nobody will notice how bold the 9 has become.

But it's a lesson learned. The next time I write a check, when it comes time to fill in the date, I'll write: J-a-n-u-a-r-y whatever, 20 (pause) 19. Yes. I'll stop to remind myself that we're in a new year. I won't make that mistake again. Fool me once, you know.

I think.

I mean, when the year 2000 arrived, almost a decade ago now, the most unnatural thing for me to do was to write "2000" on my checks. It didn't feel right. I didn't look right. And while I'm pretty sure I didn't write any checks for 1999 after the millennium changed over, I think I did have to pause before I wrote 2000 on those first coupe of checks. I was about a week or two into the new year before everything was 2K OK.

I guess I'm just a creature of habit, and old habits die hard.