2022: The Year That Ran Away Very Fast

 I woke up the other morning and realized that it is about to be 2022.  Then I really woke up, because it is about to be 2023.  Say that to yourself.  I'll wait. 

What happened to 2022? It seems as though we just began this year, and it is already over?  I was going to do the usual, lose a bunch of weight and finish up my doctorate, finally clean my house, and travel the world.  I was going to craft my little heart out, relax more, and be ridiculously happy.  

Only none of those things happened.  Instead, I slugged my way through a year that felt rushed, like there was a bouncer behind the curtain saying "Move along" over and over.  Events that happened in January 2022 feel like they happened at least three years ago.  Maybe it was that the pandemic seemed to be finished (it is not) or that life was getting back to some semblance of normal.  Maybe it was the medication my doctor prescribed me for sleep (maybe?).  Maybe the world just began to move at its former pace, but no one got the memo or we just put our fingers in our ears.  Stuff happened, but it mostly did not register, because more stuff happened.  

I got moved to a high school for the first time since 1994.  I love it, of course, but it is a bit more fast paced now.  Of course, there have been a number of security changes since the tragedy in Uvalde.  I will get upset about that, but mostly angry.  I firmly believe that if you kill something, you eat it.  That is an established rule in our family. I think that this should be the rule of law in Texas.  You get convicted of shooting someone?  Here is your fork and a bib.  I think that this would at least make a person pause before committing murder.   Nobody needs these assault rifles in civilian life. 

We found a kitten with a lot of health problems, who did not live very long. I had never seen a cat have a seizure before, so it was a shock to see the little precious go flying out of my husband's arms all the way over the coffee table.  She was beautiful, and we named her Galadriel, but she succumbed to her illness after six happy months with us. It was a family decision. The vet we took her to allowed all of us to be in the room, and Larry got to hold her.  I still miss that spunky kitty, and every other animal that has passed over the rainbow bridge. 

My son started HIGH SCHOOL. I am still not over that.  HIGH SCHOOL.  He is enjoying himself, and informed me that he wants to get his drivers license when he turns 16.  "But you just GOT to HIGH SCHOOL!!!"  I told him, and then went into my room and cried in secret, as you do.  Meanwhile, my boy is heading toward six feet while eating every item of food in the house.  Typical boy.  I am trying to let him make some decisions for himself, even if in my head I am explaining why his decision is not a good decision. The boy needs to find out for himself, and there is only one way that happens. I was a dork in high school, too.  

We finally watched Yellowstone.  By the end of the first episode, I turned to Larry and said, "Sopranos of the West." He agreed.  Kevin Costner's character is Tony Soprano, that guy Rip is his consigliere, etc.  The reservation people are a rival gang.  All the dudes with the brand are made men.  No sin to move a classic show like the Sopranos into Montana and call it something new, but they should have been more honest about it. 

World Cup was very exciting--I picked Argentina to win, but since I am bad at gambling, I forgot to sign up or did not sign up correctly. But almost every game was a nail biter!  Congratulations to Argentina for their heroic play. You can go ahead and brag until 2026.  Messi and I share a birthday, so I take just a tiny bit of pride in his win.  A teeny-tiny bit. I am so happy for him, and he deserves all of the accolades he gets. 

And Donald Trump is still an idiot who deserves some slapping, and it looks like he might actually get it.  I would volunteer.  Maybe like that scene in Airplane!, we can have a line of citizens ready to slap waiting outside the courthouse. 

Happy New Year!  May 2023 slow down enough so that you can enjoy it!  

Ringing In The New

At one time, I was one of those people.  You know who I mean...the sort of people who seem to never stop partying, always on the look out for a good time.  At least, I was that way in my head, where it was safe.  No one to point and laugh at your dancing if they can't see it, right?  Occasionally I would attend some party with a friend, get completely snockered in an effort to be social, and pass out way before midnight. Yes, I was way cool. 

Since I've married, my New Year's Eves have been pretty consistent.  Sandy the Wonder Dog, our  yellow lab, made sure of that.  Sandy's biggest nemesis, the bane of her existence, were fireworks.  She did not care if they were sparklers or one of those whizz-bang-pop types.  If it was a firework, she hated them.  As in barked her fool head off, no matter where she was or how late it was.  If we let her out in the back yard, Sandy would race around the entire yard, barking out her displeasure as if the world depended upon it.  She barked so much that she would be foaming at the mouth, panting, but she was determined enough in her job to eradicate all fireworks that we couldn't even get her to stop for water. 

Unfortunately for Sandy, our neighborhood goes nuts over fireworks.  In the days before the end of the year, it's not uncommon to see our normally very sedate neighbors hauling crate loads of the loudest, most festive fireworks they can find.   Our street is likely on some Homeland Security list because of the number of explosives purchased by these people.  So our New Year's Eves of the last decade or so were spent in the upstairs bathroom.  One of us would sit in the bathroom, running the whirlpool tub, and keep Sandy in there with us.  It worked--unless one of those MD-80s things went off,  the sound was muffled enough that Sandy didn't lose her mind. This went on every New Year's Eve and Fourth of July until Sandy passed away at the ripe old age of 13.

Now we have Maisy the Destructor, our new black Lab mix.  Maisy isn't afraid of fireworks, we found out. While people on our street were launching enough small missiles into the air that the local airbase scrambled jets, Maisy slept peacefully on the back of an armchair.  In fact, the only thing that bothered her the entire night was her archnemesis, the boxer who lives next door.  We were all grateful for the silence, even as we missed Sandy.  My husband and I watched Supernatural episodes until midnight,  sipping our champagne and smooching like an old married couple. 

Oh yeah, we are an old married couple.





5.) How did you bring in the New Year?

Resolved

Resolved:
Happy.
Healthy.




New Year's resolution in three words is this week's prompt.  This was hard, mostly because I don't make resolutions.  Really, who needs that kind of pressure?   I suppose that everyone needs to have some sort of a goal to work toward, however. My usual goals involve savoring good foods and fine wines, or a newly acquired piece of chocolate.  I tend to avoid the lofty goals, because what I really need most is to live in the moment, something that I tend to forget.  But the two goals I finally selected are ones that I probably should focus on more often. 

Hello, 2013!

Mamakat's wonderful prompt: 4.) Resolutions. Love'em? Hate'em? Tell us why. Make one?  Talk about your resolutions or goals for 2013.


Yep. It's the time that people trot out resolutions about how they are going to lose thirty pounds and find religion.  While I am a firm believer that everyone should have a goal to pursue, I also understand that many of us set impossibly unreachable goals, which we fail spectacularly.  We then feel justified in doing the exact opposite of what we vowed to do in the first place.  It's impossible, we tell ourselves, as we finish off the last gallon of ice cream at Baskin-Robbins. 

I'm not casting stones.

I myself have a tendency toward lofty goal-setting, particularly when it comes to losing weight.  I see other people dropping weight quickly, not dieting or restricting themselves, and I think "Oh, that's easy." Overestimating my ability to resist food has been a lifelong affliction.  I can't help it.  Cheeseburgers call to me.  Fresh donuts have the power to pull my attention if they are anywhere in a ten-mile radius.

It's a never ending quest, this battle of the bulge.

I can say 'no' to french fries, most days, and I consider that significant progress.  Onion rings are an iffy proposition, however, as are fried pickles.  Something about fried pickles just gets my mouth watering, and then it's all over.  I'm thinking about fried pickles right now, as a matter of fact, and I'm practically drooling.  I am a bit ashamed to admit that, but it is true.  Fortunately, I don't know any place around here that sells fried pickles at this hour, otherwise I'd be there now, ordering some. 

Other people go on about their will power and how they used it to conquer cravings for cigarettes, alcohol, and other vices.  I'd like to say that my will power is strong, that I can resist.  Often, my resolve is firm, and I am able to resist snacking, and I can order a salad without a twinge.  This tends to lull me into a false sense of security, so that when a true craving hits, I am blindsided, helpless to resist.  And if I am supposed to be on a diet, that just makes it worse.

I don't think that I need therapy.  I don't have a food addiction.  I just like to eat.  Food tastes good.  I love eating salads just as much as I love a good cheeseburger. No, my issue is portion control.  This is what I want to work on in 2013.  I tend to clean my plate, and maybe I would be better off just eating half.  So that is what I am going to work on this year--eating half.  Maybe if I work on that, it won't seem like a diet, I won't feel restricted, and I won't have cravings.

It's worth a shot.

What is your goal for the new year?

Getting Some Rants Off

You could say that 2012 was, to quote Dickens, the best of the times and the worst of times.  You could probably say that about every year, I bet, but I do like that quote. I could do some navel gazing about the past year, I suppose  I had a great year blogging.  I met a few people in the bloggysphere who I think the world of, and I've been able to participate in some great writing communities, such as Write On Edge and Trifecta.  I think that my writing skills have significantly improved thanks to the critiques and the comments of my fellow writers.  I certainly have felt more confident about trying new things, and I hope that I continue to learn and grow.

But today is the day for me to get some of the rants off my bloggy plate.  I often started a blog post with a rant about particular things.  I get riled up, as the saying goes.  But inevitably, I cool off, or get outraged about something else.  Eventually I have to turn off the television and stop watching the news.  So here are a few random rants.  I'm getting them off of my chest, setting them free, yada, yada, yada.  This way I can start the new year off with other stuff to rant about.  Lord knows there's always something to get riled up about!

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If my wish for a super power came true, and I had had the ability to psychically smack people upside the head, I would have been mentally slapping people left and right during the election.  People lost their minds, posting stuff on Facebook about Obama.  Most of it was barely concealed ignorant tripe or scare tactics that often bordered on blatant racism.  There is no place for racism in this day and age, and people who perpetuated it should be called on it.  Bring that hatred into the light of day and kill it dead.  And all that dung about Obama not being an American citizen?  That was downright insulting to my intelligence.  The whole election seemed to drain IQ points from the masses, if what was posted on Facebook was any indication.  Don't even get me started about Twitter. 

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I won't miss the NRA and their shenanigans.  I wish that they were gone, but they'll certainly recover from their sudden unpopularity because they throw stupid gobs of money at Washington.  There's been way too much innocent blood poured out over the last year for anyone to be standing behind the NRA anymore.  It's an antiquated organization that refuses to change with the times, and it therefore needs to die a quiet death in a corner and be buried like cat poop.  We as a nation should be embarrassed by the NRA, and shun it completely.  Yes, the Second Amendment says that a citizen has the right to bear arms.  The Second Amendment does not say a word about a citizen having an AK-47 or an assault rifle. 

Common sense gun control isn't about taking all the guns away, and people need to stop responding in a knee jerk fashion about it.  There's not a darn thing wrong with having a background check before you are allowed to buy a gun. What possible reason would a law-abiding person need to have a gun immediately, where they couldn't wait?   There's not a darn thing wrong with limiting the types of working guns that a person can own.  I can see no reason for anyone who is not in the military or law enforcement to own an assault rifle.   There is certainly not a darn thing wrong with having a national registry of gun owners available to law enforcement.  If your gun is stolen, wouldn't you like to know if it ends up being used in a crime?  

I don't own a gun, and I have no intention of owning a gun.  Well, maybe a shotgun, to shoot rock salt at the random Kirby vacuum representative who shows up at my door every week.  However, I think that owning a handgun creates a false sense of security and an illusion of power that doesn't actually exist. I refuse to drink that Kool-aid.   Most of my friends and family members own guns, however, and that's okay with me. I also don't care if my family or neighbors have guns; if the zombie apocalypse comes, I will be hanging out with my neighbors in the cul de sac for a modicum of protection. 

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Bullying is a huge topic this year.  All these kids are being bullied, I hear, and we must stop it.  Great.  I am all on board with helping kids.  But what about the adults who are bullied?  What about the bullies on the evening news, the ones screaming that if you don't agree with them then you are evil personified?  Doesn't that church in Kansas, the one that pickets the funerals of soldiers, qualify as a bully of a sort?  What about the 'volleyball moms' who deliberately leave a couple of kids' names off of a 'championship' t-shirt, to make those girls feel excluded?  What about a boss who screams at an employee or tells them that they should just feel lucky to have a job?  Doesn't that qualify as bullying?  What good is it for use to tell children not to bully? Vicarious learning is extremely powerful.  The kids do what they see us do.  If your child sees you do it, it must be okay.  I say that we need to take care of ourselves, get out own lives in order, per the bullying, before we get hyper focused on the lives of our kids. 

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Why is the Westboro Baptist Church even warranting any newsprint or mentions anywhere?  This is most certainly a hate group--they probably would tell you that themselves.  To badger people who have been dealt a significant blow--the death of a loved one--by saying that they deserved to die is heinous.  Yes, they are a church, and the First Amendment gives them rights to speak their minds.  But they preach hatred, not love.  They certainly are not Christians, and should be disavowed by all religions.  I am sure that this group craves attention, and they get it from picketing funerals and then slapping lawsuits onto people who try to keep them from being there.  So quit giving them attention.  Stop referring to them by name, stop filming them.  Don't give them air time at all.  The lack of publicity would kill them by suffocating the 'cash' cow.  So stop giving them that attention.  Starve them of it.  Let them be a candle placed in a jar with the lid welded on, so that the flame of their hatred sputters and is extinguished. 


That's it.  I got most of my rants out.  The rest I deleted.  I will start fresh in 2013.  Happy New Year, everyone!  I wish all of you a happy, prosperous, and exciting(in a good way) 2013. 

Happy New Year! Get off My Lawn

Our neighbors like to celebrate the New Year by lighting fireworks. Lots of them. It seems that they buy fireworks by the caseload on this street alone. I have no doubt that if someone were to set up a Fireworks store outside this subdivision, it would sell out of everything in less than an hour.

I do not have a problem with fireworks. Some of them are very pretty in the night sky before they burn themselves out (there's a metaphor about life in there, and I wasn't even trying!) However, I do have a problem with some of the people who light the fireworks.

My neighbors light fireworks on the street, away from the grass and from any cars. There are always adults out there supervising, and they are the ones who are lighting most of the fireworks. I've also seen that these people have the implements to extinguish a fire if they need to, including a fire extinguisher. When they are finished with the fireworks, about five minutes after midnight, they take the time to clean up as much of the debris as possible.

Then you have the idiots who were out behind my house last night. Teenagers with no adult supervision, judging by their laughter. Someone had to have purchased the fireworks for them, and should have known better, so that person is even more of an idiot than these teenagers. Yes, these teenagers were lighting fireworks in the drainage ditch behind my house, which is full of tall, combustible grass. Some of the fireworks found their way into my backyard, and probably a couple landed on someone's roof. It is fortunate that we had some rain two days ago.

I probably should have called the police, but on New Year's Eve, the police have a lot more important stuff to do, like keeping drunk drivers off the road so they don't kill anyone. So I just keep an eye on the kids out back, ready to call the fire department if I see any smoldering grass. Maybe next year I'll ask the firemen if I can borrow their hose so I can hose down those kids and their fireworks before they start. Or would that be too much?