So there you have it. 365 days from the last time you were here. Now you (and I mean the other two people) have to learn how to write 2021 on your checks.
One more lap around the sun. A few grayer hairs? A few grayer heirs? Another year older and deeper in dept?
Each of us will have a story of the pass twelve months. Here is mine.
Resolutions
Sure there was a list of ‘to-do’ that are now covered in dust. Didn’t have anyone to kiss the dropping of the ball in, but the champagne was frosty. Woke up to the sunrise and didn’t know what was awaiting. Same as it ever was.
When is graffiti art?
Not only the toxic political speak that was difficult to avoid, the aged old confession of the original sin arose again. Instead of being restrained into long forgotten places, city residents came out swinging. Confederate statues that lined up in a row on a quiet corridor became the target (symbols) of protest. Spray can vandalism marked the spot where history was about to change. Hand held technology spread the word and everyone took sides.
Guns
Disturbing more than the chants and the signs, were the guns. Seemed the return of the old west where no one felt safe without carrying heat was back. If dressing like Rambo compensates but unlike words a bullet cannot be taken back.
Un-Believable
The presidential campaigns, debates and election were beyond whatever SNL could parody. Everyday was a new adventure into the absurd and the writers were working overtime. Avoided the advertisements but got enough ‘pissing in the wind’ from social media. ‘Alice in Wonderland’ on steroids.
I did my duty as a documented American citizen of the United Confederate
States of America and voted.
Pandemic
I’d never heard this word before. After hours on Google and Wikipedia I realized this reason for all my friends to be taking pills and visiting doctors and going to hospitals seems to be spreading all over the globe. There was no gray cloud blocking out the sun. There were no little cooties running up and down the streets. There were no army trucks riding up and down the streets telling everyone to stay inside. There were only white faces on daily reports with charts and graphs and numbers with conflicting information. Then they started wearing white lab coats. Then they started wearing surgical mask. Now they looked like they were medical professionals. There was no cure. The only advice (conflicted by other white faces) was to cover your face in a diaper, stay two yard sticks away from each other and for God’s sake, don’t eat out of the garden buffet.
Some say salvation is on the way at end of a needle. It ain’t over yet.
Quarantined
If you have read any of these writings for the past decade, isolation is not a problem. The idea of pressing flesh with thousands of my favorite friends was over with the Monument Avenue (yes, the same one with the Confederate generals) 10k Marathon. Gatherings at local events like the Folk Festival, Richmond Symphony, rock events or even funerals had lost any appeal. I didn’t need to see or be seen. I can have fun by myself.
Being quarantined was my usual modus operandi except for dressing up like a cowboy to ride to the Tummy Temple. It was a rough ride until I learned you was supposed to wear jeans under them chaps.
So the new curfews, lockdowns, stay-at-home recommendations were merely inconveniences.
Mortality
Unfortunately in the mist of all this talk of global extinction, I had to go to the hospital. I didn’t have to go, but all my home remedies were not working and I was not in the mood to wait it out. There wasn’t any pain, just discomfort. So I wander into the ‘Emergency Room’ pass the Covid-19 testing centers and have the doc take a look at me. After several folks put me on a rolling table and wheel me around from room to room, they finally delivered me to a nice private room with a large window looking over the tree. Unlike a vacation, I was strapped down by tube in my arms with the guards checking in on me every so often to see if my blood pressure had gone up or down or if I’d forgotten my birthday. After a couple quarts of blood and plenty of down time in isolation I was released back to the world. Better but not cured. Mortality rattled their chains.
Media/Entertainment
It started with VHS tapes. Maybe you remember those. If not ask your grandparents. There used to be stores where you could rent a movie on one of these oversized cassette tapes. They were all the rage until the DVD came about.
Well one of my TVs had a VHS player built in. Then it broke. What would I do with this shelf full of VHS tapes? That TV went into the trash but I found another machine that played VHS and DVDs. After hours of reading multiple copies of instruction manuals and punching buttons on three remote controls finally a picture appeared on the screen.
The daily habit of turning on the TV before making the coffee had faded from interest. Soap operas and cooking shows are long forgotten. News (turned entertainment) has been cut to scrolling reliable sources to keep up-to-date.
The VHS tapes were divided and sent to others who may appreciate ancient technology or enjoy what hadn’t been transferred to DVD or uploaded to YouTube.
Now the screen is dark and dusty next to the three remotes. They will all find their way to another home in 2021. Resolution!
Free Money
Last year was the year of consolidation. Clothing, books, artwork were
thinned from lack of use or interest.
Even the few shekels saved through the years was moved to within reach yet now insight of the governmental taxman. For the first time in a decade, I had to pay taxes. Calculating and double-checking I filled out my paperwork, attaching a check and stamped the envelope having done my civic duty to add to the government coffers. When I received a letter stating I needed to pay more to the commonwealth, I placed a phone call for details. After a few moments I was talking to another human being and with a quiet civil conversation we both agreed 2020 had struck again. A few weeks later I got a refund.
While all of that was going on and local businesses were shutting down or boarded up and people were losing their jobs and couldn’t pay for rent, food, childcare, Netflix, Uncle Sam send a check for $1,200.00. Don’t know about you but $1,200 doesn’t go very far, but like you I’ll take FREE MONEY (even though it was our money to begin with).
The stock market was soaring and unemployment was reaching record levels. How the two will work out this coming year will have to wait and see.
Relationships
Having to rely on ‘social’ media to send and receive comments from friends and family, communications took a disturbing turn. Every thought and idea became opinionated rhetoric and demeaning trash talk (using words not suitable for children’s ears). After some attempts to reconcile comments without coming to blows; the only viable solution was ‘DELETE’.
Will tomorrow change how we express ourselves? Only time will tell.
Speaking of ‘Just Another Life’ blog
Living in virtual incarceration, many thoughts float through the air with the virus. A word, sentence, song or name may spark a creation to be transferred to paper before it slips away.
Trying to stay clear of the obvious, some of the writer’s gibberish is personal and some is just observational. It don’t cost nothing except some time to read.
Not a viral site with no sponsorship or promotion it gets an average of 15-20 reads a day. Over a quarter million folks have stumbled upon this site to take a moment. Some return. Some comment. Some email interesting conversations to strangers.
This may just be a one-way call to the universe but less harmful than spam robo calls wanting me to buy insurance for a car I don’t own or a computer hack that only takes time to undo someone else’s lack of creativity.
When this is gone, will sit in silence.
Puppywoods
There were no big changes this year. With back and leg problems, outside productivity has slowed down. That is my excuse and I’m sticking to it. Even the purchase of a lawnmower and a sickle didn’t stop the abundance of greenery in the forest. The excessive heat of climate change reduced the desire to whack away in the summer sunshine. I’m sticking to that excuse too.
Did I put up the flags I purchase (online) for curtains? No. Did clean the toilet? Somewhat. Did I vacuum? Tomorrow. Did I…. I see a pattern.
The only constant is to travel to the Tummy Temple everyday (most, maybe a half dozen don’t happen) and retrieve enough consumption for my furry and feathered friends and myself for another day. The traffic has been sparse and the few who venture out into the air smile and wave as another survivor.
There are no new technology but more surveillance and plastic barriers
to the only other humans to interact with in person. The cost has gone down
with the reduction of adult beverages but the fun is to get pass all the
cameras and TSA to slip away with a free six-pack.
The water still comes out of the facets, the toilet still flushes, the heat still warms up my tootsies and the stove warms up the frozen pizzas. There are still the moans and groans of an old house but the radio drowns out most of them.
The clothing is all rolled up but only a pair is worn. One is in the washer and one on the body. Rinse and repeat.
One of the computers hasn’t kept up with whatever the Internet providers provide and still work but with reminders that they are no longer supported by 2020.
The yard still offers entertainment for the price of a can of cocktail peanuts and the front porch is perfect for a snooze in the sunshine.
Of course there were those pink tails that tried to settle in the yard after street repair disturbing the feeding process and that mouse in the house that wanted to eat sponges and steal paper towels and Mr. (and Mrs.) Hawk who like to come visit occasionally.
Other than that, no major disruption or disasters to the boredom of hibernation. The next stop will probably be even more boring?
Music of 2020
I try to listen to music through NPR’s ears. Now and then I catch a pearl and share with others. Sometimes others send me a jewel I’d missed. Often I listen to favorites that have lasted me through the years.
At year-end, I review what has been popular and what will give me a taste for another try.
This year of 2020 introduced me to Molly Tuttle. I’d had probably heard her before but this year a couple of her tunes got on my play list. She is a talented singer and an exquisite flat picker. Her versions of “Helpless”, “Standing on the Moon” and “She’s a Rainbow” are technically strong visually interesting. She is also cute (with or without hair).
Another woman who got my attention was Fiona Apple. Intense. I like intense women. Don’t know if I could sit through an entire concert but her videos have kept my interest.
Pomplamoose, from a French word meaning grapefruit, have a couple of mash-up covers that were well produced and the musicians seem to be having fun. Fun is important. Plus they stopped on a dime. She is also cute.
Mike Oldfield released the making of “Tubular Bells” video. It was that early 70s album with one song on a side that everyone had. The video shows all the parts and how they were played. At least for the presentation for the camera one gets the idea of how it was constructed with Oldfield conducting.
Tash Sultana “Jungle” was on Tiny Desk (which I regularly watch). She’s been in my ear before but again energy. Lots of energy. Lots of technology but seems to be having fun. Fun is important. She is also cute.
‘Harlem River Blues’ (written by Justin Townes Earle, Steve’s son who left us this year) Steve Earles & The Dukes caught my ear with the drop down D drone and the chorus at the end. Must be hard to play your son’s song.
John Prine gave us ‘Summer’s End’ before he left us. He had the pause of human spirit. Cried like I’d just seen one of those Budweiser puppy and big horse commercials.
To keep the taps open try… ‘Heather’s Letters to her Mother’ Becca Stevens, ‘Better Than We Found It’ Maren Morris, ‘Love at the Five and Dime’ Nanci Griffith, ‘Willie’s Lady’ Anais Mitchell and Jefferson Hamer
To lighten up the mood try… ‘You Shook Me All Night Long’ Steve ‘n Seagulls. Breaks me up every time.
To end the year, how about a Christmas carol like: ‘Carol of the Bells’
‘Carol of the Bells’ on a Harp, ‘Carol of the Bells’ Shepherd Boomwhacker, ‘Carol of the Bells’ Verge Studios, ‘Carol of the Bells’ Dark Isle Pipers, ‘Carol of the Bells’ Cast in Bronze, ‘Karen of the Bells’, ‘Chorus of the Bells’, ‘Carol of the Bells’ Berea College Bluegrass Ensemble, Carol of the Bells Karolina Protsenko, ‘Carol of the Bells’ Carolina Crown marching band, ‘Carol of the Bells’ Calum Graham, ‘Carol of the Bells’ Hans Zimmers Dark Knight version, ‘Carol of the Bells’ Allen Protégé, ‘Carol of the Bells’ Hillsong London Carol Service, ‘Carol of the Bells’ Gael Winds, ‘Carol of the Bells’ Shin Beom Hong BPMC hand bell choir, ‘Carol of the bells’ claymation, ‘Carol of the Bells’ Metallica, ‘Carol of the Bells’ trans-siberian light show, ‘Carol of the Bells’ Pentatonix, ‘Carol of the Bells’ piano cover, ‘Carol of the Bells’ St. George’s Chapel Choir, ‘Carol of the Bells’ The Piano Guys, ‘Carol of the Bells’ Lindsey Stirling
2021
In a few hours, I hope to be asleep as the bell chimes twelve. Hopefully the rain will stop drunken idiots from firing off into the sky. Seems the family has stuffed their faces and shuffled off to their trundle beds. Finishing off a bottle of bubbly before retiring myself.
What will tomorrow bring?
Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday. Let’s see what happens.
If you use this time, as I do, to arrange your memories to prepare for a new year with unknown adventures and possibilities, then sleep well.
You have no control.
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