Time to make the donuts! I mean respond to more of these spaced odyssey questions in the quiz promulgated by the illustrious Kelly. I’m not faulting him, BTW.
Did you keep your New Years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Well, probably not and definitely not. I didn’t REALLY make any for last year. But if I had, I probably would have failed. So I’m DEFINITELY not making any this year because it’s too much of a bummer.
Did anyone close to you get married?
Why yes. my good friend Alexis married her beau with a similar name.
Did anyone close to you give birth?
I don’t think so, though, as of this writing, someone vaguely named for me is very pregnant.
Did anyone close to you die?
Yeah, and I wrote about most of them here and here. Also, I went to the funeral of Jack White, a cousin, online.
And I attended the funeral of my former next-door neighbor Dino Patelos at his Greek Orthodox church. During the service, his priest favorably compared him to Jimmy Buffet in Margarettaville, but with a boilermaker.
Since I don’t SEE many people, I was afraid I was forgetting someone, but, no they died near the end of 2020.
Almost abroad
What countries did you visit?
Well, I didn’t GO to Canada. But we were on The Maid of the Mist at Niagara Falls, so we were Canada-adjacent.
What would you like to have in 2022 that you lacked in 2021?
The normal I thought I would get in 2021 after living through 2020.
What was your biggest achievement of the year?
I did some research about my family when I went to Binghamton. Didn’t find as much as I had hoped, but the effort was there.
What was your biggest failure?
I’m not sure I finished a single book. I bought more than a dozen of them and started at least half of those. Actually, that’s not quite true. I did finish The Color of Law, but that was in February 2021.
What was the best thing you bought?
Aside from music? Probably the iPhone 8. And the case, because the phone literally kept slipping off the sofa.
Thumbs up, thumbs down
Whose behavior merited celebration?
Those who try to inform: John Oliver, Jon Stewart, Trevor Noah, various websites. The folks who worked in COVID hotspots in the US, even though you KNEW they were ticked off about it because they thought it didn’t need to be. Folks promoting vaccines, addressing hesitancy and fear. People who stood up to racial, economic, and other disparity.
Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Tough question. They fall into many categories, only a few of which are noted here. The problem is that some belong in multiple slots. The list is necessarily incomplete.
January 6 facilitators and deniers. This includes, but is hardly limited to, Steve Bannon; Representatives Paul Gosar (R-AZ), Lauren Boebert (R-CO), Mo Brooks (R-AL), Madison Cawthorne (R-NC), Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Louie Gohmert (R-TX), Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA); Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows; Mike Pence
Big Lie promulgators: DJ Trump; MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell; Elise Stefanik (R-NY); various media outlets, including a vulpine one, including the one with Lara Logan
COVID facilitators and deniers. Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI); governors Ron DeSantis (R-FL), Greg Abbott (R-TX)
General blowhards. SCOTUS justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas; Sens. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), John Kennedy (R-LA), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN); Josh Hawley (R-MO); Reps. Glenn Grothman (R-WI), Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Jim Jordan (R-OH), Devin Nunes (R-CA), Thomas Massie (R-KY); Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson (R-NC); former Governor Andrew Cuomo (D-NY); Candace Owens; Eric Clapton
I’ll finish this spaced odyssey tomorrow.