Hasta La Vista 2020 - Happy NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

Hasta La Vista 2020, and don't let the door hit you on the way out.

Although I agree with Biden - the next three months are going to be hard. Not helped by the crook in the white house who refuses to concede or leave.

Weirdly Times Square isn't as vacant as expected. There are people there in little socially distant conclaves. And celebrating in small areas. They are in little enclosed padded boxes with the folks they came with, with masks. No one gets close to people they don't know.

Meanwhile powerball went to a poor black family with two young daughters. I was kind of rooting for them. The others were a couple, an old white couple, an black couple, and a single girl.

I drank sparkling white wine from little cans - it's the only sparkling that agrees with me. I don't do champagne well, and it's not expensive.

Happy New Years Folks.

Thanks for sticking with me through this. Not everyone did. The pandemic kind of showed us all who cared. And who didn't, didn't it?

You being there - helped me survive 2020. I live alone. In a huge city. My family far away. I don't socially distance with friends - I've not seen any since March 8, and the last I saw my co-workers in person was in September. The last I saw my family, immediate family - was in 2019. And the closest I came to human interactions was with people I don't know that live in my apartment complex or my co-workers - who I kind of went through this with. Did we bond? Hard to say.

I saw the absolute worst and best in humanity this year. And struggled with the worst and best for myself.

My New Year's Resolution is the same as last year's - Be Kind Be Kind Be Kind no matter what happens. No matter how hard. No matter how angry.

And I hope I'll do better with that this year than last.

Being kind is the only way, I think.

I will try to be less opinionated, less judgemental, less critical, less angry, and less self-righteous.

I will try to help more. Think about myself less. Give more. Take less.
And be more supportive.

I will try to be kind to myself. To understand that I'm only human. And try to learn from my mistakes.

I will try to listen more. Talk less. Read more. Write less.

Today is the first of January. It's a beginning. A second chance to get things right.

I survived 2020. We survived 2020. Not everyone did. Over 2 million people around the world didn't. Some famous. Some unknown but worthy and kind all the same. I'm thankful that you and I survived. So thankful. Thankful my parents, my family, my friends, my co-workers, my super, all the people I know personally - survived 2020 and got out of the year alive.

Thank god.

It was touch and go there for a while.

Now, let's get out of 2021. And remember to be patient and kind with each other. The next three to four months are going to be rough.

What's that they say? It's always darkest before the dawn? Cliche perhaps, but fitting. I see hope ahead. Take a breath. 2021! Here's to 2021!

Day 289 ...Happy New Year - First Day of 2021

I woke up earlier than expected, considering I didn't make it to bed until 1, or asleep until 2. I blame the sparkling wine, and the fact that I read about politics two hours earlier - which managed to wire me.

It's a gloomy day today. Overcast. In the upper 30s and low 40s. It started raining now. And is supposed to rain most of the weekend - which will frustrate any efforts on my part to walk and get exercise. I kind of envy the college acquaintance on FB that is swimming every day in the freezing cold waters of the Bay, wherever she lives - its either CT, VT, Maine, or New Hampshire. It may actually be one of the islands off of Mass. Not that I see myself pressing my body into a wetsuit and swimming in freezing cold waters, my face chaffed by the wind. I'd actually prefer to walk to be honest.

The internet bombards me with others opinions, activities, etc - whether I want to see them or not. Sometimes I miss the days in which I was pleasantly oblivious. [Of course I get to bombard people with my own - so..there's that.]

I need to finish binge-watching Bridgerton, before the internet ruthlessly spoils me with its desire to critique it. I got distracted by "The Great Pottery Throw-Down" (which no one else was watching, thankfully) and "His Dark Materials" (which I finished finally).

A spot of good news. My apartment complex is not going to increase my rent to reflect the cost of the kitchen rewiring and new elevator improvement. Apparently their request to increase rent was only for those apartments renting below a certain amount. If you are above it, no problems. This means I don't have to do anything about it. So, 2021 is turning out to be slightly better than 2020 already. Fingers crossed that it continues.

I'm aggravated today for some reason or other. Possibly lack of sleep. Or a period that can't decide if it wants to come or not. So PMS may be involved.

I'll stop now, before I whine about something I'll regret later.

Off to make dinner, watch Bridgerton, and maybe have a cocktail.

Reviews...

1. Making my way through Bridgerton - I've seen episode 4 now, which actually address the race question, making me wonder about the academics and critics. Rhimes is admittedly subtle in how she deals with it in the early seasons of her series, then slowly as they move forward, she starts to be less so. Laying the groundwork, and kind of sneaking it in there - so she hooks the white racist liberals who have no clue they are racist, and wham.

I applaud her for it, actually. ( spoilers for Bridgerton and I'm about to inflict my opinions onto you all - read at your own risk )

2. I've decided I'm addicted to chocolate. I had some, and my irritation disappeared. Like a salve or something. Spoke to mother tonight. She was funny. Apparently my father asked her if she lived nearby.
( off-beat sense of humor at play again...not for the faint of heart.. )

3. His Dark Materials S2

Finished watching His Dark Materials S2 today. It's not as good as S1.
But I kind of knew that going in.

I think it veers from the books a bit, but I don't remember enough of the books to be certain. I'm almost positive that ( spoilers )

.

It does get a bit heavy-handed in its metaphors. But the casting continues to be spot on, and I like the twist. That said, I find it a little preachy/ranty in regards to the authoritarian religion bit. HBO - this works better, than it did in movie theaters. They'd never get away with that in the movies. In fact, the movie got blasted by the Catholic Church who felt, and rightfully so, slandered by the text.

I kind of hand-waved a lot of this when I read the books, helped by the fact that I have my own difficulties with the Judeo/Christian religion. This actually really is a biting critique of Judeo/Christian religions and Muslim religions or authoritarian based, patriarchial religion. And it was counter to CS Lewis's pro-Authoritarian based patriarchial religious novel, aka Chronicles of Narnia. (I hand-waved that in the Chronicles of Narnia as well, also I think it helped that Lewis isn't nearly as heavy handed with his metaphors.) Pullman outright states they are going to take down the authority - aka God. And Lyra is meant to be Eve, and to fall, bringing about the end of Paradise, and the advent of knowledge.

It's grating, but I love Lyra, and Will, and all the characters. Also Ruth Wilson is rather brilliant as the complicated Mrs. Coulter. There's also a strong theme about agency, and how growing older is not a bad thing. Pullman had issues with how Lewis and other writers romanticized childhood and placed it on a sort of pedestal. Arguing that growing older and becoming an adult is not a bad thing. In the Narnia books - only children can travel to Narnia, when they grow older - they can't go, and slowly forget. Pullman found that to be offensive. He also had problems with the latent misogyny in the Narnia novels. It helps if you see Pullman's novels as a kind of a critique of the Narnia style fantasy novel. Lev Grossman's The Magicians is equally a critique of that style novel but in another way.

His Dark Materials - is revealed in this season. ( spoilers )

Overall a good adaptation of the books, as I remember them. But problematic in some of the same ways. Golden Compass is still by far the best of the three. This season like the prior one, ended on a cliffhanger. More of one actually...curious to see how it gets wrapped up, assuming the pandemic doesn't get in the way of things.

4. Finished Great Pottery Throw-Down

I didn't like Series 3 as well as the prior two. Series 1 is by far the best, and Series 2 isn't bad. The change in judges and hosts kind of weakens things. Although in some respects the new host is better equipped and less awkward. The new judge is in contrast more awkward and less equipped.

The challenges got on my nerves a bit at times in the third series - there was way too much emphasis on decoration and illustration. It's pottery not drawing class. And I felt the judging was far too subjective in the third season. Jacob who had a crack in his toilet, beat out Matt as potter of the week - when Matt's toilet was flawless. Granted the design/illustration could be more bold - but that's a subjective thing. Also Rosalind won - top
potter based on her illustrations, not on the actual pots. It felt flawed to me, somehow.

Curious to see if they pull off a fourth season.