Oh, yes, it will

Not to put too fine a point upon it, but we all know that 2024 is going to be a shitshow. Presidential elections are always gagworthy, but this one, given the Kleptocrat’s candidacy and his strangle hold on the party of right-wing nutjobbery, is gag to an order of magnitude.

Particularly given the criminal and civil legal actions against him—you know that every single day he grows more unhinged and desperate, with the flop sweat pouring down his unwashed body under the girdle into his Depends. If he thinks he’s going to lose—a court case, a caucus, an election—he’ll burn everything down, and his followers will dance in the flames.

In short:

So for my first earworm of the year, let’s have Sam Cooke singing “A Change Is Gonna Come.” Let’s see if hope will prevail through this year of insanity.

 

 

 

Lighting up

A while ago (couple of years, actually) I started taking photos of street lamps in the ‘hood. This is what I have so far.

I think I should resume.

 

 

Not quite fore

A while ago I came across this trio playing through on the golf course.

 

 

Vivid imaginings

Welp, new year brings the inevitable Resolutions. When I was burning El Año Viejo on Sunday I realized that most of the things I wanted to grind into dust were within myself—it’s a long list, but roughly things that make me get in my own way.

Dodging things that need doing—and are not BFDs, so what’s with my resistance?

Being fearful all the time.

Not following through on exercises I need to do. (Hello—knee replacements?)

Not #playingtowin.

I discussed this with an artist friend who acts as my job search/life coach accountability partner. I brought up Dick Fosbury, the Olympian who in 1968 revolutionized the high jump because the standard technique did not work well for him and he thought he could jump higher by turning it around. And she mentioned Sara Hughes, the Olympian who in 2002 skated “with complete abandon” because she was in fourth place and she had nothing to lose by giving it her all.

Here's the footage if you've not seen it before; watch to the end to see her reaction to the scores:

So here’s our homework for next week’s call: imagine what we individually might accomplish if we just turned a challenge on its head. And picture what doing something as though we had nothing to lose might look like.

We both burst out laughing at the prospect, but we agreed that reality does not enter into the calculation this week. The exercise is to slip the surly bonds of earth and consider what might be.

This is by no means a resolution. It is a much needed exploration. I’m down with it.

 

 

 

Gratitude Monday: Starting the new year

I’ve burnt El Año Viejo, and it's New Year’s Day and Gratitude Monday. Seems big, no?

So here are some gratitude things I’m starting 2024 with.

Two new knees have restored my mobility. I will not be able to run again (because wear-and-tear on the devices, not because I’d be physically incapable of it), but I can and did walk up and down a bazillion stone steps in Dubrovnik last October and did not need one milligram of ibuprofen. 

And I walked between five and seven miles a day through hilly Sarajevo. This would be the first time in more than a decade I’ve taken a trip without popping NSAIDs like Pez. Yippee!

Speaking of the Balkans—despite being laid off in May, after recovering from the second knee replacement in June, I used up my Air France credit by taking a trip to two places I’ve not been before. TBH, I probably don’t have to return to Croatia, but I’m so grateful I went to Bosnia-Herzegovina. It was emotionally overwhelming in a way I’d not expected and it tears at my heart that the country is still carrying the burdens of the Serbian post-Yugoslavia wars of 30 years ago. The rest of the world screwed the pooch on this one and Bosnians are paying the price.

But it was a great source of joy for me to discover that Bosnians love cake, and that I could walk into a cake shop every morning and have a Vienna-level confection for breakfast and not be an outlier.

This was a mixed year for me (as all years are, for everyone, really); I’m grateful for all the friends who helped me through it. Who took me to the hospital and picked me up after surgeries, who drove me to and from physical therapy appointments, who lent me canes and walkers, who brought me food, who just encouraged me.

And I’m grateful for friends who check in with me regularly on the job search—it’s more than finding a job, it’s recovering myself after realizing that my work was just not valued. This is a hard one to take in, and I’m thankful I’m not processing it on my own. I need to get back into the #playingtowin mindset.

I’m grateful that I have financial resources and am not entirely dependent upon the Commonwealth of Virginia’s unemployment insurance payments to make rent. Because the agency is a complete shitshow, and I’ll be having words with my delegate about it.

As always, I take joy in the beauties that Nature presents to me, even in the weird overheated seasons that are climate change. Every single day has something, if you just look. Viz.

And that’s a good way to start the year.