Bye-Bye, 2021

 

The thing about being retired is that there are no mile markers. Shoot, I often even forget what day of the week it is. When one is gainfully employed, they're working for the weekend. Three or four-day holiday weekends are the best. Sure, Mondays suck, but there's always a reprieve just a few days away. This is a long-winded way of saying I don't really know what the heck happened in 2021. The days all run together. With Covid, my big outing is weekly grocery shopping. 

When I was first working from home after Covid hit, I tried to summarize in a blog post the things I learned each week. So I'll try that for the year 2021.

• I learned that elected officials are incomprehensibly stupid. And power-mad. That's a bad combination. I learned that career bureaucrats easily fall in love with their images on a TV monitor and will spout any inane proclamation just to keep being invited back. 

• I learned that it's possible to fall in love with a new pet, even after the agony of losing a long-time buddy. It took me a bit; I was hesitant to appear disloyal. But once we decided to adopt a new cat, we were determined not to leave the Humane Society empty-handed. Sasha (not her name then) leapt down from the cat tower and caressed my outstretched hand with her face, and I knew she was the one. I was used to a senior citizen cat and Sasha (nee Stuart Little, for some reason) was only about six months old. It was an adjustment, but not an entirely negative one. A somewhat exhausting one, nevertheless. Now she's a little over a year old and a bit more sedate (a bit). She likes to cuddle and she keeps my legs warm at night. We've settled into a routine and we would be lost without her.

• I relearned that two-year-old boys are endlessly fascinating. (It'd been a while, after all.) My two grandsons are little originals. And smart like only newly-budded minds can be. I'd long forgotten how fresh and new the world can seem. Ollie informed me he doesn't like certain types of peppers his dad grows in the garden, which was news to Dad. He also was endlessly fascinated when I swaddled his teddy bear, and made me repeat the procedure until he felt confident enough to try it himself. Asher giggles uncontrollably at a big rubber ball being rolled back and forth. "Ready?" he began repeating, after I said it about a hundred times, rolling it over and over back to me.

• I remembered that I actually like writing, but I'm not very ambitious. I found a writer I admire, in a TV interview, no less; and began reading snippets of his writing. My goal is to write as cleanly as he does. My proclivity has been to use too many modifiers, which in fact only exposes weak writing. If you have something to say, just say it. Perhaps my problem is, I don't have a whole lot to say. Regardless, I've begun revisiting a story I started a while back, and I'm trying to do better. I don't think I'll ever write another full-blown novel, but a novella is doable.

• I am somewhat of a The Office groupie. I don't know how many times I've watched the entire series, but I like watching a show that doesn't offend my overblown sense of discerning taste. That kind of whittles the choices. Network television honestly reeks. I've even experimented with watching shows from the eighties that I used to view religiously, and I wonder how desperate we the viewing audience was back then. There really are essentially two sitcoms in all of TV history that are seminal. The rest can go to hell. I leave it to you to fill in the blank for the second one. Because you probably have a different opinion from me -- even though your opinion would be wrong.

• I learned that today's country music is mostly really, really bad. I rather suspected that, but I did a couple of posts in which I reviewed the top ten hits of a given week; songs I had never in my life heard before, and...wow. I don't even know how to define the tracks I forced myself to listen to, but "country" is not a term that springs to mind. To be fair, a couple of them were not technically bad -- not good enough to download, but not hideous. There may be hope, after all, but I doubt it.

• I also learned that my musical prejudices may have been unfounded. If anyone asked me which decade was the worst for country music, "the seventies" would trip merrily off my tongue. The thing is, though, once I started creating Spotify playlists for the different decades, I found that my favorite one to listen to is from the decade of the seventies. How can that be? Has my whole musical life been a lie? Granted, I did cherry-pick the best of the best for my playlist, so there's that. I do like controlling my music.

• I learned that podcasting, while it seemed like a no-brainer, is actually a "brainer".  I spent far too much time writing scripts and then recording them, and my estimated audience turned out to be (generously) two people (I think Anchor just didn't want me to feel bad.) I don't regret trying it. One has to try things.

It seems I didn't learn a ton of things in 2021. Quality trumps quantity, however. Every year has little milestones that might actually be big milestones. My life in 2021 wasn't bad, all things considered.

I don't know what 2022 will bring. Maybe I will become a world-renowned artist, or at least pick up my never-used art pencils and draw a picture. I could do that. 

Or I could stream The Office again.

Telework Week 3 -- Drudgery and Depression

Organizing and decorating my home office no longer carries the cachet it did during weeks one and two. I'm used to the room now and like everything else in one's house, it's rarely even noticed. I have found, however, that all those special office supplies we think we can't live without are simply trinkets to collect. I use a small legal pad and a pen. Sometimes a sticky pad. That's it. And I barely use those.

In Week 3 many people's nerves are fraying. I only know this via email communications, of course. Attitudes that were once excused or ignored are now confronted. I know because work friends have forwarded me some of their email exchanges with other people. For my part, I have endeavored to remain upbeat in my correspondence, knowing that others aren't having any fun, either. I did receive one snarky response today, and I took a few minutes before deciding how to reply. (I let it go.)

Wednesday was my worst day. My system slowed to the point of complete inertia and then froze up completely several times (shut the PC off, re-log in, authenticate my login, try again; lather, rinse, repeat).I finally shut if off and walked away; did some laundry; tried to lower my blood pressure. Worse, I knew I'd have to face the same imbroglio the next day. I can't expect my IT Department to solve my problem; I think it's simply a matter of fifty million people or so gobbling up bandwidth.

Working from home has become complete drudgery. It's no longer novel; it's tedious. Telework does not bring freedom -- I rarely leave this room. I probably walked around -- no, I know I walked around -- more in the office than I do at home.

Shall we talk about depression? It may have been Tuesday night, and it was my own fault. I flipped on the TV when I lay down for the night, and as the minutes ticked by, the reports grew increasingly horrifying. I understand why cable news does that, but mitigate, people! Any rays of hope at all, folks? What I gleaned was, don't leave my house under any circumstances. If I do, it's essentially a death sentence. And maybe I've already contracted the virus -- the incubation period can be up to fourteen days.I visited my local convenience store twice in the past two weeks. Should I be drawing up a will?

What no one on TV will (or can) answer is how long this will go on. May 4, our original return-to-work date, now seems like a cruel joke. My tentative retirement date is June 12 -- will I even be able to return to the office to retrieve my personal belongings? Is this called "going out with a whimper"?

Things I've learned this week:

• Online grocery shopping is the highlight of my week, as frustrating as it is.Why is there such a shortage of paper towels? The hell with toilet paper -- I have a cat who barfs regularly (as cats do) and paper towels are an essential item. I've begun weighing whether I really should be wasting a half-sheet of paper towel for tasks I previously whipped off a good-sized wad to tackle.Luckily I can blow my nose with toilet paper, because facial tissue is non-existent as well. I do tip my Shipt shopper well, because that's a thankless, health-endangering job. But all in all, I'd be tickled to do my own shopping.
• I've spent all the bill money on groceries. The piper will be piping soon, but right now I need snacks.
• There are things I'd like to order from Amazon, but I'd feel too guilty making a driver deliver my impulse buy when there are people who really need stuff, like paper towels (there aren't any, by the way; but I'm just saying.)
• "The Office" reruns are the highlight of my week.
• Being able to do my regular job anytime soon is a pipe dream. The whole reason I applied for the trainer position in 2003 was because processing claims all day made me want to hurl myself off a high precipice. Guess what I'm doing now.

Things I've done this week:

• I gained probably five pounds.
• I took a shower almost every day.
• I downloaded a prayer app, but I keep forgetting to reference it.
• I slept fitfully and my dreams were all disturbing.

There is always tomorrow (I say rhetorically, since tomorrow is Saturday and I won't be working). I have fits of despondence, but my fallback outlook is positivity. Raise a glass with me that Week 4 will be a revelation.

More Eighties Rock!

I did a previous post about eighties rock, and I promised more to come. Well, I kind of got sidetracked with other stuff (did I mention I have a short attention span?)

But tonight, as I'm sitting here, with basically nothing to do, I thought I would delve further into the wonderful world of rock and roll in the eighties.

There were so many memorable songs during that period that it's really difficult to narrow it down. I think I started off quite well on my first post, but then I got tired and had to go to bed.

But I'm back! And I always like to get the party started right, so here we go!

THE B-52'S - LOVE SHACK


Ahh, the 80's. When people still knew how to have fun. Wouldn't we all like to spend Saturday night at the "Love Shack"?

I must say, too, that I'm impressed with Fred Schneider's way with the "spoken word". Notice that he doesn't actually "sing".

I've got me a Chrysler that seats about TWENTY
So hurry up and bring your juke box MONEY

I remember there was a debate way back when about what exactly Kate Pierson was saying toward the end of the song. Because it's not real clear. But I think it was determined that she was saying, "Tin Roof. RUSTED" (in case you were wondering).


While we're all just dancing around, I thought I would add this one, from 1984.

KENNY LOGGINS - FOOTLOOSE


I have to admit, I never actually saw this movie. But the video looks nice. I guess it was about some hick town where Kevin Bacon wasn't allowed to dance. And I guess he REALLY wanted to dance. So, this tells me that the movie is pure fiction. Because did you ever know a guy who actually WANTED to dance? Somehow, I can't picture my husband "busting a move", you know? The last time we actually danced together was about 10 years ago, and it was sort of just shuffling around the floor. But in theory, I guess you could call it "dancing".

While we're on the subject of "Footloose", I found this fun video on YouTube of the cast of "The Office" (my favorite show, by the way), dancing and just basically being uncomfortable as usual, backed by Kenny Loggins' song.

THE OFFICE - FOOTLOOSE


I gotta say, kudos to nikki8907, whoever you are, for a GREAT editing job on this!


I can't let this opportunity go by without including this video from the 1987 movie, "Dirty Dancing".

This is one of my favorite movies (I guess it's a "chick thing" - I find that men don't have the same fondness for this movie that women do - for some strange reason).

BILL MEDLEY & JENNIFER WARNES - I'VE HAD THE TIME OF MY LIFE


"Nobody puts Baby in a corner."

I guess we'll close out the "dancing" portion of our show with this final video, by Lionel Richie:

ALL NIGHT LONG


Lionel had quite the career going in the eighties. Sadly, he's now only known as the father of one of those rich, spoiled kids. Ahh, how times change.


Now, on to some "non-dancing" videos.

Speaking of careers, here's another guy who did quite well for himself back then. I hear all these Chicago "purists" talk about how he basically ruined the band, blah, blah, blah. Hogwash. He's a great singer. And really, if it wasn't for Peter Cetera, Chicago would have dried up after "Saturday In The Park". No offense to Chicago.

PETER CETERA - THE GLORY OF LOVE (FROM "THE KARATE KID")


Speaking of great singers, to me, this is one of the greatest voices of all time in rock:

STEVE PERRY - OH, SHERRIE



While we're on the topic of great solo singers, here's one that I love:

PAUL YOUNG - EVERY TIME YOU GO AWAY


If you've never seen the movie, "Planes, Trains and Automobiles", please rent it or get it from your local library. Steve Martin, John Candy. It's a comic classic. A John Hughes movie. And this song is from that movie.


Another particular favorite of mine:

FOREIGNER - I WANNA KNOW WHAT LOVE IS



Again, like Peter Cetera, denigrate this singer all you want, but I bet you'd like his money, wouldn't you? Did he do every soundtrack from the eighties?

BRYAN ADAMS - HEAVEN



I think we'll close this out with a song that I really like. Duran Duran was a band that I didn't get into too much, but I think this is a really good song. I started to write about the connection this song has to a certain true crime book that I read many years ago, but then I thought, why spoil the vibe?

So, here's:

DURAN DURAN - HUNGRY LIKE THE WOLF