2014

The upcoming year will be what we make it.
Life as we know it, can be over in a flash. My brother woke up with chest pains on an August Saturday. Less than 24 hours later, emergency surgery to repair a ruptured aorta failed and he was gone.
Earlier in the summer, two college friends passed away; one after a long illness and the other of complications related to Diabetes. People who are a part of my life but whom I do not know personally, also left us in 2013- authors, politicians, sports figures, entertainers. Winnowing out the herd, huh?
So how I will make 2014 better is to laugh out loud a lot more, to seek new friendships, listen to new music, cook better food, I finally succumbed to being on Twitter and Facebook and it's really not what I thought it was. Although a large number of people do photograph and post the food they just made. But that means I think socially participating is good and I'll probably continue to poke my head out of my cave.
I won't use the word meme or meh. I will continue to boycott any products Charles and David Koch's companies make. But that doesn't mean you should. You will pick your own stuff to concentrate on and I hope that is a good thing for you.
I'm going to use my Netflix account or cancel it.
I'm going to hope that the people we elect, will stop making decisions based upon money and snarkiness. And the incessant need to keep score.
I'm going to try to be at Djangofest, on Whidbey Island in September. I'm going to plan on turning 65 quietly and without much fanfare in late October. I'm going to hope the Cubs get better so that they can win a world series before I die.
I'm going to continue to eat better and lose weight because that's never a bad thing for me or any of us.
I'm going to still have opinions on these pages that will infuriate you, I think. But I hope some of the words make you feel happy and inspired to be a happier you. I have read many posts in the past few days about the enormity of 2013; some even saying they saw it as a passing black cloud. There was a lot of death this past year and I don't think that will change.
I hope people can get health coverage if possible, no matter how it happens, because most of us are one catastrophic illness away from severe trouble.

So, today's humstles are James Taylor's Riding on a Railroad and The Blind Boys of Alabama's version of Walkin' down Freedom Road.

Have a safe NYE. Have much fun and I'll see you soon.