In the daze of this unstructured week I forgot New Year's Eve is coming; it'll arrive tomorrow.
For some of us this is a time to reflect. I won't bore you with my thoughts; I've talked too much about myself lately. I just want to wish you a happy beginning to the rest of your life. Whatever shape you're in is the ship you'll sail into 2024. Let's leave shore with hope for good experiences, supportive friends and greater world harmony.
Bon voyage!
We battled heavy rain tonight to travel to New Jersey and watch the Devils win a hockey game. They played the Columbus Blue Jackets and the game was exciting.
The Devils were behind until the literal last minute of regulation time when Luke Hughes (Jack's younger brother) tied it up 3-3. Then, in sudden-death overtime, Timo Meier found the back of the net with a blazing wrist-shot which won the game. It was good to see Timo score; he's been battling back from an injury suffered last month.
Hockey teaches us about global culture. The sport originated in Canada so naturally it was first played by Canucks. Today however players come from everywhere. Timo was born and raised in Switzerland. One of my favorite Devils, Ondřej Palát, scored the first goal tonight; he comes from the Czech Republic. Ondřej's name has two punctuation marks I've never seen before; initially I had no idea how to pronounce it.
The closer you look at the world, the more you see. 😎
I started this blog as a place to explore female fashion. The blog detoured this year, unavoidably, into a chronicle of my life-changing vision-loss. That was, however, just a temporary off-ramp: I plan to return to fashion-blogging as soon as possible.
Since I can't create and photograph an outfit right now I thought I'd pull one out of the past to re-capture the vibe I want for this place. Joyful, not sad. Feminine, not medical. Here's the ensemble, festive and a little sparkly.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
I'm hooked on a new TV show and want to mention it: "Carol & The End Of The World" (Netflix, 2023).
The show is written with uncommon intelligence. It subtly criticizes Western culture and our ideas about life and death -- especially those on "the meaning of life." The show is also emotionally appealing; the main character, Carol, is easy to sympathize with.
I was super-excited to see a reference in the show's dialogue to famous physicist Eugene Wigner, someone everyone ought to know. Hugely influential (he, along with Einstein, convinced FDR to create the Manhattan Project) Wigner, in his later years (he lived to 92), considered the philosophy of mathematics. He concluded that human understanding of nature, advanced by mathematics, is a "mystery" with both gifts and potential surprises. Our understanding of reality is founded on our biological abilities -- and dependent on them. Living creatures with other abilities (e.g., animals on our planet; extraterrestrial life-forms) may have different, more accurate grasps on reality. (See, "An Immense World.")
Human knowledge is not necessarily complete or true in an absolute sense. It's just the best our species has come up with. We should, and epistemologically need to respect the intelligence of other living creatures; theirs may surpass our own.
A call came in this week from the North Pole. It was the big guy. Santa himself.
The jolly one asked whether you were naughty or nice this year. I happily reported that you'd been VERY NICE. And that's true.
You found compassion in your heart for a struggling friend. Your kindness rescued that poor soul from a pit of despair. Your support returned him to the streets of New York -- on two legs instead of two wheels but there nonetheless. You should be proud of your generosity. Santa is; he said so in his bellowing deep voice.
Merry Christmas, everyone. And thank you.
Sixty years ago I took pleasure in small things. Like I enjoyed wearing this winter coat and hat for their warm comfort. I was unaware of how unstylish they looked.
Childhood can be a happy time and fortunately it was for me.
A new week arrived today. Some stuff crossing my path:
- How you doin' with holiday gifts and cards? I'm almost done. Buying, addressing and mailing real cards took Herculean effort this year, including a close call with a car which ran a red light as I was crossing Route 110 on a mile-long walk to the Post Office. Please forgive me if the postage stamp on your card is a little crooked; I was a bit shaken.
- The LA Dodgers just agreed to pay a baseball player $700,000,000. The player, from Japan, is unique among today's talent in having the ability to both pitch and hit very well. The 10-year contract is the highest amount given to an athlete in any sport. Go, Dodgers!
- I just dodged a bullet: my eye doctors thought I needed more surgery -- which they described as "very painful" -- but "injections" (where they stick needles in my eye) are working well enough to avoid the operation. The same doctors describe injections as "not painful" (wrong!) so when they say something is "very painful," be afraid. Very afraid.
- Seeing how successful the JITO "airdrop" was last week, I'm considering similar airdrops on Solana (a blockchain competing with Ethereum). I prudently stayed away from investing in Solana which soared from $0 to $250 very quickly but then crashed due to FTX. Solana is now resurrected at $60. I'm still avoiding it as too volatile for investing but an airdrop is free money so why not?
- My laptop kept locking up and crashing so I bought a new one. Haven't set it up yet but, since the device entered my house, the old laptop started working perfectly again. I suspect the old one realizes I'm about to dump it and, like a neglectful spouse, is promising to behave better. Should I trust it? It's burned me before. 🙂
Have a great week!
In 2019 I predicted (here and elsewhere) that the upcoming decade would be a rollicking, wild ride full of unexpected changes. I called these years "the roaring Twenties." Rarely have I been so right.
Just three months into the 2020s we suffered a global pandemic that halted everything, caused major disruptions around the world and killed millions. In 2022, Russia, a country in slow decline, suddenly invaded its neighbor Ukraine and was surprised to see the West unite against that aggression. Then, the next year the Middle East blew up (again). Also this year I lost my eyesight -- didn't see that coming.
Finally, in 2024 I became insanely uber-wealthy from investments in crypto. Previous naysayers on the wisdom of those investments started knocking on my door with a different attitude, asking to board my new private jet and 200-foot luxury yacht. Fortunately I'm able to afford security now to keep the hoi polloi at bay.
Yes, it's been a wild, crazy ride. :)
The holiday season has arrived.
I was just chatting with a friend about memories of childhood Christmas celebrations with my family (all of whom are now gone). Those memories are so precious.
Here's my favorite photo from back then. My mother dressed Richard and me in our finest attire and posed us in front of a roaring fireplace. The fireplace was fake (cardboard) but the love was real.
Do you have rizz?
Do you know what "rizz" is? Oxford English Dictionary just named rizz Word Of The Year. Rizz is a popular term among youngsters, appearing in memes and on TikTok. If you're unfamiliar with rizz, you old. :)
Rizz means charm, style, attractiveness. The word was created by young people who were too lazy to pronounce all of the syllables of "charisma" and chose just one of them.