Parting the cloud of gloom, searching for the bright light
Man, things are gloomy. I want a seven-week rewind, as 2017 has been anything but great so far.
I’m not even talking about the screaming mess in Washington, D.C. Well, OK, yes I am. All the fighting and lack of professionalism and willful ignorance and hostility to logic has almost become the new standard. And that’s just on one guy’s Twitter feed.
But it goes further than that. People all over are angry and upset. The winter weather hasn’t helped.
And the national mood was bad enough before the gloom became personal. A couple of weeks ago, a good friend — kind of a mentor, in a way — suddenly passed away. That came just a few weeks after a relative also died suddenly, leaving behind two small children.
Meanwhile, everywhere, there’s just a heavy feel in the air. No longer can you escape to Facebook, which used to be a fun place to watch videos of kitties singing show tunes with pythons and grizzly bears. Now it’s like all the angry predators in the computer zoo escaped their
virtual cages and are trying to eat each other.
It probably doesn’t help that I turn 50 this year. Which means my life is, like, a third over. I can remember when my grandfather was 50. I hope I don’t wake up that day and start dressing like he did.
But at some point, the rut has to stop. We have to pull ourselves up by our ... whatever, and get back on the horse and whatnot. A lot of things some of us never dreamed would happen have happened this year. Some of us have to get positive, find some good and forget there’s a decent chance a global thermonuclear war may start any second over a Twitter insult.
I’ve really tried to put some thought into it beyond the normal 30-second Google search (I put at least three or four minutes into it), and there really are things to be happy about and/or to look forward to. For me, anyway. For example:
I’m going to see “Hamilton.” Even better, I didn’t have to stand in line or bang my phone against my head in frustration trying to get tickets. I simply have a mom who thinks ahead. For once, it’s good to be an only child.
Tom Waits is still around.
Baseball is back, and the A’s have promised to unveil a stadium plan this year. And we know that will definitely, totally happen, because the A’s have never told their fans an untruth.
The Warriors are going to win the NBA title in a few months. Oh, yes they will.
I’ve now spent 10 years with my wife, and we’ve both survived. She might even still like me on some days.
I don’t have to see “Fifty Shades Darker.”
There are some great Oscar nominations this year, and Jimmy Kimmel is hosting. Which, at the very least, is better than another talk show host with the same first name doing it. There are also a ton of big, popcorn movies on the way — “War for the Planet of the Apes,” “Alien: Covenant,” “Kong: Skill Island,” “Justice League” — though there are whispers that “Wonder Woman,” the one I really want to see, has some issues.
We get Carrie Fisher in a “Star Wars” film one more time.
All the recordbreaking rain has been great, even though I think I’m growing gills. But, on the plus side, the hills are amazingly green and the waterfalls at Yosemite this year are going to be insane.
George R.R. Martin is finally finishing a new “Game of Thrones” book.
My 8-year-old daughter still holds my hand and believes in Santa Claus. Of course, who doesn’t believe in him?
If that can’t make me happy, what can?