YEAR IN REVIEW AT FITK

A tough year. A year of loss. A year of change. I can't think of a more pivotal one since 1968. I hope the world can recover in a more timely manner this time. The blogosphere seems to have suffered the same fate. People who stop blogging usually do it for a good reason however: work, love, or other positive interests all can make one's output diminish. There are unhappy reasons as well. I've lost more than a couple of my regular reads, my best wishes to all of you, you are all missed.

Looking back on the year, I've selected a few posts to summarize. I'm still learning, still pushing my expression to ridiculous extremes, with the only constant being no constants. If you can click on this site and be a little surprised almost every time, then I've succeeded. Click on Month for full post.

January

The new year augurs ill, I'm afraid. Barring a twist of fate, we'll be stuck with Dubya all year (he'll leave office January 2009) and if there is anything we can be sure of it will be more wrong-headed incompetence from him and his cronies. The situation in the Mid-East looks as if "We ain't seen nothin' yet." Watching the value of the dollar (and my retirement) shrink by double digit percentage points every year makes me laugh (to keep from crying.)

Never have I been so (regrettably) prescient (except the part about losing weight.)

February

My proverbial ass has been kicked.
Old Man Winter, AKA Jack Frost, has done whupped me good.
It isn't the dirty snow. Nor the salted crust on my car.
It isn't the 90 days in a row below freezing (only a slight exaggeration.)
It is the sting of sub-zero air on my delicate epidermis.
The burn of frost-nip on my fingertips.
The shock of icy air in my lings, dropping my core temp in an instant.
I want the hurting to stop.
I want spring.

It isn't even January yet and we've already gotten worse weather this winter!

March

...The food was great, the conversation stimulating, and as we talked I mused on the meaning of it all. Each of us is at a different stage of life, with each of us moving in a different direction. Getting together here, even though our only previous meeting was in "virtual" reality, seemed natural. It is funny thing to follow someone's blog for a while. A little room is created in your head for that person, a room you can visit from time to time, with each visit learning a little more about its resident (and yourself) in the process...

Some days are MUCH better than others. This was the best.

April

The professor's new media player only gets one channel, but that one is good enough.

In the words of Björk- "I miss you.."

May

You know what they say about BC girls.
Those BC girls.
They got cars of their own, give you a whirl,
Fast BC girls, gone BC girls.
They got a card of pills in their purse,
BC girls, huh. BC girls.
They smell good, better 'n North Side girls.
BC girls, nice BC girls.

Some adolescent dreams never die. (BC refers to Brooklyn Center, a suburb of Minneapolis.

June

Worse prose is barely conceivable.
But it is something.
It isn't you, yet it is.
Something to shout about.
Something to whisper quietly to an audience of one.

"Worse prose is barely conceivable..." Were truer words ever written?

July

In order to maintain a man's trousers in
a state of tidy readiness various remedies
were tried and all were found wanting.

One of my most popular posts, with 63 google-hits already in only 6 months.

August

The stink of money, money made at any cost, clouds these games.

That seems to be changing.

September

Another eerie omen which unfortunately also came true.

October

An unexpected surprise in a plain white envelope.
A pair of snapshots, from another dimension.
Beatle bangs and a black guitar.
Skinny legs and all.

The past can catch up with one when one least expects it.

November

AND A SPLENDID TIME WAS HAD BY ALL!

Annie rocks the heartland.

December

I can't even begin to comprehend some of the things which that kid gets himself into.

Got a call from him via satellite on Christmas Eve, he was 300 miles from the south pole. Climbing mountains.

Looking Forward

Could 2009 be worse than 2008? Let's hope not, although I have a feeling that we're all in for a few years of "going sideways", if not in reverse.