Susan's Scribblings the Blog

Two Saturdays down, and one to go before 2023. This time we are going to take a look at the present, and the future will be addressed next week.

This year has been a turning point in many ways. In Ukraine the people are dealing with a lengthy and forcible effort to change its way of life from without. In Great Britain the people are dealing with their first male monarch in 70 years, in the aftermath of the loss of their beloved queen. In the United States, recovery from an unexpectedly volatile presidency, which changed in 2021, is still ongoing, and the divisive nature of the conversion is turning party lines into those of friend and enemy with no middle ground, and a shadow of anarchic mayhem lurks over our democracy.

The world has been recovering from biological and environmental issues which threaten our global stability. The biggest ecological problem seems to come from our disownership of our most threatening issue: our waste. We seem to have adopted a mindset in which the carriers of our products are not responsibly handled. The trash is being discarded, without concerns about repurposing or sorting, into dumps and our oceans. The plastics industry is staying silent on the issue of “can we destroy what we create?” The overall answer appears to be no, as only select plastics are recycled. At the rate of production versus disposal, our planet has finite room for its clutter, and nobody seems to be doing anything about it.

As for the biological end of things, we were thrust headfirst into an unknown illness with no preparation and no instructions. Globally we did what we could by attempting isolation while researchers scrambled to find a solution. Unfortunately, as Cecil B. DeMille said at the beginning of The Ten Commandments, each sought to do his own will instead of making sacrifices for the common good, and though we have experienced some relief from restrictions, at the start of winter we are dealing with three separate respiratory issues placing strains on hospitals once again.

Rights were taken away, but others were affirmed for a variety of people.

Which is why there is some hope.

A Black woman was added to the Supreme Court. The Webb telescope sent striking images from outer space, to give us a glance into the world beyond our own. New looks into cannabis usage has changed availability for medicinal purposes and eased overzealous laws placing people in possession of some amounts in the clear (except for one women’s basketball player we needed to get out of Russia). Awards shows resumed, as did the Olympics and sporting events of all varieties.

Ten countries decided to unite and protect the oceans, with a goal to raise the current ten percent to thirty by 2030. The number of monarch butterflies counted in 2021 reached a milestone after a serious decline; in 2020 California teams of watchers counted only 2,000 in migration, but 250,000 were counted in 2021. Pet adoptions were increased by simply moving animals from overcrowded shelters into underpopulated ones to make more available in regions where people wanted them.

Anti-bullying initiatives in schools are helping to increase positive learning experiences (we could use some of that for adults, too). Intolerance of negative public behavior is helping everyday life improve. Soon the name “Karen” will again become simply a first name and not an attitude.

As biological threats evolve, medical science is adapting as well, and in time common winter ailments may be resolved by an injection or a pill in advance of their respective most active seasons.

It’s through the cooperation of the majority that our lives improve equally and in kind. Which will lead us into next week. Hope you will pay a visit. Meanwhile, have a safe final week of the year.

There are only three Saturdays left in 2022, so it’s time to take a look back at what was, is, and will be in the New Year.

I have published 760 blog posts since moving to this forum from another platform that lost my business because they made changes I didn’t like. Since then censorship has been a bigger obstacle this year for me than it should have been, considering the fact that my content is not lewd, riot-inciting, obscene, or provocative. The ones who do post such things wheedle their way around the safety nets, and that’s just the way it is. If I can’t spread the word on some social media, it’s their loss as well as mine.

During the summer, I managed to go almost two weeks without television. Last month, I completed my second year in a row of National Novel Writing Month, and wrote 50,000 words during November, from the first day to the last inclusive. It wasn’t easy, because so many distractions kept me from focusing on the task. However, I chose to “adult up” and got it done, paid the bills on time, performed quite a few unpalatable household chores (including wall cleaning), did several home repairs, and hired out the tasks to those who could do some of them better.

One of the things I didn’t do is read any novels. Still regularly read three newspapers and four magazines, and completed several courses through a popular online class site. My crafting has fallen temporarily off to the side, but that has happened before, so I’ll pick it up again. Gave up some gaming apps, but stuck with three because they keep my brain from the perils of atrophy.

I did a lot more work on my planned four novels this year than I have in a while. When the home repairs are completed, I will have a more dedicated office space to cocoon myself and concentrate on the process. It turned out that the replacement windows I ordered will not be installed until spring; until then, the space is simply too cold to work in. Honestly, though, the space in which I have been working–both when at my job from home and after hours–is still awaiting the upcoming chance to warm up a bit more.

I discovered a brand of teddy bears that brought me joy, so I started a collection. To date, I have also gotten rid of some past relics and made an effort to discard the savings of my Depression-era parents, such as those boxes that “you never know when you might need them.” If only the fast food chains would stop giving me twenty napkins and two dozen sauce packets, I could get ahead of it.

Baking and cooking have been enjoyable, though my best efforts to be healthy about it have not shrunken me at all. I’m starting to believe that there really is a point of no weight loss without drastic measures.

My town lost a service station and a quick mart, but we’re gaining a food market and added a martial arts school.

Through it all, we have tried to dig out of the messes made over the past five years, and tried to make the coming one start off better. Next week we’ll look at the present state of things and see if we can’t make some things work better by planning for what the future holds in 2023.

That’s right: I’m still going to post on both holiday eves. I kept that resolution.

Last week I mentioned decorating for the holidays. What if you are the type of person who doesn’t celebrate holidays? Some people don’t do anything for even one of the most common December events. I’m not talking about Grinches, either. You don’t have to have a bad attitude to declare holidays off your to-do list. However, the Grinches, Mr. Potters (like the curmudgeon from It’s a Wonderful Life) and Mrs. Deagles (the misanthrope from Gremlins) out there don’t help matters.

This is a time of year which, simply because it is so heavily touted as a family-oriented month, causes increases in depression and suicide. People become angry more easily due to the stress associated with societal expectations, and good intentions to diet and exercise are put off until January.

A possible reason for the lack of celebration is also related to the increased feeling of loneliness among people who don’t have the Norman Rockwell-sized family with whom to celebrate. Some people have no family, and their friends have their own families, so the choices are limited to accepting a charitable invite, visiting a restaurant that is open, or spending the day alone.

The societal rejects in our world are also excused from the requirements of normal existence, relegated to soup kitchens or even sitting alone in the same tent or cardboard box they inhabited the day before, trying to stave off the chill with a cup of donated coffee. It’s accepted with casual ignorance because, once we have situated our place in the world’s status hierarchy, we expect everybody else to remain entrenched in theirs.

If a person doesn’t celebrate, it saves a lot of money on decorations, food, presents, cards and travel. It also saves others the burden of having to familiarize themselves with different people who may not have the same upbringing and, therefore, another angle of viewing the world around them. Think of it as inviting one person from political party A to a dinner at which everybody is in party B. Your guest is not like you in every respect. However, they may still enjoy Aunt Lidia’s lasagna.

We have taken Christmas and turned it into the do-all, be-all event of the year to the near exclusion of others’ holidays. Since it was a date shifted for convenience to December 25, it seems we have chosen to designate it as such, and some cling steadfastly to it. For many others, it is a date on the calendar and nothing more. That doesn’t make their way of handling the day any more right or wrong. They are simply doing what is right for them.

For those who just like December to be December, it’s okay, and we salute you.

The holidays seem to come with a requirement that we decorate our homes. On patriotic holidays we limit ourselves to a flag, but some occasions call for huge displays of dedication and the willingness to empty one’s savings account.

The two biggest decorating holidays appear to be Halloween and Christmas, with Easter and Valentine’s Day running neck and neck for third place. The home improvement and hardware stores, along with big retailers, set up humongous inflatables relevant to the time of year from which you can choose, such as giant stacks of hearts, or towering rabbits in pastel colors, or even Grim Reapers which could dwarf a basketball player..

Christmas offers a staggering variety of things with which to colorfully show off your patronage of commercialism. Even though assembling a set of toy trains seems to have gone out of style, department stores offer miniature villages with themes from popular movies and television shows which you can arrange on a flat surface or under your tree.

My issue is always with the populations of these mini villages: they’re disproportionately bigger than the doorways to the buildings. This is probably due to the consumer protections in place to lessen the chance of having the small figure of a package laden shopping lady become a snack for an undiscerning toddler, but then I would make the buildings bigger, not the people. Anybody who has ever knocked their noggin on a door jamb will agree with me on this.

I have done it, and I’m not a seven-foot basketball player.

One of the annual retail collections involve a group of carolers with their mouths in perfect “O” formation; even the dogs and cats. I have to avoid them when I shop, because they make me yawn. So much for perking up my holiday spirit.

If you don’t do village scenery, you can decorate with garland and candles and themed table covers. Everything can be red and green, or blue and white, or black, red and green, or you can even go with a Diwali rainbow of everything.

Your tree, on the other hand, can be themed for just about anything you can imagine, from a favorite movie to a favorite animal, singer, or even collectible products. The number of ornaments available for today’s trees is mind-boggling, and this is for after you string lights in computer-timed patterns not just on the tree, but all over your siding, garage and lawn. Families vie on a popular network program for a trophy and bragging rights if they have the most electrified house and biggest power company bill. I’ve yet to see if solar panels help lessen this seasonal expense.

So what am I doing this year? I haven’t decided. I do have one of the classic Charlie Brown trees reminiscent of the annual special, with clumps of fir needles and a single red ornament. It looks nice on my table and is simple to assemble.

Plus I don’t wind up yawning when I’m finished.

Whatever you choose to put up for the holidays, just remember to keep the boxes, keep the valuable things out of the reach of the undiscerning toddlers (and pets), and keep the decorations up until at least January 6.

Or when the number of pine needles on the floor outnumber those on your tree.

My heart is heavy today, and I haven’t even loaded up on Thanksgiving turkey yet (had a late breakfast). However, it’s depressing to write about an annual tradition which has officially ended this year and may never return.

Every year since at least 2014, I have performed an annual weighing of the Black Friday sales circulars which come with the newspaper delivery. This used to be a source of fascination and joy, to go to the front walk and retrieve the two papers (one more national, one more local), and bring them inside for the official estimate. My mother, a Depression-era woman, still had my old baby scale, which came in handy to weigh large roasts for the oven, and it also served well for determining how much newspaper we got for the holiday season.

I was tempted to do some arm curls because the heft of them both was so massive, and were the perfect size rolled up. Instead of a vertical roll, the carriers were forced to do a horizontal one, the number of ads for every store imaginable was so tremendous.

In the good old days, the total weight of the supplements would rival a good-sized bowling ball. In 2014, the total weight of the papers was a whopping ten pounds. I posted this information to social media, to the delight of readers.

In 2016, the papers slimmed down, weighing in at only 7.2 pounds.

In 2019 it was a measly 3.9 pounds.

The years of isolation and retail strife finally took their toll, and many of the reliable retailers were no longer even in business, such as K-Mart and Sears. Malls gave up on being open on Thanksgiving and the tradition of Black Friday returned to its rightfully scheduled position.

But then again, many of the traditions we grew up with also left us, such as massive toy displays at department stores such as were seen in the classic film A Christmas Story. The days of professional window dressers who toiled at bringing scenes of holiday happiness to life in a frozen retail dioramas ended when many of the big stores shut down or expanded their interior sales floor space into those originally occupied by windows for the outside world. We no longer even have a toy store to light up a child’s face with promises of Santa saturation. Kiddie City is long gone, and Toys”R”Us is now a department at Macy’s.

This year, the big sales ad was from the happy holdout of retail department stores, Boscov’s. The other ads were for electronics stores and bargain outlets. And the ads came on Wednesday.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t worth breaking out the scale this year. It’s over but for this afternoon’s trip to tryptophan land.

Perhaps this downfall should be attributed to the decline of the Boomer generation, for we were the ones who brought many of these yearly events into the world. Since we are leaving it, the things we brought to it will also go out of style. But what will those coming after us do for fun?

You can’t weigh the Internet, or gift cards.

It will be interesting to see what will come next Thanksgiving.

We are now officially four days away from the start of the chaotic end of the year. Everything from the day after Thanksgiving/Black Friday and the second day of January is all about consumerism, commuting and mental confusion.

Black Friday is known as the day when everybody shops, so retail goes “into the black” on the profit charts. Many major retail stores gave up on the idea of opening on Thanksgiving Day and are back to throwing open the doors Friday morning with–if supply issues don’t get in the way–bargains galore for people who think they will get all their holiday shopping done in one day, in advance, and have time to relax. It never works out that way.

For one thing, who knows people’s sizes? And what do you get the man who has everything? Or the teenager who has money to buy everything for themselves? There is always gift cards.

The deliveries, repackaging and mailing of presents, in the meantime, goes on for weeks, and it even bleeds over into the days after the holidays when the late packages manage to find their way home. The postal service is probably the happiest to be in the black of anybody. It is the season for cards and colorful envelopes and stamps themed for religious or non-denominational joy.

Since this is the first Thanksgiving in two years to be considered fully back to normal, millions of people plan to travel to visit relatives this year. This usually means flying or driving, though some people take trains. I have never had to travel for the holiday, so I don’t know if it goes well. I suppose it’s easier to bring a homemade pie on a train than a plane. In fact, it’s probably illegal on a plane, simply because the airlines probably starve the flight crew. The best Thanksgivings we had involved a ten-minute drive with an ice cream cake and a calendar for our host; it was an annual tradition that ended two years ago when the host went to live in a facility closer to family.

Whether you celebrate one, two or more, or none of the upcoming December holidays, you can’t help but become involved in the amazing display of madness going on as people attempt to take on too much before the end of the year. The best part of the start of the holiday season is knowing it, too, will end on schedule on January 2.

For that, we can all be thankful.

Today I’m going to pretend that I’m a patron at the movie theater who is not like me at all:

“Wow, I’m at the movies, and my boyfriend is paying for everything; the ticket, the big bucket of popcorn, and the extra large soda which will be my dinner for tonight. If my sidepiece passed an infection on to me when we grabbed some whoopie the other night, I can just pay it forward when my main squeeze and I get it on later.

“I’ll just wipe my buttery hands all over the armrests; heck, they have people to clean these, right? Oops, spilled the rest of my soda. Oh well, the ice cubes will melt. I’m sure not picking up the lid and the straw. They touched the floor!

“Movie is over already? I’ll just drop the popcorn bucket on the floor, too. It doesn’t look cool to walk out of the movie theater with an empty container. Besides, I may get checked out by somebody who will become my third piece.

“Oh, those 3D glasses? I can just drop them and somebody else will pick them up.”

I know this actually happened, because the people sitting next to me in the theater left their food items strewn about, and that includes leaving a soda cup in the cup holder, which annoys me. In second place is other food containers crammed in to fit the cup holder. I nearly stepped on the popcorn bucket. I saw at least three pairs of 3D glasses on the floors in the middle of or against walls, when several bins specifically for them were available on the way out of the auditorium.

It is this type of irresponsibility that causes clutter and possible hazards such as tripping or sliding. Just because a movie theater is dark, doesn’t mean people should behave with impunity and allow others to suffer the side effects of ignorance or entitlement.

The short films that tell you to look for the exits and turn off your devices have neglected the part about taking trash with you, but that does not mean you may dump your disposables anyplace.

My idea of the perfect petty revenge would be to obtain DNA samples from those discarded items, trace them to their owners, transport them to said owners’ properties and place them prominently at their front doors with huge signs reading “You forgot these at the AMC Downtown Pedunk.”

My idea of misdemeanor punishment is having somebody stand on a busy public street holding empty food containers, since this seems to be the most abhorrent thing ever to most folks. I don’t get it, but maybe they might.

It’s better than getting a disease from your sidepiece.

The idea behind curfews and noise ordinances is that life is better when some activities are not done in some places at certain times of the day or evening. Once bedtime approaches, people are expected to not make excessive noise, for example.

Somebody in my neighborhood didn’t get the memo. Early this morning, at an unknown hour because I black out the LED on my alarm clock, somebody blasted radio music from their car. Not once, but twice.

It’s understandable that some people work the night shift and may need some stimulus to remain awake while doing their jobs or returning home, but those should be private when the block is dark and people are trying to sleep. It’s hard enough to sleep with politics, international tensions and the economy (not to mention alcohol or late running sports events), so why would somebody broadcast their music preferences–good or bad–at some ungodly hour and awaken the whole neighborhood?

Perhaps they are hard of hearing. Perhaps they are not empathetic to others’ comfort zone being violated. Maybe they don’t like having to work at night and prefer bringing the world down with them or getting fired to quitting.

The popular social media question is if a person would be considered an alimentary canal for doing a particular thing, also known as “AITA.” In this case, yes they are.

When the world is trying to sleep, it is proper to keep noise to a minimum and manners in check. This is why bars encourage designated drivers to reign in their overzealous drinking friends, and why music has a cut-off time.

I’m not sure if I want to find out who the person is, carousing about at such a time and waking us all up.

If you like to do late night stakeouts, let me know.

Better yet, don’t; I won’t be able to sleep.

When Thor said in Avengers: Infinity War that “all names are made up,” he was honing a conversation down to something basic. We assign letters out of our language to things in word form, and hopefully they aptly apply to them. Some words draw a picture of beauty, others not so much. Sometimes names can be confusing, because they don’t conjure an image or concept. They are just letters on a sign.

Two businesses I passed the other day reminded me that names are not always the draw, and may even look funny on a sign. The first was a seafood restaurant satellite location called Oceancrat. And did I mention that the “A” is represented by a flame? When I saw the sign, I wasn’t sure if the flame represented an “O” or an “A,” and I took the time to look it up. That’s what writers do: learn about new words and meanings. I had hoped to learn some nautical term about crab fishing or something. there wasn’t such a definition there. “Crat” normally refers to a governing head (bureaucrat), so perhaps the name means “Ruler of the Ocean.” I think Aquaman would be a bit offended at the idea of a place serving sea creatures to diners thinks it rules the ocean. I suppose I should visit and see how the ruling class serves seafood dinners.

The second business is a new salon named Vek. I really struggled with this name, because it gives the mouth a workout and doesn’t give any first impression of what they are. Again, I looked them up, and the salon takes care of hair and makeup with a variety of treatment options, performed by two experienced people.

Admittedly, as I read and saw in the short definition the term Brazilian, I immediately thought they also removed hair from the bikini zone, but it’s a type of hair treatment for the head not involving removal of any kind. I sighed with relief.

Of course I’m not one to judge, since I’m from the generation who used a shampoo called Breck. What the heck.

Any words with V or K sounds can jar the ears, as anybody knows when cranking the volume up on the Victrola. And why we call the undead vampires and not coffincrats.

So the question is whether I should have my hair done before going out for seafood.

Or whether our language effectively communicates what people need to know when a new business opens.

I’ll try to find some answers, because I’m no hypocrite. Or is that hypocrat?

I always liked my vegetables when I was a kid. That made me a bit of an oddball, because most kids balk at vegetables of any kind. Today I watch how I eat veggies. Because transporting and stocking them is a challenge, and we want to avoid preservatives, fresh is considered best, followed by frozen and then canned (because of sodium content). Any vegetarian will tell you it’s a great way to eat, but I still like my proteins to not come from a piece of tofu, so the veggies are simply a side dish must.

In the past year I discovered avocados. A fellow at the farmer’s market showed me how to find ripe ones, though occasionally I still accidentally try to cut into a premature clunker hidden in a mesh bag among ones which are ready to become guacamole. The best way to deal with avocados is with a medium sized spoon and sharp knife; the latter to cut and remove the pit, and the former to scoop out the joys within.

Instead of just a slice of avocado toast, I’ve found they make good sandwiches when placed between two well-toasted slices of whole grain wheat. They don’t need much doctoring, either. A sprinkle of onion powder and pepper, and maybe some lemon juice (which also slows down the browning process).

Another newer veggie for me is roasted brussels sprouts. They seem to be in second place to green beans in prepared meals at the grocer, and seem to pick up some pleasant flavors roasted, without having to resort to butter sauce (which is how frozen versions of those round guys often come). I ate them back in the day, but not often, because they weren’t a favorite with any of us at the table. They have a distinct flavor, and are an acquired taste.

Other acquired veggie choices include broccolini and greens. These are a more bitter choice, so they don’t get into prepared meals as much, but they certainly are healthy and welcome in any balanced dinner. The stems of broccolini are thinner, and the crowns look rather floppy compared to regular broccoli, but still they work well.

Green beans have become more popular, especially if they’re breaded and cooked to eat like fries. They always seem too long when whole, and try to escape the plate when cut. That’s when French style comes into play. These darlings stay put on a plate, and with a little seasoning mix on them, they’re quite tasty.

As for the champion of green veggies–peas–may go, I prefer mine with little pearl onions. It classes them up and gives them character. You can even throw in some little mushrooms. Just keep in mind that little ones will ultimately use them to shore up mashed potato castles on the plate. Which is fine, because they’re round anyway and tend to roll around if not contained by something.

Like gravy.