Firstly I have to say to check out Lara's Website where you can check out her art and everything else she finds interesting. Here is a recent picture of my wife and I at her wonderful wedding. The festivities took place out on the west side, not far from where Kari & I had our own nuptual rehearsal dinner. It was fun beyond fun: we danced, we schmoozed, and nobody's uncle drank a little too much.
Now that we're reaching this year's end, I have to reflect hard on all the wild stuff that occurred over 2022. My music app says that I listened to a whole bunch of Hunger Strike by Temple of the Dog, My Little Japanese Cigarette Case by Spoon, and really got started on getting to know Warren Zevon's My Ride's Here, mainly the Boss cover. Big artists were Bowie, a cardinal stand-in; HAIM, Vampire Weekend, and Sleigh Bells. J. Cole, A$ap Rocky, Lauren O'Connel, St. Vincent and Sleigh Bells (whom I saw in concert!) were also heavily featured.
The world might have been a cold, dark place, but music is the means of resistance against such oppression. Cold and dark, meet warmth and sound.
Time spent with friends was also great. It goes without saying that Lara and Paul had an incredibly festive wedding. I even got to join pals in Los Angeles and San Luis Obispo for another fabulous wedding (congrats Cheyenne, Steve) and visit Scotland for the first time in my wicked life. I hate to admit it, but I feel like Edinburgh beats most of England out solidly. We also got to visit some of the lands that the ancestors of the Lancastrians passed over while William the Conqueror moved from Hastings on to London.
I highly recommend Royal Tumbridge Wells, even if the Peroni at all the local pubs is warm.
I finished a couple of books too. It by Stephen King has long been on my bucket list and I finally got through Pennywise's wretched lair, both in '58 and '85. Most of the grosser scenes were done with a fine sense of decorum – if you know, you know what I mean. I also got through the last 2 episodes of the Dune saga, Chapterhouse & Heretics of. Both were a little bizarre as Herbert broached the final days of his career, but they were fun. Lots of espionage and apocalyptic planning takes place. Oh, and it features one of my favorite literary tropes: some distant-future Jews in Space, depicted here by coreligionist Mel Brooks:
Speaking of, the 3rd night of Hanukkah is upon us. As the year grows dimmer and the days continue to shorten, we find ourselves reflecting on our known history. Since Hanukkah is all about dedication, we should perhaps consider reflecting on the stuff we do not know as well. I like to think about the little things, the unshared bits, what we take little pride in and wind up forgetting: what brought thee and thine, kith and kine, to wherever we are today.
Rivers and oceans crossed, marches forced and forsworn, cries for the lost and cries by the new. Sound, light, skin, flesh and bone. We can't deny our histories any less than we can deny their output, which is who we are.
Admit it, you're a little unique in that fashion. No fish or fowl will swim or fly quite the way you do. And there's nobody doing the things that you have to do. I guess it all adds up to a greater puzzlebox than we had otherwise expected.
So, yea, another year on the books. I should probably mention that there are at least 2 of my best friends' weddings planned for the new one. They're going to be an absolutely wild time, and their families have my best wishes at heart. May your futures be fabulous, free, and wild (maybe not too wild).
What other plans arise for the year to come? Well, I start a new job in January, which should be an exciting challenge. At this point, I'm trying to focus on how I'll work the New Gig into the rest of my life. I've also got some invisalign treatment ongoing, so eating is not as easy as it used to be. Beyond that, it's all gonna be about staying relevant, keeping my studies up, touching base with old friends and new ones, and slathering enough moisturizer on my hands so they don't crack before Maytide.
So in the meantime: stay warm, keep whole, eat well, e Illegitimi non carborundum.
I suspect you know the rest. I'll see you in the new year.