I begin this New Year\u2019s Eve post with a public service message.<\/p>\n
Ryan Seacrest will be hosting the 52nd (wow<\/em>) annual installment of ‘Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest\u2019 on your local ABC affiliate.\u00a0 The idea of such luminaries as LL COOL J & Cardi B joining the lineup of performers including Rita Ora, Megan Thee Stallion, Jelly Roll, Sabrina Carpenter, Tyla, Multihyphenate Sebastian Maniscalco, Aqua, Doechii, Ellie Goulding, Green Day, Janelle Mon\u00e1e, Loud Luxury x Two Friends with Bebe Rexha, Ludacris, Nile Rodgers & CHIC, Paul Russell, Rene\u00e9 Rapp with Coco Jones, Thirty Seconds to Mars, Post Malone, who has sold over 80 million records and earned numerous awards, including 10 Billboard Music Awards, and will perform “Chemical” and finally K-Pop group NewJeans performing “Super Shy” and “ETA”<\/strong> all appearing on one five hour show literally takes my breath away.\u00a0 But I\u2019ve steeled myself to miss this epochal event.\u00a0 I notice that Mariah Carey isn\u2019t on the schedule.\u00a0 A few years back she had a situation where her costume exploded off of her while she was being hoisted onto the roof of some building in Times Square to sing \u201cAll I Want for Christmas is You.\u201d\u00a0 They mercifully cut away in time but apparently, she never recovered.\u00a0 I had also hoped that they could have released Madonna from her crypt for one last mummified rendition of \u201cLike a Virgin\u201d but I guess they couldn\u2019t find enough formaldehyde to pull it off.\u00a0 I also don\u2019t see Lionel Ritchie\u2019s name on the list which leads me to believe either he has passed away or the last of his fans has.\u00a0 Ah, the changing of the guard.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve decided to step in and recommend that all my readers deny themselves this pleasure.\u00a0 Combining Cardi B, Megan Thee Stallion and Ludacris all in one sitting might be just too much musical talent for anyone to endure.\u00a0 It would be like Mozart and Bach joining Taylor Swift on stage at the Bellagio in Vegas.\u00a0 Just too much magnificence.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t do New Year\u2019s Eve parties.\u00a0 And it\u2019s probably the result of several factors.\u00a0 First off, I don\u2019t drink.\u00a0 Secondly, I find loud bars or other party venues difficult to hear over.\u00a0 And this despite relatively good hearing.\u00a0 So, the typical large New Year\u2019s Eve gathering doesn\u2019t have much to offer for me.\u00a0 And as far as family gatherings, it\u2019s really not a great night to be driving home from a late party.\u00a0 Usually around here, the weather is awful for driving and there are more drunks on the road that night than any other.\u00a0 When the kids were still young, we\u2019d do some kind of midnight celebration with noise makers and calling up relatives to wish them a happy New Year and then we\u2019d have some food.\u00a0 Root beer floats were the favorite of my kids.<\/p>\n But New Year\u2019s Eve is a great time of the year for course correction.\u00a0 Taking stock and making changes.\u00a0 I was talking to Camera Girl about this and she said, \u201cI like to call it a time for reflection.\u201d\u00a0 I then mocked her ruthlessly, \u201cWhat a fabulously original way of stating it.\u00a0 Do you mind if I quote you?\u201d\u00a0 She was unconcerned.\u00a0 Her poise while mouthing platitudes is remarkable.<\/p>\n Next year will be a busy time for me.\u00a0 There will be a large increase in my commitments to several annoying tasks.\u00a0 March, April, October and November will be extremely unpleasant.\u00a0 And I have to figure out whether I should alter my format for the website.\u00a0 There will be a number of interesting stories to follow this year but as far as the daily posts a lot of what can be said, has been said<\/strong> and in excruciating detail.\u00a0 Maybe I\u2019ll decide to limit my output to discussion of breaking events.\u00a0 This would allow me to move forward with my fiction writing which I\u2019m embarrassed to say ground to a halt in the second half of 2023.<\/p>\n I think what that means for me is that I will need to create that most hated and least successful of all documents, the \u201clife schedule<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 As an engineer I was often responsible for making and updating and reporting on a project schedule.\u00a0 Usually it was done on Microsoft Project, a powerful but highly annoying program.\u00a0 Of course, I have no plan to plot my life on MS Project.\u00a0 Camera Girl would not stand for it.\u00a0 Me trying to regiment her free-wheeling method of running her house would madden her and probably lead to my demise by any one of several domestic weapons.\u00a0 Although death by deli meats is my best guess.<\/p>\n So, I hope to spend the next few days attempting to take stock of how I spend my time and, in some sense, \u201cmending my ways.\u201d\u00a0 And I don\u2019t think of this as a negative.\u00a0 The environment around us is constantly shifting and for this we need to adjust.\u00a0 Once a year is hardly too often for this very important activity.\u00a0 Probably seasonally is the correct frequency.\u00a0 Spring cleaning and fall stowing away is pretty common but I\u2019m much too lazy for that much organization.\u00a0 So New Year\u2019s resolutions it is.<\/p>\n But for those so inclined have a Happy New Year\u2019s Eve with champagne and dancing till morning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I begin this New Year\u2019s Eve post with a public service message. Ryan Seacrest will be hosting the 52nd (wow) annual installment of ‘Dick Clark’s<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,3366,818,1263],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26951","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-events","category-life-in-dunwich","category-ocf","category-stuff-that-personally-interests-me-miscellaneous"],"yoast_head":"\n