The Year, Sort Of, In Review

Incidentally, the name of the charts of music generally associated with African-Americans has changed several times, from rhythm & blues (or R&B) to soul to black, back to R&B to R&B/hip-hop.

 

For the past several years, I have gone to the random number generator and taken a random line from a random post each month. It is not exactly representative of the year, but it does hit on some significant points.

January: I mean, I look at the synopses [of Night Gallery] and say, “Oh, yeah, right.” [Answering Gordon’s question]
February: The week before my mother died, I had nothing on any credit cards, save for any recurring expenditures, such as the newspaper. [That soon changed.]
March: Someone told me a long time ago that the number of keys one has related to how important they were. [ABC Wednesday]
April: This specific song [Help] my daughter knows all the lyrics to, without either encouragement or prompting from me. [My Beatles countdown]
May: I specifically remember him [my friend Steve] going on and on about this great singer/guitarist named Bonnie Raitt, who I had never heard of, but who he had seen perform in the area; her debut album would come out later that year. [This was my first 40 years ago entry]
June: Somehow, it seems as though he [my father] became a bit more real to her [my daughter]. [My Father’s Day post]
July: Maverick was on either Saturday or Sunday afternoon. [100 TV memories]
August: Incidentally, the name of the charts of music generally associated with African-Americans has changed several times, from rhythm & blues (or R&B) to soul to black, back to R&B to R&B/hip-hop.
September: It’s not a belief system; it’s not an “either, or,” it’s a fact, Jack. [Part of Amy’s question to me re: global warming.]
October: He [Glen Campbell] shared the fact that the favorite of his songs was Wichita Lineman, as he noted his favorite lyrics.
November: Media being as diffused as it is, a Real Housewife of Schenectady might be well known in certain circles but totally invisible by lots of others. [Re: the late Andy Rooney]
December: One [boycotted product] was for a drink mix from Pillsbury called Funny Face, targeted to compete with Kool Aid. [My more-or-less weekly question]

2011: What Kind of Year Was It?

Something about losing over $10,000 in three months is just marginally disconcerting.

When I get my World Almanac for Christmas, I often sit around with my in-laws trying to guess the top 10 events of the year (which is actually November of the prior year to October of the current year).

Seems that while US politics (Tea Party, crazy Republican Presidential candidates) might make the roster, I sense the list will be dominated by three areas:
CIVIL UNREST: Arab Spring, Occupy Wall Street
ECONOMIC PING PONG: roller-coaster stock markets; near defaults in the Eurozone
NATURAL DISASTERS: February snowstorm; Japanese tsunami; tornadoes in Joplin (MO), Tuscaloosa (AL) and elsewhere; drought in Texas and Oklahoma; Hurricane Irene and tropical storm Lee

I feel lucky that most of these missed me. The February snowstorm I missed because I went to visit my mother in Charlotte, NC after she had a stroke (and before she died – sigh). Hurricane Irene DID force my wife and daughter to fly from Charlotte to Albany, rather than take the train. And my 401-K gained money in the first two quarters of this year, which was more than obliterated by the third quarter freefall; something about losing over $10,000 in three months is just marginally disconcerting. My wife wants me to put more money into retirement, but my agita is too great.

What kind of year was 2011 for you?
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50 Funnies Tweets of 2011. I actually retweeted one of these.

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