Althouse: Did you start the year/decade off well?

January 1, 2010

Did you start the year/decade off well?

Or are you still trying to roll out of bed?

47 comments:

Meade said...: Looking forward to what could be the best year ever. Happy New Year, everyone.; 1/1/10, 10:15 PM
Rick Lee said...: Another boring New Year's Eve at home (with a nice carry out meal). Can we all agree that watching Dick Clark in his condition is a serious downer? It's so sad... he even screwed up the count down. He's an 80 year old stroke victim. The only reason he's still doing the show is that he's the producer.; 1/1/10, 10:16 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: Sounds like 1 Yes vote and 1 No vote so far. Heh.; 1/1/10, 10:27 PM
former law student said...: Cop cars saturating the roads made any sort of driving this week a miserable exercise in paranoia. And still people died horribly in crashes.

On the good side, Me and Orson Welles was excellent. I recommend it to all former high school nerds.; 1/1/10, 10:31 PM
Gary Kirk said...: Pretty well thank you.

No big resolutions to worry about.

Had my black-eyed peas, turnip greens, cornbread, pork chops (sorry, no hog jowl this year), and onion.

God is good.; 1/1/10, 10:33 PM
Chef Mojo said...: Very, very well.

A Gogol Bordello show to ring in the New Year.

No hangover.

Bagels, scallion schmear, double smoked Nova and Cava in the morning.

Chili and Aventinus Dunkel Weizenbock in the evening.

So good, so far...; 1/1/10, 10:34 PM
Chef Mojo said...: There goes fls; being the buzzkill...; 1/1/10, 10:36 PM
Robert W. said...: Sick with the flu for the past week. But getting excited about the Olympics coming to my hometown in just over a month!; 1/1/10, 10:38 PM
Gary Kirk said...: Oh and Happy New Year to you two and all here.

And I have no long range decade plans either. So I guess it started pretty well.; 1/1/10, 10:39 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: Yes, I forgot - HNY & Happy New Decade [if it is a new decade] to all. Mine was fine and no hangover either.

And Chef Mojo the buzzkill line gave me my first Althouse laugh of the year- so thanks!; 1/1/10, 10:44 PM
Ron said...: So far it's a pants optional decade...I dread Monday!; 1/1/10, 10:45 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: Ron:

I work with all women so I can't wait til Monday.; 1/1/10, 10:56 PM
David said...: Both.; 1/1/10, 11:11 PM
reader_iam said...: May all your troubles last as long as your New Year's resolutions.
--Joey Adams

And your joys as long as you well take good care of them.

--Warm regards, RIA; 1/1/10, 11:14 PM
Unknown said...: The Blonde is in a bad mood, so we'll see...

That, and we're still waiting for pups. I still say between the 10th and the 17th, but she knows better...

In any case, I still think things will start to straighten themselves out once the communists in DC are sent home. Hopefully, enough people have been given a good enough shock that the memory will linger.

The best of everything to all the Althousians, especially Ann and Meade, vbspurs, Pogo, tg, Sarge, and all those who've helped enlighten me this year.; 1/1/10, 11:14 PM
reader_iam said...: For varying reasons, to be sure, many here might like, or at least can relate to, this seasonal quote:

“New Year's Resolution: To tolerate fools more gladly, provided this does not encourage them to take up more of my time.”
--James Agate

; ) : ); 1/1/10, 11:26 PM
amba said...: I drank a lot of champagne (split a bottle with J; I drank the "big half," i.e. 2/3 or more), had a long phone conversation with a blogfriend, and woke up feeling wonderful.; 1/2/10, 12:05 AM
Ron said...: I, 2, had a long conversation with a blogfriend...and I woke up well also....

What a co-inky-dink!; 1/2/10, 12:25 AM
Anonymous said...: That makes three of us who had a conversation with a blog friend and woke up early, rarin' to go, despite input from transfigured grapes.

Of course, don't ask me about the rest of the day, but at least 2009 ended well enough out our way.

Best wishes for a happy, safe, and prosperous New Year!

-Theo; 1/2/10, 1:03 AM
Ralph L said...: Had my black-eyed peas
You're also supposed to have heather on your hearth for good luck. Or is it Heather on your heart for a good fuck?; 1/2/10, 1:29 AM
careen said...: Unfortunately, I feel fat from Xmas eating - the kind of fat where you have the urge to eat more instead of toning it down.

Other than that everything's fine, but no matter what the psychologists say, I'm happier thin even if nothing is going right in my life than I am chubby even if everything else is fine. And no, I'm not one of those weight obsessives. It's just the way it is. It's a form of health. And if you don't have your health...; 1/2/10, 2:03 AM
Finn Alexander Kristiansen said...: Started decade off with family (a parent)and sausage, biscotti, coffee, an orange, fried apples, scrambled egg with cheese and part of a chocolate Santa made of inexpensive chocolate.

For dinner I had Chinese food. That they were open made my day, so things are looking up already .; 1/2/10, 3:52 AM
The Scythian said...: Oh, Chief Mojo, a Gogol Bordello show? Yay! Awesome! Saw them last year here in Philadelphia. Without a doubt, the best concert I've ever been to, even if it left my ears ringing for a couple of days. I adore love seeing them live, even if they never play Huliganjetta when I do.

And I plead the fifth on this year's New Year's Eve.; 1/2/10, 4:56 AM
The Scythian said...: Oh, no! You're *Chef* Mojo.

Sorry, chief.; 1/2/10, 4:59 AM
AllenS said...: Most excellent start to the New Year. Hope everyone's year is starting out great. My treadmill is getting a workout. My AlgonquinS's are taking a beating. I need to invest in some tennis/running shoes. I hope that fls's year gets better, but I doubt if it will.; 1/2/10, 5:01 AM
AllenS said...: Dressed in a blue polo shirt, white shorts and black loafers... Rush Limbaugh says he didn't have a heart attack and feels fine.; 1/2/10, 5:59 AM
MadisonMan said...: Today I'm wearing longjohns below and many layers up top. That should answer your question. I'm warm and alive.; 1/2/10, 7:52 AM
traditionalguy said...: Rush said he was staying at the Khahala, which must mean the Kahala Mandarin Oriental (FKA Kahala Hilton) that is an isolated beachfront resort the other side of Diamond Head, about 10 miles from Waikiki. It is nicely located in a beautiful residential upscale area. If ever staying on Oahu, definitely stay there rather than in the Waikiki area, which is like a crowded beach alongside a dirty old city. In the last 10 years the Khahala has become the preferred wedding location for rich Japanese families because of the beauty of the property's facilities inside and out. In the 1980s it used to be the Reagan big wigs favorite place to stay. It has its own golf course of course. As for Rush's sudden attack that had no known medical cause, remember that many of the locals still practice their old time religion which remains a strong spiritual force there.; 1/2/10, 7:53 AM
The Crack Emcee said...: Holidays are tough for me, with no family, etc., so I'm glad to have it all behind me. Now, I'm up early and feeling good, so it's full-speed ahead, no looking back, and doing it all in the best way I know how:

Right Message - Wrong Approach; 1/2/10, 8:02 AM
AllenS said...: I just came back from a trip to the garage to get feed for the cats, then on to the barn to grain the horse, then a trip to the shop to get the pail of sunflower seeds to feed the birds, squirrels, turkeys which required a walk of about 1/4 of a mile. Thermometer says -20º. No wind.; 1/2/10, 8:16 AM
TheCrankyProfessor said...: I started the year exactly the way I don't want it to go on - shopping with my mother at the largest mall in the state.

On the other hand, I got 3 suits for the price of one and she bought me a couple of sweaters, so I really should stop whining and enjoy the year.; 1/2/10, 8:34 AM
KCFleming said...: Well, your Althouse blog family wishes you a HNY, Crack Emcee, and hope to see you adding to our knowledge daily.

Here's to New Age thought joining the ashes of history.

My year started off with a belated family Christmas get-together, a party delayed by ice and snow. My daughter made a scrap book for the SIL about her daughter who died in a car crash some 15 years ago. We found some old 35mm negatives with pictures of her when she was maybe two that we had never made into photos and were forgotten in a drawer. We used a scanner that automatically makes jpegs out of them.

Tears came and makeup ran, but it was very sweet.

I made my BIL a wooden man (out of old weathered oak from a park bench) painted in the baseball uniform his grandfather wore in the 1927 Barnstorming tour led by Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. (He played for the Bustin' Babes, against the Larrupin' Lous.) A weird gift, perhaps, but I hope he liked it.

We had fun this year, though the first without the in-laws mom and dad, who died within months of each other in '09, after stressful and slow declines.

My resolution is to be a better man, using Marcus Aurelius as an intermittent guide. I hope the Althouse commentariat has a blessed year, full of liberty and free from collectivist coercion, ifyouknowwhutImean.

Man, I can't help myself sometimes!; 1/2/10, 8:35 AM
bearbee said...: Always on guard:

Video: Dylan 1979-

A more contemporary American prophet also sees what looms:

Man's ego is inflated, his laws are outdated, they don't apply no more,
You can't rely no more to be standin' around waitin'.
In the home of the brave, Jefferson turnin' over in his grave,
Fools glorifying themselves, trying to manipulate Satan.
And there's a slow, slow train comin' up around the bend.
-- Bob Dylan, Slow Train

...feed the birds, squirrels...

Fed birds currants, crushed walnuts, boiled brown rice and sunflower seeds. Squirrels get various types of nuts in the shell (let 'em work for it). Frozen water in container is unfrozen.; 1/2/10, 8:35 AM
dbp said...: The wife and I were so jetlagged that we fell asleap a good hour before midnight. On the bright side, we were back up before the stroke of midnight in our home time zone.; 1/2/10, 8:42 AM
Roman said...: Happy New Year!!

Every day on this side of the grass is a good one.; 1/2/10, 10:18 AM
Beth said...: Right Message - Wrong Approach

Ha!

Nice to see you with a sense of humor, CE.

I haven't shared many holidays with my immediate family for a while now. My parents have passed on, and my siblings are mostly out of this area. But our close friends are as family, and we spend NYE with our closest ones. I particularly enjoy it because each partner's mother is still living, and they are there as well. It's nice to share their moms, as I miss mine still.

Friends are good for holidays.; 1/2/10, 10:23 AM
Ann Althouse said...: @Crack I don't see how it's consistent with your usual message for you to give a damn about holidays. Why aren't holidays just New Age bullshit to you?; 1/2/10, 11:39 AM
Ann Althouse said...: Is Crack really a sensitive soul who wants us to visit him next Christmas?; 1/2/10, 11:40 AM
Scott said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 1/2/10, 12:02 PM
Scott said...: I'm starting a diet, and I am blogging about it. Go ahead, laugh! In a year I will be 100 lbs. lighter!

wv: dishant, which sounds like a legalese conjugation of "to dish".; 1/2/10, 12:06 PM
Big Mike said...: Slept in yesterday morning but awoke with lots of energy and got a lot accomplished. Am in the office today, doing work and having fun doing it.

Happy New Year to the Professor and Meade, to Beth, to Pogo, to Crack, and even to you, fls.; 1/2/10, 1:10 PM
David said...: Ann Althouse said...
Is Crack really a sensitive soul who wants us to visit him next Christmas?

No--he's insensitive. But a visit would still be nice.

Happy New Year Crack!; 1/2/10, 2:32 PM
traditionalguy said...: Perhaps Crack is a wounded soul like most of us, and he sees his job to warn us about the dangers afoot. He does a great job of that. God bless Crack this year.; 1/2/10, 2:44 PM
virgil xenophon said...: "THUMP!" @ 12:45 PCT; 1/2/10, 2:45 PM
Beth said...: Happy New Year, Big Mike.; 1/2/10, 6:08 PM
The Crack Emcee said...: Christmas is hard because I think of my wife, O.K.? I miss her, and talk to her, and rail against her and die a little. During Christmas, I'm sure I grow older.

NewAgers (with their talk of "moving on") never mention it happening, but I dream about my wife during the holidays and, in my dreams, everything's fine - until she gives me *that look* she got after I discovered what she'd been up to - and then I wake up, remembering all I've lost, emotionally and financially, and then all the rest she put me through (including what she put the families of the people she's killed through, too - I'm sure, with many excuses but little remorse) and then I become so enraged I'm ready to kill her and practically everyone else who makes up the NewAge world.

For that reason (and other, lesser, matters) I don't visit anyone during Christmas, but just stay indoors and try to make it through. I can't engage with music when it gets like that (emotionally trying, even on good days) so I practice not answering the phone and drinking until I pass out, instead, which is a totally new experience for me, though not altogether unpleasant once I hit the *sweet* spot.

Anyway, long story-short, when Christmas comes around, I become Mel Gibson in "Lethal Weapon". Attractive in the movies - Oh, he loved her so much! - and in music ("The Blues") but, clearly, a laugh riot with the "sophisticated" crowd. It's enough to make me dread ever falling in love again.

Happy New Year, everybody, and, no matter how it turns out, may you all find something to be really and truly passionate about some day. I mean that:

Misery needs company.; 1/2/10, 7:31 PM
AST said...: I was doing fine until I opened this site to see that Ann had become dark haired and Asian looking. No, wait! That's an ad for Michelle Malkin's book!

Sorry. Never mind.

wv: taters (No kidding.); 1/2/10, 10:55 PM