What to do about omicron, a COVID-19 variant that is monstrously more infectious than delta, its predecessor, yet somewhat milder in symptoms? I have no idea. As the recent target of this slippery foe’s unwanted advances, I can tell you this: Don’t catch it. After countless weeks of skyrocketing case numbers, new data shows sharp declines over the past week. The omicron surge, like you-know-who’s hairline, is receding. Omicron. Sounds like an underground progressive metal band, around since 2014, based in Hong Kong. Which, it is. (Truly. I don’t always make stuff up.) Says the quartet’s guitarist Li Heng Chan in Rolling Stone: “Whether for the right or wrong reasons, we’ve…
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Positively optimistic
This week, I planned on blogging about Betty White, who would have turned 100 years old on January 17. She died peacefully in her sleep on New Year’s Eve after suffering a mild stroke on Christmas Day. A sad way to end yet another tough year. Seemed everyone was hoping she’d hang on just a little longer. Ahead of her centennial year, Betty opened up to People magazine on how she was feeling about turning 100. It was weird seeing the magazine’s gushing cover grace store aisles after she had passed. No. 1 rule of good journalism: Don’t write something as if it has happened when it actually hasn’t. (See Chicago Tribune, Nov.…
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Dreams, daggers and democracy
“Did you have any bad dreams last night?” Whenever I get asked that question by Rebecca before our first cup of coffee, I already know the answer: “No. Maybe. Yes. Why?” “Because your yelling scared the heck out of me and the dog, for that matter. Again. So, was it about the chase thing this time?” asked my beloved “CSI” fan, feared by all criminal minds who dare to pixelate her 60-inch TV screen. This time. Meaning it was not the first time. She’s Lt. Columbo with lipstick. The only missing prop was a dusty lightbulb dangling from the ceiling. My recurring dream was back. It’s always about the same thing:…
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Bye, Felicia
After 32 blog posts in the past 12 months, here’s my final one for 2021. Not a whole lot more to say, is there? Here’s to deep breaths, continued kindness and days anchored in gratitude. Thanks for reading. And Happy New Year!
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Over the Noom?
Weight loss reminds me a lot of hiking in the Grand Canyon. One hour walking down the trail takes you twice as long to climb back up. One step forward, two steps back. And that, or so it seems, is the delicate dance of dieting. Since my mid-40s, I’ve struggled with my weight. Back then, it had a lot to do with perimenopause, that time of a woman’s life before menopause, when her ovaries gradually make less estrogen. With perimenopause, you may experience hot flashes, irregular periods, mood swings and insomnia. Likely all before noon but not necessarily in that order. Quite often, amid this internal combustion, a woman’s metabolism grinds to…
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Calm and bright
All is calm and bright in my little corner of the world. Yesterday, we watched “A Christmas Story.” For me, it’s the perfect seasonal classic film, yet it often gets dismissed as another gimmicky holiday movie running in those 24-hour TNT marathons. There are so many reasons it’s been my favorite for nearly 40 years, and not just because it’s absurdly funny and makes me laugh every time I see it. “A Christmas Story” makes sense to the kid in me: corner bullies, broken eyeglasses, big dreams and lasting friendships. “I swear, you know all those silly lines,” Rebecca says. Yes, I do, thank you very much. “Some men are…
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Christmas peeve
Now I’m no Ebenezer Scrooge, but I’ll admit I’m not happy about Christmas. It was supposed to be different this year. All of us back together again. Like a reunited band. Even the Spice Girls managed to do that. Sadly, to mangle an infamous quote from John Belushi’s character Jake in the 1980 movie, “The Blues Brothers”: “We’re not getting the band back together.” As of today, we’re staying home alone with our brand new 6.5-foot, pre-lit slim tree sporting its spectacular flickering starburst light topper. There are a few presents under this artificial awesomeness. And a stuffed gnome we named Homey. Unlike past years, we have put up fewer holiday decorations,…
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Potpourri
It’s the first Saturday in December. I’ve been remiss in keeping up with my blog posts. No excuses. So, in the interest of valuable time and word economy, here are things I’ve thought of blogging about but didn’t because the world has changed so much in the last 18 months that most of these topics now seem quite insignificant. Which they are. That said, and with all due respect, as we used to say in our interminable weekly PR staff meetings, here goes nothing: Everyone wanted: Even though the U.S. unemployment rate in November was 4.2% — and flirting with pre-pandemic lows — just about every local business is having trouble…
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Word up
Interestingly, at least I think so, lexicographers at Oxford English Dictionary have chosen their 2021 Word of the Year. It’s “vax.” Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, variations on words related to vaccines have spiked in frequency this year, with double-vaxxed, unvaxxed and anti-vaxxer all seeing a surge. Vax was the obvious choice, since it has made “the most striking impact,” said Fiona McPherson, senior editor of OED, the definitive record of the English language, in a recent BBC interview. “It goes back at least to the 1980s, but according to our corpus, it was rarely used until this year,” she added. I love how those sneaky-smart Britons slip a Latin word such as “corpus” into an everyday sentence…
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You learn
“I recommend biting off more than you can chew to anyone I certainly do I recommend sticking your foot in your mouth at any time Feel free … Swallow it down (what a jagged little pill) It feels so good (swimming in your stomach) Wait until the dust settles. You live, you learn You love, you learn You lose, you learn.” – “You Learn” by Alanis Morissette from her 1995 album “Jagged Little Pill” Lyrics like these from Canadian rocker Alanis Morissette prove that valuable lessons are often learned from poor decisions. Live and learn, as my folks always said. Isn’t it ironic, don’t you think, (sorry, couldn’t help myself) that…
