365/365:<------THIS...IS...DONE (PERIOD).

31 DEC 13

 

Don’t worry kids, I’ve already forgotten 2013 in my mind. Not a good year, but I’ve already dwelled on it enough, so let’s try to keep this day happy and peppy as we prepare to bring on 2014, whooooooooooooooooo! Let’s talk about the year in review on a personal level and then I’ll bring it to a national scale.

 

I thought long and hard about what picture to end the year with, but as much as I have cooked and shared that part of my life here, it is only fitting that on the last day, I FINALLY have my brand new double convection oven. I have been without an oven for 3 months now since the old quite literally had the coils exploding in a hail of sparks. This thing is so beautiful, I almost regret that I will have to actually use it now.

 

Sooooo, today marks the very last day of 2013 and the end of my Project 365, number 4. I feel as though I have now been going at this so long, that I almost don’t remember what it was like not to do it; the days before always making sure I had some type of camera, the days before becoming really excited to have an exciting picture for the day, the days before the uploading and journaling and chronicling every day of my life. I find it only fitting, that just last night, my parents unearthed this massive bag full of family pictures. Everything was mixed up. All of our lives were just randomly thrown together, the discordant stories woven together in irregular patterns that made no sense. We dumped this bag onto the floor and began to sort through it. We traveled through time to the different decades, and fashions, and hair styles, cars, and places we’d lived. We lamented one particular group photo in which all but 4 members were now deceased. We laughed at my brother’s “drunken baby” face from having just woken up from a nap and hoisted in front of a camera. I shuttered at my inexplicable love for Looney Toons fashions in the 90s. We marveled at the absolutely breathtaking professional landscaping job that was once done on what was at the time, our new house.

 

This was life before DSLR and uploading and instant sharing. This is how my parents documented our story before Facebook. Looking around after an hour, the room was an absolute mess. There were negatives falling out of every crevice, there were piles and piles of images we’d tried to group together, there were bags of empty envelopes with scrawled notes as to their previous contents, but it was all there. In the middle of the night, as per my usual routine of never being able to sleep successfully, I plodded into the living room and stared at those piles and began to organize them. When I was done, after a two hour stretch, it was a most beautiful sight. Everything in its place, ready to be cataloged in photo album form.

 

That’s life isn’t it; a bunch of chaos that you hope in the end sort of makes some sense. There is the good with the bad and you cannot have one without the other. Some years, it’s “our year,” and other’s, you cannot wait for the clock to strike midnight so you can begin again. As I’ve said, this has been year four for me. The reason I keep going, the reason I haven’t stopped yet, the reason tomorrow when I wake up, it will be year five for me, is because this is my story, and I’m telling it in a way that I continuously am able to look back upon and learn from, remember, cherish, whatever the case may be. My story, my journaling, and my images, have helped me to understand in this big complicated world, that I matter. We always think our own story is unique and that we’re the only one, but there’s always someone out there who gets it, who’s going through it, who’s living those days you’re living, but on their spot on the planet. I feel more connected to my life and my story by writing it down and by photographing it and in many ways, it has saved me. Any moments I have doubt, I look back and think what all have you done, the places you’ve gone, the freakin’ mountain you’ve climbed…all of that is me. I can’t let the bad days make me forget that there is so much good there too.

 

So I’m going on. I’m moving forward. There’s a little time left here where I am before midnight, as per my annual tradition I’ve said my goodbyes. I’ve torn up the things I want to forget and kept the things I’m bringing with me into tomorrow. That’s all she wrote…

 

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Now for the newsmakers this year...

 

VIRAL) Remember planking? No. Okay, well, this year was all about the Harlem Shake. I never made a video about it or participated in it, but I sure did see a ton of them on youtube and some were down right clever like the under water one or Freddie W’s version where he goes in and slaps the guy trying to do the shake and says, its over, it’s over, stop it!

 

(BABIES) Of course, William and Kate’s baby (Jesus) had the world on pins and needles waiting to see if it was going to be a girl (which would RUIN, ABSOLUTELY RUIN EVERYTHING) or a beautiful baby boy which in that case, she would be allowed to be happy and all would be right with the world. What did she have, a boy (ooooh thank gawd!) (you guys know I’m kidding right?!?), but she did have a boy…and I thought to myself. The Queen mum is still alive, Will’s father is still alive, Will is still alive. This kid will be 86 before or if he ever sees a throne and for the buhgazillionth time, what power do these people have? None. They are basically smiling bobble heads for the country. I thought it almost laughable when Wills came to see Obama…Obama apparently spy on the entire country…Wills can play soccer with our kids in the park for a photo op. Anyway, Kate proved why she’s better then you in that she bounced so far and fast back into her pre-baby body that one almost wonders if she ever were pregnant in the first place. Then there was Kimye’s baby North (rolls eyes). The other messiah child. It was so weird how much I wanted to see what baby “IT” looked like, but the kids cute. I was imagining more horn like…nah, it’s a cutey patooty and I’m sure they’ll love it and Kayne will groom it to be the best baby in the world…let him finish. I said, let him finish!

 

(WEATHER) This was the year the world tried to kill itself. In one day…just one day in the US, there were 72 tornadoes. How crazy is that. Then we saw the Colorado Floods, the Yarnell Fires which killed 19 firefighters, Super Typhoon Hyen which killed 5,000 in a day, and that strange Ice Shelf thing that slowly crept up destroying homes. You have to though, give a hand clap up to humanity who stopped fighting for five seconds to help their neighbors, and I really really have to give it up to world wide Asians. I know, what? Yes, Asians. I swear to goodness, I have seen more video and pictures of regular Asian folks in shorts and flip flops risking their lives to save cats, kids from trees, diving into dangerous waters to pull people out without hesitation or thought for their own safety. It’s not to say folks around the world don’t also do that, but it’s like, super human in their need to just help people they don’t even know.

 

(BOOK) most popular book this year was Dan Browns “Inferno.” Never heard of it, didn’t read it.

(POLITICS) well, Immigration reform died (don’t know how I feel about that), the Gun Debate stalled (a dozen plus kids and teachers were gunned down and yet that wasn’t enough to say no to assault rifles in the hands of any old body, forget about hunting rifles…one does not hunt with an assault rifle…and they refuse to fund more mental health services, so we’ll just have to wait until the next mass murder for something to happen, shall we…I have no words), the Government shut down for 16 days (I’m sooo glad…read: saracasm…I voted for any of these idiots. Both sides, idiots. I’ve literally stopped giving a sh—about politics for the moment and it will take a Christmas miracle for me to have any faith in the system for a long time), Obamacare. (I’m sorry, 25% of the populous is uninsured, and you didn’t think that many of 6 billion people would need to have a better working website/phone number. Come on. People calling in for freaking concert tickets shut down Ticketmaster and that’s not nearly the amount who need health care. But he’s said it…It’s on him…I’m letting it go) Dennis Rodman met with Kim Jon Il saying that this dude was his friend( I’m sorry, he’s your friend. You keep friends with people who would rather starve their people and intimidate, threaten, and kill any who oppose them, and who threatened us repeatedly this year with nuclear bomb threats…F--- you Dennis Rodman. Go live there, if you love him so much. People are truly suffering over there under his rule and you want to hug and kiss him!!!) DOMA was struck down which was amazing! Even though gay marriage still isn’t legal in the big TX, I went to my first ever gay wedding of two friends this year. I am a straight supporter of gay rights because I feel that everyone should be allowed to love. Period.

 

(HEROES) Carlos Aridando, the guy in the cowboy hat, literally held this guys bleeding artery in his hands after he was bombed in the Boston Bombing. Holy moly. There were so many first responders and people like Carlos that dived in straight away to help. Those are true hereo’s in my book who against all odds, just help because its needed. Davian Only-this kid stood up in church and begged for anyone, literally, anyone to adopt him and be his life parents. Stories like this continue to remind me why I want to adopt, so that a child will never have to do that. He’s a hero for wanting more then his lot and life and going out to get it. He has since been adopted! Angelina Jolie---always been a humanitarian, but this year going through her double mastectomy I think shook people. You don’t think foolishly that someone so beautiful and with so much can be faced with something like that. Anything that helps spread the word, that gives women hope, that opens the door to say, let’s talk about women’s health and not be so afraid or sweep it under the rug, is HUGE in my book. Malala who was shot in the head for wanting to go to school and standing up for women’s rights. I mean, hello. I’ve had some careless men tell me that women have it so easy these days and that we shouldn’t complain b/c we are nearly as equal as men, and yet, this is still a global problem. Malala represented so many just like her that just want to learn and be educated…we take that for granted here, but until women have, truly have equal rights, her story is still the story of all women.

 

(SCANDALS) This year to me helped illustrated that black people still have a HUGE struggle on our hands for equality. There were so many stories this year that affected all of us and let us know that the fight isn’t over such as the Trayvon Martin case. All I want is to be treated like an equal human being, called by my name, not feared for the color of my skin, given equal chance in the job/housing market, and to grow up in a world where we can hold hands with our neighbors whatever color they may be. Lance Armstrong admitted to doping. If like everyone said, he’d just doped, this wouldn’t have even raised and eyebrow, but the fact that he maliciously strove to ruin the lives of others and did, and lied on oath about others wrong doings and his own and has still never really and truly shown remorse, makes me think he is one you shouldn’t be a friend to. Rob Filner, sexually harassing his staff and refusing to quit before he was eventually fired, The Toronto Mayer smoking crack, crazy.

 

MY BADDIE OF THE YEAR: ARIEL CASTRO: This man from Cleveland held 3 women and subsequently fathered a child with one of his captors, for ten years. He kept these women chained into a basement with no windows, repeatedly raped them, and to make it that much worse, he would routinely have brief conversations smiling and talking to one of the victims mothers whilst she was still in his basement somewhere. I just cannot imagine what hell these women went through and I am soooo so glad they escaped and are able to start trying to rebuild their lives. Of course Castro went to jail, but rather then be a captive himself, he took his own life, hanging himself, in jail. Hopefully these women can find peace and hope again, but this man has definitely stolen a chunk of their lives.

 

MY GOODIE OF THE YEAR: The POPE! Surprise, surprise. I never thought a Pope would be listed as any favorite of mine, but what I do love about him is that he has taken the papacy and religion back to a place that isn’t putting a judgmental thumb on your life. He is more accepting, he lives modestly, he takes selfies and tweets for goodness sake! It is about time someone stepped up and realized we live in a modern age, religion can change, and we should do what religion was intended to do, which is to help us love one another and God and spread messages of good faith.

 

Sooo, that's it for 2013. Last entry. Done. 2014 looms, and to end on a good note...I once again would like to thank all of my Flickerati, all the people who have commented, sent emails, supported the groups I run, and shared their wonderful work with me. I look forward to seeing you all here tomorrow and beyond and may you and your families and friends have a happy, safe, and healthy New Year!

 

Done