Well, 2021 is already almost 1/12th over - and what have we done?
I guess a few things have happened…
Jan 6, 2021 is already destined to be one of those dates that will remain on the tip of tongues-of-historians for decades to come. One week later, a certain lame-duck president was impeached for a second time, which I guess could be considered impressive since he’d only been elected one term. Oh, and there was a well-organized Presidential Inauguration on January 20th, which has now been followed by more than a week of admirably competent leadership, capably pointing out the areas vitally in need of attention today. There was even, dare I say, a few “federal plans” bandied about.
The concept of having adults finally back in the room is eliciting sighs of relief from more people than just me, I’m quite sure. Nice to imagine our hours of television news-viewing dropping down substantially. We’ve earned this break!
And it’s 19 degrees in New York City this morning… which might be the universe’s way of saying… there are other things besides politics left to talk about in this world?…
A white Snowy Owl was spotted in Central Park, its first appearance in 130 years. As fate would have it, I happened to be walking right past the area when the growing bird-watching crowd began to congregate. I’ve seen a few of these enthusiasts a time or two before, but the way they were all staring at the same tree made me suspect something unusual was going on. A guy with a telephoto lens shrugged his shoulder and gave my inquiry a less-than-exciting response. I stared at the tree for a bit longer and then figured, what the hell - let them have their fun. I kept on walking. If the man had exclaimed “It’s the unspotted-for-a-century Snowy Owl!”, I likely would have remained in the group for at least another ten minutes. It was only today when a New York Times article solved this mystery for me.
Damn - I would have loved to have seen this creature with my own eyes!
There’s some history being made in the National Football League as well. Right now the quarterback seems to be winning the Belichick/Brady war, as this 43-year-old is set to be the oldest quarterback to ever start a Super Bowl. Still, my sympathies seem to tilt towards the coach, and I appreciate the way he showed some mettle by refusing to accept the Presidential Medal of Freedom way back on January 11. In any case, I’ll be looking forward to the Chiefs/Bucks match-up a week from this Sunday.
Mahomes vs. Brady…
February has a chance to get off to a great start!
As for me, I’m about one-third finished recording all those songs written this past summer. Though I try to always remain optimistic while starting up each new number, my voice has yet to resemble McCartney at his least impressive. But I believe the songs are some of my best yet. Hopefully you’ll get the chance to hear them someday on michaelaba.com.
Speaking of michaelaba.com, we’re now about to enter our third month of being off-line. BUT - I had a nice, productive January afternoon FaceTime chat with website-genius Kyle and this situation MAY be close to being resolved. Maybe even before this current month is over!
So, personally speaking, 2021 might end up feeling like a success if these songs and my finished book (“These Stories Are True” - in digital AND audio form) become available to anyone who stumbles upon this back-online-website.
And yet we still have 11/12ths of the year to go!
What to do with all this free time…
I’m guessing the temptation may arise to start writing fiction again…
Consider yourselves warned!