Like most people, I've been getting lots of emails and calls wishing a Happy New Year and wondering how my holiday weekend was. The answer is "exceedingly low-key." That's because I came down with a bit of a cold the other day, and while it didn't knock me out, it certainly was draining. (Make that, "is," since the cold hasn't departed yet...) Happily, New Years Weekend allows one to crash on the sofa and watch A LOT of college football bowl games. And some pro games on Sunday, too, (and happily the Chicago Bears were on, although they stink this year.) So, it wasn't like I was left with nothing to do. That said, laying on the sofa and watching eight football games is a unique experience.
(Thank goodness for the remote control, because I did do my share of channel-hopping during the games, mostly to several of the "marathons" that various networks were airing.) It wasn't all TV and football, since I got a lot of reading in, was well. Though when fighting a cold, reading was only done in spurts, so I did less than I would have otherwise. The book is interesting, "Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945" by David M. Kennedy, which won the Pulitzer Prize in history, so, yes, the very kind of light reading you're looking for when under the weather... I only mention that it is 930 pages because when you're collapsed on the sofa in exhaustion, holding a 930-page book for extended periods has its limits. It isn't remotely difficult, of course, but it does lose its charm after a while... One thing that I didn't do, though (other than move around much) is read or watch much news. So, that's why I don't have much to comment on. My world largely consisted of laying on a sofa, so that's the full extent of insight you're going to get. I wasn't fully-immobile, mind you. I also prepared a lot of New Years Eve food to snack on -- a couple of dips, some cheeses and snacks, and a few bags of chips, along with a pizza. But it's an interesting thing about a cold. The appetite goes with it. So, I have a lot of leftovers for the coming week. Good, though, less cooking. By the way, to be clear, I enjoy New Years Eve, but I've never made a big deal out of it. It's fine, and I get all the revelry and concept of throwing out the old year while looking forward to an even better year ahead. But I also have found "Midnight!!!" sort of a stupid celebration, sort of a 1-Second Holiday, as I call it. The build-up is fun, but when it comes to the actual holiday, you say, "Happy New Year!!" when the clock hits 12 and...well, it's the new year, and you move on. I had been invited to a party, one I've gone to the past few years, though I usually leave it well-before midnight and finish the evening off by "celebrating" the 1-second at home. This year, however, I wisely chose not to infect anyone. Besides which, I suspect driving home would have been a wee bit risky, on a level higher than all the inebriated drivers around me. Anyway, safely home all evening, when the clock hit about 10:30, I was pretty much wiped out, so waiting for midnight was an alien idea this year. I went in and collapsed on the bed. Very festive, I must say. I did listen to some fun radio there, though. Earlier in the evening, I put began streaming Chicago's WFMT over the Internet. It's a classical station, but every year they turn it over to fun and frivolity of their Midnight Special four-hour holiday edition, and I listened to that for a while. For the last several years, though (or actually the past a decade or so) they've turned the last hour into an in-studio folk concert, which is certainly a nice thing to do, but hasn't been my choice for New Years Eve. Besides, Chicago being two hours ahead of Los Angeles, midnight there is 10 PM here. Add in that hour for the folk concert, and it peters out for me at 9 PM. Not quite the New Years Magic Hour. Locally, however, the classical music station here, KUSC, has its own fun New Years Eve special hosted by Jim Svedja. And it's generally pretty good. One huge caveat, though -- for the past five years, he now devotes the last hour before midnight to bringing in Dr. Demento. And I'm just not especially a fan. Mind you, I'm quite glad that Dr. Demento has been around for decades, playing his collection of bizarre novelty songs. And some of them are a treat. But in general, my rule of thumb is that if a song is bad, time doesn't inherently make it funny and good. It's still bad. And only a rare few are able to transcend that thanks to historical perspective. But further, as for this full New Year's Eve hour, my feeling is that if people were really big fans of Dr. Demento, they'd listen to Dr. Demento and perhaps put their Dr. Demento albums on. They wouldn't be listening to KUSC. So, while listening to Dr. Demento for five minutes may be fun...that's worlds different to listening to him for an hour. In the hour building up to midnight. So, that wasn't especially Magic either. Eventually, I turned the sound on the radio down to barely audible, and -- exhausted from my cold --- lay there quietly in that sort of half-away stake. I did get to celebrate the New Year properly though since at one point there was a sudden burst of shouting and firecrackers from my neighbors, so -- fine detective that I am -- I figured it had just hit midnight. And so it had. Sherlock Holmes strikes again. I faded in and out for a while under the covers, but at 1 AM, Svedja traditionally finishes out his show by playing the glorious album, Stan Freberg Presents the United States of America. And exhausted as I was, I actually made it through the whole thing. Because that is one fine way to start the new year. May it all be And then he slept.
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AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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