Backward and Forward

I'm looking back at this year and I'm finding a few things to be joyous about . . . like my articles published in the Our Town community newspaper in Manhattan, including my latest - my article about cellist Liz Kovalchuk.  I mentioned her before back in September; I managed to get it done despite a lot of stuff I had to do in the meantime.

So, am I looking forward to anything for 2015?  Well, even though I didn't talk about it in 2014, swimmer Michael Phelps came out of retirement for the 2016 Olympics, and  I'm looking forward to seeing how he does.  Since this isn't Australia, though, swimming isn't exactly a popular spectator sport.  I talked about all that back in 2012, and despite Phelps' own incredible talent and fame, and despite also his desire to make it more visible at home after the London Olympics, competitive swimming in the United States went back to being something you don't care about unless your kids take part in it.  Phelps hasn't helped matters any for himself; this past September, he was arrested for drunk driving and got suspended by USA Swimming from all competitions for six months.  This makes him less likely to have a successful comeback in Rio, but we shall see.

Other things I am looking forward to include how Stephen Colbert does as himself on CBS's "The Late Show." :-)

However, one thing I am not looking forward to seeing is the Republicans take over both houses of Congress and tighten the thumbscrews on the working class.  I don't know how it's going to end.  but it's not going to end well.

So, let me end 2014 well by stopping here . . . and wishing everyone a happy new year.  I'll be back in 2015. :-)