Saturday, December 29, 2012

Goodbye 2012


Mykonos in Winter

It’s almost 2013.  As for the soon to be bye-bye 2012, about all I can think to say at the moment is we made it past 12.21.12.  Apocalyptic fashion fans need not fret, though, because I’m sure a new and improved end is in sight.  After all, the aluminum foil industry has far too much invested in those funny hats to let that market slide away without a fight. 

Those in the know prefer aluminum foil.
My personal choice for the new end date is 11.4.14.  Catchy, don’t you think?  It will play well on tee shirts and buttons.  And for the biblically inclined, Genesis 11.4.14 falls amid the story of Babel and the Lord’s decision that the people of the earth should not be able to communicate with one another, which ties in nicely to the revelation that 11.4.14 is the next chance Americans will have to vote on who will comprise their babbling House of Representatives.  Fire up the bauxite production, folks, for as the famous line goes, “There she blows!”

But all that’s too far away to worry about now.   Besides, it’s not as if America is about to drag the world off a cliff or something.   So, let’s kick back with some photos I selected from in an article published in The Atlantic by Alan Taylor titled, “Christmas Time Around the World.”  And a special thanks to NYC radio host Bill Buschel for bringing the article to my attention.

Crested Butte, Colorado (AP/Nathan Blow)
Liverpool (Reuters/Phil Noble)
Rio de Janeiro (AP/Felipe Dana)
India (Reuters/Sivaram V)

Washington, DC (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Ivory Coast (Sla Kambou/AF/Getty Images)
Manila (Reuters/Romeo Ronoco)
Vancouver (Reuters/ Andy Clark)
Newtown, Connecticut (Reuters/Mike Segar)

Here’s wishing us all a better world in 2013.

Jeff—Saturday

11 comments:

  1. How DARE you bring up the elections of 2014??? I'd JUST gotten over the emotional trauma of 2012's elections, I'd JUST begun my delicate recovery, and SLAM-BANG, here you take us over the election cliff, driving me back into an emotional depression (or, at least, an emotional recession).

    Thanks a lot, Jeff. Sheesh. And do they REALLY get snow on Myconos??? That just seems WRONG.

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  2. Mykonos weather is roughly comparable to the weather in Washington, DC--a place that just seems wrong. Whoops, Everett, didn't mean to raise another trauma inducing subject...it just seems to come to me naturally:)

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  3. Jeff, thanks for the pictures. They are cheery. As to Washington, when the news comes on the radio, I just sing, " Go over the cliff, go over the cliff," to the tune of an old Patti Page hit from my childhood. I hope 2013 is kinder to us all. Are you tryskadecaphobic? How do you spell that! o god of all things Greek?

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  4. For a moment there, Annamaria mou, I thought you were riffing on that famous line from "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" where a mischievous Greek gets a non-Greek speaker to shout in Greek, "I have three testicles."

    In your scenario I guess it would be thirteen, but then again, if a true triskaidekaphobic, his mortal fear at the number thirteen would likely have him settling for an even dozen.

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  5. J, You need to teach the members of the House of Representatives to shout that line from the movie in chorus. Three is the exact number of testicles they have among them. I have no fear of next year, regardless of its number 13, as long as I have friends like you to make me laugh at its absurdities.

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  6. I made the mistake of turning on CNN last night, and they had a panel of the usual nodding experts discussing -- what? The presidential election of 2016. Obama hasn't even been inaugurated, and these twits are already jonesing for the next boost in ratings. Makes crack look less addictive than aspirin.

    And happy new year to you, too.

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    1. Tim, you shouldn't have switched from watching Jersey Shore..same cast, different venue.

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  7. Lovely pictures, especially Mykonos, which was a surprise to me too. There is this pervasive sense of what is to come-nothing is very sure. Except the continued sorrow of children dying for no good reason. Hope the year is better for us all.

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  8. What were you thinking when you picked 11.04.14, Jeff? Can you make it a day later like 12, April? You see, I'd like to die happy and at least surrounded by well wishes and eating my birthday cake when the end comes crushing down :)

    Love the pictures :)

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  9. Hope 2013 is better than was 2012 for all, including the Greek people!

    And to mention that I commented, in brief, about Target: Tinos on the Confessions of a Mystery Novelist blog.

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