Rant #3,259: Get Ready

Well, we made it!

2024 is finally here, and good riddance to 2023, undoubtedly the worst yesr I have experienced in my more than 66 yesrs of life.

That is all behind me, and I am looking forward to nothing but good things in 2024.

First, of course, I want to regain my independence, which means that I have to do everything I can to rehab my left leg.

I am doing everything I can to reach this goal, and I will see my doctor/surgeon later this week, and I hope he can give me a good report as my rehab continues.

Now as for New Year's Eve, I did not make the actual ball drop ...

Not only didn't I make it, but I missed it by several hours.

I was watching the annual "Twilight Zone" marathon on TV, and I admit that I com0letely conked out st 7:30 p.m.

My wife fell asleep slightly before me, so both of us were in dreamland way before the actual ball drop. I do believe.our so made it, but not my wife and I.

The next time I woke up was at about 1 a.m. or so, so I missed everything--

But at least I was able to get some shut eye.

And a few hours earlier on December 31, I did something that I had vowed to do for decades, but never really got a chance to carry out.

Back in 1964--the first Beatles 45 thst my mother ever bought my sister and I was "Do You Want To Know a Secret."

It had a nice picture sleeve with caricatures of John, Paul, George and Ringo.

Through the years, and through all the moves and all else that has happened the past nearly 60 yesrs, that record got lost in the shuffle, and I never replaced it in my collection.

My son bought me an eBay gift card for Hanukkah, and as I pored through the various listings, I checked to see if anyone was offering this record for purchase or bid.

Usually, this record goes for a ridiculous price with the sleeve, and again, there were some completely ridiculous prices posted for this record.

But then I saw a listing thst was actually reasonable, and after going back and forth.on this for literally hours, I finally took the plunge ... and I should have the record in my possession by mid-month.

The gift card more than covered the total cost, so I am happy that I could finally, at long last, fill in this hole in my collection

And yes, that is me in the above photo, dating from 1964 or 1965, when I was seven or eight years old.

My sister sent me this photo last week, and yes, that is my old stomping grounds--Rochdale Village, South Jamaica, Queens, New York--in the background.

The only question I had about the photo was this: what am I holding?

It looked like a hat to me, and when I put up the photo on Facebook, people agreed with me, going into more detail about the type of hat it was: one of those old winter hats that almost looked like an old aviators hat, with flaps to cover your ears.

I'll buy that explanation, because I have no other explanation about what I was holding in this photo.

Yes, 2024 has started off nicely; nothing terrible here, I have physical therapy coming up tomorrow, and I am focused on getting better ...

And these little things I described to you might be a bit unimportant on the surface, but if they help me to get to where I want to be, then they ARE important.

I haven't really smiled in months.