Rant #3,857: There Are Roses Somewhere In This World

Not much to tell you about New Year's Eve.

I managed to stay up after watching AEW Wrestling and then a supposed Baby Boomers Rock Show on WPIX here--the latter of which was godawful, with audio and video problems, especially early on--and then at about 11:55 p.m., I joined my son in our living room and watched the ball drop.

Once it dropped, I dropped off to bed and sleep.

On New Year's Day, I woke up to find out that my sister is under the weather and we would not going to her house today.

I went down to get the newspaper, and it was on the snow covered sidewalk, so I had to go outside to get it. It is normally hung on the door to the building where our apartment is, so I just have to reach around the door and get it; this time, I had to go out and get it out of the snow.

Then after that, I tried to turn on my computer, and for some reason, it would not go on as quickly as it normally does. It did eventually boot up, by I also had a difficult time turning it off the prior night, so ... 2026 might be time for a new computer, as I think the computer itself is telling me that it is not long for this world.

Then I had to clean off my car that was filled with a thin layer of snow, nothing that terrible, but since I hate the snow to begin with, quite annoying.

This was followed by a drive to my sister's house to return a table and chairs we had borrowed. The main roads were good, except, of course, one of the main roads leading to her house, which was very icy and slippery, so I drove pretty slowly there and back.

And then after seeing if there was any work for me to do today beyond what I already done on that morning--there was just a little bit--I went into Facebook, and I saw more and more hate speech, as if the changeover to 2026 meant absolutely nothing to these jerks.

So 2026 has not been much different than 2025 was, even during its very first day.

At least I was paid from work and received my Social Security payment with the increase attached to it ...

That $35 or so will get me an extra tank of gas each month, so I won't look a gift horse in the mouth--

Even though Medicare went up, just about wiping out the pittance of an increase we all received.

Like I said, in spite of my own thoughts, absolutely nothing has changed in the new year, and I do mean NOTHING.

It is the usual "same old, same old" over in my neck of the woods, and I wonder if you felt the same way about the new year, even on its very first day.

In July, we will all be celebrating the 250th anniversary of this great country--

And I am hoping by then, I can say that things were different--and better--from the previous year ...

But based on these early returns, I wouldn't bet Betsy Ross nor the Stars and Stripes on it--

Would you?

Have a good weekend, and I will speak to you again on Monday.