Exeunt 2024

2024 comes to an end.  I am staying in tonight...did have options, but 1) I am tired (not having slept well); 2) I am feeling something of a cold; 3) the weather is meh (very old person, I know), and 4) there are plenty of things to do here -- a pile of documentaries and movies to get through.  I also decided to make some peanut butter cookies for the brother-in-law as my sister invited me over for pork loin tomorrow; I was told not to bring anything but that just will not do!  I am disappointed in myself for not doing more -- reading, watching stuff, chores, etc.  To be sure, I guess I did a lot, but I could have done more... not that I believe in NY resolutions and such, but if I had one, it would be to be more disciplined and achieve more things.  

As it is, I will have read 52 books this year, having finished Rickey tonight.  Quite good; he was an interesting character.  I can see why teams wanted him -- the OBP, the running, the stealing -- but also why they didn't, as he could be...different and difficult.  To be sure, compared to a lot of people, he was... quite fine, but people do concentrate on what a player does not do and seldom on what he does.  My goal was 50, so I am ahead, but... yet another thing on which I could do better.  Or read thinner tomes, though that is sort of cheating.

Demolition of the bathroom began in earnest today; no plumber, but the vanity and sink is gone, the medicine chest is gone (leaving me with a Pittsburgh potty), the shower curtain, the molding... Thursday they will be back with a full crew and they will start on the walls, the shower, the rest.  It is about time, and even though it will be odd having people trucking around, having them move my truck over in the garage to store crap (I should move stuff around to give them more room)...well, there was some palpable excitement at Chateau Mattie as stuff was coming down.  I would hope it is done in three weeks, though I have my doubts.  I mean, I want it done, but I know it will take time.

Bob Lefsetz, the Man Who Was ‘So Mean’ to Taylor Swift - WSJ
I need to get on this guy's list!  More seriously, dare I say he seems curmudgeonly, but...has a point or two?

How Donald Trump transformed mass culture - POLITICO
Um...maybe?  I mean, for one, we saw this the other way under Obama, so some of this is just reversion to the mean, and some of it is just there being a new zeitgeist in the White House, so the GOP side is a bit ascendant.  Given the Electoral College and voting results, there may be something more to this, but color me skeptical that it will last.  I would quote "Ozymandias" here but I think we get the point!