01/01/2021 – J-Dub's Grin and Bear It

** Ahem **

Jilly wraps podium with pointer aka magical wand

Clears her throat again ** ahem**

Begins to speak

January 1, 2021

Dearly beloved,

We are gathered here today to pontificate about life in 2020. Isn’t pontificate the best word ever?!?!?. Say it with me “pontificate”. Can I get an amen?

Yeah buddy!

Blah, blah, blah, blah said in Charlie Brown adults garbled voices. When I start to talk about life in 2020, I am reminded that the year 2020 was not BAD. The year 2020 was the same as always. The more things change, the more they stay the same or some such platitude.

Gasp!

You say Blasphemy! You say 2020 was a bitch! You say the world almost ended! You say life in 2020 was a cluster! Pandemic and fires!! Politics!! You point fingers and search for someone to blame!

And when I say YOU, I mean the nameless faceless collective on both sides. Not you good people who may be reading this post. You are the independent thinkers of modern times. Those other yokels though … why not blame the inanimate 2020??

You say Huh? Why not? “You say, I only hear what I want to” Musical interlude …

Whew! Better. That Snickers was mighty tasty.

I have no idea what I’m going on about. I haven’t given a speech in ages. But boy how I loved public speaking back in the day. Little Jilly introvert loved to present to the masses. And I was pretty good at it too if I do say so myself.

Maybe what I did wasn’t really public speaking but instead training. I had over 330 Underwriters to get through various courses. Maybe I was really a presenter and not a speaker. Either way, I miss it. ALL of it. The nervous butterflies, the questions and interaction with the crowd. The role play and practicing. Another lifetime ago.

I do not mean to minimize the events of 2020 which are historical in fact. I’m simply trying to gain some perspective. For all I can control is my reaction to those events. Everything else is a crapshoot.

This post was written for #JusJoJan 2021. If you want to participate, here are the details. C’mon on in the water is fine 🙂

As always, more to come.

Some months ago “Unspeakable Things” by Jess Lourey was my free Kindle book of the month for being a Prime member. Ya I know, I sold my soul to the devil by becoming a Prime member and making Besos even more insanely rich than he already was but that’s a post for another day.

My reading has been off this year with March to June a dry desert until a re-read of “Andromeda Strain” pulled me out of my slump. With time off last week, I read for “just because” again and my free Kindle book was just the ticket. A plus was that “Unspeakable Things” was in the Goodreads books of the year contest. I got to see what all the hype was about.

No spoilers from me and this review is really just a ramble. The premise was that the author took a real life event and fictionalized it. She did the same for my December free Kindle Book “Bloodline” too. I started following the author to see if that is her gimmick but appears she has only done that twice.

Back to task … The setting was small town MN in the 1980s. A predator attacking young boys eventually killing one. There was quite a bit of sub-plots going on which made things hard to follow. Cassie the main protagonist was relatable to me having once been a teenage girl. Some universal themes going on throughout like haves and havenots, small town gossip, cliques in school, bully bus rides, friendships, hurry to grow up, love is love and “unspeakable things”. That part read to me as more 1970s key club than 1980s but some things carry over I guess. The end was abrupt but they got the culprit. Wonder if in real life the outcome was the same?

Anyhoo, I have forgone my star rating in favor of thumbs up or down. This book is two thumbs up. A recommended read. I finished it in less than 24 hours mainly because I was hostage at the car dealer while my car was being repaired. But I’ll take it. I need more days where “just because” reading is part of my life.

As always, more to come.