Well, dear readers, I have breaking bombshell news – it is 2026! Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, it is 2026 and not only is it 2026, it is January, and it is my fervent hope and prayer that 2026 will be a year filled with health, wealth, happiness, creativity, and all things bright and beautiful, and that January will be a month filled with health, wealth, happiness, creativity, and all things bright and beautiful. There, I said it and I’m glad and I don’t care who knows it. Yes, last night we said farewell 2025, welcome 2026, and today we shorten that to welcome 2026. As has been the case over the past decade, our once festively festive Annual Rockin’ New Year’s Eve Bash has gotten less Bashy and way less attended with way less postings. Last year, for example, we did manage to get to twenty-eight pages of postings. I’d venture to say that this year we’ll be far less than that. Everyone wants to go to bed early, like 7:00, whereas I, like Wildcat, likes to do what takes my fancy, which is actually celebrate the incoming year with dear readers – and we did have several here and that was indeed fun. But the old days are old and the new days are new and time marches on and on marches time in a reciprocal arrangement. The last day of 2025 was nothing to write home about, but I wrote home anyway, just to be a contrary contrarian. First of all, I got eleven hours of excellent sleep with weird dreams. Once up, I did have a lot of e-mails to answer, then I ordered food and it arrived in fifteen minutes – turkey sandwich and two latkes, both very good. Then I dressed myself, brushed the teeth, and moseyed on over to the mail place, which I had no idea closed at three. I arrived at 3:05. The door was locked. I peered inside and one of the employees saw me and waved it was okay. A customer was heading to the door but instead of just opening it, he actually asked the staff if it was okay, since they were closed. What was he going to do – stay in there until I walked away? Block me? They told him it was fine and instead of opening the door, he asked again, just to make sure. Finally, he opened the door and as I walked past him I said, “Thanks for opening the door – but do understand that unlike you who are just returning Amazon packages I actually pay a good deal of money every year to have a mail box here, and for that they give me this thing called a KEY to the front door, which I could have used, of course.” He didn’t even look at me as he rushed to his car because perhaps he thought I was a violent person who would whip out my Kleenex and hit him with it. Anyway, I picked up the other important envelope and came right back home. It was lightly raining for most of the day and into the evening – I think it’s still raining out there.
Of course, getting such a late start to the day, I knew I wouldn’t have time for a movie or anything. I did doze off for a short time, did a last-minute Instacart order so we could have chocolate donuts today, and then that arrived and I put the few items away. Then I made the tuna pasta salad, which is now chillin’ in the fridge. I thought about getting in the fridge so I could chill, but I don’t fit. I activated the dishwashing machine so that is still ongoing as I write these here notes, which I’m doing early so I can do my usual contemplation thing, which is coming momentarily and will be much shorter than usual. Then I’ll open the new bottle of champagne so it’s ready for pouring at midnight, to ring in the New Year with a single sip of champagne, a yearly ritual. Okay, I shall return shortly.
Contemplation done – short and sweet. And now, the waiting game for 2026, after which I’ll finish writing these here notes.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
Today, I’ll try to be up by ten and I’ll dive right into the new book and try to do at least eight to ten pages by end of evening. I’ll have to stop around two to shave and shower, and then at three-fifteen or thereabouts I’ll start making the faux chicken stroganoff. I have a pound and a half of chicken and two pounds of pasta – double the amount I usually make, so double the ingredients, too. This time, when the pasta is done, I’m going to leave the chicken in the sauce in the frying pan and put the pasta in with it – if I leave them separate, the sauce and chicken tend to dry out. Whenever I watch food videos, they always put the pasta in with the sauce. People should arrive around four and we’ll go to seven. Once that’s done, I’ll probably relax for a bit and then write some more.
Tomorrow, I have to do some banking, then I’ll write, then around six I’ll mosey on over to the theater to check out our set and make sure we’re ready with sound for when we begin. The plan is to get through the show but mostly get the actors used to the set and how everything functions. Saturday and Sunday are four to five hour rehearsals and I’m hoping to get two run-throughs in or at least one and then cleanup for the remaining time.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up by ten, start a new book, shave and shower, prepare the faux chicken stroganoff, have a small get-together, write more, then relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What will you be doing this fine New Year’s Day? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, as we say welcome 2026 and welcome January – and it is my fervent hope and prayer that all of 2026 and all of January will be filled with health, wealth, happiness, creativity, and all things bright and beautiful.