As this is my last diary of 2021, I thought I would mention some highlights and lowlights of 2021 in my life.
We will begin with the highlights.
The Islanders had a really good year going to the Stanley Cup semi-finals for the second straight year. While they made it one win closer than last year, they still lost in a one goal game. As extra bonus to this highlight, I got to be in the Coliseum to see the team win not one but two playoff series. This was something I never thought I would get to experience. It was truly everything I imagined. Game 6 of the semi-finals was a game for the ages as the team came back down two goals to tie and the win in overtime. This year the team opened their new arena. It has almost everything a fanbase and team could ask for and was literally 30 years in the making.
In the summer, my family and I went to one of the immersive Van Gogh experiences.
This year also saw me take my postponed birthday trip to London. I had an awesome time though there was a bittersweet aspect to the trip that I won’t go into.
I did my first bit of creative writing in over 20 years. I wrote a poem I shared on Dkos, worked on rewriting the lyrics to a Broadway number and began a second poem. I should finish both of those in the New Year.
To finish out the year, I with my family won a Home Alone trivia contest. First prize was a gift certificate to the restaurant and a replica of the turtledoves ornaments from the sequel. Being Jewish, I have no real need for the ornaments but maybe I will give one away to a friend like in the movie.
Oh yeah, I began regularly writing for Top Comments again.
The lowlights.
Due to the pandemic, I still haven’t seen a Broadway show since 2019. This is, by far, the longest I have ever gone without going to Broadway. I did see a couple of musicals in London. A regrettable staging of Joseph though the actor playing Joseph was excellent and Come From Away which probably wasn’t the best choice for a birthday show for someone from Long Island. Still the show was very well done. I also have not been on a cruise since 2018 either. No Thanksgiving trip to visit family in Florida either though who knows if I will ever want to go back to that death trap of a state.
My depression has been back with a vengeance this year especially following my London trip. It is the main reason I restarted writing here regularly. The extreme depression I fell into after my trip was the launching point for my creative writing burst. I am trying to keep up with that as a way of managing my emotions better.
After having three seasons of rare success, the Islanders have returned to Earth and are somewhat of a disaster. Part of this stems from the lack of any clear Covid rules early in the season when the Isles were forced to play four games with half an NHL roster as Covid spread through the team before the League finally gave them a week pause at the end of November. A couple other teams had a more limited spread and played but one team had 8 players out and was shut down much faster than the Isles. While the League postponed games more readily in December, it’s still a mess. The other was the 13 game road trip to begin the season that saw the team cross time zones multiple times so they could complete the building for opening night.
Lastly, I had planned to go to Atlantic City for New Year’s. It has been a few years since I have been, but with Omicron spreading rapidly, I think we will just stay home again.
Here’s to a better 2022!
Finally condolences to the family of former Senate Majority Leader Reid on his passing. He will be missed.
Diarist reserves all rights to his original writing only. Community material is not covered by this ©
Now a word from out sponsor and onto the Tops!
Here at Top Comments we welcome longtime as well as brand new Daily Kos readers to join us at 10pm Eastern. We strive to nourish community by rounding up some of the site's best, funniest, most mojo'd & most informative commentary, and we depend on your help!! If you see a comment by another Kossack that deserves wider recognition, please send it either to topcomments at gmail or to the Top Comments group mailbox by 9:30pm Eastern. Please please please include a few words about why you sent it in as well as your user name (even if you think we know it already :-)), so we can credit you with the find!
Top Comments for December 28, 2021
A couple highlights tonight:
Lex Lurker highlights two comments for tonight. One from Long Lines on the US being a “client state of Russia” under Orange Julius. The other from pines of rome on Senator Reid’s legacy.
TOP MOJO December 27, 2021
First comments and tip jars excluded. Thank you mik for the mojo magic! For those of you interested in How Top Mojo Works, please see his diary on FAQing Top Mojo.
TOP PICTURES December 27, 2021
Click any picture to be taken to the full comment or picture. Thank you to the wonderful dKos staff who made it possible to continue this feature in memory of jotter!