The 17-year-cycle is happening

The cicada invasion is on.. They litter the roof of my car.. the ground.. they dive bomb your head.. they are crushed on your windshield.. they are flying in the air, and often during the day, you hear them in the distance singing their song of sex. It’s been 17 years since they were here.. and it will not be until 2030 when they come back again.

I wanted to place something into perspective.. 

The cicadas have not been here along the East Coast of the United States since 1996.. So much has changed since then.

In 1996, I was just 16 .. thinking life would be something it didn’t turn out to be..
Bob Dole thought he’d be president..
Dave Letterman thought his ratings would never sink…

1996..
Boris Yelstin was president of Russia.
And the United States had the Olympics..

There was a blizzard in 96
And lots of concerns about global warming.. And now in 2013, warnings on global earth changes are becoming reality..

The big show in 1996 was THIRD ROCK FROM THE SUN. We don’t really like comedy in 2013.. we’re into drama and torture porn.. we like scandal and sadness… I wonder what that says about us..

The Bosnian war was escalating… Massacres of Hutus by Tutsis in Burundi take place, with more than 450 killed in a few days.

Today Syria is adrift into chaos and darkness…

APOLLO 13 soared in 96..
The White House is down  in ‘13..

Ellen hadn’t come out of the closet yet. This year Bert and Ernie are coming out in THE NEW YORKER.

On March 13, 1996: Unemployed former shopkeeper Thomas Hamilton walks into the Dunblane Primary School in Scotland and opens fire, killing 16 infant school pupils and one teacher before fatally shooting himself… We have these events still taking place today.. Horrible events take place no matter the decade, the century, or the moment..

The United States failed at the UN in June 1996 to get enough other nations to support action against Iraq. We know full well what happened since then…

What will the world look like in 2030 when the cicadas rise again?

Will continents be under water? Will we have ice in the Arctic? Will bees be alive..? Will Monsanto destroy everything?

People who were born in 1996 are 17 today. They are entering the workforce, or going to college.. They will be 17 years into that by 2030…What world will they be creating, inheriting, and changing?

My son is only 2.. He does not appreciate cicadas beyond the point where he knows they are bugs, or as he calls them, spiders. But in 2030, when  I’m going ‘over the hill’ in life, he will be in his prime.. I hope to God he and his generation have security, safety, freedom, and peace.

But if the last 17 years are any indication, 2030 will be just as nuts if not more than the things were in 2013, or 1996…

Hope they aren’t.. 

But while those cicadas sleep dormant for the next 17 years…..what will occur on above them? 

Wow. It’s here. 2013. 

Wonder what it felt like in 1913???

Do we have anything in common with the presiding generation a century ago? 

I think so. We still hold on to each other when midnight strikes and sing Auld Lang Syne as loud as we can.. And that’s something, right?

A ROCKIN' NEW YEAR WITHOUT DICK CLARK JUST DOESN'T SEEM RIGHT, DOES IT?

Welcome to the final minutes of the year 2012. Yes. Already. It was so looked forward to, and it is ending so quickly…

It’s minus Dick Clark this year, though. And that is notable. Fergie is showering ABC viewers tonight in the pre-game with Dick Clark related footage. Donna Summers is playing while the Doors are swaying. Yes, it’s a stroll down amnesia lane in the fast lane. Dick Clarkless 2013. No countdown with the master of Times Square this year.

The show goes on, of course. With Ryan Seacrest to help. Before Seacrest will be ‘out’ there will be a number of events that occur. A massive ball will drop in Times Square. Revelers will kiss their hearts out.. then race for port-a-potties and their hotel rooms. Maybe stop by a pub and have a cup of cheer..

All around the world, the events are taking place. Some places on Earth are already 2013. The Pope will have a homily about how peace could be achieved. Fireworks will fly high into the night sky.. People will embrace and raise their glasses of chosen adult or child beverage. And we will all be one (in a number of different time zones, of course.)

This is, after all, New Year’s Eve. It is a special kind of night.

Recall your fondest new years memories… I know you have them. It may be eating too much turkey in a bar somewhere in the deep dark mines of the Coal Region (the turkey was good. I swear).. or maybe it’s a quiet time in your own home with the people you love. Or maybe it’s working.. Hotels, bars, restaurants.. they are all open tonight. It’s a big night for the service industry… And depending on what services you’re looking for, and what services are being offered, maybe you’re even being serviced, I hope you’re all having a blast.

It seems like yesterday that 2000 hit us like a wrecking ball. Remember those days? People were worried computers would shut down. They stockpiled water and food. Sounds similar to the doomsayers of December 21, 2012, doesn’t it? The only difference is, back then, we partied like it was 1999. This go around we’ll be lamenting the late 90s and wishing they could come back all over again. Gas at a buck a gallon.. milk around 2.. life happy. But was it?

I don’t know.

After all, think of another fond saying people have on New Year’s Eve: “Out with the old, in with the new!” “This year will be better than the last!” 

Is any year better?

Is any year new?

It’s all relative, in a way.

It’s only a calender that tells us we’ve swung from one set of 365 to the next. But the events of the day are still stagnant. Reality doesn’t tell time well. We simply measure our existence in the boundaries of it..

But what is time? What are hours, and minutes.. and days and years? I don’t know much about what they are besides what I grew up knowing. And the earth, as it rotates into infinity, allows us to make certain that time is told.

Time is a magazine.

And it’s an enemy. 
So often.

And now, like we’ve done countless times before, we’re going to hold our lovers close, call the parents, and hope to keep a couple friends in the process. We have been down this road before. It seems very familiar to me, and I am sure to you.

As the clock ticks down the final minutes of 2012 here on the East Coast of the planet earth, let’s truly hope that 2013 is one that brings all those things we’ve wished for since we began wishing around this time of year: World peace, love across the continents, economy stability, good news, no storms, laughter, and memories to be fond of. 

What we may find, as we herald in 2014, is that ‘13 was a mixture of good and bad, positive, and negative. We’ll look back on 12 months of war and hate. It will be peppered with stories of humanity and love, perseverance and kindness. And that’s just life as we know it. Living in America. And at the beginning of the millennium…  (2013 still somewhat counts as a beginning, no?)

Since we’ve been down the road before of resolutions and hopes, let’s just calm ourselves down this go around and take it in stride. Don’t put too much pressure on a calender change to change your life. But certainly don’t give up trying to make it.

So happy new year. Raise a glass. Toast the past. Love always. Love deeply. Love actually.

2013 PREDICTIONS

Some really great things happened in 2012. We landed a rover on Mars, with success, and we now have the potential to beam back information in real time. Images of the red planet appear more like a Southwest desert. That is absolutely amazing.. 

There were some other great things in 2012. But it seemed shrouded by those events that were not so great. 

I wonder what amount of media influence takes place to keeps us from seeing the bright spots in life. 

Yes there is war, chaos, climate change, and fraud. But there is also honesty, goodness, love, and beauty. It abounds. 

People have fond memories of the past. Often their recollection isn’t 100% correct. Some people think they 80s were fun. Others recall poverty and constant fear of nuclear war. Some think the 90s were great. But others lost their jobs due to NAFTA and worried about the year 2000. It’s all relative. Before I get into this year’s predictions, I want to review last year’s predictions. I wrote,

Mitt Romney will be the Republican nominee. Newt Gingrich will crash. Ron Paul will run as a third party… but won’t be a major factor. Barack Obama will be the president for the next four years after his victory in November 2012.
North Korea will launch missiles to threaten the United States. Kim Jong Il dead.. Un here. Ugh. 
The tension in the Middle East will dramatically escalate in 2012. Iran, Israel.. Syria.. No nation will appear stable. 
Lots of people will begin to think the end times are upon us. Not only due to the Mayan calender end in December 2012 but because of strange world events Gas prices will soar.
The stock market will have major upticks and downward crashes. 
Unemployment claims will continue to fall.. Maybe to 8% or lower. But the real unemployment number will surge into the 30% range. The economy will look like it’s recovery but it will not.

Not bad! Mitt Romney did lose. North Korea did try to elevate their threat level with missile launches, Israel and Syria did become crisis areas, and the real unemployment is surging. I was wrong on gas prices, and on the stock market. 

2012 over. 
2013 here we come. 

Predictions for the new year, in no particular order:

• The fiscal cliff will not be avoided. Congress and the White House will become wreckless in their political partisanship. While economic turmoil will not be avoided, it will not be as bad as some predict. Though taxes will go up on everyone in some manner. 


• North Korea will amplify their threat. They will attempt to scare their neighbors to the South and could elicit a forceful response from the world.


• 2013 is not a year of luck. March may be the worst. 


• Bad weather will dominate news in 2013. Hurricanes will strike the United States. Tornadoes will be abundant. Large snowstorms will hit in the winter. But the drought will continue and food prices will surge.


• Technology will take surprisingly huge advancements in 2013. Don’t be surprised if by next December the biggest gift of the year will be something that gets implanted in the human body. 


• A comet in November will be as bright as the moon. End of the world groups will latch on to it. Unfortunately some suicidal end of the world groups may go too far in their fears..


• By next Christmas we will have fewer malls, fewer stores, and fewer jobs. There are no big employment surges that will occur. Instead, state governments throughout the nation will suffer big layoffs. 
  
  The final prediction: In 2014, God willing, we will be here, judging that happened in 13. And when we do, we will lament another quick year. We will kiss as the ball drops. We will all be another year older. And we will all wonder what 2014 will bring. 
  Time does, after all, go by rather fast..