And it’s not stopping. The quakes in the state have been making news lately, especially within the last few days. And now just this morning, New Years day, another shake has hit the state. This one a 4.2..
According the U.S. Geological Survey’s website, the quake happened at 5:39 a.m. in an area 3 miles northeast of Edmond and 16 miles north-northeast of Oklahoma City.
There were no immediate reports of injury or damage.
There used to be a few dozen quakes in the state prior to 2012. After fracking took hold, there have been 800 in 2015. 800.. 800..
And surely more in 2016 to go.
Not that fracking would EVER do such things…. (Remember, at one time when those against fracking said earthquakes would be a danger, they were called kooks and loons.) Who’s kooky now.
I want to sit down less in 2016.I sat down a lot this year.. Whether it was due to work, due to personal habits changing, or to my body aging, I found myself on a couch a lot more than I did walking, jogging, or being active. I want to change that.
I also want to change my attitude.
There are a number of things about attitudes, in general, that should be changed. There are times when, in my opinion, it’s worthwhile to see a specialist in all fields. Medicine. Astrology. Religion. Psychology.. and yes, even the voice in your own head—pick your favorite if you have multiple. Sit down with that inner self, get to know it.
That’s enough about me for a minute. Let’s talk about you.
How many times have you looked in a mirror and really truly not seen the person you are looking at. You’re checking your hair, or makeup. You’re making sure your concealer effectively hid away the pimple or scar.. but are you really ever getting to know the person you stare at? And what is that reflection? It’s not even you.. it’s the mirror image, yes, but it’s just an image. The real you is locked behind your eyes of whatever color. The eyes are the window to the soul—the mirror is a reflection of the body.
Get deep in yourself as the year ends and reflect the soul out. Make the body image be less important.
Use your phone less in 2016. Not saying you should stop, but give yourself a phone free day. Actually take a walk in nature and look at trees instead of photographing them.
My wife normally is the photographer of the family. This Christmas, she did not take video or images of my son opening his giant ImagineX T-Rex dinosaur with shooting missile teeth. While we may miss the image in the future, we were still both ‘in the moment.’ The image may stay with us forever—that hopeful and amazed glimmer on a child’s face when he realized Santa did show up and the cookies were eaten. I am not saying to stop taking pictures in 2016, just maybe not 100. Ten may due just fine.
Back to me.
I believe 2016 may be just fine.
I am going to say no to fear next year.
I also run a website called Night Terror News—a bit of tongue in cheek name for a site that comments on society, pop culture, entertainment, and current events. The Night Terrors are normally not real, though. There is an image I have posted before, shown here, of a monster reading news to someone frightened, locked behind a window I envision is taped shut with duct tape. That is the modern way of delivering information. Check your nightly news shows. Between the ads for prescription drugs during breaks, there is a healthy dose of fear and pestilence, disease, and murder. And politics. Who can forget politics..?
Maybe I need to pick just ONE WEBSITE for 2016..?
But the fear isn’t real. The events may be, but the reaction you and I have to it is our collective choice.
In 2016, let’s choose wisely. Let’s make it extraordinary.
And yes, every once and a while, let’s slowly drink a glass of red wine, increase the raw vegetables, and cut down on meat if not rid yourself of the carcinogens completely. You’d be calmer, happier, less fearful, and stronger in 2017 if you did such.
And speaking of 2017, that will be here before you know it, too.
So take a breather and look back in the mirror. 2015 is going…going…soon gone.
Hold on to ’16 as long as you can, changes come around real soon and make us women and men.
This is about the time of January 11.. It looks like a big storm on the East Coast with lots of rocking and rolling.
Cold air may be needed to make it snow.. But either way something big will be happening.
My son got sick this morning, right before his final day of day care for the year..
As I write this, he’s watching Netflix on the couch and relaxing. I am home from work and blogging in between worried looks each time he makes a move, just in case I have to rush back to couchside to ensure the garbage can is secure while his body’s natural state does its deed to rid itself of whatever virus is running its course.
It somehow seems fitting. Ending the year with a few projectile dispatches.
Think about it.. New years is about cleaning out the mind, body, and soul. While a four and a half year old may not get the ramifications and meaning of calendar changes or balls dropping in Times Square, it’s almost like his little body decided to take part in a ritualistic cleanse..
Yes, maybe I am being over dramatic. But my over-drama has improved since my son was born. I fondly–sarcasm there–recall the very first time my son had a flu. He was about 2, and the vomit started occurring around 3am. And a lot of it.. in the midst of the cleaning, it almost immediately began happening to me. It was gruesome, actually. A mixture of awfulness. My wife got sick, too.. but not to the extent of dad and son. The air was so bad we wanted to just move out.
Each time he got sick since, I was calmer each time. That calmness may not last forever, but the years of training my mind to accept sickness as a part of life, and a part of the body’s actual defense mechanism to heal, has culminated with amazing senses. Like this…. This morning when my son sat up, he looked funny. I was sitting next to him and saw something in his expression.. I knew. I said, “You okay?” A nod ‘yes’ occurred.. I didn’t believe it. I immediately held up the garbage can and, like an amazing 1990s Michael Jordan basketball shot, he projected refuse into the can. 3 points! Live action dad hero. Maybe the one time only in life that will happen.. but moms and dads get to be keenly aware of what each expression on their child’s face means. I knew this morning what the worried look meant. “It” was coming..
My wife and I have dinner plans tonight with friends for new years eve. That may be called off now due to unforeseen bodily circumstances. The first mission of the day is to effectively utilize Febreeze and Lysol where it needs it most. Already, every door handle was disinfected. Waiting on the current room until the dust settles.. The Twilight Zone marathon is on, too. Not sure if my son will give a break from Netflix, or fall asleep for a bit, in time for me to tune in to a few amazing Twilight Zones on SYFY, but that’s life. Life happens when you least expect it.
When you have dinner plans.. When the calendar changes..
So in the spirit of my son at this moment: Cleanse yourself of the trials, tribulations, and pains of 2015. Sixteen is a brand new chance to get something right that has been going wrong for some time. Only YOU know what is wrong. Or your body. And if it’s internal, get ready with a garbage can and some Gatorade.
May your travels be safe and your new years eve be the last day you to worry about the things you worried about in 2015.
There is anti-GMO. Anti chemicals.. And in 2016, the next phase of the tech future will be the anti-techs, those who embrace a 1980s MAC and love fax machines… those who disobey the powers that be and want a washing machine WITHOUT WI-FI ..
They keep a little paper over top of their laptop camera just in case big brother or an advertiser is watching..
Deep down they make sense to you. And in 2016, you may just join in the chorus of rebellion against gadgets..
The year you’ll dread all forms of media.
Politics is on the way. Donald Trump is coming. Hillary’s arrow is going to be dancing on your night time TV ads.. All forms of media are going be hit hard with political advertising.. there is no stopping it. Pop culture will be transformed into a nightmare of debate and endless punditry. It’s coming.
The predictions from last year. Now to be judged.
I wrote the following ‘predictions’ in my 2014 review..
The campaign for the White House 2016 will become very annoying. Straw polls, debates.. early PR disasters. Jeb Bush . Hillary Clinton .. we will be dreading 2015. A dark horse will emerge and, even more importantly, perhaps third party candidates will start becoming more acceptable to Americans. It better happen soon.
Sort of right! Donald Trump was the 'dark horse’ who emerged. Trump may not be the dark horse you wanted but he certainly has shaken things up.
President Obama will look very good by Christmas 2016. The economic turnaround will be slow to start by steamroll by spring, with GDP edging higher by the third quarter. Construction will rebound, at least in some sectors, and Americans will be hopeful again.
Somewhat right. There still seem to be some issues. Interest rates.. weak jobs but more of them.. a shaky economy that may actually be in recession in 2016.
There are a few events that will make us fearful. They will come from other nations. They may be terror related, or perhaps just the wrap of daily headlines of murder and mayhem on other continents will make us tremble …
This was general, perhaps. But there were things that made us fear. Name terrorism in Paris and then San Bernardino.
Ebola is not over.
It never will be. I was too general. This can be considered insignificant.
The weather will be calmer than predicted. But large storms will strike when least expected in places not used to them. Global warming has caused chaos.. we have become used to the chaos but areas not accustomed to it will be hurt.
Not really. It was warmer than expected. But there were lots of weird storms and freak incidents.
People will continue to stop going to theaters for movies. SONY’s release of the INTERVIEW will set a trend.. people will stream. It’s the future.
STAR WARS, THE MARTIAN, JURASSIC WORLD all blew this prediction out of the water. I was dead wrong. And funny enough, this was the year I went to the movies the most in the last five. If I could go back and revise, I would and say “2015 will be the year people turn back to theaters”..
There will be a number of earthquakes in the Midwest. Some will be sizable, others barely that. But each one will make us wonder if the New Madrid fault line is waking up..
Oklahoma.
The typhoon season in the Pacific will be dangerous in 2015.
Some of the strongest storms ever. The strongest storm ever. This was a year for wild typhoon drama.
THE PREDICTIONS FOR 2016
Donald Trump will be the nominee for Republicans. He will choose Marco Rubio. Hillary will be for the Dems.. her choice as a running mate: Charlie Crist.
Terrorism will be the top story by the end of 2016. As will the fear it generates.
There will be a medical development with cancer that will give hope to millions who are afflicted.
There will be a bigger emphasis on open-source artificial intelligence. It will be 'power to the people,’ with the dawn of the drones. Get ready. They are coming.
GMO-free food will gain in popularity. But there will be increasingly and creative ways to mask GMO from consumers. It’s the year you’ll be deceived even more by fancy packages. Be smart and buy after research.
There will be less tech addiction in 2016. People have had enough. Phone free Sundays may turn into phone free weeks. People may give up on Facebook, except for the emergency chats..
Health–real health–will be en vogue in 2016. Not fad diets or fraud get thin quick schemes. But real long term health. This is the beginning of a new age of fitting in jeans and having a healthy heart.
The Olympics will not be without incident. Massive rains–flooding rains actually–may hit just in time in Brazil.
The economy that will matter in 2016: India. China will matter a lot less.
It will be hot. All year.. some of the hottest weather on the planet earth in centuries is on the way.
Those are my predictions. Sealed in HTML for a year. Maybe next year if we’re all still here we’ll see how I did.
The most ‘wrong’ video of the year.. has to be a girl farting the sounds of Chewbacca..
There is anti-GMO. Anti chemicals.. And in 2016, the next phase of the tech future will be the anti-techs, those who embrace a 1980s MAC and love fax machines… those who disobey the powers that be and want a washing machine WITHOUT WI-FI ..
They keep a little paper over top of their laptop camera just in case big brother or an advertiser is watching..
Deep down they make sense to you. And in 2016, you may just join in the chorus of rebellion against gadgets..
MOST CONVINCING GENDER BENDING OF THE YEAR
This belongs to Justin Bieber. The same Beebs who was nude this year online.. the same Beebs who did anything Beebs does. In 2015 he
And in my opinion, had a striking likeness to Monica Lewinsky..
BEST SHORT LIVED PARANORMAL RADIO OF THE YEAR
Again the prize goes to Art Bell for his show MIDNIGHT IN THE DESERT.
He also won this category in 2013 when he was on SIRIUS for 6 weeks. This year’s RADIO beat the record set in 13 but not by much. He quickly quit almost as fast as he started.. Will a return occur in ‘16? Maybe. But there may also be less of a desire for fans to listen with each quitting..
It almost was KRAMPUS. KRAMPUS was fun.. but the movie of this year is a dual pick. Because this is the first year I watched last year’s movie BABADOOK, I am going to have to choose that along with IT FOLLOWS..
Both movies gave a burst of creativity.. both movies had strange and sinister background stories.. both movies relied on a storyline more than a blood soaked script. And both movies gave hope to horror fans that new inspiration may be coming to a genre that is desperately in need of it.
Of course Rob Zombie is coming out with 31 soon. So any progress made in horror could crash with that. For now, though, both movies are great. See them. Even in 2016.
