Well it is New Years Eve. In a few hours 2023 will transition to 2024 and all the glory and grief of the year will be behind us while we begin to mold a new year into something we all hope will be a better year but suspect that it will not.

Our world continues to convulse from something called Climate Change, the politics of our own country like most of the world sits atop a keg of powder on which the fuse has been lit and it may just explode this year, disease continues to befuddle our medical community leaving millions of people in varying stages of pain, suffering and grief and more than ever in the history of humanity brother fights brother ever arguing that I am right in my beliefs, faith, outlook and everything else and you are wrong.

And yet we continue as only the human race seems to be able to do.

And this new year that approaches brings us a clean slate, a new beginning which historically we have squandered. How sad we are as inhabitants of this planet. A planet that will, by the time the new year gets here, have a population of over 8 billion yet only has the resources to deal with about half that number.

I will try to do my part to make life better in 2024 by doing the simplest things. I will continue to allow everyone to not need to be the same as me, to have differing ideas and philosophies of life even if they are not striving to do the same. I will continue to strive to find at least one happy point in every day be it the smile of a child, the sun rising and setting, or the pleasure that comes when you bite into a piece of fruit and it explodes in you mouth with sweetness. I will actively seek out the happiness and goodness that exist in every day I am alive.  

And, I will continue to write about my life, the good and the bad, to share the experience of being Jon Newman with those of you who find an interest in my doing so here in this blog.

My readers here make up the tiniest microcosm of of humanity. Yet, they are some of the most wonderful people that I have had the pleasure to know. They are, in many ways, the best social outlet that I could ever hope for and I thank each of you for this past year we have had together and look forward to the year to come with all its trials and tribulations and, yes, the sadness and the happiness that it will bring.

You are all very special to me in so many ways. You call me on my shit when I get going and you stroke my ego when appropriate. I think that is as good a definition of what a friend is as can be.

So, my friends, the happiest New Year possible for you and for our world at large.

 Well here it is, Christmas day and I send you all the happiest holiday wishes there are. And, of course, wishes for the best and most peaceful New Year ever.

Without getting in to what really deserves to be its own length posting about this holiday and what it means to me just let me say that I celebrate the Christmas holiday in recognition of what it was originally meant to be. Not the commercial mess that it is nor the my religion is the only one that permeates this season these days. But, rather, a celebration of a man who's teachings and ideas changed this world forever. Maybe someday we will evolve (devolve) back to what it is supposed to be and the world will finally have peace. But, until then, all we can do is individually celebrate and hope for peace on earth and good will toward ALL men.

Have a great rest of 2023 and the beginnings of an even greater 2024.

 LURKIE LIVES!!!!! Yes, the Old Lurker is alive and in the same grouchy spirits that we have all come to know and love. A brand new posting on his blog with and the groaning and moaning that makes the holiday shine. Welcome back Lurkie, don't be a stranger now that you have broken the ice. Oh, and a happy and horrible holiday to you from me, my Timmy and the one great love of my live...Mr. Cincinnati. And, to all the rest of you a Happy Christmas or what ever else you might celebrate at this most joyous time of year.

 Remember how this time of year used to be filled with joy and the anticipation of good food and family's together, cousins you only saw a few times a year and aunts and uncles and grandparents. Oh, and the promise of a seriously obese old man with a beard coming down the chimney even if you had no fireplace for a chimney to be above bringing you gifts that you wanted or didn't really want or just something new. I am pretty sure we were all not even 10 years old yet.

Well, now in my mid 70's I find that I just hope the world does not finally destroy itself while the United States supports the destruction of an entire group of people simply because they do not either believe or support those things we do and they continue to attempt to do the same to us for the same reasons before the New Year.

My apartment building is filled with the sounds of the season, the glamor and glitter of shiny colored glass balls hanging on pine trees that would be better if left uncut instead of being brought indoors where they will inevitably die and dry and many will burst into flame and destroy a home and perhaps a few lives.

But there is a bit of redemption. We do have the Hallmark Countdown To Christmas, we do have a multitude of football contest to watch and cheer about and fall asleep during. There are untold numbers of things to do a participate in across the country. Things like Christmas Markets, productions of Christmas Classics, quartets on street corners and the big red kettle gathering funds to feed and house those who need it.

And it a mere 22 days there will be gatherings in churches both large and small of families to celebrate, even if just for those few moments, what the holiday is supposed to be about. Hope, Love and Joy promised by every faith and delivered by so few.

Do I sound a bit cynical? Perhaps I have spent enough time on the Earth to finally begin to see through the hypocrisy of the holiday spirit spewed by so many. And yet, there is still a part of me that really does want to believe in what the holiday season is supposed to be all about.

And so, I send you all my warmest holiday greetings in the hope the you and yours, be they a real or a chosen family, are able to gather together and share a meal and perhaps a few gifts and most importantly be able to tell one another that you love each other and wish them only the happiest of days to come.