Friday, December 31, 2010

Mag 46 - FU, 2010!




Oh, you have been a difficult one, you son-of-a-bitch. Our time together has been epic, with given months drowned in sorrow, and many days punctuated by fears and tears. I am seething with fury at the thought of another hour in your company.

When I think of the cards you dealt us I am left with an overriding wish that cannot be fulfilled: I wish for a re-shuffling, only this time let Earth cut the cards. My memory of you will forever be bogged down in an unforgiving, stinking oil dragging on the airy feathers of what once was. Long live the (memory of) the Louisiana Brown Pelican, and all the etceteras struggling to survive in the Gulf ecosystem.

Do you think that we will forget that earthquake in April in China that killed 2000 and injured more than 10,000 simply because the population there is so massive? No, those lives mattered...... However, it would have been brilliant of you to have enlightened the planet about world overpopulation because it is at the crux of our capacity to deal with the kind of changes you made so evident. There are too many of us and we are becoming insensitive to the uniqueness of one another, and to the creatures who share this world with us.

Incidentally, how many animals were lost in July in the flooding in Pakistan? We know that 1600 people were killed and more than one million were displaced by those floods, and it's a cinch you didn't discriminate in dealing out death and misery cards.

The idiotic voices that were a part of your sound effects.....I mean, really, did you have to introduce Glenn Beck to me and to the many others who also probably had never even heard of the guy? Did you not think that still having Sarah Palin's shrill rolling mouthiness -- senselessword-into-rehearsedsenselessword -- was sufficient proof of how little respect you have for high-minded, well-reasoned thought and any semblance of a cultured life? Some kind of tea party.....

Speaking of culture, how are people to recover theirs after an earthquake, a hurricane, cholera and political turbulence? It borders on the near impossible for Haiti.

Speaking of borders, the exchange of artillery shells on Yeonpyeong Island near a disputed maritime border, followed by the biggest-ever joint military exercises by Japan and the U.S., makes for damn lousy year-end fireworks.

Speaking of fireworks, the repeated eruptions of Mount Merapi in Central Java, Indonesia, forced hundreds of thousands of residents to evacuate. They probably hardly had time to bury the 240 people who died. Where are all those hundreds of thousands of people now? How are they?

Speaking of eruptions, we didn't need the Eyjafjalla glacier in Iceland to erupt, forcing cancellation of about 100,000 flights in Europe. That was a mean game to gamble with the euro, but you had plenty of practice gambling with the euro and the dollar all through our time together. Have you enjoyed the increasing public discontent due to austerity measures in Europe, and the growing public realization that the U.S. may be following the euro-model? And you must delight in large-scale airline cancellations, as evidenced by your treatment of holiday travelers in the Great Snows of December on the east coast of the U.S. (that closely followed the Great Rains of December on the west coast of the U.S. and their resulting landslides and widespread damage).

Very heartwarming and welcome touch back in October with that rescue of all 33 trapped Chilean miners. Why, then, did 153 miners have to be sacrificed in China in March, and why did 29 miners have to die in West Virginia in April, and another 29 in New Zealand in November?

To counter the October celebrations over the miners in Chile you decided to throw in another earthquake and consequent tsunami, off the coast of Sumatra, that same month, killing 400. You sicko.

I have had it with you. What with deforestation, wars, stampedes at festivals, suicide bombers, airline crashes, long-term unemployment, business closures, home foreclosures and more losses of the "American Dream" than we thought possible in this day and age, increasing hunger and homelessness, and the beginning of construction of the two-lane road in Tanzania that will bisect the Serengeti and forever alter and ultimately ruin The Great Migration -- all to make easier the removal and transport of a metal named "colton" that is a vital part of cell phones and laptop computers........ well, I am disgusted by you...you miserable excuse for a year. Take that! And THAT!  And FU, 2010.
MLydiaM ~ December 2010



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What did other writers see in the top photo prompt? Find out at Magpie Tales.
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28 comments:

Richard Theodore Beck said...

There is nothing like a good slap in the face to wake you up.

Cheers.

Words A Day said...

great post - just a pity it isnt fiction.

(I could watch that slapping all day!)

Cat and DOG Chat With Caren said...

gotta give you KUDOS for telling it as it IS and as it WAS!

Let's hope that 2011 is a better year for ALL of us!

xoxo

Cat Chat http://opcatchat.blogspot.com

Batteson.Ind said...

yes, yes, yes yes yes!...FECKIN YEH!

mythopolis said...

A great rant!!! Just what I needed after watching the soap opera this morning that they refer to as the "NEWS". I wish the big ball on Time Square would come crashing down and break into a million pieces! 10...9...8...Oh, My God! KERRASSHHH!!!! (I feel much better now...)

Kathe W. said...

Excellent! superb! If only there was really population control...
the only endangered animal should be humans...unfortunately we seem to thrive and procreate in the worst of condidtions...argh
You said it like it is and the pics
at the end are chosen well!
Wishing you and yours a better year in 2011.

Helen said...

And you got all of this from gloves????? Oh yes! Watercat said it best!!!

English Rider said...

Your techie skills are showing. I wouldn't know how to do that with the videos. Great rant, quite a challenge to the New Year to pull its socks up and be better than the old. Still a few hours in which 2010 can retaliate. I'm hiding under a rock until it's over.

Nancy said...

This was impressive - wow - you left nothing out - except the grandma that threw her granddaughter off a parking garage structure! Good one!

Is that the Black Rock in the above pic?

Hattie said...

This certainly has been the year we have all loved to hate. But don't forget: we don't have to listen to Bush any more.
Did you see the Gawker piece on 2010? I'll just bet you did!

Lydia said...

Theodore~ It has never happened to me and I can say cheers to that!

Words A Day~ Thank you. The videos helped cope with the fact that it is not fiction!

Caren~ Thanks much. I'm wishing for so much better a year for so many.
Happy New Year from my cats to yours. ^.^

the watercats~ When I read your enthusiastic comment I put this thing out on my facebook page under notes (don't have the two linked and don't think I will). Cheers at New Years to you guys.

mythopolis~ How cathartic is all this slapping and dreams of mirror balls crashing? I don't know, but I do know it helps to share our pent-up frustrations, etc. :)

Lydia said...

kathew~ Many thanks for your kind comments. We think alike in many ways. Happy New Year wishes to you and your family, to Oregon, to the U.S., to all the lands and waters, to Earth.

Helen~ You are so fun and so kind! Cheers. :)

English Rider~ Your hiding made sense when I heard about the tornados that happened today. This year just would not stop menacing, nope, right up to the final hours.

Nancy~ Hah! Thanks for your comments. The shot was in the Alvord Desert about 30 miles from Denio, Oregon. Sweet new year blessings on the Alvord, the Black Rock, and all the Earth's delicate places.

Hattie~ No surprise, but you are ending my year by teaching me something. I do not know what the Gawker thing is and will find out.
Believe me, I am grateful each day to not have to look at or listen to W.
Aloha and Happy New Year!

Doc FTSE said...

Superb! And no doubt 2011 will be just as bad and we can look forward to another wonderful Magpie in 12 months' time.
Truly, I hope 2011 turns out well for you and yours.

bfk said...

The way I see it, things can only look up from here, Lydia. The first ten hours of 2011 have been promising. So far.

PS Love the visuals. I never thought of 2010 as being male, but I will now.

Anonymous said...

Nice!!! F**k 2010 and while I'm at it: F**k politicians and all those natural disasters that were, are and will be! This is great! Love it!

Fireblossom said...

I felt this way about 2009, but on a more personal level.

2010 has this to recommend it: I met you and LBR!

Lydia said...

Doc FTSE~ No, really, your comment was superb! And happily received, thank you very much.

bfk~ Oh, yeah, 2010 definitely seemed male to me. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Now, will 2011 glow or Palin comparison?...I just do not know.

Zuzu~ Thank you so much for your enthusiasm! Can't wait to see what your blog is all about....see you this weekend.

Fireblossom~ Come to think of it, 2009 wasn't a favorite of mine but I am sorry to know that it was a personally difficult one for you. And I guess any year you get to know LBR and me would have to improve upon things!...(just kidding about knowing me; I am way more humble than that!)

Rhiannon said...

This post is so right on to the "Turbulent" horrific scary year we had for sure! Reading I felt teardrops fall down my cheeks.

"There are many of us and we are becoming insensitive to the uniqueness of one another and the creatures who share this world with us". So so true..I feel this way a lot...let's try to be more sensitive to one another..this year..I believe we can if we want to. It's really not a hard thing to do..we are just lazy about it, I feel..selfishness has been in control for far too long.

Excellent and well said "vent" for the year of 2010...thankful it's gone and let's hope we learned something from it, at least!

Rhi

Rhiannon said...

P.S. the slapping videos remind me of Cher in Moonstruck slapping him and saying "Snap out of it"...I loved that and the movie.

Roxana said...

i think this post made a lot of people happy, by way of "vengeance" :-)
sometimes this is the only way to fight the sadness and absurdity of it all. yes, it was a very hard year, for all of us, i think... let's hope for a better one, what more can we do?

Lydia said...

Rhi~ I started to say that I was sorry that the post made you cry, but then I realized that it was darned 2010 that made you cry!
Moonstruck is one of my favorite movies. Cher's slap just didn't have the hatred behind it to include in this post, though!

Roxana~ What more can we do?, indeed! Your words "sadness and absurdity" can hang on 2010 like ornaments and we can hope for better descriptors for this year.

Brian Miller said...

well...why dont you tell us how you really feel...smiles. i hear you...kinda glad to be turning the page...nice mag!

Erin Davis said...

CATHARTIC

Lydia said...

Brian~ I need to weed the meekness out of my writing, eh?
Will be by to catch up on your mag for the week before she posts a new photo!

Erin~ CITRAHTAC
I am weird; I just had to see what the word looked like backwards!

susan said...

Very nice year end rant and I agree with every word. Wouldn't it be nice if Americans finally got annoyed with criminal corporations, banks, and corrupt politicians in 2011?

I'm just sad to be starting the year without LBR. Didn't see that one coming.

Lydia said...

susan~ OMG about LBR. Your comment is the first I am aware of a change....will go check this out now.
To answer your question, yes, that would be nice, but let's not hold our breath.

susan said...

LBR came back this morning. I was very concerned but she's changed her mind about leaving and I'm glad.

Dammit, there are those who say there'll be a paradigm shift and I'm sure there will be. Only problem is which way will it shift?

Lydia said...

susan~ I must check email/blog for more info. Thank you for letting me know (again), as I am not juggling everything so beautifully right now.

Which way will it shift? is a great question!

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