Complex Numbers

Got Muffin

"30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS"  [13+]:
19. Oatmeal Muffin Day
Oatmeal is on the healthy side and good for lowering cholesterol.
I feel like I'm being tricked by putting it in an 'unfrosted cupcake'.

"JAFBG"  [XGC]:
List 21 things that would make 2021 better than 2020.

Okay, look, I got nothing against oatmeal, muffins, or oatmeal muffins. I don't love them. I don't hate them. Fact is, though, in order to make oatmeal palatable to me, I have to add a bunch of stuff that effectively negates a lot of the health benefits that oatmeal probably has.

A muffin is a bald cupcake.

You know what else lowers cholesterol? A big plate of bacon and a statin.

Anyway. No clever segué today. For anyone following along, I only have two more days of JAFBG prompts, after which I'll do something else. The end of that list coincides with the solstice, so it's a good time for a change.

Only 21 things? There's a large but finite number of "things" that could happen in a year, and it would be challenging to list the opposite: 21 things that would make 2021 worse than 2020. I'm tempted to do it, just because I'm a pessimist like that. Things like: meteor strike, another pandemic that this time turns people into zombies, nuclear holocaust, I personally catch the trump mumps... ummm... maybe that's about it.

A lot of this is, of course, predicated on the idea that things will gradually reopen. I expect they will, at some point. So, in no particular order, only 21 things that would make 2021 better than 2020... for me, which is after all the only thing that matters:

1. Booze.

2. I finally get to go to Europe.

3. Movies in theaters.

4. Restaurants.

5. Road trip!

6. An early spring

7. A new gaming laptop.

8. People stop being stupid (hey, I can dream).

9. No one I care about dies.

10. Visiting breweries and wineries.

11. Getting my deck replaced.

12. New season of Doctor Who.

13. If I manage to get on my arse and edit some stories.

14. Chocolate chip cookies.

15. My HVAC doesn't break down (it'll be paid off in February so I fully expect it to die the day after I make the last payment).

16. If telemarketers somehow lost my mobile number.

17. If I get to meet people in person again.

18. Being able to go to beer festivals.

19. Staying relatively healthy.

20. Not hearing about certain news items anymore.

21. If I don't spend most of the year dealing with a toothache.

All of this reflects more optimism than I'm usually comfortable with. Better to just assume things are going to be worse next year. What's a "year," anyway, but an arbitrarily-bounded orbit of the Earth around the sun? I prefer to begin my new year at a time that's more meaningful to me, like maybe my birthday, which is in February.

We'll see if I make it that long.