Here it is folks, the last blahg of 2011. 
It’s dull and gray here in my part of Canada and there’s a couple inches of snow. Well, we didn’t get it for Christmas but at least we got it to close out 2011. All of this, of course, has nothing to do with this blahg. Like every good year end blahg, and I want this to be a good year end blahg, I’ll review some of the good and not so good things about this past year.
Let’s start with some of the bad. I feel that if I start with the negative aspects of 2011 then it’ll highlight how important the positive things really are.
1) My Father had a stroke. Readers of my blahg will recall that a couple weeks before Christmas, my Father had a minor stroke. He was driving at the time and wasn’t far from home. He struck a parked car and continued on home, not realizing he had had an accident. Not long after arriving home, the police arrived and his license was suspended. At this point, my mother called me. I have four brothers and one sister but three of my brothers live out of town and the other and my sister were working at the time. When I arrived at my parents’ house, I began to question my dad about the accident and he still had no knowledge of what had happened and he had some paralysis in his right arm. He balked about going to the hospital, mainly because he hadn’t been to the hospital in 30 years and wasn’t keen about going to his Doctor’s office either, but I managed to convince him to go. They took him in right away and it was two hours before I was allowed to see him. It was then that I was told he had had a minor stroke and had to stay in the hospital for 4 days. It was one of the worst times of my life. You think that you can handle just about anything but I was numb for a couple of days. That was just me; imagine what was happening to my dad!
2) This past summer, I had a bad ear infection in both of my ears and my hearing went down by 70%. The hearing loss was bad enough but the pain was also unbearable. Some antibiotics helped to clear up the infections and brought most of my hearing back but I knew that my hearing was not back to normal. 
After a hearing test, and worrying I would need hearing aids or one of those old fashioned ear trumpets, I was told I had lost some of the higher frequency upper range. I might get it back with time or I might become one of those people who asks what people just said or gets shouted at for having the television volume up too loud.
3) Unemployed again. I spent the majority of this year without a job. During the summer months, I did have a contract working the Census with Statistics Canada. It was great going door to door talking to people but I’ve never seen so many yappy dogs in all my life. No wonder I’m a cat person. Being without a paid job is the worst kind of feeling and you really don’t want to run into anyone you haven’t seen for a while because they’re bound to ask you what you’re doing these days and you have to be truthful and pretend that you’re okay with it or lie inventively and hope that they don’t work for the imaginary company you just made up. Does anybody remember Vandelay Industries from Seinfeld?
4) Movies, books, and music: three great words but not a great year for any of them. I’m not a big Top-40 fan so the summer blockbuster films were very disappointing and the FM radio hits were really misses to me. Man, I miss Sinatra. 
We did get a new Sinatra release, Best of The Best, combining Reprise and Capitol hits but really it was nothing new under the sun. The extended version contained some photos and an extra CD of the Seattle 1957 live concert but this too has been previously released. Where are the gems hidden in the vaults? Where are the unreleased takes and unreleased concerts that were officially recorded? We don’t need another Christmas ornament! That reminds me, I didn’t get the 2011 Sinatra Christmas ornament because I usually wait until they are 75% off on Boxing Day but by then they were sold out. Bummer.
5) Not enough to complain about. I’m really struggling to find things to complain about. 2011 wasn’t all that bad except for the first two items I mentioned and only being unemployed part of the year. But I like to complain! It should have been more of a year to complain about! I’ll throw in some minor things:
· Our Federal election in Canada was disappointing because the same stupid people elected the same stupid people. Unfortunately, our great hope, Jack Layton, head of the New Democratic Party, and the official opposition, lost his battle with cancer. I don’t see anyone filling those shoes.
· Television: DO WE REALLY NEED ANOTHER REALITY SHOW? THE X FACTOR!? The X Factor used to refer to that quality that great stars had/have but these new people don’t. The only reality show I watch is the one at 11 o’clock called THE NEWS! Bring back Stargate SG1!
· DVDs: More MOD (Manufacture on Demand) and less Pressed Disks. 
My big disappointment was The Andy Hardy Collection Volume 1. The first 400 copies of this MOD release were autographed by Mickey Rooney. I tried to order it but the autographed copies were sold out. Now I have to buy the regular version and stalk Mickey Rooney and hound him to autograph my copy. I LOVE YOU MICKEY!! We did finally get some more Buster Keaton MOD releases but these were lesser MGM titles and only for the completist. The same goes for Sinatra. They released “Ship Ahoy” & “Dirty Dingus Magee” but where’s “Johnny Concho” and “The Joker is Wild”? I’d even settle for a DVD release of “Miracle of the Bells”. We did get a pressed disk release of one of my favorite Christmas films, “The Gathering” but I have to complain because last year I purchased the MOD version! Same film and I have to pay twice! Also, the cancellation of “The Fugitive Complete Series: The Most-Wanted Edition” was very disappointing. Let’s hope it finally comes out next year. Come on 2012, let’s see the goods.
Speaking of the goods, here’s what was good in 2011:
1) My Father had a stroke. I know this was a bad thing but some good things came of it. He stopped smoking after 60 years of smoking. My dad is 74 so do the math and figure out when he started smoking. He’s finally taking his health seriously. It also made me realize what’s important in my life. It’s too bad a serious health scare has to happen before you reflect on these things.
2) The love of a good woman. In 2012 I will celebrate 25 years of marriage with the same woman. If you think saying that she’s the same woman means she’s the same woman I married in 1987 then you’d be wrong. Every year she changes. She gets stronger and stranger and matches me in both categories. Jeanette has always been there and held me when I finally broke down a couple of days after my dad’s stroke. I think she had expected it sooner. She nagged me too about my own health and got me to go to the Doctor about my ear infections and my hearing and now I can hear her better when she’s talking to me. Don’t tell her that though because selective hearing is a real diagnosis in husbands.
3) Three great children. I had thought about putting this in the bad column because I feel that I may be losing them as they get older. Emily is away at school most of the year and I worry about her in Toronto and now she’s off to New York City for a few days with one of her friends. Do you think I’ll worry any less? What an intelligent and beautiful young woman. My son and I fought more this fall and when I was going through health scares with my father, I couldn’t get closer to Noah because he was never here. It didn’t stop me caring about him. Next year, he wants to go off to College/University and I won’t have him here. What’s that about missing most what you don’t have around anymore? Abbie entered the “teen” category before Christmas by turning 13. She’s struggling to be independent and still wanting to be a kid. She still likes to play board games and go to children’s movies. I like that too.
4) Thursdays with Bryan. Sounds like a book title. I know many of you are thinking of Tuesdays with Morrie but this is completely different. 
My best friend Bryan only has Thursday and Sunday off from work every week. Thursdays we generally have lunch and look for DVDs at our favorite haunts. We try a different restaurant every week and usually complain about the poor selection of DVDs available in local stores. If you don’t think that’s a good time, you’d be wrong. Bryan lives with my parents and helps to keep a watchful eye on them. When my dad was hospitalized, Bryan was one of the first people I called. He’s my brother from another mother who lives with my mother. Can you follow that logic? The picture here is an older one of both of us taken at my sister’s wedding. It’s one of my favorites.
5) Employment. I know, this showed up as unemployment in my ‘bad’ section but this was really one of my highlights. I had a paying job! I haven’t had paid employment in almost two years so when this came along, it was a nice change. Jeanette makes a good living as a Teacher but I like to think I’m contributing financially. I enjoyed talking to people when going door to door collecting the census or filling it out with people who had neglected to fill it out. My supervisor was impressed with my efforts as well and kept sending me into new areas to collect missing census forms. She even gave me a nice letter of recommendation. I hope that letter will help me land something a little more permanent in 2012.
6) Movies, books, and music…and DVDs. There were some good movies that stood out for me this year despite the crop of failures. Abbie and I both enjoyed “Arthur Christmas” and “Hugo”. I highly recommend both. They are not just for the young. Good to see a new “Mission Impossible” film. Here’s hoping we get a fifth in the franchise. “Super 8” was the best of the summer films. Noah and I both enjoyed that one. Noah also recommended “50/50” to me after having seen it with his friends. It’s a very emotional film and should get set some Oscar consideration but probably won’t. 
I can’t say anything about books because anything I read was a few years old and you probably wouldn’t know about them. I would however recommend “Child Star” by Shirley Temple and “The Moose That Roared” about Bullwinkle, Rocky and Jay Ward. Both are non-fiction but were great reads. The real highlight in music was seeing Tony Bennett back on the charts with his Duets 2 CD. Keep singing Tony! DVDs? Let’s get serious. The best releases for me were “Barney Miller-The Complete Series” and “The Lost Honeymooners-The Complete Series”. Thank heavens for Shout Factory and MPI. Again, I’ll express hope for a 2012 release of “The Fugitive Complete Series: The Most-Wanted Edition”.
6) I met John Astin. 
This great actor from “The Addams Family” and “The Brothers O’Toole” was at Fan Expo in Toronto this past summer. What a great actor and a warm human being. At the same convention, I also met Nichelle Nichols (Uhura of Star Trek), Marina Sirtis (Deanna Troi of Star Trek Next Generation), and Ethan Phillips (Neelix of Star Trek Voyager). Okay, I’m a Star Trek fan. Don’t give me one of those cute nick-names. At least Noah and I have that in common.
I could go on and on about other things that might have been noteworthy for me but then I’d never get this blahg completed in 2011. The last positive that I can add is this blahg. Maybe nobody’s reading this but at least it’s an outlet for me. I’ll be turning fifty in 2012 and this blahg is at least something I can point to as an accomplishment. If you are reading this, drop me a line at scott@falseducks.com and let me know. It would be nice to know I’m not just doing this for myself.
My hopes for 2012:
· I hope the Mayans don’t get it right and we see 2013.
· I hope I can continue to write more blahgs. I don’t think I’ll get 100 written but maybe 50 before I’m 50 would be good.
· Health and Happiness. I wish this for everyone and not just myself.
· Friendship and Family. I’ve got that strong and I hope it continues.
· Employment. Enough said.
· 
“The Fugitive Complete Series: The Most-Wanted Edition”. You knew that had to come up again.
I’ll close with something that Frank Sinatra used to say and it’s still as relevant. After wishing everyone health and hugging and kissing, Sinatra would always close with “In the next year may we find peace in the world and peace among ourselves.”
You can’t ask for more than that. All the best to everyone in 2012 and in the words of Jackie Gleason: AND AWAY WE GO!