New Year, New Outlook

Okay, I know I've been neglecting my blogging lately. I have good reasons, but probably not good enough. So I'll just try to do better from now on.

I'm one of those people who loves the holiday season, but I'm always glad when it's over. This year was no exception. Especially because my daughter and I spent most of the holiday season in a self-imposed quarantine. I have to say that nobody appreciates the human immune system more than I do. I've always found disease processes to be quite fascinating, and I take great pleasure in knowing the very precise physiological path that an infection follows. On paper. Because here's what I know, ladies and gentlemen: 1) having a sick child really sucks, and 2) infection is neither pleasurable nor fascinating when it's inside of me.

Anyway, as I was pondering all things 2007, it occurred to me that several new pet peeves surfaced last year (and a couple of old ones). For the sake of education ('cause you know I'm ALL about education...LOL) I will list them for you:

1. The news media. Okay, I've never really liked watching the news. I always contended that if anything important ever happened in the world, Stuart Scott would tell me on Sportscenter. Maybe that was a stretch, but last year the media reached an all-time low standard for what passes as news. I mean, between the endless stories about Tom Cruise and What's-Her-Name (now his wife), Britney and Lindsey's drama-filled lives, and human interest stories so ridiculous you forfeit thousands of brain cells with each viewing, they might have managed to mention the genocide in the Sudan a handful of times.
2. The I've-Gotta-Start-A-Foundation syndrome. First of all, let me preface this tirade by saying that I sympathize with anyone who has lost a child. As a parent, I can't even begin to imagine the agony of life after such a tragedy. That said, there seems to be some kind of requirement these days, a mandate that you can't possibly have loved your child unless you start a foundation dedicated to whatever disease or accident was responsible for his or her death. For example: I saw a story featuring parents who had lost their 15-year-old daughter to a fatal wind surfing accident. As I said, it was tragic. But they weren't on the news because their daughter had been killed. They were there to discuss the foundation they started to "raise awareness" about wind surfing accidents, which even they admitted are extremely and ridiculously rare occurrences. But they believed the foundation was important because (say it with me y'all 'cause I know you know it) "if we can spare just one family from going through this, that makes it worthwhile." Okay, I'm all for doing whatever you can do to deal with the pain. But, in the name of all you consider holy, stay off the television. Or at least get some new lines.
3. The New England Patriots. To quote Kathy Bates from The Waterboy, "Zzzzzzzzzz...da devil...da devil...da devil...zzzzzzzzzzzzzz."
4. Regarding the phrase "In regards to..." This madness has been going on for years, but last year I saw a marked increase in use (probably because I had a boss who felt it necessary to put this in EVERY email he EVER wrote in life). This phrase is very aggravating. And very incorrect. I cringe every time I'm forced to read it or hear it. One should never use this phrase. EVER! Simply put, with regard to that particular phrase, it is much more concise and infinitely less annoying to use the word "regarding". If you are a person that uses this phrase often, please give my regards to your high school English teacher.
5. Hip-hop music. Anyone who knows me knows how much I've always loved hip-hop music. But what masquerades as hip-hop these days is ridiculous. At the risk of sounding like an old woman (Shaddup!), it just ain't what it used to be. I mean no disrespect to Soulja Boy ('cause I like to Crank That too), but if I can memorize the words to a song after hearing it once it's a pretty safe bet that the lyrics aren't very compelling. Oh, and this thing about every song has to feature someone else has gotten way out of control. Record companies complain that people are only downloading single tracks instead of buying full CDs. Okay...duh! I don't know whose CD to buy. The song is by this person featuring that person and that person and the other person. Besides, I might be so inclined to buy a full CD if it had more than one good track on it. Remember when Run DMC or LL Cool J would drop an album and EVERY song on it was a hit? You were at the record store the day the album dropped to get it. Remember Dr. Dre's The Chronic CD? Snoop's Doggystyle CD? You didn't mind buying the whole CD because you knew you were getting your money's worth. These days, you MIGHT get two decent songs on a CD if you're lucky, and they probably sound alike.

I'm not really a resolutions kinda gal, but I'm going to try to be much less aggravated this year. In the interest of full disclosure, I'd have to say my effort is already in jeopardy. You can't blame me though. What with the NFL playoffs in full swing AND the presidential election in 2008, it's possible that I picked the wrong year.