The First Decade of the Twenty-first Century: Taking Stock

I was not nostalgic at midnight this past Saturday. Not even a little.

I was so glad to see 2010 go, I almost cried from happiness.  The first decade of this century has not been an easy one, in any way. Starting with election of an utter and complete nincompoop as the 43rd President of the United States, to the terrorist attacks in New York City, to the war, to the crushed American economy, the end of a sweet romance I thought would end in marriage, to the illness and death of my father, and culminating in a complete upheaval and decimation of my professional hopes and dreams...

Well, to paraphrase Britain's Queen Elizabeth, this past ten years is not a decade I shall look back upon with undiluted pleasure.

Still, it wasn't a total loss. I started the decade as a pretty unapologetic college drop-out, and ended it with not only a bachelor's degree, but a master's as well.  I started the decade with a difficult teenage daughter, and ended it with a beautiful baby grandson. I started the 2000s as a confused Protestant, and ended it as a much less confused (though still searching) Buddhist.  I began some friendships, ended others, said good-bye to an apartment where I'd lived longer that any other home in my life, but found a lovely new home to take it's place.

I have fallen in and out of love. I have learned I'm capable of more than I ever could have hoped for. I have learned that I deserve more than I ever let myself long for. I have some amazing, generous friends who've bolstered and bouyed me through this period, and I live with a family that is crazy and loud and annoying and completely and utterly lovable.  (And I'm speaking mostly about the baby now.)

No, the first decade of the 2000s is not one that inspires nostalgia in me.  But I suppose, because time does move for the human race in a linear fashion, that it was necessary to slog through it to get where we're going.  Wherever that is.

I'm looking forward to seeing if the second decade of the 2000s has anything better to offer. Peace would be nice.  Love would be great. But I'll settle for a job and the chance to watch my grandson grow up.

Happy New Year to all.

Know Why Atlas Shrugged? Because He Read This Book & Even He Couldn't Care Less!

Why on Earth anyone would want to make a movie of this turkey of a book, I'll never know.  I broke up with a guy who told me that Ayn Rand was his favorite author and personal hero, and this book was her best in his eyes. I liked this guy... a LOT. But when I read this book, knowing it was the foundation for his entire belief system -- and it was sheer torture, let me tell you -- I knew our relationship would never work.  I set him free, so he could find someone else (preferably someone who'd never made the mistake of reading Ayn Rand).

What a piece of nihilistic horse poo!  And now someone's gone and made a movie about it? Why? Because the Tea Party is so popular? Because Ron and Rand Paul are such popular cultural icons? Oh, my God.... People... peoplepeoplepeople... It's enough to turn a hard-believing Buddhist back to the baby Jesus.  This woman, Ayn Rand, was not only a political and cultural crackpot, she was the one thing I can never... EVER forgive. And you know what this, don't you, my darlings.  Yes... that's correct... She was a sucky writer.  That is never to be borne.

Amy Adams should thank her lucky stars every day that she lost the part of Dagny (DAGNY? What kind of a stupid name is that? Only a woman born with a perfectly fine name like Alisa Rosenbaum, who then went and renamed herself something pretentious like "Ayn Rand" would invent such a stupid name!). Our beloved Amy dodged a bullet there.

Seriously, people... if the Tea Party and the Pauls are to be blamed for any one thing more heinous than anything else they've done, it would be bringing this nihilistic, artistically bereft piece of crap back into the spotlight.