Happy new year, they will all say in the coming hours.
But what does that mean anyway?
It's that time of the year when people prescribe their admittedly rudimentary ideas for being happy, because it's that time of the year when we're supposed to look back at the last twelve months - an arbitrary signpost in an existence filled with arbitrary signposts.
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12/31/2017
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12/29/2017
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There's one rule - not really unspoken, because some will tell you outright about it - that holds together this fragile sense of so-called peace we have: do not speak up, and just go with the flow.
As with every such rule, there are people who are stupid, or foolish, or mischievous enough to attempt to break it, whether out of some long-standing principle about free speech or something, or out of just wanting to raise hell, or, perhaps, something more nefarious altogether.
That person isn't me, but then, I find myself in these predicaments often. I can't count the number of times people told me to shut up, because I have "nothing good to say". Sometimes it is really nothing good, but most of the time it's just something they vehemently disagree with. And, more so in these times, that shatters that so-called peace we have. They have.
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As with every such rule, there are people who are stupid, or foolish, or mischievous enough to attempt to break it, whether out of some long-standing principle about free speech or something, or out of just wanting to raise hell, or, perhaps, something more nefarious altogether.
That person isn't me, but then, I find myself in these predicaments often. I can't count the number of times people told me to shut up, because I have "nothing good to say". Sometimes it is really nothing good, but most of the time it's just something they vehemently disagree with. And, more so in these times, that shatters that so-called peace we have. They have.
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12/26/2017
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"May the coming month bring you the plot twist you deserve."
So, inevitably, this infuriates me.
For starters, since when was a plot twist solely a positive? What do we call the moment when you get that dreaded phone call about someone you love slashing his wrists before going to sleep, never to wake up again? All right, that's real life, but on television, when you're led to think things are on the up, only for the rugged to be pulled underneath you - that is a plot twist, right?
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So, inevitably, this infuriates me.
For starters, since when was a plot twist solely a positive? What do we call the moment when you get that dreaded phone call about someone you love slashing his wrists before going to sleep, never to wake up again? All right, that's real life, but on television, when you're led to think things are on the up, only for the rugged to be pulled underneath you - that is a plot twist, right?
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12/24/2017
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Tomorrow coincides with the last week of the year, which means everything gets conflated together: the supposed joy of the season, the supposed gratefulness we have over all that we got the past year, the supposed glee we have as we look forward to the coming year.
You know where this is going, right?
Well, I am a bit of a contrarian, and also, I have not really had the best of years. Yet I feel compelled to at least feel good because, for fuck's sake, it's Christmas - feel blessed for a change. That, and the incredibly timed story of the deepest of despairs giving in to the biggest of joys. If that can happen to them, why won't you let it happen to you?
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You know where this is going, right?
Well, I am a bit of a contrarian, and also, I have not really had the best of years. Yet I feel compelled to at least feel good because, for fuck's sake, it's Christmas - feel blessed for a change. That, and the incredibly timed story of the deepest of despairs giving in to the biggest of joys. If that can happen to them, why won't you let it happen to you?
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12/19/2017
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I may have spent a good amount of time in the past couple of years just checking the weather.
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Niko Batallones writes The Upper Blog.
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