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Thursday, January 05, 2017

Friendship For All Seasons...

One of the goals that I have for 2017 is to try and really get to know myself, and I think that in order to do that, I need to confront some hard truths about myself, as well as be more vocal about what I like and what I don't like.  Keeping things bottle up inside is not healthy for anybody, and considering that this blog is called "A POP CULTURE ADDICT'S GUIDE TO LIFE", I think it's time that I start bringing back life lessons.

So for today, I plan to use this space to talk about something that I have absolutely no use for, and as I make my way through this year, I plan on doing everything possible to steer myself clear of this.

Have any of you ever heard of the term "fair-weather friend"?  I'm sure most of you have, but in case you haven't, a fair-weather friend is somebody who only wants your friendship when things are happy and carefree, but the minute things become difficult and you need them the most, they flee.

Basically, when sunny days sweep the clouds away, it's a happy Sesame Street friendship.  But when rain arrives and floods Elmo's World, you're feeling anything but tickled.

Believe me.  I know all too well about the concept of fair-weather friends.  I've had several in my lifetime, and every single time it all ends up the same way.  Where I am there for them whenever they need help, but they are unable to reciprocate whenever the situation is reversed.



And I do NOT like that at all.

As somebody who has always had difficulty making and keeping friends for various reasons, I probably am one who takes friendships much more seriously than other people.  Heck, for the first few years I was on Facebook, I refused to unfriend or block people because I believed it was cruel.

But sometimes when friendships become one-sided or toxic, you have to let them go to preserve your own sanity because if I've learned anything about life, it's this.  Fair-weather friends suck the energy right out of you, and you owe it to yourself to make the decision to find people who will be there for you through thick and thin.

Truth be told, I haven't had a lot of people in this world who have told me that they will have my back no matter what happens.  And when I find someone who will be there for me through thick and thin, sometimes I try a little bit too hard to keep them in my world that I feel that I come across too strong, or I don't come across strong enough.  And the reason for that is because I have been burned by fair-weather friendships a lot.

When I was a kid, it seemed as though to win friends and influence people was to give them whatever they wanted.  Of course, we all know that this way to go never works for anybody, but at the age of seven, allowing the other kids to eat your Oreo cookies during recess so they could be bothered to play four square with you for eight minutes seemed like a reasonable trade.



My only problem was that I only had a limited Oreo supply.  If only my dad worked for Nabisco cookies, I could have had it made.

Of course, true friendship cannot be bought with Oreo cookies.  I'm just kind of ashamed that it took me until the fifth grade for me to learn that lesson!

Friendship can't also be gained by allowing people to copy off of your homework either.  If I had a nickel for every single time I helped a classmate learn how to spell a word, I could have retired at seventeen.  Yes, spelling came naturally to me and I probably had a wide vocabulary at that time - but that was only because one of my favourite books to read was the Charlie Brown Dictionary (a book I wish I still owned).  The point is that I didn't mind helping my classmates out because I believed that if I helped them with their homework, they would see me as cool and allow me to play with them.

Instead, I more often than not sat in a corner watching everyone else have fun - and I was hungry too as I gave them all of my cookies too!

Things improved a bit when I reached adulthood, but I find that the older I get, the less tolerance I have for fair-weather friendships.

One of the most recent examples of this happened about a couple of years ago.  I had been friends with this guy for about five years, and I thought that we had a decent friendship for a bit, but there were some signs that I ignored along the way.  I found that he could be quite snarky at times with other people, and that if he saw something that he didn't care for, he could be quite abrasive.  But I also knew that he hadn't had the most pleasant of experiences, so I chalked it up to the fact that he was still dealing with it, and I tried to be as patient and supportive as I could be.

But then I posted a blog entry quite similar to this one where I opened up about something very important, and it got some mixed reactions.  Some were actually quite sympathetic about it, and others felt the need to make fun of me.  And then this person who I had called a friend for five years happens to pop up and comment on the blog that I had just posted and the comment read "I feel like I'm a psychiatrist and you're my 10:30 appointment".

And, I'm thinking to myself - you @#$@$.  Of course, I try not to include heavily salted swears in this blog so I had to blot it out, but still...what nerve!  And of course the very people who I had also thought were friends and who made fun of me agreed with him.  It was all a big joke to them, but yet here was I pouring my heart out and they just decided to take advantage of me.

So I did the only logical thing I could.  I cut all of them out of my life.  It's been two years since that day, and I feel all the better for it.  It's nice to be able to have more time to spend with those who actually want to be my friend instead of those who took advantage of me.

But then I got to thinking about why I had allowed such toxic people in my life in the first place, and the only thing that I can think of is that I invited them into my life at a time in which I was most vulnerable.  I think that I had seen that they had a common interest with me and that I thought I could build a friendship with them based on that.  Sometimes this works, and if both parties have no ulterior motive, it can blossom into a true blue friendship.  But I think that in order to have a true friendship, then both parties have to support each other through the good and the bad.  And if one person in the equation can't do that, then there's no hope for a friendship.

And I sincerely do not hate those people.  I really do wish them well and hope that they find like-minded people that they can share time and feelings with.  I'm just too old to deal with people who only want to be a part-time friend, and only at their convenience.

Wednesday, January 04, 2017

January 4, 2011

Welcome to the first ever Wayback Wednesday!

Okay, okay...the Wayback Wednesday is exactly the same as the Tuesday Timeline.  It's just held on Wednesday.  You see, when I first started off the Tuesday Timeline feature in this blog in January 2012, the date that I started it off on was January 3 - and I really want to do a complete cycle of all the days in the calendar before I recycle dates.  So, as a result, from now until February 22, I will be moving this feature to Wednesday.  Then the following week, I'll be shifting it to Thursdays beginning on March 2.  That way, I think I will get all of the dates accounted for. 

Got all that?

Okay, before we get started on the first of eight Wayback Wednesday entries, we'll do it like we did every Tuesday for five years...we'll see what historical events took place on January 4, and talk celebrity birthdays, and then we'll get to the main topic.

So, what happened on January 4?  Lots of things!  Have a look!

46 BC - Julius Caesar defeats Titus Labienus in the Battle of Ruspina

1717 - The Triple Alliance is signed by France, The Netherlands, and Great Britain

1762 - Great Britain enters the Seven Years' War against Spain and Naples

1847 - Samuel Colt sells his first pistol to the United States government

1853 - Solomon Northup regains his freedom after serving as a slave in the American South - he would go on to pen the memoir "Twelve Years a Slave" which would become a national bestseller

1863 - The New Apostolic Church is established in Hamburg, Germany

1865 - The Wall Street location of the New York Stock Exchange is opened

1896 - Utah becomes the 45th state to join the United States of America

1903 - An elephant named Topsy is electrocuted by the owners of Luna Park, Coney Island

1905 - Actor/singer Sterling Holloway (d. 1992) is born in Cedartown, Georgia

1923 - Singer-songwriter and television host Tito Rodriguez (d. 1973) is born in Santurce, Puerto Rico

1944 - Operation Carpetbagger begins during World War II

1951 - Chinese and North Korean forces capture the city of Seoul during the Korean War

1958 - Sputnik 1 falls from orbit towards Earth

1959 - Prince protege and singer Vanity (d. 2016) is born in Fremont, California

1965 - Poet/playwright T.S. Eliot dies at the age of 76

1974 - Richard Nixon refuses to turn over materials that have been subpoenaed by the Senate Watergate Committee

1987 - A massive train collision takes place in Chase, Maryland which kills sixteen people

1998 - Ice Storm '98 officially begins with several areas in Ontario, Quebec, and Upstate New York receiving damaging amounts of freezing rain - (my area was hit hardest on January 8, and our power was knocked out for five days)

1999 - Actor/stuntman Iron Eyes Cody passes away at the age of 94

2004 - NASA Mars Rover, Spirit, lands successfully on the surface of Mars

2007 - Nancy Pelosi becomes the first female Speaker of the House in United States history

And celebrating a January 4 birthday are the following famous faces; Barbara Rush, Don Shula, Dyan Cannon, Chris Cutler, Bob Black, Barbara Cochran, Tina Knowles, Ann Magnuson, Bernard Sumner, Patty Loveless, Matt Frewer, Michael Stipe, Dave Foley, Dot-Marie Jones, Julia Ormond, Deana Carter, David Berman, David Toms, Harmony Korine, and Graham Rahal.

All right.  Let's see how far back in time we are going back in time to for the inaugural Wayback Wednesday!



Uhhh...well, okay.  We're only going back in time six years to January 4, 2011.  Not much of a trip, but hey, at least it's a year I can vividly remember, as that was the year I began this blog!

Sadly, six years ago today, a musician that I absolutely adored breathed his last breath.  And it really wasn't until after his passing that I realized just how much he struggled throughout his whole life.

And while his music catalogue was extensive - particularly throughout the 1970s - I have my selection of favourite hits.

For those of you who are following me on Facebook, I've been posting a list of what I consider to be my favourite 750 songs in the world.  I'm doing it with a few other friends of mine, and it's my goal to try and add to other people's music collections by sharing some of the songs I love listening to.

Naturally, this song will be featured at some point on that list.



ARTIST: Gerry Rafferty
SONG:  Baker Street
ALBUM: City to City
DATE RELEASED:  February 3, 1978
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS: #2

I can't even begin to tell you how much I love the song "Baker Street".  From the beautiful lyrics to the killer saxophone solos, it's my idea of one of the greatest songs ever recorded (which tells you that on my list of 750, it's ranked quite high).

Tragically, today marks the 6th anniversary of the death of the man who sang it - Scottish born singer Gerry Rafferty.  He died on January 4, 2011 at the age of 63.  The cause of death was liver failure.

A service was planned on January 21, 2011 - which was live streamed over the Internet so fans of his could mourn along with his family and friends - of which some 400 attended.

But the tragic thing about Rafferty's death was that in many ways, it could have been avoided.

You see, from an early age, Rafferty was one who enjoyed an alcoholic beverage, and by the time he recorded "Baker Street", he was already considered to have a problem with abusing alcohol.  Quite often he would go on alcohol binges, drinking so much that he would black out or be out of it for several days.  His binge drinking impacted his personal life severely, and his wife filed for divorce in 1990.  The death of his brother only served to increase his dependency for alcohol, and many close to him believe that he never really got over it.

As the addiction grew worse, so did his unpredictable behaviour.  In fact, he actually went missing for a period in 2008 following a stay at London hotel room where he reportedly destroyed the whole room during the four days he was there.  It was really sad to see because prior to that, he was known for his brilliant music talent.



I already talked about "Baker Street", but did you know that he was also a part of the band Stealers Wheel?  If you don't know who they are, they sang a song called "Stuck In The Middle With You", a hit in 1973 used for selling Fruit of the Loom underwear as well as being used in a pivotal scene in "Reservoir Dogs" where someone loses an ear.  I'm sure you all know what scene I'm talking about!

And for what it was worth, Gerry Rafferty was quite vocal about hos much he disdained the music industry.  Whereas some artists sought about being famous and rich, Rafferty's songs came from the heart and he really wanted more to be respected for his craft than anything.

I can tell you that I definitely respected him as a musician and songwriter.  And part of me wishes he was still here.  I think he could have taught some of the current crop of musicians a thing or two.

Tuesday, January 03, 2017

2017 - The "Getting To Know Me, Getting To Know All About Me" Year



I'm not entirely sure how I am going to feel about the year 2017 at this time.  I usually need about three or four weeks before I can make a sound decision as to how the year is going to go.  I can easily say that right now it's good...but it's only three days old.  I guess right now, I'm taking a wait and see approach.

I'm also at the point right now where I don't believe in the idea of New Year's Resolutions.  Truth be told, I have resolutions that I made back in 1996 that I still haven't put into practice.  And given that one of those resolutions in '96 was to get a new Walkman, I'd say that one might be a little bit too late to achieve - not to mention outdated.

But I suppose that instead of a resolution for 2017, I'd rather do something called a New Year's promise.  And I figure that if I phrase it like a promise, it will give me more incentive to follow through with it.  At least, that's the way that my brain works anyway.  And yes, that New Year's promise is directly linked to that.

Of course, before I share my promise with you, some of you who have followed this blog all of these years might notice that this is the first Tuesday since 2012 that I have not featured a Tuesday Timeline entry.  The reason being is that I wanted to get through each day of the calendar at least once...and January 3 was actually the first Tuesday Timeline that I ever did back in 2012.  So, for the next eight weeks, Tuesday Timelines will now be known as Wayback Wednesdays.  I say it will only be for eight weeks because since 2017 is NOT a leap year, but 2012 was, I can go ahead and switch back to Tuesdays after the 28th of February because all of the following Tuesdays will be for dates that have not been accounted for yet.

Don't worry...it will all make sense once we get to February.  At least I hope so.

Anyway, this is my promise to myself for the year 2017.

And as you can already guess by the title of this blog - my promise is to get to know myself better.  I want to understand what makes me tick.  Why I feel the way I do.  Why I do the things I do.  I guess in a way, I'm ready to make 2017 the year that I psychoanalyze myself.

But why would any sane person want to do that to themselves?

Because I feel that if I can do this successfully, I can really sort of understand why I find it so difficult to fit in social situations, and why I always choose to run away from people instead of getting to know them.

I'm not exactly sure of how to go about describing these feelings, so I'm going to use some obscure pop culture reference that some of you may or may not get as a way to illustrate the confusion that I face each and every day.



Do any of you remember the cartoon series "Beetlejuice" that was loosely based off the 1988 movie of the same name - and when I say loosely, I mean they take the same characters and rewrite them so that they act nothing like they did in the movie?  It aired between 1989 and 1991, and it was easily one of my favourite cartoons of the late 1980s and early 1990s.  I even have the first couple of seasons on DVD to watch whenever I want.

Well, at the beginning of the second season of that show, Beetlejuice and Lydia want to get a car, but Lydia is too young to get a driver's license and Beetlejuice is...well, dead.  Fortunately, in the Neitherworld, the driving laws are quite lax, so they decide to buy a used car.



The problem that they have is that the car that they just bought has no brain (and yes, on the show they use actual brains for their cars), and Lydia sends Beetlejuice out to get one.  Well, in a sea of "normal" brains, Beetlejuice decides that their car would be better with an abnormal brain, so he buys that one without letting Lydia know at first.  The car is finished, and comes alive, and Lydia decides to call the car "Doomie" (which is short for Dragster of Doom).  And for the first few kilometers that they are on the road, Doomie is everything that they want in a car.



Well, that is until Doomie gets spooked by a barking dog, and the dog causes Doomie to go completely mental.  And it is here that Beetlejuice confesses to Lydia that he bought an abnormal brain for Doomie which makes Lydia very furious.  Doomie eventually calms down enough to get his bearings together, but when he overhears Lydia's doubts about him, Doomie runs away and drives himself to a junkyard where he feels that he would be better off as a cube of metal instead of a faithful traveling companion.  Fortunately for Doomie, Beetlejuice and Lydia rescue Doomie from being crushed and he remained a faithful and loyal friend to them both despite the fact that his brain was an abnormal one.

Now, why did I tell you this story/brief episode recap?  Well, let's just say that re-watching it now, I can totally understand where Doomie was coming from.

Mainly because I am Doomie without wheels.

From an early age, I sort of knew that I was not like other people.  I sort of knew that I saw the world much differently than others did.  And I think part of the reason why that was the case is because I feel that I was blessed and cursed with an abnormal brain, much like Doomie was.

I say blessing and curse because there are good points and bad points about it. 

Good point:  I can find solutions to problems by going outside of the box. 
Bad point:  I don't always have an explanation behind how I came up with the solution. 

Good point:  In most cases if I am faced with a problem alone, I can usually solve it without my stress levels going up.
Bad point:  If I feel any pressure to fix a problem without having ample time to fix it, my stress and anger levels go from zero to a hundred in the space of two seconds.  There is NO in between. 

Good point:  I can remember everything as far back as when I was four.
Bad point: I can remember everything as far back as I was four.

But you know, when it comes down to how my brain processes information, I find it really difficult to understand how it works.  I mean, yes, my brain allows me communicate well in the written word, but it refuses to help me out when I try to use those same thoughts in a spoken word conversation.  And as a result of that, it has made for a rather lonely existence.

At one point in my life though that was fine.  I always saw myself as sort of a black sheep in the community anyway.  No matter what I did, I couldn't gain acceptance anywhere.  It was almost like every single time I found a new friend to socialize with, I'd do something to either make them turn against me, or stop talking with me at all.  And a lot of the times I blamed myself for it even if the crumbling of the friendship was not my fault.  And in 2017, I want to do a lot less of that.

I also want to try and figure out why it is that I have such a hard time socializing.  At times, I completely feel like I am an extrovert trapped inside of an introvert's body - and the location of the key to unlock it is to be determined.  Truth is, I want the chance to have what other people have, but somewhere in my mind I keep telling myself that I don't deserve it, so I'd also like to try and find out why I feel this way.

And, I guess as much as I don't want to admit it...I guess I want to know myself more because I want to see if I'm really as "broken" or "damaged" as I really think I am, or if it's all just lies that people have fed me.  I think it could be a combination of both, but that's just my hypothesis.

One thing is for sure...my goal by the end of 2017 is to be more comfortable in my own skin and to actually find a way to get people to accept me for who I am...and not try to change me or shun me because I don't fit in with their status quo.

I just want to belong somewhere.

Hope you're ready, 2017...this is a personal journey that I need to take.

Monday, January 02, 2017

2016 Year in Review - Personal Reflections

We are almost finished with the 2016 retrospective - and soon I'll be writing all new blogs for the year 2017.  Once again like last year, I won't be writing in it every day...only when I feel the need.  And while there are going to be a couple of shifts in this blog for the coming year, I can promise you that I will be one hundred per cent honest in everything that I write about.



And that's why when closing the book on 2016, I wanted to share my personal reflections in a way that is true to myself.

As much as 2016 was not the best year for me personally - and I'll explain why that is as I write this post - I can safely say that the year was filled with clouds that had silver linings.  I have learned so much about myself this past year, and I've learned a lot about other people in the process.  I've also learned a lot about life as well.

Let me share with you this...this pop culture addict's guide to life in the year 2016.

In 2016, I have learned that I should listen to people more when they tell me that things aren't as bad as I think they are.  Sometimes I focus on the bad stuff so much that I forget what I do have.  I've got a full-time job.  Not everyone has one of those.  Sure, do I wish it was more satisfying?  Of course.  But I am lucky to have the job I do have.  And, I just celebrated my second Christmas at my own home.  That in itself is something to be happy about. 



In 2016, I have learned that I have absolutely zero room in my life for toxic people.  As a result, I have walked away from them as much as I can.  A few years back, I didn't believe in unfriending somebody on social media because I always thought it to be rude and mean.  But when you're reading posts that either give you a migraine or break your heart because they are spiteful and venomous, then you need to walk away to preserve your own sanity.  Trust me, it's not worth keeping toxic people in your life...no matter what the reason.  I suppose it's also why I bring an iPod everywhere I go.  You can't hear toxic gossip if you have Collective Soul and DNCE blasting in your ear! 



In 2016, I have learned that I never want to go into politics.  The shock and awe over how a candidate like Donald Trump - a man who has knowingly attacked and belittled a couple million residents of the very country he wants to lead - won the vote is still present, and it has caused a lot of anger and hurt feelings.  And while I can look beyond political lines and try to meet people halfway, not everyone is able to do this.  I guess if I have a wish for 2017, it's that someday people will place their family bonds and friendships on a higher level than politics.  I doubt that will happen, but it is my hope.



In 2016, I have learned that life can be quite short.  And while it is understandable that I would have this opinion because of all of the celebrity deaths we had last year as well as the thousands that have died during the conflict in Syria - that's not the reason why.  On August 6, 2016, my cousin Craig died suddenly at the age of 48 years old.  While I had only met him a handful of times in my life, his death was quite shocking and sad.  Especially since he left behind so many people who loved him so much.



But on the flipside, in 2016, I learned about the importance of connecting with family members whom you might not have seen in several years - or in my case, family members you didn't even know existed.  My cousin's funeral was the event in which I first met my cousins whose father was the uncle that I never got to know.  He passed away six years before I was born.  And while the circumstances were definitely not ideal for a reunion, it really was good to meet a whole new branch of the family - a branch that I surprisingly had a lot in common with!  Meeting them helped me make a lot more sense in retrospect!  The only thing that made us sad was that Craig was not around in body to be there with us - but in some form, I think we all knew he was there.  I always held this belief that if it rained on the day of a loved one's funeral, it was them letting us know that they were mourning alongside us.  The day of his funeral was a torrential downpour! 



I learned in 2016 that people are just as much of pop culture addicts as I am, and it has nothing to do with this blog!  As an idea, I posted pages from a calendar that I got for Christmas 2015 which had pop culture tidbits on each page on my social media accounts.  And people not only responded, but looked forward to the next installment.  I won't be doing it this time around in 2017, but it's something to consider for 2018.

I learned in 2016 that sometimes in order to overcome your past, you have to confront it.  I guess in a way, I did this by publicly disowning my graduating class - the people who used to make me feel like less of a person without telling me why they were doing it.  When I posted that note, I initially didn't know what sort of reaction I was going to get...to be honest, I didn't really care at the time.  I just wanted to close the book on that chapter once and for all.  Surprisingly, the post got a lot of reaction.  Many people shared it with their friends, and some even reached out to me and apologized for any part they played.  Again, I wasn't expecting that at all...but it was nice to have that sense of closure.  Mind you, a few took my words and continued to make fun of me - but if anything, that sort of reaction told me that I had done the right thing.  It's a win-win situation for me all around and now I can focus my attention on the people who do matter and who won't harm me.

Also tied to this is the fact that in 2016, I learned that sometimes your best friends in the world don't have to live close to you.  Most of the people I interact with are from outside of my local area - they are people that I have met in online discussion groups or are friends of mutual friends that - and they have proven to be true blue friends.  Around the holidays I suffer from seasonal depression (likely sparked by the fact that I lost a close friend during the holiday season a few years ago), and it seemed as though my pals from across the pond and beyond were there to really help me through it.  With some of these friendships, they date back at least a decade if not more, and while I really wish they lived closer to me, I appreciate their love and friendship more than they could ever know.

And...I guess this leads to my final realization of what 2016 has taught me.  2016 has shown me that I have unresolved issues that I need to work on.  And, I suppose the root of those issues come from the fact that I always see myself differently the way that others see me.  When I was born, I always felt like I acted differently from everybody else, or that I learned things at a different pace from everyone else, or that I couldn't understand social concepts the way that other people did.  Everyone else in the world seemed to have no problem making friends, while it took everything in me to keep at least one over the course of a year.

Even as an adult, I struggle with that social aspect.  I feel as though I can't relate to the average person, and in many ways it frustrates me to no end.  I feel as though the more I try to integrate myself into social situations, the less success I get, and instead of getting people to gravitate towards me, I scare them away.  So, in many ways, I suppose that - coupled with the loss of my friend - kind of made me make the decision to shut everyone out as a defense mechanism.  I couldn't be hurt again if I didn't let people in.

But of course, that lead to the biggest realization of 2016 yet.  The realization that my brain is completely wired differently from other people, and how it makes me sad that in a lot of ways, it is impossible to be like everyone else.  I mean, breaking the mold is something that we all strive to do.  However, when it comes to simple tasks that other people take for granted, I am unable to do the same due to social anxiety, or mentally being incapable of doing these things.  So many people can drive a car as if they were born to do it, but something in my mind makes it something that I cannot do.  It's that realization that has definitely shaped my perspective on the year gone by, and I'm at the stage where I really don't know how to fix it - or even if it's worth fixing.  Or even better, trying to come to accept the fact that I don't look at things the way that others do, and how that may explain why I have a hard time in so many facets of life.



I'll get more into that tomorrow when I look at what I want for 2017.  But, wait, you say.  Isn't tomorrow Tuesday Timeline day?  To which I say...not this year!

I'll explain everything tomorrow...

Sunday, January 01, 2017

2016 Year in Review - News & Events

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

And may 2017 bring you a year filled with happiness, good times, and...well...everything that 2016 did not!  And as you can see, the blog has a new look for the new year!  Nothing fancy, but I think it works.



You know, looking back on the year of 2016, it was considered by many to be a massive flop.  Certainly the news and events of the year were nothing to be happy about.  We saw terrorist attacks, civil war, celebrity deaths by the truckload, and a presidential candidate that should probably never have been allowed to tweet.

So I ask this question...is there ANYTHING good about the year that has gone by?  Well, I'm going to try to answer those questions in this look back at the year gone by.

We're going to start with a month by month breakdown of the events of 2016.



JANUARY

8 - El Chapo Guzman - considered to be the world's most powerful drug trafficker - is recaptured upon his escape from prison
22 - Several states in the United States were left immobilized following a heavy blizzard which dropped as much as two feet of snow in some areas
28 - The Zika Virus outbreak is announced by the World Health Organization



FEBRUARY

7 - The Denver Broncos win Super Bowl 50 against the Carolina Panthers with a score of 24-10



MARCH

14 - The ESA and Roscosmos launch the joint ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter on a mission to Mars
22 - The Islamic State of Iraq and Levant claim responsibility for a series of bombings taking place in Brussels, Belgium that kill 32 people and injures at least 250 others
24 - Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic is sentenced to 40 years in jail for genocide and crimes against humanity
27 - 75 are killed and another 340 injured when a suicide blast takes place in Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park, Lahore



APRIL

2 - Clashes between Armenian and Azerbaijani military in Nagorno-Karabakh kill 193 people - and becomes the heaviest breach of the 1994 ceasefire
18 - The Boston Marathon takes place; Lemi Berhanu Hayle and Atsede Baysa are the winners



MAY

3 - Fort McMurray, Alberta is evacuated after wildfires go out of control; several homes and businesses are destroyed
19 - EgyptAir Flight 804 crashes
20 - Jesse Olivieri is shot and later arrested following a shooting incident outside of the White House
28 - Harambe the Gorilla is shot and killed following an incident in which a three year old boy was dragged into his enclosure



JUNE

1 - A murder-suicide takes place at UCLA
12 - The Pittsburg Penguins win the Stanley Cup
12 - A mass shooting takes place at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Florida, killing 49 and wounding 53 others
23 - The world learns the meaning of the word "Brexit" as Britain votes to leave the European Union
28 - Ataturk Airport in Istanbul, Turkey is attacked by terrorists, killing 45



JULY

5 - The shooting of Alton Sterling leads to protests in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and is one of the many events that lead to the Black Lives Matter movement
6 - Philando Castile is fatally shot by a Minnesota police officer after he is pulled over - the incident is caught on camera
7 - Five police officers are shot and killed during a Black Lives Matter protest in Dallas, Texas
14 - A truck plows into Bastille Day celebrations in Nice, France, killing 86 people
18 - Charles Kinsey, a mental health therapist, is shot by police as he is trying to negotiate between officers and the patient in his care
22 - The very last VCR is manufactured by Funai Electronics
26 - Solar Impulse 2 becomes the first solar powered aircraft to circumnavigate the earth
30 - Sixteen people are killed in a hot-air balloon crash near Lockhart, Texas, making it the deadliest ballooning disaster in the United States



AUGUST

5 - The 2016 Summer Olympics begin in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and run until the 21st
14 - Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte makes a statement that he was robbed at gunpoint by several men - but his statement later proves to be false



SEPTEMBER

2 - Hurricane Hermine strikes the Florida Panhandle
3 - An earthquake registering 5.8 on the Richter scale strikes Oklahoma
9 - The North Korean government conducts its fifth and reportedly largest nuclear test causing outcry from the rest of the world
17 - A mass stabbing occurs at the Crossroads Center in St. Cloud, Minnesota - ten people are stabbed before the stabber is shot dead by police
26 - The first of three presidential debates take place between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton
28 - Hurricane Matthew begins to form - would become the season's first Category 5 storm
29 - A commuter train crashes in Hoboken, New Jersey, killing one and injuring 114
30 - Two Van Gogh paintings that were stolen from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam in December 2002 are recovered
Also in September, the first reports of a massive data breach involving Yahoo Mail is reported

OCTOBER

7 - A 2005 video leaks showing Access Hollywood host Billy Bush and presidential candidate Donald Trump making crude sexual comments towards soap opera actress Arianna Zucker leading to Bush being let go from the Today Show



NOVEMBER

2 - The Chicago Cubs win the World Series for the first time in 108 years!
8 - The United States elections take place; Donald Trump becomes the president-elect of the nation
27 - The Ottawa Redblacks win the Grey Cup



DECEMBER

2 - A warehouse fire in Oakland, California kills 36 people who had gathered there for a concert
18 - Stephanie Del Valle is crowned Miss World 2016
19 - A truck deliberately crashes into the Berlin Christmas Market, killing twelve people
19 - The Russian ambassador to Turkey - Andrei Karlov - is assassinated in an Ankara art gallery
22 - A vaccine against the Ebola Virus is proven to be 70-100% effective
25 - 92 people are killed when a Tupolev Tu-154 crashes near Sochi, Russia



So, are you starting to see why I look at 2016 as being one major suckfest?  Okay, sure, there were some good moments peppered in with the bad.  Unfortunately, there was a lot of bad.  And I didn't even get into the Syrian War because it was easily the top news story of the year.  So much devastation and so much loss, and how so many people are still trying to rebuild their lives after having so much taken away.  It sort of makes us all take a step back and realize that compared to them, many of us should count our blessings.

And the 2016 In Memoriam section is a lengthy one.  I predicted that I'd need at least four pages to get through them all.  Here are all of the famous people that we lost in 2016 starting with January and working our way to the end of the year...

IN MEMORIAM



January 10 - DAVID BOWIE, 69, singer/actor
January 14 - RENE ANGELIL, 73, producer
January 14 - ALAN RICKMAN, 69, actor



January 18 - GLENN FREY, 67, singer/musician
January 26 - ABE VIGODA, 94, actor
January 31 - TERRY WOGAN, 77, broadcaster
February 3 - JOE ALASKEY, 63, voice actor



February 3 - MAURICE WHITE, 74, singer/songwriter
February 15 - GEORGE GAYNES, 98, actor
February 19 - HARPER LEE, 89, author
February 25 - TONY BURTON, 78, actor
February 28 - GEORGE KENNEDY, 91, actor
March 6 - NANCY REAGAN, 94, former First Lady
March 10 - KEITH EMERSON, 71, musician
March 17 - LARRY DRAKE, 67, actor
March 22 - ROB FORD, 46, politician
March 23 - KEN HOWARD, 71, actor
March 24 - GARRY SHANDLING, 66, comedian/actor
March 29 - PATTY DUKE, 69, actress



April 6 - MERLE HAGGARD, 79, country singer
April 17 - DORIS ROBERTS, 90, actress



April 21 - PRINCE, 57, singer-songwriter
April 24 - BILLY PAUL, 81, singer
May 19 - ALAN YOUNG, 96, actor
May 21 - NICK MENZA, 51, drummer



June 3 - MUHAMMAD ALI, 74, boxer
June 6 - KIMBO SLICE, 42, mixed martial artist
June 6 - PETER SHAFFER, 90, playwright
June 10 - GORDIE HOWE, 88, hockey player
June 10 - CHRISTINA GRIMMIE, 22, singer
June 19 - ANTON YELCHIN, 27, actor
June 23 - RALPH STANLEY, 89, bluegrass musician
June 27 - ALVIN TOFFLER, 87, writer
June 28 - PAT SUMMITT, 64, basketball coach
July 19 - GARRY MARSHALL, 81, director/producer/actor
July 24 - MARNI NIXON, 86, vocalist
July 25 - DWIGHT JONES, 64, basketball player
July 27 - JERRY DOYLE, 60, actor/talk show host
July 30 - GLORIA DEHAVEN, 90, actress
August 2 - DAVID HUDDLESTON, 85, actor
August 13 - KENNY BAKER, 81, actor
August 14 - FYVUSH FINKEL, 93, actor
August 22 - TOOTS THIELEMANS, 94, jazz musician
August 23 - STEVEN HILL, 94, actor
August 25 - JAMES CRONIN, 84, physicist
August 28 - JUAN GABRIEL, 66, singer-songwriter



August 29 - GENE WILDER, 83, actor
September 1 - JON POLITO, 65, actor
September 5 - HUGH O'BRIEN, 91, actor
September 11 - ALEXIS ARQUETTE, 47, actress
September 17 - CHARMIAN CARR, 73, actress
September 20 - CURTIS HANSON, 71, director
September 24 - BILL NUNN, 62, actor
September 25 - ARNOLD PALMER, 87, golfer
September 26 - HERSCHELL GORDON LEWIS, 90, director
October 20 - MICHAEL MASSEE, 60, actor



October 23 - PETE BURNS, 57, singer



October 24 - BOBBY VEE, 73, singer



November 7 - LEONARD COHEN, 82, singer-songwriter
November 7 - JANET RENO, 78, former U.S. Attorney General
November 11 - ROBERT VAUGHN, 83, actor
November 12 - LUPITA TOVAR, 106, actress
November 13 - LEON RUSSELL, 74, musician
November 24 - FLORENCE HENDERSON, 82, actress
November 25 - FIDEL CASTRO, 90, former Cuban President
November 25 - RON GLASS, 71, actor
December 6 - PETER VAUGHAN, 93, actor
December 7 - GREG LAKE, 69, musician
December 8 - JOHN GLENN, 95, astronaut/politician
December 8 - JOSEPH MASCOLO, 87, actor
December 13 - ALAN THICKE, 69, actor/songwriter
December 14 - BERNARD FOX, 89, actor
December 17 - HARRY HEIMLICH, 96, physician
December 18 - ZSA ZSA GABOR, 99, actress/socialite
December 24 - RICK PARFITT, 68, musician
December 24 - LIZ SMITH, 95, actress



December 25 - GEORGE MICHAEL, 53, singer

December 26 - BARBARA TARBUCK, 74, actress



December 27 - CARRIE FISHER, 60, actress
December 28 - DEBBIE REYNOLDS, 84, actress
December 31 - WILLIAM CHRISTOPHER, 84, actor

Well, okay...I only needed two.  But still...what a year of losses.  Here's hoping that 2017 is not as depressing in that regard.

And that about wraps up the news and events of 2016.  Tomorrow, I'll share with you some of my own thoughts about the year gone by...