2010 – A Cut Above

So it’s back to the worst time of the year (for me), the dreaded Holidays.  I love Thanksgiving, but then comes Christmas, Channukah and New Year’s Eve, followed closely by Valentine’s Day.  I could happily skip over all these holidays, go to sleep the day after Thanksgiving and wake up New Year’s Day in time to see the Rose Parade on tv, in pj’s.  This year is the 121^st Rose Parade, a parade through the streets of Pasadena with the most beautiful floats you can ever imagine.  (Photos of a couple of 2009 winners below.)

I remember we used to think the Wits Rag Parade was spectacular, and until I moved to the States I never knew what spectacular was until I saw my first Rose Parade (or Tournament of Roses).  These are colossal floats and every centimeter has to be covered with flowers, or plant life of some form.  Some of them have computerized animation, others feature live people dancing on turning dancefloors, and so on.  My sister always walks down the road in Pasadena to view the floats on New Year’s Eve, when everyone’s rushing around like mad sticking on the last perishable flowers.  The theme this year is “2010, a Cut Above the Rest”, well, let’s hope that turns out to be true all year long!

This year, 2009, hasn’t really been the best for me nor, it appears, for the rest of the U.S., especially with the amount of awful reality shows appearing on tv (although, I must admit I am addicted to a couple like Say Yes to the Dress, a show about shopping for wedding dresses in a particular New York store, and another was John and Kate Plus Eight, and, oy, look what happened to that show).  Others I watch simply because I can’t believe what I’m watching ….. sex addiction shows, interventions, alcohol/drug rehabilitations, how to be a better “tool”, “I didn’t Know I was Pregnant” and so on.  I thought the whole idea of getting help in these areas was to keep it secret but here, on national television, everyone’s biggest secrets are unveiled.  Can they be real, or are they just made up for tv?

Of course there were some highlights in 2009 and I really shouldn’t be complaining, Obama is President, witnessing an eclipse in Shanghai when the clouds opened up just for those few minutes, Number One Ladies Detective Agency on HBO, six weeks on Saba in the Caribbean doing a very fun job, alas, no trips to Africa in 2009.  First time in a very long time, and perhaps that’s the big hole I’m feeling this year.  Another highlight, I can now see my friends on Skype when I speak to them for free — had a big laugh when I skyped my friend Roni in Johannesburg few days ago, and her husband answered the phone before realizing he was sitting with no shirt on having just got out of the pool (wonder what was below the table??), perhaps he was nekked, he got awfully embarrassed, that was fun.   Small things amuse small minds …….

Here’s hoping 2010 is a Cut Above the Rest for all of us!!!  I plan on watching the parade on New Year’s Day filled with hope.