We are now a week into December 2023 with three more remaining before we commence with the new year. With the upcoming year ending in the number “four,” the math is easy enough to determine it is my year to turn sixty.

Last night, I went to my regular Chinese buffet haunt and at the last minute, decided to take in the Neon Movies 7:40 PM showing, DREAM SCENARIO starring Nicholas Cage. It began with Mr. Cage’s character randomly and innocently appearing in people’s dreams. As these dreams spread worldwide, they eventually took an evil turn. While it was a very good movie, it was not the movie to lift my spirits, nor to fill me with documentary glee. Plus, Nicholas Cage looked not like the handsome man of our years aging together, but was at first sight, unrecognizable either due to make-up or the actual aging process. I was a good twenty minutes into the film before I recognized the main character was played by Cage. I had the same reaction when watching the film version of HAIRSPRAY and searching for John Travolta who played the mother, Edna.

I anticipate a full day of writing with breaks to attend to things about the house. The pooches will not know what to do by having me home the entire day.

When I was born in 1964, the world was only twenty-three years removed from the attack on Pearl Harbor, the needed leverage to engage our nation in WWII. I recall the solemn recollections of the adults each December 7^th, but as with most things as years passed, the memories lessened. The 9/11 attacks seemed to wash away even more of the collective color of the Pearl Harbor anniversary with a new generation.

On this date in history: (2020) American aviator Chuck Yeager, the first person to exceed the speed of sound in flight, died at age 97. (1972) American astronaut Eugene Andrew Cernan commanded the last crewed flight to the Moon, effectively ending the Apollo program. (1956) American basketball player Larry Bird, considered one of the greatest pure shooters of all time, was born. (1941) Japanese bombers launched a surprise aerial attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, precipitating the entry of the United States into World War II. (1917) The United States declared war on the Austro-Hungarian Empire during World War I.  (1787) Delaware became the first state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.

Make it a great day!