12-28-08 LA CA: 1701 hrs. This once-a-week entry thing seems to work well. I look forward to them. It’s only early afternoon and already the sun is setting and soon my part of the world will be dark. I have noticed as I am sure many of you have, that over the holiday season, when people are more concerned in gift shopping and spouse swapping, politicians fling out their dirty laundry. Since many of us are looking elsewhere at the time, it would be the time to do it. By the time we are all back to things with our shoulders to the grindstone, it’s all old news. Like Cheney and his recent admissions to greasing the rails for torture, Bush’s amazing “So what?” statement to Martha Raddatz, etc. That’s right, it’s old news. Try telling that to someone who was tortured for no reason or who had their lives destroyed by all this mayhem. It would be a tall order to put that behind you and relegate it to the old news pile. It will be interesting to see what else comes out in the next few weeks.
So, in many ways, it has been a fairly still week. Last night was the last broadcast of the year for my little radio show. I am looking forward to putting together some great sets of music for next year and have a couple already done. I guess since America is so broke at the moment, there wasn’t a whole lotta shakin’ goin’ on at retail, I guess this season, hugs are being exchanged for gifts and warmth. I know I didn’t get up to much work wise. I did book work, researched for future journeys and started preliminary packing for a short trip I will embark on soon.
For me, the more time I have to prepare for a trip, the better. Last night, I went through my camera gear to see what I could live without. Tonight I will make a food schedule and see what I’ll need to bring to make sure I am covered. It’s a hassle to bring food along but in some places I have found that it’s a necessary option. I started bringing when I started going to Africa. I am all into the idea of hitting the food stalls in places and checking out the local fare but in some locations, it’s a real roll of the dice and I would rather have a choice.
I put up another couple of things at Vanity Fair. I know, it needles some people that I post there. I love that. I hope you all got through the good times of Christmas and will be careful over New Years as sometimes the lines become a bit blurry.
I will do my best to post something next week. I am not sure if I will be able to get online but if I can’t send in anything, I will as soon as I get anywhere I can. I guess this is it for this year. What a year it’s been. For all those concerned, 2009 will be a lot of work. That occurred to me right after Obama won. I reckoned you got what you wished for now it’s time to put your shoulder into it and see what can be done. I am looking forward to that. Until next year. Thanks for reading this. Henry