It’s the fashionable thing to say good riddance to 2016, a truly crappy year. Dave Barry joined the crowd in his usual style. (H/T jb)
I don’t know, though. Like all years, it was a mix of curses and blessings, along with a lot of life-as-usual.
There was, of course, that election whose sludge spread from one end of the calendar to the other. But at least we didn’t end up with the Clinton Crime Family running the country. There was terrorism and war. But when is there not? A lot of well-loved celebrities died — but then, don’t a bunch of them go every year?
Our personal years may have been quite grand.
Mine. Eh, not so much. I lost Robbie in July (but he’d lived a long happy life). It was the first year I ever had persistent health problems (but then, they were as mild as they were chronic). I had a lot of worries and setbacks. But they were counterbalanced by the summer’s thermometer-busting Blog Foundation Fundraiser and the birth of this new blog and Claire’s Cabal. For every bad thing that happened, there was a positive counterbalance.
OTOH, for every great thing that happened there was a negative counterbalance. On December 29, that never-thought-I’d-have-one generator landed on my doorstep, carried by angels disguised as a UPS man. On the 31st? A bill from the hospital for November’s aborted surgery. Oh cheer. I will have a talk with them about that, but I doubt they’ll let me out of it. In any case it ended the year with the drop of a lead weight on my chest.
Weird year. Stressful. Tumultuous. But I lived and grew and I’m still here and glad to be here with you. That’s something.
How about your year? Glad to see it go or sorry it’s gone?
Only a few things that might happen in the future would be worse than so many things I’ve already lived through – and survived. I didn’t pay a lot of attention to the “news” last year (or any year in the past 10), and don’t much care if it was real or “fake.” I don’t intend to spend much time or energy on the “news” in the new year either. I tend to live just one day at a time, dealing with what comes the best I can. And, once in a while, that gets narrowed down to surviving one moment at a time, of course. But nothing is forever. So no, 2016 wasn’t so bad, and 2017 will probably be about the same. Only time will tell. 🙂
As for your botched surgery, for heaven’s sake don’t let them browbeat you into paying them! Sue them instead! I suspect that the same people who made the roof and house repairs possible would be happy to help. I know I would.
One of the reasons the medical system is so insane and unworkable is that the PTB have bamboozled almost everyone into thinking they can’t fight it and have no choice.
Glad to see it go! Am looking forward to a new year and new perspective.
Physically I got beat up (injured pelvis, food poisoning, cataracts worsening). Politically, I paid too much attention – something I hadn’t done in years – and allowed outside clutter to mess up my head.
No more! No MSM, just freedom links. Less computer time in general, but safer (Cotse). More active and focused on what I CAN do, less stewing about what I CAN’T do.
Claire, I agree with ML re: your medical situation – *and* the medical system in general.
Lay your case out logically to the hospital, then have a lawyer contact them if necessary. One letter may be all that’s needed (or a letter to the newspaper); their reputation is on the line. In this world where opinion makes reality (and with ObamaCare in question), they can’t afford to be challenged too strongly.
On one hand, my wife’s fight against the cancer made it a rough year, but she’s hanging tough and surviving so far! On the other hand, the birth of our first grandchild in September and our visit to see him and our son and daughter in law in Colorado in October was wonderful! I certainly wasn’t happy with either of the Presidential candidates but I’m relieved that HRC lost. War and terrorism both suck! I remain hopeful for 2017 that a miracle occurs and my wife is cured of the cancer!
Personally, 2016 was a lot better for me than 2015- as in it wasn’t shockingly horrible.
I can’t really care too much about the political events- I’ll probably continue to ignore politicians and their “laws” when possible. So that didn’t really bother me much. I am relieved that Trump (whom I distrust) beat Hillary (whom I fear and hate). But, either way, I don’t have a president.
I was sad to see some celebs die. But in some cases I didn’t know they were still alive, so I guess my concern was after-the-fact.
I’m still here. My health is OK. Things could be better, but they could also be worse, so I won’t knock it too bad.
It would be nice if 2017 turned out to be a wonderful year.
One thing I say almost every day and that is to feel pain means I am still alive.
2016 was a big year for me, a watershed in a way, I have had others watersheds years in the past, only a handful, pivot points I would describe them as, but this one was a narrowing more than a change of direction, a path instead of a road it is now.
Claire you hear about lawsuits all the time that are settled because to settle is cheaper than going to court hopefully that can be possible for you just think if you were on a jury where a big bad ole hospital was screwing over a nice young lady like you; how would you vote?
Like you, my year was a mixed bag. Summer got off to a bad start when needed projects kept getting postponed due to complete lack of want-to. That turned out to be caused by a health issue that had snuck up on me so quietly I barely noticed, and then a friend sent me something that dramatically reduced my insomnia and helped me get some rest, and suddenly I got my mojo back and completed some infrastructure projects that made winter much more comfortable. And then I took a fall and messed up a rotator cuff, and I’m back to not sleeping…so whatcha gonna do? In general I’m still happy to be alive so it’s a win.
rochester_veteran I wish your wife a full and speedy recovery.
2016 was a mixed bag for me. Health wise it was OK except that an inguinal hernia appeared seemingly out of nowhere. I am managing it but meh.
I ended up doing a lot of renovation and major repairs to the house. The kitchen renovation was the only thing I actually wanted to do. The rest was due to things breaking, termites and ants. No fun. Hopefully that is now behind me.
Had lots of critter problems. Kept losing chickens, vegetables and fish. I hope this is now solved or at least contained.
Financially it was OK. Not great but not bad either. Especially considering all the work I had to do to the house. While I did not really add to my savings they didn’t really go down either.
It was the first full calendar year since my wife passed away. Emotionally difficult a few days, like her birthday and anniversaries.
While I know it is just an arbitrary divider I am looking forward to 2017. I have lots of ideas and a few plans. We will see what develops.
This was the first year in a long time that I haven’t had to deal with some major, mysterious medical issue!
I did have an injury that was more trouble than it seemed like it should have been, but even then, it was a straight-up injury. I had been pulling weeds and other debris out of my garden, and one of the dead stalks kind of exploded in my hand. It left teeny little paper-cut-like slices all over my fingers, but one part of it stabbed right into the muscle of my thumb, and then broke off inside. It was deep enough I had to have it surgically removed.
(The plant stem, not the thumb.)
But even that was a good thing in some ways, because I was feeling strong enough to do a complete clean-up in my garden in the first place. Most years it’s been “plant ‘n pray”, with the dead stalks and debris just being kicked aside if they were in the way, and left if they weren’t.
(I’m kind of a compulsive gardener. Even in years when I couldn’t stand up, I always planted something.)
Yes, parts of 2016 were crappy. But this is the part I choose to focus on!
For the 82nd year in a row, I avoided looking up at daisy roots. Pure profit!
I rather enjoyed sneering at all the silliness and idiocy of the campaign trail and all the whining after November 8th. Schadenfreude satisfies my occasionally-sadistic impulses. 😀
All in all, some good things, a few frustrations. Can’t complain, for sure.
As almost everyone else has said, 2016 was a mixed year of ups and downs, with the ups carrying the day overall. Having turned 65 and qualifying for Medicare, I relented and got a complete physical. Everything was great, except one minor unexpected hiccup which is going to end up with a followup procedure later this year. Should be easy peasy(or not).
I got my little lump sum pension from a long time ago employer, which mostly covered upgrades to the forest house that we’re selling. There is not only a buyer for the house, but his brother helped us build it 20 years ago and the buyer has been dreaming of this house, or one just like it, all those years. It’s a big joyful relief to have the house going to someone who will love it like we did, even tho it’s still a little sad to be letting it go! Of course closing isn’t for 3 more weeks, and the path so far has been an obstacle course of hoops to jump thru and annoyances, but I’ve got to believe that it’s meant to be.
DH recovered very well from his Dec 2015 neck fusion surgery, but isn’t doing well with mobility in general as he really needs one more spinal surgery. The doc says it’d be a minor one, but at 77 DH would really rather not go there. I don’t blame him, but it leaves me as a mostly full time caregiver, and I’m not getting any younger either. Good thing we like each other. 😉
So now it’s on to 2017 with hopes for the best and preps for whatever comes.
While 2016 wasn’t a great year it also wasn’t that bad a year for me. On the home front the ever present honey-do list kept me as busy as I wanted to be. I started to blog about my mundane adventures as a retired guy and, while there isn’t a huge following, it’s OK. On the down side I lost a bro to diabetes issues (folks never get sick in Quebec, Canada) and I’ve had to deal with a never ending kidney stone problem. A problem that has illustrated some of the pitfalls of socialized medicine. On the plus side my wife and I managed to get through another year without any major calamities. We have food on the table, a roof over our heads, no debt and enough to get us through whatever gets thrown our way. It may not be a lot but, to my way of thinking, it’s enough.
Almost forgot, here’s how cartoonist Gary Clement saw 2016…
http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/a-is-for-alt-right-b-is-for-brexit-gary-clements-a-to-z-look-at-2016-the-year-of-unpresidented-disaster
I seem to be an outlier – my medical issue was that my life was saved by EMTs and subsequently I’ve lost 40 lbs and feeling pretty darn good.
[…] http://www.clairewolfe.com/blog/2017/01/03/so-how-bad-was-2016-really/ […]
Given the medical theme of the comments, might I suggest for Jorge especially, take a look at Shouldice Hospital in Ontario for hernia surgery? I had mine done there in 1982 and have been grateful for the expert care and reasonable cost. This private hospital only does hernia surgery and has a success rate of 99.5 percent since the 1940’s and at a reasonable cost, $800 for surgery and 3 days stay then and about $4000 for the same when I checked a couple of years ago. On a lighter note I took my 99 year old father to Hawaii for a visit and we flew in a helicopter over the volcano on the Big Island, which he thoroughly enjoyed. We then celebrated his hundredth in November. So a wonderful year for us, topped off with watching HRC lose many times.
For me, 2016 was a year like most others, some good and some bad but on balance pretty good. However, I am amused that there is a meme circulating widely that 2016 was the worst-ever year “ending in 16”. That’s utterly risible; the reality it’s one of the best years “ending in 16” over the last millennium. I think Newsbiscuit (a British humour [spelling intentional!] site has it about right, so I thought I’d share it.
The 1,785,653 people who have commented on social media that 2016 has been the worst year ‘ending in 16′ have been invited to get a fucking grip. Historians have pointed out that years ending in 16 are normally more than a bit shit and this one has been no worse than any of the others.
‘Assuming they were paying any attention, most people would grudgingly concede that 1916, which saw a five-month trench battle along the Somme with over a million casualties, was a bit of a bummer,’ said Dr Edward Wilson, Emeritus Professor of Getting Some Bloody Perspective Studies at the University of Durham. ‘However, even that was a stroll in the park compared to some of its predecessors.’
1816 was the infamous ‘year without a summer’, in which the eruption of Mount Tambora caused rapid falls in temperature and major food shortages across the Northern Hemisphere, just when the end of the Napoleonic Wars had resulted in chronic unemployment, exacerbated by the introduction of the first of the Corn Laws. 1716 was not quite as awful but still saw the start of 44 years of one-party rule by a corrupt aristocratic plutocracy that would be almost inconceivable for the moment.
‘You think it’s a big deal about Bowie, Prince and Terry Wogan popping their clogs?’ asked Professor Wilson. ‘Listen sunshine, Shakespeare and Cervantes died in the same bloody WEEK in April 1616. Hieronymus Bosch, King Ferdinand II of Aragon and, um, er, the Spanish explorer Juan Díaz de Solís all went in 1516. Celebrity massacres are nothing new, trust me.’
With the worst famine in English history at its peak in 1316 at the same time as the worst year of inflation in the history of the pound sterling, the French Dauphin invading and actually being proclaimed king in the chaos after King John repudiated Magna Carta in 1216, the misery associated with ‘16’ years stretches back as far as the chronicles go.
‘1016 may actually have been the worst of the lot,’ said Wilson. ‘It started with Aethelred the Unready dying and ended with three massive battles and the Danes occupying the whole of England under Cnut. You can do the rest of that joke yourself. Basically, it’s just what happens. Either that or the whole of human history is a stop-start cavalcade of death, stupidity and misery, I couldn’t say. Anyway, happy New Year. I’m sure 2017 will be just fine.’
http://www.newsbiscuit.com/2016/12/22/2016-the-worst-year-except-for-all-the-others/