A final captain’s log of the year! Where are we, as we head into 2022?
December 12th, 2021. It’s a day that will live in… well, relative irrelevance. However, as the curtains slowly come down on 2021, it’s time to look at what the world is now! It’s been a crazy year. More than that, it’s been the conclusion to an even crazier year. So, what do we have now? What might come next?
Here’s a December 2021 Captain’s Log, for posterity!
Captain’s Log, December 2021
How Is COVID Going?
A new variant of COVID developed in the past few weeks. The powers that be have labeled it “Omicron.” The word “omicron” is a jumble of the word “moronic,” and you better believe the conspiracy theorists are FEASTING on that. The government and FDC are recommending booster shots to keep up immunity, though the experts also agree that the worst is over, for the most part. Companies that started a “work from home” policy in March of last year anticipate a return to offices in January of 2022. However, traveling still remains a wild card experience. Some countries still have closed borders to prevent infection! Hopefully, everything will return fully to normal by the middle of next year.
What’s New in Politics?
Allegedly, current president Joe Biden has approval ratings lower than previous president Trump! In national news, former NY governor Cuomo stepped down from his post after damning allegations of misconduct behind the scenes. The investigation is still ongoing, and it doesn’t look good. Despite this all seems relatively peaceful. However, that could change, as mid-term elections gear up in 2022. There’s already a run for a Democrat to unseat the bombastic Georgia representative Marjorie Taylor Greene.
What’s new in Tech?
“Technically” nothing overly exciting! See what I did there? The only thing relatively worthy of note right now was a fall in shares for Peloton, the spin bike that took the world by storm during quarantine. Why the drop? A combination of a return to standard gyms, and… a rather tragic use in the Sex and the City reboot (spoilers!).
What’s new in the World?
Two weeks ago, a high school student in Michigan shot, injured, and killed several classmates. The news is tragic enough, but there’s a shocking twist. It would appear that the parents of the shooter not only knew their child’s intentions, but also provided him (a minor) the gun he used. Both the shooter and his parents are in custody, even though the parents attempt to flee! The massacre happened on November 30, so not much is known for certain yet. The Parkland shooting happened three years ago, and that perpetrator still hasn’t been sentenced for his crimes yet, either! Time will tell.
Speaking of “time will tell,” girlfriend of sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, currently sits on trial for participating in his crimes. The prosecution has presented their evidence after ten days, and there’s no telling if Ghislaine will actually make it all the way to sentencing. Stranger things have happened.
What’s new in Pop Culture?
In the beginning of this fall, news broke of a divorce between socialite and businesswoman Kim Kardashian-West and her husband, musician Kanye West. Despite Kanye’s denials of that ever happening, Kim Kardashian officially filed for her maiden name to be restored and to be declared legally single. How is that different than a divorce? I don’t know. I’m not a lawyer.
Meanwhile, as her marriage ends, she’s been spotted holding hands and flirting with comedian Pete Davidson. Davidson has a bit of a reputation for being a ladies man. His public past relationships have all been with relatively high profile, beautiful women. It doesn’t get more high profile and beautiful than Kim Kardashian, who literally won an award this week for being a fashion icon. I think he just knows how to text back and is good to his mom. It doesn’t take much else!
In related news, Travis Scott, boyfriend of Kim’s sister Kylie (and father to her baby) faces charges and lawsuits stacked to the ceiling. In the beginning of November, he hosted a music festival to promote his album of the same name, “Astroworld.” Unfortunately, in a behavior that is apparently a pattern for Scott, a rush to the stage (among other things) led to the death of multiple guests of the event. Scott is charged with enabling the audience by encouraging crowd surges, moshes, riots, and turning on security and emergency response. His response to the tragedy has not been well received, and many wonder if this is the end of his career. It’s a true tragedy. Hopefully justice gets delivered to the victims. However, what good is justice when your child never comes home?
As 2021 comes to a close, I wonder what 2022 will hold. I hope that as COVID fades into the distance, the world comes back with a bit more gratitude. Life is short, and there’s no sense in wasting what time we have. A new captain’s log can be expected later in 2022! For now, let’s just… go watch some TV, drink some lemonade, and not jinx anything. No jinxing here. No way.