{"id":18338,"date":"2021-12-31T17:52:28","date_gmt":"2021-12-31T22:52:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jamiegraymusic.com\/wordpress\/?p=18338"},"modified":"2021-12-31T17:53:44","modified_gmt":"2021-12-31T22:53:44","slug":"happy-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jamiegraymusic.com\/wordpress\/2021\/12\/happy-2022\/","title":{"rendered":"Happy 2022*"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Happy 2022*. Staying Home. Staying Stoned.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I truly thought 2020 was the worst year ever. I was optimistic when it ended. I thought things would be better in 2021. Here we are anyway. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Last Year’s New Year’s Message: Happy 2021 It Might Not Suck<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

2022. Pandemic year two. They say it will become endemic. That we will learn to live with COVID-19. Like the flu. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fuck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some really great things have happened this year. Most of them have come with caveats and asterisks. Just like 2020. *Pandemic year. It’s easy to forget the little joys in the big hurt. Lots of hurt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
We moved to upstate NY this year. That was a good thing.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This overwhelming sadness is what I’ll remember most about these times. So much loss. My spirit feels beaten and bruised. PTSD seems the new norm, in a world where we must fear living among liars and idiots, who would profit or die by denial of the common sense measures to keep everyone well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
We lost Betty White on the last day of this piece of shit year, confirming it’s status as ‘worst year ever’. #RIPBetty<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I don’t go anywhere that isn’t absolutely necessary anymore. Certainly not the crowded indoor areas where music and alcohol flow. The places we used to love to go. Where life stopped for a few short hours, and the only thing that mattered was how the music moved the crowd. Where we all came together, sometimes encroaching on each other’s personal space, if only because somebody lost their balance in the drunken, drug steeped swerve to a frenzied beat that infected the entire crowd. It was fun. It didn’t feel like a death threat, like now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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COVID killed businesses across the country in 2021.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

If this is what ‘living with it’ will be like, I don’t think I’m ready for that. I’m not ready to go ANYWHERE without an N95 mask and a litre of hand sanitizer. I don’t see that changing because they start calling it an ENdemic instead of PANdemic. Call it whatever you want. I’m staying home. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So Happy 2022 from my house. Where I plan to spend the year, with the (vaccinated) ones I love most. ~jg<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*Pandemic year three.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Jamie Gray | Musician and Writer. Pessimistic optimist.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Authors Note: All opinions expressed here are just that: opinions. If you don’t like mine, I probably won’t like yours either. Let’s just nod, and walk away. Maybe come back with solutions instead of opinions. Because of the two, only solutions actually matter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I truly thought 2020 was the worst year ever. I was optimistic when it ended. I thought things would be better in 2021. Here we are anyway. 2022. Pandemic year two. They say it will become endemic. That we will learn to live with COVID-19. Like the flu. Fuck. Some really great things have happened […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[582,614,707,565,561,606,587,588,706,585,698,680,649,697,14],"tags":[619,709,710,596,96,562,607,594,595,708,592,650,684,651,701,523],"class_list":["post-18338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","hentry","category-blog-2","category-coronavirus","category-happy2022","category-jamiegray","category-jfs","category-justthinking","category-moregray","category-myopinion","category-omicron","category-opinion-3","category-pandemicstupidity","category-rant","category-vaccine","category-wearamask","category-blog","tag-coronavirus","tag-happy2022","tag-happynewyear","tag-imo","tag-jamiegray","tag-jfs","tag-justthinking","tag-moregray","tag-myopinion","tag-omicron","tag-opinion","tag-pandemic","tag-rant","tag-vaccine","tag-wearamask","tag-blog","post_format-post-format-image"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":18281,"url":"https:\/\/jamiegraymusic.com\/wordpress\/2021\/08\/dear-anti-maskers\/","url_meta":{"origin":18338,"position":0},"title":"Dear Anti-Maskers","date":"August 22, 2021","format":"image","excerpt":"If I drive down your street at 70mph, the residential street your kids play on, you'd probably be in favor of the State forcing me to slow down, wouldn't you? For your kids safety? Because the Government has the right, and DUTY to protect the people. From reckless speeders and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "#AntiMaskers"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jamiegraymusic.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/videocapture_20201024-111714-014693062190133620277.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":18487,"url":"https:\/\/jamiegraymusic.com\/wordpress\/2022\/10\/two-kinds-of-people\/","url_meta":{"origin":18338,"position":1},"title":"Two Kinds of People…","date":"October 8, 2022","format":"image","excerpt":"There are only two kinds of people in this world: People who want to live their lives by their own rules People who want to tell others how to live If you're in the second group, kindly go fuck yourselves with a fire hose. ~jg Authors Note: All opinions expressed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "#blog"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jamiegraymusic.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/20220413_174433.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":18247,"url":"https:\/\/jamiegraymusic.com\/wordpress\/2021\/08\/can-we-save-our-planet-is-it-too-late\/","url_meta":{"origin":18338,"position":2},"title":"Can we save our planet? Is it too late?","date":"August 10, 2021","format":"image","excerpt":"Several nations are threatened with extinction due to climate change. Maybe the climate deniers were wrong.Maybe the scientists were wrong, too, and it's MUCH WORSE than they thought.Maybe it IS too late.But maybe it's not.Even if the experts were sure it's too late.Maybe they're wrong. ~jg Jamie Gray | Musician.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "#blog"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jamiegraymusic.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/16286161291615513703738425347297.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":18336,"url":"https:\/\/jamiegraymusic.com\/wordpress\/2021\/12\/today-is-the-day\/","url_meta":{"origin":18338,"position":3},"title":"Today is The Day…","date":"December 27, 2021","format":"image","excerpt":"Today is the day, they say That you worried about yesterday, they say I say, Yesterday would have been Better without all that fretting That worry that counted for nothing But clouding the state of your mind From the happiness and joy You could've created Instead of the stress All\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "#blog"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jamiegraymusic.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/painnt_1908112033022926978875995505195.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":18481,"url":"https:\/\/jamiegraymusic.com\/wordpress\/2022\/08\/this-month-so-far\/","url_meta":{"origin":18338,"position":4},"title":"This month so far…","date":"August 18, 2022","format":"image","excerpt":"","rel":"","context":"In "#blog"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jamiegraymusic.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/wp_story1660843740304_0.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":18393,"url":"https:\/\/jamiegraymusic.com\/wordpress\/2022\/02\/bald-eagle-for-thanksgiving\/","url_meta":{"origin":18338,"position":5},"title":"Bald Eagle for Thanksgiving?","date":"February 27, 2022","format":"image","excerpt":"If Ben Franklin had his way, we'd be eating the national bird ? every Thanksgiving. Or maybe we'd eat bald eagle, because Turkeys would be a protected symbol of America's deliciousness? #YouTellMe ~jg America\u2019s love-hate relationship with the bald eagle https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/magazine\/archive\/2022\/03\/bald-eagle-america-history-jack-e-davis\/621311\/ The Bald Eagle is protected in the US, but\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "#blog"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jamiegraymusic.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/1645998614221.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jamiegraymusic.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18338"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jamiegraymusic.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jamiegraymusic.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jamiegraymusic.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jamiegraymusic.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18338"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jamiegraymusic.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18338\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18348,"href":"https:\/\/jamiegraymusic.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18338\/revisions\/18348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jamiegraymusic.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jamiegraymusic.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jamiegraymusic.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}