2016: The Year in Review

It was the worst of times, it was...well, there's really no other way to end that sentence.

History will remember 2016 as one of the most embarassing years in recent memory. It began with a bunch of armed lunatics holding up a bird sanctuary in Oregon in order to protest...something (Obama?) and ended with the most horrifying two words in the English language: "President-Elect Trump". A gorilla was shot by the staff of the Cincinnati Zoo and everybody on your Facebook feed turned into a fucking expert on both parenting and animal behavior. Everywhere we went, society crumbled all around us, but we were too busy with our noses in our phones playing Pokemon Go to notice. The "Bernie or Bust" and pro-Hillary crowd were too busy fighting with each other instead of coming together to unite against the real threat, which is why we now have a presidential cabinet that resembles a rogue's gallery of supervillains that would put the Suicide Squad to shame. In retrospect, it's probably a good thing that the revival of The X-Files fizzled out when it did. After all, what government conspiracies could Mulder and Scully uncover that would be more sinister than anything that President-Elect Dumkopf has in mind? When it comes to pure horror, an orange-hued narcissist in the Oval Office trumps any monster that Chris Carter and his writing staff could come up with. (Pun definitely intended in this case.)

Death was a selfish bastard, too. While we lost several wonderful celebrities this year --David Bowie, Prince, Leonard Cohen, Alan Rickman, Carrie Fisher, Debbie Reynolds, Muhhamed Ali, John Glenn, Garry Shandling, George Michael, and Arnold Palmer, among many others-- the ones that hit the hardest were the people that we knew personally. Seems like everybody I know suffered a personal loss this year. At least two broke my heart. I lost a close friend and co-worker earlier this March, and my workplace feels like an entirely different place, almost like a ghost town. I like everyone else well enough (one of my best friends even works there now), but it just isn't quite the same. A friend of mine also recently lost her little sister, who was the best friend of my niece, and it affected my family greatly too. It was a harsh reminder of how precious and fleeting life is, and to always appreciate the ones you love. Death does not always announce itself. Sometimes it just shows up uninvited when you least expect it.

My heart continued to play tricks on me and tried steering me toward disaster yet again. I won't go into full detail, but I will say that I suffered a severe emotional conflict (and near-breakdown) this past year brought on by a bad romantic situation that could easily have been avoided if I had not given in to feelings that I knew were a mistake. Sometimes your heart say yes while your brain is saying no. Listen to your brain. It knows what's good for you. "Your heart wants what it wants" goes the saying. Maybe that true, but sometimes your heart can't always get what it wants. And in many cases, it shouldn't.

This was the year that the Dover Players closed their doors at the Old Town Hall in North Olmsted. Whether we'll continue in a new location remains to be seen, but we seem to be on hiatus for now. It was a bittersweet farewell to a wonderful group of friends and creative individuals, all of whom made the past near-decade of my life fun and memorable. I don't exaggerate when I say that some of closest friendships and happiest memories were made within that group. I will still continue to act and perform in some capacity and will still see my friends from there on a semi-regular basis. To quote the Decemberists, "I was made for the stage". You can't keep a performer down.

2016 did have some good things going for it. The Cavs won the NBA playoffs and brough a championship to this city for the first time in 52 years. My parents celebrated their 50th anniversary with a fun family camping trip at Lake Hope in southern Ohio. One of my best friends now works alongside me at Half Price Books and she seems to be loving it. (A sweet romance has also blossomed between her another co-worker.) All in all, there have been a few roses growing up through the manure patch that was this past year. Success and happiness still elude me (and Miss Right is nowhere to be found for the time being), but I remain optimistic. I'm working on steadily improving myself and taking more risks. I recently played guitar and sang at an open-mic night and had a great time. I'm making Er-Bear great again. I look forward to seeing what 2017 has in store and if we survive past January 20th, I think we'll be all right.