Hello 2019!

Father Time (like Mother Nature) doesn’t wait for any of his children.  He just keeps marching along and you can lead, follow or get out of the way – whatever your preference.  So, today we turn another page in the book of history and become 2019 — whether we like it or not.  Personally, I always ring in the New Year with a renewed sense of optimism.  However, this January 1^st, I’m finding it hard to get excited about a year that the United Nations has already designated “The International Year of the Periodic Table.”  (Whoa!  Party on, dude!)  I’m not saying 2019 is going to be a dud (Who knows?  The Cricket World Cup in May might be a barn burner) but for now ….  The thing is, though, we better enjoy 2019 while we got it, because time has a way of strolling along, and before we notice, somehow it’s gone.  Let me demonstrate.

Meryl Streep, Richard Gere, Gene Simmons and Bruce Springsteen are all going to celebrate their 70^th birthday in 2019.

George W. Bush (who doesn’t look so bad these days) hasn’t been president for 10 years.

Jim Cameron’s Avatar was an instant success 10 years ago until everybody got over the CGI and 3D effects and realized that the story was just a total rip of Dances with Wolves.

The last time Jimmy Fallon was funny was 15 years ago– when he left Saturday Night Live.

Ex-Tour de France winner, Lance Armstrong, cheated for the first time 20 years ago.  He would do it a total of 7 times before he finally got caught and confessed.

Sponge Bob Square Pants and Vladimir Putin both made their debut 20 years ago.  (Coincidence?  I think not.)

Harry met Sally 30 years ago.  The same year the Berlin Wall came down.

I’m not sure if anybody even watches The Simpsons anymore, but just in case, Maggie is over 30.

All those beautiful half-naked people you see in the photographs of Woodstock (circa 1969) are retired now and probably spend their days worried about their digestion and bitchin’ about Social Security.

Barbie is about to turn 60.  I don’t want to sound catty, but I think that girl has had some cosmetic (plastic) work done.

Kurt Cobain died 25 years ago.

Half the people alive today weren’t even born when Freddie Mercury died in 1991.

But the weirdest thing about the coming year is:

Blade Runner, a movie that many of us grew up with as a dystopian look into our own future, is actually set in Los Angeles, November, 2019.