To say that I’m completely over 2020 by now is an understatement.   What a year.  The pandemic rages on (yet people where I live still refuse to wear masks because – you know – ‘Murica).  My kids are attempting to get through their 2^nd years of college and senior year of high school at home by staring at a screen all day.  We’re shopping around for colleges (for my youngest) that may (or may not) be holding classes next fall, I’m trying to safely plan a Thanksgiving dinner, and I’ve watched pretty much everything I ever wanted to see on Netflix, Hulu, and Disney+.  I tell my girls all the time “you’re living through a historical event right now”, but they give me that look as if to say “can we just get passed this, please?”

The Masters golf tournament was last weekend.  Last weekend.  No fans, weird tee-off times (due to the fear of darkness suspending play), and NO magnolias in bloom.  It’s like watching some poorly rendered video game version of the tourney.  The NBA is talking about restarting in December (didn’t they just finish a shortened season?), college football is in shambles, and the NFL has starters out every week due to the virus.

Cruise ships sit abandoned in harbors.  Restaurants and bars are going out of business every week.  Will we ever see a movie in a theater or attend a live concert again?  Disney World was closed for months on end (Disneyland still is closed – and my not open again until next summer).  Every seasonal event (both local and national) is getting canceled.

It’s been a record year for hurricanes, with twenty-nine named storms in the 2020 season.  Twenty-nine.  They even ran out of names and had to resort to Greek letters to identify them this year.  Remember the murder hornets?  Scientists discovered a nest in Washington state last week that had over 500 specimens in various stages of development – with over 200 queens capable of starting their own hives (luckily, it was destroyed).  There was an earthquake in Massachusetts.  A mysterious guy in a jetpack was buzzing the runways at LAX.  An explosion of improperly stored ammonium nitrate leveled Lebanon.  We’ve lost Sean Connery and Alex Trebek.  I could go on and on.  I can’t look at the news anymore.

Here’s what I want for the rest of 2020.  Nothing.  Complete boredom.  I want it to get cold (the weather for the 2^nd week of November here has averaged in the 70s, 20 degrees above the yearly average – I refuse to mow any more grass this year).  I want to put up my Christmas tree and listen to Nat King Cole sing “The Christmas Song” while I sit on my couch and watch it snow.  I want to lunch on grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup.  I want to take long naps in the afternoon.  I want to drink a glass of Yuengling Hershey’s Chocolate porter.  I want my family to stay healthy.

I’m a simple man.  I want simple pleasures – and I simply want this horrid year to end.

Come on 2021 – you’ve got to do better.

What are you tired of in 2020?  Drop me a note in the comment section below.