| We said goodbye to the rollercoaster ride known as 2023 and here we are.
2024.
I did not picture the change-of-year as the classic “old man with a long white beard” cartoon, representing the outgoing 2023, and I surely didn’t see it as the little baby in the same cartoon, wearing the top hat and banner proclaiming “HAPPY NEW YEAR.”
Besides, cartoon sounds so dated. The word is “meme.”
I see 2024 standing on the doorstep, hair in a topknot (no, not a “man bun;” that’s a term I refuse to use), with a mischievous twinkle in its eye, promising a year of reinvention and maybe some revelation.
It’s kind of like an unneeded motivational speaker giving a TED Talk here in the first month of the new annum, promising whole new possibilities, lots of surprises and, to be honest, bunches of good natured eye rolls at the unexpected twists that are sure to come our way.
As a matter of fact, I see 2024 wearing a headset microphone, confidently strutting across a stage, blasting a blinding whiter-than-white smile while ranting about a whole lot more than the usual suspects: resolutions and projections we all make and break faster than a politician’s promises.
2024 is trying to convince you that something feels different. Braver. Bolder. Maybe a little brash.
And it has a point because that different something started right away. To wit: THE POLAR VORTEX rendering everybody’s electric vehicle worthless as frozen power stations went deader-than-dead and parking lots were turned into graveyards of our robotic future.
We woke up on January 1, 2024, streets buzzing with the energy of new beginnings and the air filled with the scent of possibility (if you live in New York that smell was the usual aromas… sorry about that). Coffee shops were chattering about the latest tech inventions - I see you iPhone 75! Or is it 76?
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A good word for 2024 is history since we are all left to our own devices (feel me?), be it phones or tablets or gaming gadgets. (“Left to our own devices” has taken on a particular meaning.)
The entire history of the planet is available at our fingertips. Not only that but we’re writing history faster than anyone can keep up with it.
How many albums will Taylor Swift release this year? The over/under is 3. Yeah, I’m a fan. You got a problem with that? See you on Twitter… er… “X”… go ahead and troll me. To quote Coach Prime: “I keep receipts!”
Speaking of Taylor, who stole the idea of using TAYLOR as a first name from yours truly, she has a new album. It’s intense. It feels as if she’s gone from singing about exes to training for MMA. Maybe it’s her relationship with the pro football player Travis Kelce, but the lyrics sound like fight song anthems. Personally I cannot wait for her next album, using vernacular right out of the Kansas City Chiefs playbook:
“Oh darling run a skinny post and I’ll find you in the seam;
Unless you have to max protect, then we’ll have a double-team!”
Speaking of MMA, fast becoming the most popular sport around the planet, have you noticed how every match looks like a meme-in-the-making? Two guys hugging aggressively while one whispers motivational quotes in the other’s ear. It’s a TED Talk with punches!
So far, these first couple of weeks in the new year I’ve taken some eight round-trip flights across the nation. Every flight has people accompanied by their ‘spirit animal,’ or ‘service pet.’ Fine by me - I love animals! It makes me think that if Taylor Swift was a spirit animal, she’d be an eagle soaring high above the haters. Me? I’m more of a confused pigeon, wondering why I have such an affinity for statues… or windshields….
But as long as we’re talking animals, let’s focus on the elephant in the room. Or should I say donkeys and elephants. Yep, it’s an election year. I think of it as a reality show. Only instead of getting voted off the island, you get the nuclear codes.
Look, this is the year we might as well dance in the rain since we’re all going to get wet anyway. Why not make it TikTok worthy and get a few million views! How can we monetize quirkiness? What is the title for your podcast? Are you on Spotify or Google? More to the point, how much will it cost to gain one million “followers” on my Instagram page?
Unfortunately, I can’t do the math right now, because Temu is texting me about a free pallet of more than 250 cheap items made by children in a factory somewhere in Micronesia or Southeast Asia that can be delivered to my house by tomorrow.
TWO-ZERO-TWO-FOUR. Yes it is awesome! We have Pickleball.
But where are the flying cars whizzing overhead? Shouldn’t everyone have their own jet pack by now? What is the food trend that’s going to replace avocado toast (which now looks so 2020, doesn’t it?).
Sure, we have the smart watches anticipated perfectly some decades ago in the old “Dick Tracy” newspaper cartoons (there’s that word again…) but I really thought by now there would be time travel, contact with alien universes, and professional baseball players signing contracts for $700 Million… oh, wait… Ohtani and the Dodgers did that, didn’t they?
I hope it this coming dozen months brings you whimsy, wonder, and maybe some wizardry.
Truth is, I have no idea what’s coming, but maybe that’s the best part! The way I see it, and the TED Talk I would give for everyone for this coming year is as follows.
The unknown is not scary. It’s not a problem. It’s not a threat. The unknown is an invitation, exciting and dynamic.
I hope we can experience it together.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Thanks for reading,
Taylor ------------------------ Taylors 40-minute performance can be accessed with THIS LINK which requires an $11 donation to Win Win Charity.
Taylor's book, IRREVERSIBLE and puppet Zero the Penguin are available in the store here! |
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