Our freedoms can be taken away with an emergency executive order
Masks are expensive and I hate them
COVID-19 sucks
Americans don't value freedom - they voted for Biden and a progressive.
Americans don't want to Make America Great Again - sad.
Dumb ass young people want a socialist government.
Rail is grossly overpriced and we still have to pay for it.
2. What do you regret doing (or not doing) in 2020?
I regret not going to eat at LikeLike Drive-In one more time (they closed in 2020)
3. What are you proud of doing in 2020?
There is nothing I can think of that I am proud of doing this year. The year was crummy. Plus I am not one that boasts about whatever I am doing.
4. Who did you get to know better in 2020?
Lisa
5. What do you hope to accomplish in the remaining days of 2020?
Well since I am answering this on December 31, there are just a few more hours left in the year. I did get the car safety checked and it passed yesterday. Another stupid government tax to be paid. Ugh.
OK.. so the Friday 5 is wrapping up the year 2020 with part 1. Do I have anything good to say about 2020? Not really, but let me think.
1. Who made you laugh most this year?
Since I hardly ever go out, I am pretty much limited to the person I hang out with... so that would be my friend Lisa. We have some funny moments, though most of the time, I don't get her jokes. I am not a very comedic person.
2. In what ways was 2020 better than 2019?
If you asked what was worst about 2020 over the previous year, I could offer you a huge laundry list. About the only remotely good thing about 2020 and the whole mask wearing mandate, is that for many days of each week, I could skip shaving since most of my face was under the darn mask while I was out in public.
During the early, all clamped down martial law like phase of the pandemic back in late March, driving in Honolulu was not so bad because traffic was significantly down.. but then many of the businesses were sucking up a lot of red ink due to the government shut down mandates. Several never recovered. Sad.
3. What was the best movie or TV series you saw in 2020?
TV series
1. Tales From the Loop (Amazon Prime)
2. Star Trek Lower Decks (CBS All Access)
3. Star Trek Picard (CBS All Access)
4. Fringe (old series, never watched before but slowly chipping away at 5 seasons of episodes; IMDB-TV/Amazon Prime)
5. Captain Scarlet (2005 reboot - Amazon Prime)
6. A Teacher (Hulu Basic) - I hope this story continues to court
7. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Hulu Basic) - 1980s era TV version of the original British radio play
8. Star Trek The Next Generation (reruns on either CBS All Access, Amazon Prime, Pluto TV) - just fun to watch again.
9. Babylon 5 - (Comet TV until 10-2020) - reruns - fun to watch again.
10. Doc Martin (Pluto TV, Tubi TV) - just watching various episodes of Series 1 to 6 or 7. I'll wait for 8, 9, and 10 to show up on one of the free services in the future.
Movies
1. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019) - I did not see this until January 2020. This is significant for me in that it marks the last movie I ever saw in a theater. I don't think I will be going to those places anymore due to rising ticket prices, expensive food and of course the possibility of catching COVID-19. My movies days are over... onward to streaming or watching my old DVDs... plus I am done with Star Wars... Disney is now putting out way too much product for me to even keep up, much less care about it anymore.
2. Plenty of older streaming movies that I can't immediately recall on various platforms plus stuff from my DVD collection.
4. What was your favorite food discovery of 2020?
Haven't gone to a restaurant of any type since February 2020. Eat almost all meals at home. I am not a cook so mostly I make stuff I can heat up in the microwave... discovered CAULIFLOWER RICE this year... it is a good rice substitute that is supposedly not too fattening.
5. What’s something nice you purchased for yourself or received as a gift in 2020?
I have a "new" Apple iMac computer, "new" iPad and a new "PC Netbook". Two different friends gave them to me because they upgraded to the latest and greatest. I was pleasantly surprised with both. The iMac is a 2013 model but can still run Catalina (10.15.x); the iPad is a 2012 model and is hobbled with iOS 9.3... but it still works and I can do online stuff and play simple games with it. The Netbook is hobbled with Windows 8, but I am going to use this as a testbed to fool around with a Linux installation.... again.
The following questions come from Scrivener's weekly Friday 5blog.
1. What do you do when it’s bedtime and you’re not sleepy?
I think I do what millions of other people do... whip out their smartphone and browse the internet, watch videos or listen to music or an audio book. Lately I've been doing audio books, and some are real sleepers... they put me to sleep.
Music is also a good way to help me fall asleep. Some artists are better at putting me to sleep over others. Late night talk radio and some podcasts have the same effect.
Otherwise if I am really restless, then it is video time in bed... scrolling through many shows on Pluto TV or watching a wide variety of video content on regular YouTube... plane crashes, family blogs, car blogs, vinyl record blogs, tech blogs, news clips, music videos... yep... YouTube is still the best free video streaming platform to take to bed with you. Pluto TV is a good free streaming platform too since they have plenty of old TV shows, news and other stuff to watch. I love watching re-runs of Star Trek The Next Generation there. Hooray for free video streams on all platforms.
2. When were you most recently bashful?
Can't think of anything recent, and if I did, I'd be too bashful to let anyone know here.
3. Have you seen a doc in the past nine months?
Yes. Once for a stupid accident and then later for a routine check-up.
4. What’s got you feeling grumpy lately?
COVID-19, Rail, Taxes and some personal things. Need I say more?
5. What’s making you happy today?
I will be depositing my late arriving, hard copy of my 2020 Economic Impact Payment Check of $1200 today. I wish I could just keep it as is because President Donald Trump's name is on it. It could be a collectible... but alas, I need the money, so to the bank I will go later today.
Way back in late 1966 singing group The5th Dimension had a top 10 hit with a song called "Up Up and Away". I probably would have named this topic after that song. Anyway, here are my five answers to this week's Friday 5.
1. What most recently made you feel elated?
Nothing has made me feel "elated". The closest I got for being "presently surprised" when friends recently gifted me with a 2013 Apple iMac computer, an older Apple iPad Mini (running iOS 9.3), and an old Acer Netbook computer running Windows 8.0. The Mac is working just great with Catalina (OS 10.15) and the iPad can get by with whatever iOS 9.3 compliant apps I can find in Apple's walled garden of an app store. The PC leaves a bit to be desired... however I have gotten it connected to my WiFi network, so that is good. Perhaps I may fiddle around with Linux on that thing if I ever can find time to be that adventurous.
2. Where is the slowest elevator in the universe?
Here in Honolulu there are two elevators that I know of. First off are the public elevators at the Hawaii State Capitol. When the place is busy it can be a long wait before one of the five available public elevators manage to show up. The freight elevator is the slowest in that building. State Capitol... you have the second slowest elevators that I know of.
Topping the list is the one and only 1927 era elevator that is still operational inside Aloha Tower, one of the popular tourist attractions in Downtown Honolulu. Up to last year, I used to love to go there on a Sunday (free street parking across Nimitz) to just hang out at the top floor (10th) and take pictures of any ships that were coming or going and many of the docked ones. While far from the tallest building in the city, it's harbor front location makes it an ideal place to capture some nice oceanside views from a free elevation.
I haven't been there since the start of the whole COVID-19 pandemic. Ugh. I miss the place. So yes, Aloha Tower elevator, you are the slowest that I know of.
3. When were you most recently in an airplane?
The last time I travelled off island was back in July 2019. It was a roundtrip on Southwest Airlines, Boeing 737-800NG from Honolulu to Kona and back from Kona to Honolulu. I was on the Big Island of Hawaii for almost two weeks back then. This was all before the COVID-19 crisis hit us. Now I have no desire whatsoever to travel anywhere off island in an airplane or ship. I just don't like the entire process of having to get tested, wear a mask and surrender personal information to more places that I can think of. What happened to our freedoms? Ugh!
The last airplane I rode was this Boeing 737-800NG on Southwest Airlines.
4. With what have you had it up to here?
COVID-19and all of its government imposed restrictions
Rail - Dumbest most expensive waste of taxpayer dollars in Hawaii this century. Now it is costing at least $11 billion and counting up to more! I hate paying taxes for this wasteful government project. Ugh!
5. What’s a good song whose title contains the word “sky?”
