as the year ends...

...it's time again for lists! I love lists. I make lists all the time!

I'm always surprised when I see the list of "celebrities" that died. I've forgotten 1/2 of them. 

Sidney Poitier, Loretta Lynn, Bob Saget, Naomi Judd, Angela Lansbury, Kirstie Alley, Ray Liotta, Sally Kellerman, Anne Heche, Ralph Emery, Meat Loaf, Louie Anderson, Howard Hesseman, Betty Davis, William Hurt, Estelle Harris, Bobby Rydell, Gilbert Gottfried, Mickey Gilley, James Caan, Paul Sorvino, Olivia Newton John, Coolio, Robbie Coltrane, Jerry Lee Lewis, Gallagher, Irene Cara, Christine McVie, . See what I mean? 

The top searches in Google were;
Wordle, Ukraine, Queen Elizabeth, Johnny Depp, and The World Cup

The top news stories of the year were;
Omicron and living with Covid. 
Russia invades Ukraine. 
January 6th
Oil prices, inflation hits a 40 year high and the Fed raising rates.
Texas school shooter kills 21.
Roe v. Wade is overturned. 

Boris Johnson resigns. maybe he'll have time to comb his hair now
The Webb Space telescope captures thousands of galaxies in it's 1st color image.
A new Alzheimer's drug shows promise
Hurricane Ian
Midterm elections
The Queen dies
Kroger buys Albertsons
Elon Musk acquires Twitter
Protests in China against the  zero-tolerance approach to Covid
The latest big winter storm!

The highest grossing movies of the year;

#1 Top  Gun: Maverick

#2 Wakanda Forever

#3 Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

Official Top 40 biggest songs of 2022;
#1 As It Was, Harry Styles
#2 Peru, Fireboy DML and Ed Sheeran
#3 Bad Habits, Ed Sheeran

Top Country songs;

#1 Gospel Night at the Strip Club,  Ashley McBryde

#2 Something in the Orange, Zach Bryan

#3 Outrunnin' Your Memory, Luke Combs

Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift are the biggest music artists but the highest grossing touring artist of 2022 is Bad Bunny. 

Man am I getting old!!!!

America's #1 drink is....bottled water! The most popular liquor is Whiskey, with Vodka a close second. 

American's spend more on fast food than groceries. The top 3 fast food joints are;

McDonald's, Starbucks and Chick-fil-A. But if you don't want to count Starbucks, #3 would be Taco Bell.

The best selling books of 2022;

#5 Ugly Love, Colleen Hoover

#4 It Starts With Us, Colleen Hoover

#3 Where The Crawdads Sing, Delia Owens

#2 Verity, Colleen Hoover

#1 It Ends With Us, Colleen Hoover

At Amazon, their best sellers in their respective categories are;

ThisWorx car Vacuum

Stanley IceFlow stainles steel tumbler

Echo Dot 3rd generation

Mielle Organics Rosemary Mint Scalp and Hair Strengthening Oil

Crocs Unisex clogs

Fire HD 8 tablet

Left Center Right dice game

Earth Rated dog poop bags

Atomic Habits, by James Clear

Amazon Basics lightweight super soft easy care bed sheets

The most significant science stories;

#1 the James Webb Space Telescope send back mind-bending images.

#2 and eruption in Tonga creates shock waves

#3 Omicron spikes

#4 NASA crashed a $300 million spacecraft into an asteroid and proves it could save the 

     world

#5 Climate protests escalate

Most popular dog breeds;

#1 Golden retriever - duh

#2 French bulldog

#3 Labradoodle

...and, Meow;

#1 American Shorthair

#2 Ragdoll

#3 Maine Coon

Top baby names of the year? 

HIS                        HERS

Liam                      Olivia

Noah                     Emma

Oliver                    Amelia

Lists are fun.

Words

I wish I was a wordsmith. You know, one of those people who always knows the right words. A person who naturally uses purchase instead of buy; speak instead of talk; completed/finished; grasped/held; profusely/a lot; irreverent/disrespectful; and hundreds more. I can usually find a better word for what I want to say when I'm writing something out. But I don't speak like that. I admire people who do. They're so interesting to listen to. It kind of goes along with being a good speaker. I'm not that person either. 

When I worked for a local cable company, the president of the company use to get ambushed by the media, often/frequently. Usually about the cost of cable TV. He was an excellent speaker/orator. Right off the cuff he could answer any question they threw at him in an intelligent and thoughtful way. It was amazing/remarkable. Maybe that's just having the gift of gab? I think that's part of it too.

Would a story be less interesting if it were written the way someone like me, might talk? Maybe I'm just lazy. Maybe, because I don't like people, I don't like to talk to them so I don't bother? Hmmm. Maybe a good/decent wordsmith doesn't talk like that either! Maybe/perhaps it's just the Editor that has those skills? They say that if you read a lot, your vocabulary just becomes bigger and better words will come to you automatically. That didn't work for me. I love to read. But still, I don't speak like that. Is it what you read that matters? Maybe you just have to care more about words and language? I think that's it. I don't like people who use too many extra words to convey what they're trying to get across. Just cut to the chase already.  

whatever 😄😆😅😉 

the body

 If you have Disney + and you're interested in the body and brain, living longer and being healthy, you should watch the NatGeo series, Limitless. Not just because it's Thor either. Although that was nice :-)

I'm pretty sure they picked him because he's a good age for this series and of course because he is really physically fit...not just because he's Thor! Anyway, it's really fascinating. 6 episodes. And if you're over 50, the last episode is amazing. My fella and I had conversations all day about that one.