My final blog post for 2021

 2021, the sequel to 2020, has come to an end.

2020 was the year of the start of the coronavirus crisis.

2021 was the year the covid-19 vaccines were available, and yet, a significant portion of the population choose not to take it, even though it's been proven over and over again that the unvaccinated are more likely to need ICU hospitalization when in contact with the virus.  And because of the covidiots who think any precaution is a threat to "muh freedoms", we end the year with yet another surge of another variant.

So forget any large-scale gathering to celebrate the new year.

At the rate we're going, the 2020 New Year's might possibly be the last time I went out to party for New Year's.

And many of the cases also happen to be among informal gatherings where people let their guards down and the masks down because of the guilt trips of "don't you trust us, we're your family/friends". Nevermind that too many people got the virus from their family & friends.   Whereas for me, I kept my mask & shield on when visiting family and ate from a distance from everyone else. And even when I sometimes have breakfast with my dad at a restaurant, we sit diagonal from each other.  Some people call that "living in fear". I call it living in reality. Also, unlike some people, I'm not afraid of a vaccine. 

As for friends, it's been a while since I gathered with them in person. As far as I'm concerned, the phone, email, and social media are good enough for now. 

And socializing at work? In the worker lounge, everyone has to sit at separate tables. 

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While I've been avoiding covid as much as possible, I should also be avoiding excessive calories as much as possible. Sadly, I've been gaining too much weight for the last two years. I know it's a cliché to talk about losing weight for every New Year's resolution, but I have to figure out how to make that a reality. I've lost weight before (at least that's what people were saying to me from 2002 to 2012, as well as from 2017 to 2019) so it's not like I don't have experience losing weight, I just got to find a way that fits my schedule.

Also, there's a food addiction. While I've never taken drugs or drank alcohol, I think my addiction is to food, especially snacks and rice.  It's like I think about eating, then feel guilty for eating too much afterward. 

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As for work, I'm currently working at a fashion store and I have what is possibly the easiest job - wiping all the high-touch points (ie doors, elevators, escalators, fixtures, etc).   

What I like about it is I work at my own pace, and I don't have to do any cashier duties. I like to keep it simple.

However, I want to eventually move on to something else. I want to return to working at a library. It's what I trained for and what I live for. Either that or work in the school again.

This is the first year I didn't work in a school since I started in 2005.

Learn more at

https://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2021/05/1st-school-year-that-i-wasnt-working-in.html

https://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2021/03/1-year-ago-little-did-we-know-it-will.html

 I only left the school library job because the head librarian was a jerk, and even though she left a year after I left, schools are more concerned about filling classroom positions than library positions. 

 I have no interest in the stress of a full-time teacher, but a part of me wants to be a teacher aide or a substitute teacher again. I miss working with the kids (well, the well-behaved ones) and a part of me feels that's my main purpose on earth. But the last time I worked in a classroom was before the pandemic, so I haven't yet experienced having to remind defiant students to keep their masks on or to follow other protocols set by school admin that didn't exist before the pandemic. 

I am considering a return to substitute teaching for the next school year while keeping my retail job. I need something to fall back on during school vacations when subs don't have paid opportunities. 

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But the real ideal is to make enough money from my music and art. As Pablo the Mad Tiger Warrior, I make instrumental tracks (sold on iTunes, streamed on Spotify, et al) and visual arts (sold on RedBubble). I made some money on my music, but not enough to pay my bills.

Earlier this year, Pablo the Mad Tiger Warrior released "Science Fiction Music: an instrumental album", which as you can guess is an electronic music album of instrumental tracks that sounds like what you can hear in a science fiction movie. 

I have music videos for 11 tracks from that album and will need to make 4 more.

Check out Pablo the Mad Tiger Warrior music videos at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTp3x3norNTYDksJKCSfhXg

Then I plan to make my 2nd hip-hop instrumental album. The first one, "Urban Honolulu Jams" was released in 2016 and was mostly a mix of 90's-style G-funk and 70's style funk. It was hastily put together and I wish I came up with better titles for some of the tracks.

I already made some tracks for the upcoming "Urban Honolulu Jams 2", and I plan to make some more, this time, covering a wider spectrum of sound in the hip-hop genres.  I can't give you a timeline of when it'll be complete, as I want to make it as legendary as possible and to give the tracks some cool titles. 

After that, who knows? Maybe a vocal album (that would take years if I don't get paid time off to complete it), or an instrumental album of a genre I haven't worked on yet. So many possibilities. 

And talking about music, here's my list of the best songs of the year

My favorite song would be : Coldplay w/BTS "My Universe"

and here's some other classics from 2021

The Weeknd "Take My Breath"

BTS "Butter"

TXT "Magic"

Olivia Rodrigo "Good 4 U"

Olivia Rodrigo "Brutal"

Bella Poarch "Build a B____"

Willow "Transparent Soul"

Troy Sivian w/ TateMcRae "You"

Weezer "All my Favorite Songs"

Natanael Cano w/ Ovi, Snoop Dogg, Snow that Product, CNG "Feeling Good"

CRO w/Snow tha Product "Get Money"

Pop Smoke w/ Chris Brown "Woo Baby"

Lil Nas X "That's What I Want"

Girl in Red "Seratonin"

Saweetie w/ Doja Cat "Best Friend"

Latto "Big Energy"

Kid Lario w/ Justin Bieber "Stay"

Lizzo w/Cardi B "Rumors"

and to finish the year, we got..........

Tory Lanez "Pluto's Last Comet"

Madonna's not happy Tory Lanez sampled her song "Get into the Groove" without seeking permission, but his song is very good, I was so impressed that I played it over and over after my first listen . I hope they can work out a deal to keep the song in rotation

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And off course, there's this blog. I wish I had more time to blog this year, because there was so much to blog about, but so little time.  I might've blogged more this year than the last 2 years, but I still don't feel it's enough.  But I'll keep blogging until I can no longer do so. 

2021 memorials

 When a prominent person pass away, I try to find time to blog about it. Sadly, my mind was too distracted throughout the year to blog about everyone I found  interesting.

Here were some memorial blog posts from earlier this year

People from my personal life

http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2021/11/in-memory-of-my-dentist-dr-clifford-park.html

http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2021/10/in-memory-of-uncle-michael.html

http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2021/04/in-memory-of-auntie-theldine.html

http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2021/08/in-memory-of-lisa-lam.html

http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2021/09/the-mystery-of-elia-laeli.html

http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2021/04/former-students-and-tragedy-on-kalakaua.html

Public figures

http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2021/07/2021-cruel-year-for-old-school-rappers.html 

http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2021/05/colt-brennan-1983-2021.html

http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2021/07/haunani-kay-trask.html

http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2021/02/rush-limbaugh.html

http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2021/02/the-legends-of-baseball.html

Here are some other interesting people who passed away in 2021

Malakai "Mo" Maumalanga

"Mo" was a former gang member turned social worker who encouraged troubled youth in Hawaii to turn their lives around in a positive direction. He worked for the Adult Friends for Youth (AFY), the same organization that worked with him when he was transitioning out of the gang life.

Sadly, he was murdered in front of his own home decades after leaving the gang life.  It is still a mystery of who killed him and why they did it.

Robert Kekaula

Robert Kekaula was a well-known TV journalist for decades. Most of his career focused on sports, though in his last few years, he was also focused on the non-sports news as well.

He was a cultural icon in that he was an example of how even a pidgin-speaking large-sized Native Hawaiian man can rise to the top of local news media. You didn't have to abandon your cultural roots to make it in the mainstream!  He & Paula Akana were probably the first Native Hawaiian duo to be the lead anchor for KITV News. (or any local TV news for that matter).

He not only was a journalist but also a musician who released 3 albums, 2 of which won the prestigious Na Hoku awards. 

Bob Jones

This Bob Jones is not to be confused with the controversial religious university in South Carolina named after a different person with the  same name. 

This Bob Jones was a legendary TV news reporter in Hawaii who didn't shy away from expressing strong opinions on the air or especially in the opinion articles he wrote for Midweek. Whatever backlash he got was nothing compared to the dangers he faced while reporting from Vietnam in the 1960s. 

My main memory of him was when I was growing up in the 80s and 90s when he and Jade Moon, were the lead anchors for KGMB News. 

Collin Powell

Collin Powell was a man of many "firsts" in many high positions in the US government. He was the first African-American to be the chair of the US military's joint-chief-of-staff (under George HW Bush) , as well as the first to be Secretary of State (under George W Bush). 

During his time with the joint-chief-of-staffs, he was in the media spotlight as the US military was about to save Kuwait from Saddam Hussein in the early 1990's. He impressed many Americans who thought he could eventually become the first African-American president.

 People even begged him to run in 1996. But Powell didn't really fit into the major political parties. He was a friend of the Bush family and identified as a Republican at the time, but he wasn't comfortable with the entire Republican agenda.  I felt that if the US elections didn't allow for political parties and everyone had to run as an individual, Collin Powell would've been able to be the first African-American before anyone even heard of Barack Obama. 

Powell did accept the position as a Secretary of State under President George W. Bush. It was a time of major turmoil as the 9/11 attacks happened. The US launched an attack on Al Qaida who was headquartered in Afghanistan.  Though Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with 9/11, Bush wanted to "finish the job" and get rid of Saddam Hussein once and for all.  There was disagreement within the administration about those plans, with Powell saying we would need more troops than what Donald Rumsfeld (Secretary of Defense) was proposing. Sadly, Bush went along with Rumsfeld's idea which turned out to be a disaster. Overthrowing Hussein was the easy part, it was keeping the peace that turned out to be the hard part. Also, Powell was humiliated as his speech about the alleged weapons of mass destruction in Iraq turned out to be wrong.

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Some people wondered that even though Collin Powell was able to gain prestigious positions within the US government, that he could he have done more for the African-American community. Some felt he wasn't radical enough. I mentioned this on Facebook.

 Mixed legacy? Why? He broke barriers and made achievements that were denied to his parent's generations. He did speak out against racism, but some felt he should've been more radical in his statements.

People need to understand that in order for progress to happen, there's needs to be people working within the system (like Collin Powell) and people speaking out from outside the system (like the BLM movement). People in both groups would express their thoughts differently because they have different roles to play. But all the roles are important!

In the last year of his life, Collin Powell was suffering from blood cancer which weakened his immune system, which was unable to fight off the coronavirus even though he was vaccinated.

I wrote the following on Facebook

Vaccines help most who get it, though it may not be enough to help those with weakened immune systems. Colin Powell's blood cancer left his immune system weakened beyond repair. But for the rest of us, we can helped with the vaccine.

Covidiots need to understand if they get vaccinated, they're less likely to spread covid to those with weakened immune system. THE WHOLE POINT of getting vaxed, wearing masks and not gathering in large groups is to PROTECT THOSE WITH weakened immune systems. But too many covidiots are all about the "me, myself and I" and don't understand the concept of protecting the vulnerable.

Desmond Tutu

Desmond Tutu was a religious leader and an activist against the apartheid regime in South Africa. Like Martin Luther King, he advocated nonviolent resistance even as people were losing patience with being nonviolent against a violent oppressive regime. 

But unlike King, Tutu was able to live long after the segregation system he was fighting against ended. Tutu still had more work to do.

In the early years of the post-apartheid era, Tutu was in charge of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which investigated human rights abuses that occurred during the apartheid regime. Those who were truthful in their testimony in front of the commission were given amnesty. The goal wasn't so much to punish but to establish some sort of reconciliation and healing. 

He also didn't hesitate to criticize the post-apartheid government for its abuses and corruption. 

He spoke out for the rights of the LGBT, people living with HIV/AIDS, and the economically marginalized.

Tutu also spoke out against human rights abuses overseas, whether it was about Israeli abuse of Palestinians in the West Bank (for which he was falsely accused of anti-Semitism) or on the Rohingya refugees from Myanmar. 

FW De Klerk

Also from South Africa was FW De Klerk, who was the final president of South Africa in the apartheid era. Though he was a longtime supporter of apartheid, by the late 80's he realized the system was unsustainable. Riots were occurring nationwide, and there were economic boycotts from outside.  A civil war was a real possibility. In the long run, there was no way apartheid was able to withstand such pressures. It was best to end the system right then and there and start a peaceful transition.

De Klerk approved the release of anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela who eventually became the first president of the post-apartheid era. Both won the Nobel Peace Prize.

But even with him starting the transition away from apartheid, there were still some people who haven't forgiven him for being a past supporter of apartheid. His final statement before his death was an expression of regret for his past support of apartheid. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwL2NpgvKf8

Bob Dole

Bob Dole had a long career of service to the US government, starting from time as a US soldier fighting in World War 2, and later with decades in the US Senate. His political career culminated in a run for  US President in 1996 for which he lost to the incumbent Bill Clinton. It was almost like a rerun of 1992 in which fellow WW2 veteran George HW Bush lost to a guy who dodged the draft during the Vietnam War.  While people respected the service of Bush and Dole, they were also seen as out-of-touch with modern America as compared to the younger Clinton.

I wrote the following on Facebook about Bob Dole after he died. 

I was in high school when Bob Dole ran for president, most of us thought him and other Republicans (like Dan Quayle and George HW Bush) are uptight morality preachers who complained too much about gangsta rap and TV sitcoms. Bill Clinton looked cool in comparison. Little did we know that the Republicans would change their image to the vulgar, deplorable bullies like Donald Trump who thinks basic decency is for chumps! As a middle-aged adult, I kinda sorta miss the uptight conservatives like Bob Dole and Dan Quayle, mostly because the Republican brand became way more toxic and repulsive under Trump!

John Madden

John Madden was one of the biggest legends in professional football even though he couldn't play at that level due to injuries in his college days.  In the 1970's, he was the head coach of the Oakland Raiders, for which he won a Super Bowl in 1977.  He was able to succeed with a team of outlaws and misfits with 3 simple rules: be on time, pay attention, and play like hell. 

But it was his career after coaching in which he really gained legendary status. For nearly 3 decades, he was mostly famous as the game-time voice for NFL games. He was able to explain the complexities of the game with his verbal descriptions and his visual  illustrations on the screen. And he had a great sense of humor.

And to top all of that, his name became a brand name for a popular video game series: Madden NFL.  Those who couldn't make the team on the field could pretend to be NFL players while playing the game. And those who did succeed on the field could laugh at themselves when noting their likeness appearing in the game. 

Bobby Bowden

Bobby Bowden was the longtime head football coach at Florida State University. When he started coaching there in 1976, Florida State was a no-name school without a winning tradition. That quickly changed as he led the school to multiple national championships over the decades. He coached the greats like Deion Sanders, Chris Weinke, Charlie Ward, Warrick Dunn and Peter Warrick. He became the 2nd winningest coach in college football history until he retired in 2009.

The reason he stood out to me was back when I skimming his book at a bookstore, one part really got my attention. He mentioned that when working with his assistant coaches, he preferred to correct them in private. He said that if he was to embarrass the assistant coaches in front of the players, that would disrespect the assistant coach's authority over the players. I wish more supervisors would understand that.

Beverly Cleary

Beverly Cleary was the author of many classic children's books, which still have a place on library shelves decades after their initial publication.  Ironically, this former librarian and author didn't like reading growing up because she thought it was boring.  Her goal was to write books that a younger version of herself could relate to, being that she grew up as a rascal kid in the middle-class suburbs. That might seem like the norm now, but at the time, it was revolutionary. 

Betty White

(note: even though this post was posted a day before she died, I'll add my thoughts on her here)

The actress who has been known as a national treasure for living what seemed like an eternity has passed away on the final day of 2021, less than a month before her 100th birthday.

She has appeared on sitcoms, game shows and variety shows over the decades, most famous one being  The Golden Girls, an 80s sitcom centered around 4 elderly women enjoying their golden years, even as they tackle social issues like age discrimination, gender relations, race relations, medical malpractice and more. The show was seen as ahead of its time as it dealt with the issue of homosexuality and AIDS. 

In her last few years, Betty White continued to make guest appearances on comedy shows, as well as prominent features in TV ads and social media memes. 

While we all joked that she will live on forever, it is her legacy and spirit that will do so! 

(note: I might add more to this post! I just want to make sure I got something published before the end of 2021. I'll add more soon)