As you no doubt already know, the Los Angeles area has been on fire for the past week.

I was born here in 1940, so I still remember the light blanket of snow that covered the city on a Saturday in the early 1950’s.  I know for sure it was a Saturday because instead of playing in the snow, my parents made me attend a piano lesson scheduled for that day.

Last week, when I walked into my kitchen, I saw a plastic container filled with water.  Inside was a good-sized turtle, one foot in diameter.  Apparently, someone in the family thought that our kitchen was the safest place for their turtle to ride out the fire.

I’ll admit that it was exciting to watch the fire burn to within a few miles of our home. I say “exciting” when I probably should say “scary.”  But tragic events and disasters can heighten our awareness of everything around us because high-risk situations raise the existential stakes.  One of my sons lives near Pacific Palisades.  Fortunately, the Santa Monica Fire Department positioned their equipment directly in front of his house, so it was protected, but a number of his friends did not have houses to go back to.

Which brings me to “things”.  I’ve always told my children to value people, which cannot be replaced.  “Things” can be repaired or replaced.  As it turns out both of my sons had to temporarily abandon their homes.  But their families are fine.

I’m an avid follower of the news. In this case, however, I live only a few miles from the tragedy unfolding.  I am very grateful that my family members are all safe and terribly sorry for all those who have been more directly impacted by the fires.

Last weekend the wind practically threw my back against my front door. But I’m hopeful that the wind will die down, the fires will be brought under control, and once again, I’ll be able to take a walk around the block.

In the meantime, I now have a turtle for company.

Alan

Let’s make a change to begin this New Year.  No resolutions, just evolutions.

This year I’m not promising to make any changes for the better. I’m not planning to finally lose that last ten pounds, or that I’ll spend more time at home and less time at the office (Covid-19 has already taken care of that).  I’m not promising to take my car to the carwash regularly or keep my desk neat.

I’ve been there and not done that. All my past New Year’s resolutions have turned to dissipated smoke within days.

Instead of giving myself the message that I still need to improve, I’m going to give myself the message that I’m pretty neat already. I have no issue with trying to improve myself, but do I really need to begin the year by focusing on my flaws? Again?

So, my first New Year’s Evolution for 2025 is to stop telling myself I’m not good enough. None of us are perfect, but it feels much better to pat myself on the back than to kick myself in the you know where.

My Second New Year’s Evolution — appreciate each moment.

Feel free to join me in making this change. I’m calling it  the Resolution Evolution.

All right. Enough musing for one morning.

Alan

P.S.  I do plan to continue writing this blog every Tuesday, and I’m patting myself on the back for never missing a single week.

I’ve been writing this blog regularly every week for more than ten years.  Frankly, I’m delighted that during that entire ten-year period, through Covid, vacations, and illness, I’ve never missed a posting.

So, what have I done to celebrate the final week of the “old” year?  Yesterday I visited the Lucid car dealership in Century City and bought a new car, to be delivered to my home tomorrow afternoon.

I’ve been told that the best time to buy a new car is on the last day or two of a month.  The theory is that the auto manufacturers, in their unending quest to sell as many cars as possible, tend to give the best rebates for sales at the end of the month.  I don’t know if that’s true, but it is my working hypothesis.

For the past eight years I’ve been driving a Tesla, which has been fine, but a few weeks ago I experienced a new “first”.  I changed lanes without looking and, lo and behold, there was a car next to me in the other lane.  The dealer told me that it would cost about $15,000 for body work to fix my Tesla, and offered to buy it from me “as is” for $23,000.  I figured that was equivalent to a sale for about $40,000 so I accepted their offer.

Like the Tesla, the Lucid is entirely electric and it has a range of almost 400 miles between charges, as compared with a little over a 200-mile range for my Tesla.  But since most of my driving is to and from work, a total of about six miles, I don’t think that will be an issue.

So, if you’re in need of a new car, or a final year-end celebration, you can visit your nearest Lucid dealership.  I’m sure they have another four or five (thousand) cars available that they would love to sell today.

But for those who do not intend to celebrate with the purchase of a new car, I encourage you to look back on all you’ve accomplished over the past year. Give yourself credit and take a moment to celebrate what you’ve achieved. As for me, here’s to another year of writing this blog every week in 2025.

Happy New Year!

Alan