Overall, a Great Year!

Osama bin Laden, check.

Moammar Gaddafi, check.

Kim Jong Il, check.

Speaking of, here’s some inspiring “mandatory public crying,” as The New Yorker’s Philip Gourevitch aptly describes it.

Then, enjoy the cheerfulness of this great photo essay with images from North Korea:
http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2011/08/inside-north-korea/100119/. Those dreary apartment buildings are only a tad more depressing than what you could see in Romanian cities, especially in Bucharest. Which you can see at
http://www.vice.com/read/everyday-life-in-communist-romania-0000001-v18n9.

Oh, and this other report from VICE, via CNN:
http://cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/bestoftv/2011/12/20/natpkg-vice-inside-north-korea.cnn.html

Hopefully, these long-overdue deaths will mark the end of the respective eras created by their distorted heroes. Or at least the beginning of the end, although, considering that in Romania things are still far from normal 20 years after communism fell and, in some respects, have got worse, I can’t be too optimistic.

My Wish for 2012

To win a million dollars (or more) and have my friend, Diana, be my personal shopper. I’ve never had patience shopping for clothes and I’ve always had a utilitarian approach to it: get things that generally match, in some basic, solid colors and wear them to shreds.

When I went to Romania, Diana, a dear friend from college, was purging her wardrobe and asked me if maybe I wanted something. I looked at the myriad shirts, dresses, skirts, and pants. Um, yes, all of them. And, while we’re at it, can I just have your whole wardrobe, actually? Diana has fantastic taste and a great sense of play. Everything she picks is cool. As for me, give me something brown and comfortable and I’ll wear it for 15 years.

And yes, I could easily turn this into a conversation about money and how I’m squeezed by large but necessary expenses, etc., but it’s really about me not being able to play with clothes and get maybe once fanciful item a year. It inevitably has to be something practical.

So there, Santa. I don’t need you to bring me a gift. Just arrange with the lottery. Diana is already on board and ready to assume her new role.