2022 in Review

2022 saw a continuation of the return to normalcy that began in 2021.  I continued my quest to get into better shape that began with my COVID vaccination and return to working out in 2021.  Since May of that year, I have lost over 30 pounds through a combination of diet and exercise – mostly the former.  I didn’t do anything radical: just reduced carbohydrates and sugar, which in turn reduced cravings for food.  That, along with just 30 minutes of exercise six times a week brought my weight down to its lowest point since 2006.  Although I remain overweight, I feel much better and, without wanting to boast, I look better as well.  Being able to work from home, only occasionally going to my employer’s campus, has been a great help to me in my fitness quest: not having to commute saves me over 40 minutes of each day.

Daniel and I continued our travel adventures with an autumn trip to Canada and New England in place of an originally planned trip to Europe.  Travelling by car enabled us to avoid the air travel meltdown that continues to plague North America and Europe, and we saw much that we would have missed. 

On the musical front, after tentatively dipping our toes back into the musical waters of Cleveland in 2021, Daniel and I began regularly attending concerts again.  There were too many concerts to mention comprehensively, but standouts were  Behzod Abduraimov’s fearless performance of Prokofiev’s Second Piano Concerto and Igor Levit’s effervescent Brahms Second Concerto. 

 

Aside from that, my musical activities have mostly been focused on composing several short works for piano and administrating my Vladimir Horowitz Facebook group.

 

Speaking of COVID, I experienced it in late-May.  At first, it seemed like an ordinary sinus infection, which is common for me as summer approaches.  Then my palms and the soles of my feet turned beet red, prompting me to get tested.  As I had been vaccinated, the symptoms were mild and I lost only one day of work – although it would have been more if I didn’t work from home.  I felt better in short order, but two weeks later the skin on my palms and feet suddenly began peeling off – evidently rejected by my immune system.   

 

In the wider world, Vladimir Putin’s chest-thumping led to Russian’s brutal and illegal occupation of the sovereign nation of Ukraine.  The war has not gone as Putin has expected, thanks to fearless Ukrainian soldiers assisted by weapons from the West, especially the United States.  Further, Western sanctions have nearly crippled the Russian economy, leading to domestic unrest.  I’ve been doing my small part to help but won’t disclose exactly how on this blog.

 

Democrats performed better than expected in the 2022 midterm elections.  They would have held the House if not for aggressive gerrymandering in Republican led states, including Ohio.  Also, too many Americans have become spoiled, entitled brats who decided to whine about inflation while forgetting that the economy was at a dead standstill just two short years ago.  The inflation of the last year is not the result of Democratic or Biden Administration policies, it’s due to the law of supply and demand which is the centerpiece of capitalism: coming out of COVID, there was a sharp increase in demand without the resources to meet those demands due, in part, to a lack of imports from China.  The increased desire for both road and air travel drove fuel prices, which drove up prices for everything else.  Instead of taking logical actions, like driving less or getting more fuel efficient cars, too many Americans decided to crab about it while ignoring our own history: The economic situation in 2021-22 has a parallel with that of 1946-1947, where the conversion from a wartime to a peacetime economy and a generation of servicemen returning home to start families drove not only inflation but a housing shortage.  But while countries like China and Russia are struggling economically, and while Europe and the UK struggle with inflation far more serious than occurred in the United States, the American economy remains relatively sturdy and resistant to attempts by the Federal Reserve Bank to slow it down.  At this point, it’s an open question as to whether President Biden should run again.  Personally, I think he should not.  Biden can decline another nomination and go down in history as among the most successful one-term Presidents, and having done his duty, retire like Cincinnatus, clearing the way for a new generation of leadership.  But anyone who doubts that we’re much better off than we were two years ago needs a reminder of the lockdowns, how hospitals were overrun, and stores and restaurants were closed – and President Biden’s steady leadership is a major factor in changing that. 

 

On a very personal note, 2022 saw the blossoming of a friendship with a person whom I’d known peripherally for years.  The result has been a new perspective on the arc of my life, a renewed sense of purpose, and the slow opening of a heart that’s closed for all but those truly close to me.  My greatest hope is that this friendship continues for as long as I do.