Narrative Niche's Most Spectacular New Year's Extravaganza
Sianora 2023, in the days gone by is where you'll be.
Hello 2024, can't wait to see what you have in store!
In This Post
2024 is the Year of the Dragon
In honor of 2024 being the year of the wood dragon according to the Chinese zodiac, I threw together a little ai/me presentation of dragon art. If you are skeptical or hesitant about this AI revolution—first of all, you're in it, and I'm sorry, but that snowball has left the top of the hill. Ai is bringing us further as a people though, especially in the medical field, and on a personal level, it's able to turn a horrible artist (me), into a Michelangelo (see below), with the twerk of a text prompt.
Now, let's drag on over to look at...
2023- Year in Review
2023 started out with a blessing from God in the form of a new heart for my 29-year-old son, Kaleb. Wait a sec... did I just say my 29-year-old son? Holy hell, if Kaleb is 29, that makes me... that's right folks, Jason the Invincible turned 50 in 2023. Hey, I'm still upright, never got Covid (as far as I'm aware), and I feel like taking on another 50! Let's Go! But seriously, thank you Lord, for your intervention in Kaleb's, and in all our lives. And Lord, we thank you for all your provisions in '23, and we come to you this day, to ask for health and happiness in '24. And may there be no more bickering, no more strife, and everyone just let people live their life. Thank you Lord, in Jesus name, Amen.
Okay, I did it. I want to start this new year off in the right direction, and being grateful to the Man upstairs seemed to be a good step. I mean, with all this talk of ai, and et's, and ufos—I'm thinking we better get right with God to prepare for battling all of that. And please, don't run from me yet, this is not a God blog or a church blog, well God runs it, through me—never mind...
So let us sail to happier waters, aye? Aye Cap'n, set course for happier waters! Set course for the Sea of Happiness and Glory matey! And Kaleb, if you're reading this, I am so proud of you son! You are one tough dude! Folks, this kid took all those pokes and prods like a champ when he was that cowboy you see in the photo, and he plays goalie in hockey now, so props to you Kaleb Clark Kurtz, you're tougher than I'll ever be! Love you man.
As I'm writing this, I'm realizing that I essentially already gave my year in review, at least the highs, in the Thanksgiving Special, so to avoid boring you, I'll go over the lows. Let's see, the cost of food—don't even get me started, wars flaring up all over, refugees flooding our states, and now I hear Trump is off the ballot in Colorado? What in God's name is happening to our country and our world?
Argh, forget '23, we're almost to the Sea of Happiness and Glory.
2024- A Look Ahead
As bad as 2023 was, 2024 has got to be better and I believe it will be, and it will have nothing to do with the election. First of all, the election is in November, and second, it will undoubtedly be rigged, and most importantly, it doesn't matter who is elected because our government is so broken that nothing anyone does is going to fix anything in four years.
And alas, ye see? We have arrived at the Sea of Happiness and Glory. From here on out, any lad or lass who speaks negatively, will be... will be... hmm... will be, shot in the knee! "Aye," says the parrot, "Aye, say somethin' nice, or get a wooden leg! Say somethin' nice, or get a wooden leg."
Leap Year
We get an extra day in 2024, as February 29 returns on its four-year rotation, this year falling on a Thursday and making 2024 a little extra special for those leap year babies. How old are you now? Wow, only 7? Lucky you.
Some other things fulfilling their four-year cycle in 2024, are the Summer Olympics, which will be held in Paris, France, July 26 through August 11, and as mentioned, the U.S. Presidential Election on Tuesday, November 5. According to theweek.com, there will actually be elections in over 70 different countries this year, including Russia, India, and Iran.
In the Skies
Also in November, NASA plans to launch Artemis II, which will be the first crewed flight to the moon since Apollo in 1972. Upon further investigation, I learned that Artemis II will be crewed by four astronauts—three Americans and a Canadian, and that this mission is only to fly around the moon, but not land on it. The next giant leap for mankind won't happen until the Artemis III mission is launched sometime in 2025, perhaps.
Mark your calendars—April 8, 2024 will be a sight to see, or not to see, as we, here in the U.S. will experience another total solar eclipse, and the path of totality for this eclipse is about 50 miles wider than the one we saw, or didn't see, in 2017.
I'm Now an Amazon Associate
I don't have any sort of following yet, though it's not from a lack of effort, but I went ahead and signed up to do some affiliate marketing for Amazon. It's free to join and I figure, I might as well create the possibility for someone to click on my link, buy the product, and wait 90 days to collect my one dollar. I hope it's more than one dollar. Actually, I hope someone at least clicks on my link. What I meant to say, most importantly, is I'd be tickled pink if someone even gets this far into this very post!
Anyways, welcome to age of advertisement Narrative Niche. So if you click on this ad for the Matrix Trilogy, 4K ULTRA HD + BLU-RAY and you then buy that product, I earn a percentage of that sale. Now granted, it's a very small percentage, but it's income nonetheless.
Grammar Gadgets, the Writer's Workshop, and Mysterious Ways Update
It's hard to tell who is actually reading my blog, besides my close family of course, so I can't tell yet if I'm reaching my target audience, which is students, teachers, and new writers. I am able to see that people other my family are clicking on my site (a lot from Russia and China which is odd, and troublesome perhaps), and the Grammar Gadgets posts seem to be the most popular, so maybe I am reaching some writers. Either way, I will continue the Grammar Gadgets series in 2024, covering new and interesting literary devices like the chiasmus, the colloquilism, foreshadowing, litotes—what the hell is litotes?, malapropism, and polysyndeton—sounds like something from the Jurrasic era.
So, that was the good news, close your ears parrot, the bad news is, the Novel Writing Workshop is on the back burner for now. All of my free time is wrapped up in writing this blog, writing the Grammar Gadgets, and trying to edit my novel; I'm in a low place with that—I'll admit it. I'm stuck, and trying to force it just doesn't feel right. And when I say all my free time, I mean ALL my free time, and that is putting a strain on the marriage. We'll work it out, and I know what I need to do there. On a lighter note, I already have lesson copy for over 50 classes, so when I do get time to put together the workshop, I have a huge head start! Sign up today to be notified when the NNNCNNC workshop opens for business!
New Contest!
I'm going to start including contests and games with my posts in an attempt to make them more fun. Whether it be a word puzzle, a maze, or a hidden picture, I'll try to add something interactive. I'll keep it really simple for the first contest. I wrote about acronyms in a recent post, do you recall? Do you know what an acronym is? It's basically just the initial letters of a multi-word group. So the contest is: What words does the acronym for my workshop stand for? NNNCNNC ?
Sign Up for the Novel Writing Workshop!
Invitation to Write for the Narrative Niche Blog
Since I am so busy these days, I could use your help, especially if you're a writer. Message me what you'd like to write about, or even submit something you've already written, and I can add you as a collaborator.
Best Wishes for 2024
Thank you for reading the Narrative Niche's Super Spectacular New Year's Extravaganza! May your 2024 be more than you could ever hope for! And remember what my good buddy Bob always used to say:
No, not my buddy Bob Wiley...
My buddy Bob Marley...
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