Reflection

© by Gerald So | 8:00 A.M.

L to R around the table: John, Matt, me, Andrew, Deshant

Tuesday night, I had dinner with college friends and fellow Star Wars fans Andrew Carbone, Deshant Paúl, John Ricotta, and Matt Tedesco at Dinosaur BBQ in Brooklyn. Quickly and naturally, talk turned to that morning's death of Carrie Fisher, and last night brought news of her mother Debbie Reynolds' death.

Quite a few celebrities have died this month, in fact, which you might see as more reason to lament 2016. I, however, hesitate to blame time for anything. Instead, I remind myself to treasure friends, family, people I admire, and things I enjoy as long as I can.

Andrew, Deshant, John, Matt, and I became friends because, in 1995, we and a few others were interested in starting a literary magazine at Hofstra more inclusive and more likely to stand the test of time than the previous few. As we found our way through setting up and running Font, we knew our chemistry was special. We didn't need retrospect to realize. We wanted to stay in touch, so we have.

And though we no longer run Font, the student body has kept it active all these years. We must have done something right.

TRAVELERS

© by Gerald So | 4:30 A.M.

Hundreds of years from now, the technology to transfer human consciousness from one body to another is used to send a few thousand Travelers into present-day bodies near death in hopes of preventing humanity's bleak future.

Co-produced by Canadian TV network Showcase and Netflix, created by Brad Wright of TV's Stargate franchise, Travelers stars Eric McCormack as present-day FBI Special Agent Grant MacLaren, who discovers the presence of Travelers shortly before he was reported to have fallen to his death chasing a killer. Grant's body is taken over by Traveler 3468, who heads his own five-person Traveler team.

The teams must stay on-task so as not to alter the future more than expected, but soon enough, 3468 and his team grow attached to people in their hosts' lives and try to help those people as well as themselves. Meanwhile, they succeed at the bulk of their missions, but their future doesn't seem to improve.

Only the tip of the iceberg, I'm sure. I started watching on Netflix yesterday and wound up binging the full season. Recommended for fellow fans of Quantum Leap, Leverage, and Person of Interest.

To Unscheduled Joy

© by Gerald So | 4:00 A.M.

It's another Christmas for me as a single, childless adult (not by choice). As such, I've learned to take joy of the season when and where I feel it. After all, I don't see that one can bottle up joy to be released just in time on the Twenty-fourth, -fifth, or Thirty-first.

I don't have the means to repay all my friends and loved ones in material gifts, but I try to bring that friendship and love with me whenever I see or talk with them. To last week's gathering of nine of us for Rogue One, for example.

I hope this blog strikes a similar friendly tone with every post.

I have Christmas-themed poems running at The Five-Two this and next week. I need one more poem to fill out January and then some for our February theme, crimes of passion. Submit today.

All the best to you for the holiday season and the new year.