Prowling on little cat feet, December is upon us.

On By StevenIn Miscellany, Pop Culture

While I have been writing a post for every day of November to be a part of NanoPoblano, I have also been reading the posts of the other Peppers. Their lives and their writings are amazing, and I am reminded of something Ray Bradbury said:

“We are cups, constantly and quietly being filled. The trick is, knowing how to tip ourselves over and let the beautiful stuff out.”

– from “Zen in the Art of Writing,” by Ray Bradbury

It’s been lovely to watch each of my NanoPoblano compatriots tipping themselves over each day. I wanted to also say thank you to those of you who spent time reading along and commenting during this NanoPoblano month- having comments to read and interact with made it a far more entertaining venture than simply writing into the void.

I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do for the last post of November- I considered a recap of the month, but considering how much I dislike clip shows on tv, that seemed ill advised.

I considered a few brief thoughts on some random links and articles that I’ve been collecting all month, like geese and egg creams and weird winter relationship rituals, but I don’t think I want to do that right now. Maybe I’ll come back to that in December.

I thought for a while that perhaps I’d talk about all the things that I want to do when the pandemic is over, or the things I’m looking forward to coming up. I don’t want to do that now, though, because looking forward when there’s still so much Covid to endure just seems like a special new form of torture. We’re not there yet.

I considered wrapping up with a post I’ve had stewing for a while about St. Elmo’s Fire, growing up, and suffering through limerence… but that post isn’t cooked all the way through yet, and if I serve it too early, it will give my friends food poisoning.

I thought about posting some photographs of food, because good lord I sure do take a lot of photos of food, but this isn’t Instagram and I’m not a food blogger, although I sometimes pretend to play one on TV.

I thought I would have trouble coming up with something to write about every day this month, but I never really wanted for ideas, even if sometimes those ideas were a little cheesy, and even if sometimes I had trouble finding the time and concentration to make them real.

I am delighted by the fact that I can make a blog post out of all the things I’m not making into a blog post. I like the weird symmetry of that.

One last thing, before I turn my attention to an unrelated but very important piece of bloggery… I cannot believe that not a single one of you commented on my “Chairman Meow” joke during the Hong Kong posts!

And now for something completely different:

As we roll into December, I begin the annual challenge of Whamageddon. The rules are very simple:

  1. The objective is to go as long as possible without hearing Wham!’s Christmas classic; “Last Christmas”.
  2. The game starts on December 1st, and ends at midnight on December 24th. (I use my local time zone, but not everyone follows the rules in an identical way.)
  3. You’re out as soon as you recognize the song.
  4. Only the original version applies. Remixes and covers do not send you to the fields of Whamhalla, although they might raise your pulse a bit.
  5. If you like, post on social media with the #whamageddon hashtag when you get hit.
  6. The intention is that this is a survival game, and not a battle royale. In other words, don’t be a dick and don’t play Last Christmas to your friends. No Whammied Rick-Rolls, please.

I play Whamageddon every year, because it’s a really silly bit of fluffery and I enjoy pretending to anguish over my fallen brethren as they ascend to Whamhalla. Two years ago, I was taken out by a Wham-grenade planted by someone I trusted, foolishly. Last year I survived despite some perilous journeys to places where piped in Christmas music is the norm.

This year will be strange. On the one hand, I work from home and live alone, so my media control is pretty straightforward. On the other hand, I sometimes take the metro and go into places where I have no control over what I might hear. Even a walk across the street to get a sandwich might expose me to The Song.

Will you join me on the battlefield? Will you play Whamageddon with me? C’mon, it’ll be fun!

How was your NanoPoblano month? And will you play Whamageddon starting tomorrow?

51/52 (and 30 of 30, y’all! ::dusts off keyboard::)

33 thoughts on “Prowling on little cat feet, December is upon us.”

  1. Deepika

    Yayyy we completed NaNoPoBlano….I want to thank you for your likes and comments throughout the challenge which kind of motivated me to keep it going. It was nice getting to know you. I am happy to have found friends like you. Cheers!!! 🙂

    Liked by 3 people

  2. Way to go Steven 30 out of 30. Quite an achievement! I missed two days this time, so not too bad , i guess.
    Whamageddon seems like fun, I have to be honest, this year for the first time in forever I am craving Christmas music (COVID-19) played a number on me.
    Last Christmas, seems to be one song I do not hear often.I am tempted to play.
    I saw the hashtag last year and was wondering about it…lol

    Have I been hit if this is now on replay in one’s head ;-( asking for a friend

    Liked by 2 people

        1. It starts tomorrow, December 1. You can’t be eliminated before the game starts. 😀 And posting with the hashbrown is up to you. Most of the rules are pretty flexible, other than the “if you hear it, you’re out” part.

          Liked by 1 person

    2. I found this post to be so absolutely delightful. When you wrote, “ I am delighted by the fact that I can make a blog post out of all the things I’m not making into a blog post. I like the weird symmetry of that.” It made me smile and feel happy for you. Lol. Thank you for being such an awesome compatriot. I do not know why I didn’t mention anything about your chairman meow comment 😹 but I remember wanting to. I have not had much time to visit as many blogs as I was trying to post every day. I appreciate each and every visit from you. This has been fun. Btw, I’m not familiar with the song in your challenge! I am intrigued.

      Liked by 2 people

  5. I’d love to play Whamageddon but what are the chances I could lose living in the confines of my den where I control all media which consists mostly of Alaska and other nature shows? Anyway I have so enjoyed your posts and your wit. Thank you for reading mine!

    Liked by 1 person

  6. Well done you! Way to make it through the month and it was fun to follow along in all the interesting directions it went.

    And have no fear, Whamaggedon is well underway, or at least I’ve seen a bit of chatter about it on the interwebz already. Avoiding shops this year should be helpful, but I did have to swat BV away from the stereo on the weekend already when he wanted to put on Bayern 3 haha.

    Liked by 1 person

  8. Prowling on little cat feet? More like racing towards me at the speed of a freight train!

    Last year I lost Whamageddon thanks to a German crime show of all things. They randomly played the beginning of Last Christmas in the middle of a scene. Grr!

    Liked by 1 person

  9. Very fun reading your Pepper posts this year! This one turned out to be great! I’d never heard about the Wham song thing. Good luck in not hearing that song. I don’t even know that I’ve ever heard it before. My deal is – I have to hear Feliz Navidad by Jose Feliciano randomly because Christmas does not start until I do. I’ve already heard it this year, so yay! One year I didn’t hear it until Christmas Eve! 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  11. Belated happy birthday to both of you 😊🎂🥳🥳
    #whamageddon (maybe next time, I will survive longer) 😐
    And I am loving the book “The girl who drank the moon”. So far, I have identified myself with Glerk.

    Liked by 1 person

      1. Thank you very much, Steven, my friend.

        ((( Hearing Glerk (Steven) use the word “friend” in relation to himself made Fyrian (me) positively giddy with happiness. He trilled his tongue against the roof of his mouth and turned a backflip and a double spin in the air, accidentally knocking his head against the ceiling. “Of course I’ll give you a moment (thank you), Glerk, my friend,” Fyrian said, shrugging off the bump on his skull. “I’ll give you all the moments (thanks) in the world.” )))

        Indeed, Glerk is Great. That’s why I thought I am Glerk! Oh, I loved him when he said:
        “She is being adorable as some sort of hideous ruse, to spite me. What a mean baby!” And now I know, when I grow up I want to be enGlerked.
        Unlike Fyrian, I want to sleep fly. Fyrain is also cute. 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

    1. I would have been miffed, but luckily that was pre-game. I’ve already heard two covers of the song, one during the stream of the National Christmas Tree lighting from DC, and the other self-inflicted by shuffle play. Good thing covers don’t send you to Whamhalla!

      Liked by 1 person

  14. I’m not sure if I can play Whammageddon, since I ignore background noise including Christmas music, so I wouldn’t know if I heard it.
    I found conversing through comments to be motivating.
    P.S. On “Chairman Meow” – that wasn’t funny. The cat needs to either be in mainland China (not Hong Kong, due to current political struggles) or a black or gray cat AND sitting/laying on a red book. Yes Steven, the standards are high.

    Liked by 2 people

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