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It\u2019s the eve of the eve of a new year. At my age with little time to squander, nonetheless I have to say about 2021, goodbye, and good riddance.<\/p>\n
Although I am not particularly sanguine about how 2022 will shape up. People like to note it is the year, after all, that the film Soylent Green takes place.<\/p>\n
And, the 30th of December in 1916, that would be 105 years ago today\u00a0Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin<\/a> was murdered. Considering our times, the mad monk seems an apt figure to recall.<\/p>\n There\u2019s also a small personal connection for me. Every once in a while I notice this date as it passes by, and a couple of times since I started this blog, I\u2019ve been able to find the opportunity to gas on about that connection. Tenuous though it may be.<\/p>\n To retell. Many years ago I was working at the venerable and now long lost\u00a0Wahrenbrock\u2019s Book House<\/a> in downtown San Diego. Along with a couple of other staff, I was offered the opportunity to meet with Maria Rasputin<\/a>, daughter of the \u201cmad monk.\u201d<\/p>\n She\u2019d been making her living for some years writing and then rewriting and issuing anew her sanitized biographies of her notorious father. As someone always interested in the more obscure byways of religion I really wanted to meet her (I think in Catholic terms this would be a second degree relic),<\/p>\n Sadly, I had a conflict that made it difficult to accept the offer. Today I can\u2019t even remember what that other event was. But. I decided to pass on meeting her, knowing she had a pretty regular circuit and would be back.<\/p>\n Not long after she died. Of course\u2026<\/p>\n I\u2019m sure there are lessons to be learned here. Although I\u2019m not sure I have fully taken those lessons on board. I also have another small story I like to tell, about the two times I have not met the Dalai Lama.<\/p>\n Whatever. Time passes quickly away.<\/p>\n And, we are well advised not to miss the opportunities as they pass\u2026<\/p>\n \u2026<\/p>\n Boney M\u2019s original is not available for public sharing, but here\u2019s a cover. While not quite with the raw energy of the original, it\u2019s fun to see it in this format\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n