Unpopular Opinion: 2016 actually didn't suck

You can't escape the negativity these days. It's all over Facebook, moreso than on Twitter lately - although I did get my first-ever death threats this year, over something that I ended up being right about, which is hilarious - and, quite often, getting online is super depressing. Everybody has an ax to grind, a fight to pick and a reason to complain. People are still upset about the election results, Latter-day Saints are losing their faith over the Mormon Tabernacle Choir accepting an invitation to perform at the Inauguration, cop-killing has become a viable outlet for frustration, we're protesting everything (remember when that guy started a petition to shut down Rotten Tomatoes??) and the nerds won't stop blaming 2016 - the year - for killing their favorite celebrities. As if it has a mind of its own. As if it decides who lives and who dies. They're clamoring for 2017 to hurry up and arrive so famous people will stop passing away. (Sorry, kids, but it's not like people will magically stop dying on January 1.) I've seen people on Facebook making ridiculous statements like "Let's never do 2016 again." (News flash: that's literally impossible.) The culmination of it all is driving me nuts.

2016 is the angriest year I can ever remember. We are constantly looking for others to blame for our problems. This leads to a whole lot of arguing and a whole lot of unhappiness. Many times, I think it's like we are looking for reasons to get mad. This generation (my generation) has the thinnest skin in the history of the world, and when we've run out of reasons to be offended for ourselves, we go so far as to look for reasons to get offended for others. (For example, white people becoming outraged over the name of the Washington Redskins or straight non-Mormons trashing the Church for its so-called "policy change" a while back.)

I'm trying to think which would be a better slogan to sum up what happened this year: "2016: Protest everything!" or "2016: The butt-hurt was real." I'm open to suggestions.

But, of course, I can't post any of this on social media because it's 2016, the year in which my opinion and most of the things I believe became wrong. You read that right. My opinion is wrong.

Uh, ok.

Back when I used to blog all the time -- I can't imagine writing a weekly, un-fact-checked, non-P.C. opinion blog these days - I'd get crucified -- I used to have people vote for the best Signs of the Times in that particular year. In 2016, I realized that A) nobody really reads my blog anymore (thus the lack of posting) and B) nobody really cares what I'm doing in life, so I've decided to scour my Facebook and Instagram posts and determine 2016's best moments myself.

As far as I can see, I'm in the vast minority here - call it optimism, call it stupidity - or maybe I'm just wrong again, but I actually think 2016 was a pretty good year. A pretty awesome year, in fact. I'm not going to make you do anything, but I think it might be good for you, if you haven't already, to take a few minutes and think back about all the good things that happened to you this year. It certainly made me feel better about life. It has helped me realized that I'm doing ok and that a lot of the crazy stuff going on in the world usually has no direct impact on me, personally. (R.I.P. Carrie Fisher, for sure, but, no offense, her death does not truly affect my life whatsoever.)

In chronological order, here is a list of good things that happened to me in 2016:

1. I got a new nephew, #MegaMax, and he is the cutest little Charlie Brown doppelganger you'll ever see. Max is awesome!
2. I got to work for Salt Lake Comic Con for FanX 2016 and met some cool celebrities, like LeVar Burton, Jason Isaacs, Dean Cain and Jeremy Renner!
3. My sister, Amy, got married to Cole Morgan! Cole is an awesome guy and we're so glad to have him in the family.
4. Austin and I got laid off from Allstate. That pretty much sucked because being laid off is never fun, but I basically got two months of paid vacation, so that was fun.
5. Whilst unemployed, I took my first spontaneous road trip and drove to San Diego with Austin, Lex and Max! We did some fun things down there, including going to a Padres game, where they beat the Yankees on a walk-off home run. We met up with my Uncle Ryan during the game, which was cool, and Austin and I bumped into Yankees manager Joe Girardi outside the stadium.
6. I also go to help the Comic Con social media team for Salt Lake Comic Con 2016, where I met WWE legend John Cena! (My Halloween costume this year was spot on, too, by the way.)
7. I saw some great concerts this year, including Chicago, one of my all-time favorite classic rock bands. Coincidentally, it was one of the worst dates I've been on in years, but I had a great time, regardless of how bored she was. Her loss.
8. Check this one off the bucket list: I finally saw my absolute favorite band in concert - WEEZER! It was everything I hoped it would be, and it was the first concert I can remember where I actually knew all the songs that were played. I had a great time with Amy, Cole, Cody and my friend Laura.
9. I got a chance to go back and work for the Deseret News again in August! I had a great experience and was able to write some great articles and do some good interviews. They didn't choose to hire me full-time, but, if I'm being honest, I knew they wouldn't. Their loss. I got a different job in September and I'm doing just fine.
10. My mom let Cody and me bum along on her business trip to Baltimore. In a week-long trip, we toured Baltimore, Washington D.C. and even spent a day in Philadelphia. It was one of the greatest trips I have ever gone on, and I totally fell in love with National Harbor, Maryland. Look at that sunset!
11. While on the east coast, I went to Major League Baseball games in Baltimore and Washington, D.C., seeing the Orioles and Nationals play on back-to-back nights. We also took tours of the Orioles, Nationals and Philadelphia Eagles' stadiums, which was a lot of fun. Best of all, I got to meet the Racing Presidents before the Nationals game! It was a dream come true!
12. My family finally moved out of their rental house in Sandy. We had some great memories in that place, but we're sure glad they were in a position to get out. They're in a nice, brand new house in Bluffdale now and that has been a real blessing for us.
13. But that new house was out to get me! I took a tumble on their hardwood floor on Halloween night, partially dislocating my kneecap and straining some of the muscles in my left leg. Thankfully, with the help of a knee brace, some compression pants and some self-imposed physical therapy, I'm feeling a lot better now. Not 100% yet, but I'm getting there.
14. I turned 30! Oh, gosh, I'm old.
15. I'm still not married, but I did make some good friends this year, including the guys in the Union YSA elders quorum presidency. The four of us chipped in to buy a photo shoot during a service auction and I think the pictures turned out great. Additionally, one of my favorite things from 2016 was the creation of Men's Night, which started out as an idea to get all my brothers and brother-in-law together to go see Batman v Superman, but morphed in to an almost-monthly tradition of going out with my friends (and sometimes even my sister, sisters-in-law and other various female friends) to see action movies. This year, we saw BvS, Captain America: Civil War, X-Men: Apocalypse, Suicide Squad, Jack Reacher: Never Go Back and Assassin's Creed, and had a great time. I can't wait to continue this tradition next year.
16. I got to spend Christmas with my family! I love the holidays and it was a lot of fun having everyone together for the weekend.

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There's my year in review! What are some of the best things that happened to you in 2016? Feel free to comment, if you feel so inclined.

I know it's easy to focus on the negative, to dwell on everything bad that happens and to complain about everything. I do it quite often, myself. Bad things happen to everyone. I've tried hard these past 12 months to make a conscious effort to look for things that are going well in my life. For things that make me happy and for the many blessings I receive on a daily basis. I'm even thankful for you, whoever you are, for actually reading this post. But, more than that, I'm eternally grateful to God, who has blessed me with an amazing family, some really good friends and a lot of great opportunities in my life, even in 2016, that dreaded year that so many people are calling the "worst year ever." Good things are happening each day. It's up to us to find them.

Here's to a happier, kinder and even better new year in 2017! Be excellent to each other and party on, dudes.

Happy New Year,

Aaron

Saturday in the Park

So there I was on Saturday night, looking for something fun to do. I decided to head on down to Draper Park and catch a free concert. I was flying solo, but that's another blog for another day. I got there and found myself a lovely spot on the grass. Took a seat. Realized that I was sitting directly behind two large shade umbrellas that completely obscured my view of the stage. Fortunately, I was so far back that actually seeing the stage wasn't going to make much of a difference, anyway. Plus, once the sun went down, they put the umbrellas away.

The band I was there to see was a Canadian band called Brass Transit - a Chicago tribute band. For those of you that don't know what a tribute band is, that means that this band was playing covers of songs by the popular 70s and 80s band, Chicago. The poor chap sitting in his lawn chair directly to my left started making phone calls to his friends about five minutes into the concert. "Did you know Chicago was playing here tonight??" About 30 minutes later, he called somebody back and apologized. "They sound just like them! I could have sworn it was really Chicago." I felt bad for him.

I enjoyed the concert. I've liked the music of Chicago since I was a wee lad, so it was fun to go out in the good weather and hear some of their stuff played live. Plus, it was free, so what is there really to complain about?

How about the fact that all these freeloaders that want a free concert in the park bring all their whiny, rambunctious little Kindergarteners? At one point, I was surrounded by nine or 10 screaming, dancing kids on either side. They, at times, would bump into me or swing their light-up, glowing sabre inches from my head. What am I supposed to do? Push them away? Knock them over? Yell at them? Tell the guy who thought it was actually Chicago to keep his kids in line? So... I sat there and I did nothing. And I strained to hear the music admist the chaos. Eventually, they ran out of energy, so I was able to enjoy the rest of the evening (mostly), but seriously, people. If you're going to be taking all eight of your young children out in public - especially in a situation where other people are within a very close proximity for an extended period of time (two and a half hours, in this case), please be considerate. Not ONCE did either of the parents on my left or right tell their kids to tone it down or to take it easy. Not a single time! I considered just getting up and moving, but hey - I was there first... and I'm just lazy, I guess.

What are you supposed to do in those situations? Help me out, guys. Do you shatter the guy's dreams and tell him early on that it's not actually Chicago or do you let him enjoy it while his ignorance lasts? Do you purposely trip the little kids? Do you offer the parents some duct tape or handcuffs? Do you unleash your emotions like unto Vesuvius, embarrassing the folks bad enough that they get up and leave?

Eureka! I've got it! I'm going to start a petition to ban young children from public parks. Think of it now - no screaming, no dancing, no annoying whining to their parents... No little kiddies bumping into me as I attempt to listen to my free concert, no one to get in our way as we play football or frisbee. Less potential lawsuits waiting to happen, more peace and quiet, more relaxation for those wishing to picnic in the park. And, arguably best of all, less of a line for the merry-go-round and the big green slide. There's really no downside to this. It'd be amazing! Join with me now and ban young children from public parks!

If you'd like to add your name to the petition, you can leave a comment in the section below or you can follow us on Twitter - @SotTUnderground. Or both. Deuces.