“Times have changed and times are strange…”
↓
I’ve a great deal to say.
But, to be perfectly honest, I’m three sheets to the wind.
And have already spent much of my verbosity on @basedmattforney ‘s broadcast.
Thus, suffice to say for the moment:
Thank you, one and all, for reading this past year.
For commenting.
And, most of all—
For letting me know I’ve helped you through this trial we call life.
Ω
80-Proof Oinomancy 
January 1, 2016 at 4:05 pm
You need not entertain any doubt that this writing project has helped many. I sincerely hope it helps you too.
An aspirational son of European immigrants, seeking to build his personal American Dream. Only to find that he was not guarding the walls of Jerusalem, but of Babylon. It’s your story, and it’s ours too.
Life IS a trial for most men, to the extent the thoughtful must ask “why” or “what’s the fucking point” or, more ominously, “cui bono”?
The only way for us to know we are not alone is for somebody to say something. And you have, diligently, for YEARS. By contrast, I can count on one hand the number of comments I’ve made on ‘Sphere blogs since 2011. Men like you are the tip of the spear poking holes in the curtain to let light in.
Put a Patreon on here. My little voice might bring you some readers but I’d gladly help directly too.
January 1, 2016 at 8:26 pm
What JD said.
Also, life sucks. But the gift has been given by He who will retrieve it. Giving it back is above our pay grade.
On the day it is retrieved, we will be asked above all things who and what we served. There will be answers that we don’t like; seeing at last as we are seen, in the place that collapses all time, isn’t for the faint of spirit. We repent in life to prepare ourselves for this. And we pick ourselves up, as many times as necessary, because the need to prepare never abates.
But for some of us, seeing what we served in our best moments, and what we’ve helped to bring into being, will be a great consolation.
I have fallen far in my life. I’m not sure if my darkest moments have been as dark as Ace’s, though I would wish them on no man. At the same time, I do not think my best moments have risen as high. Seeing what you do, Ace, makes me want to reach higher.
As Lemmy did for you, I think.
Eventually, we all lose those who came before. And become that to those who follow us. The day we realize it is a bitter day. Adults (but not children) cry at the end of “Love You Forever…” for a reason:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_You_Forever
Magnified and sanctified be His great name.
January 1, 2016 at 10:59 pm
May all three sheets of those winds ever find you, love you, and spur you to beauty, truth, and life
January 3, 2016 at 11:49 pm
Keep on keepin’ on.
Wald
January 5, 2016 at 8:33 am
Thank you so much for everything.
January 12, 2016 at 9:22 pm
Thank you Ace, you’ve filled in a lot of holes.