The Jason Show 2011 in Review

The Jason Show writers found a great way to recap the episodes of 2011 from Eternal Lizdom.

January

We began the year with a photographic review of the 2010 holidays on The Jason Show.  I then discussed my squeaky sinus situation and my physical that was rescheduled by my doctor three times.  I gave the world a private peek into my prostate exam, and revisited the topic of confrontation and how much I hate it, although I have gotten better at dealing with it.  Explaining to Diego how puppies are made (and human babies) was another major event in January, followed by my borderline cholesterol and my decision to give vegetarianism a try.  I bought cigarettes for the first time in my life, and shared the true blessing that a good sturdy electric pencil sharpener can be to a teacher.  Ines, Diego's former caregiver, and her eccentricities were the topic of the next post.  One of my students selflessly cut off her hair in order to make a wig for one of my students who had brain cancer.   Finally, I ended the first month of the year sharing some cherished and funny memories of fishing with my grandpa in the Tetons in Idaho.

February

February started with an update on my newly acquired vegetarianism and then showed people what a breast man really looks like.  Next, I perpetuated the biggest hoax of the year by allowing people to think that I opened my own restaurant, while in fact I merely opened a smart phone application called Restaurant Story.  Jason, Plumber Extraordinaire, was the title of the next post, in which I impressed you all with my amazing plumbing prowess.  The next seven posts were a series entitled "It's 5:00 Somewhere" in which I chronicled what I did each day of the week at exactly 5:00.  My sister actually came up with the idea, and she did the same thing for a week on her blog, Squibs and Crackers.  I shared and update on the phenomenon of the grout sprout, and I answered one of my student's questions about what life was like back when everything was in black and white.  Then I told a (true) silly little story about a silly little man who dropped his phone in the toilet and flooded his entire restaurant.

March

March started off with a bang and an outstanding, yet hysterical It Gets Better video, which I consider to be one of the highlights of The Jason Show in 2011.  If you haven't watched it, you really, really should.    Madness once again visited Wisteria Lane, only this time, I was the crazy lunatic screaming at two people standing in my front yard.  Then we were visited by my sister and her family and we actually went to a, well, a place on Earth.  I cracked myself up living one day as a squatter in my buddy JLo's house.  Speaking of JLo, I announced plans to go on a fall foliage cruise in 2032 with her and our kooky friend Danielle.  I'm the official unofficial historian of my book club, and I gave our (quite comprehensive) annual book list update.  I rounded off March by getting on my teacher/parent/human being soapbox and denouncing the Chucky movie franchise and any parent who allows their young ones to view any of those horrific excuses for entertainment.

April

Our family lost someone who we really cared about, especially Diego.  I confessed that I have become addicted to playing certain games on Facebook and on my phone.  I revisited what it was like to live without hope in respect to cancer and how that has changed for me now.  I shared a picture and thoughts about turtles sunning themselves, and I shared my neutrality toward Easter.  I talked about Giancarlo's turkey nerves, and then showed off my new Lady Gaga glasses before teaching some very important life lessons from Gaga herself.

May

The word, "hort" was the topic of my May Day post.  I wrote a letter to Ricky Martin, in which I revealed to him my detailed plan to get him into bed with Giancarlo and me.  One of my other wildest fantasies came true when Giancarlo and I attended an actual Ricky Martin concert along with 5,000 other gay latinos and Mexican grandmothers.  Unfortunately, my afterglow was ruined by the compulsory administration of the STAR test.  Eyebrows were the next topic of discussion spurned on by the fact that I had accidentally shaved half of my right eyebrow off in preparation for Ricky.  May was a month for concerts, for some friends of mine and I also went to see the impeccable Kylie Minogue at the Hollywood Bowl.

June

One of my best friends ever in my life moved away.  I shared the ABCs of Me, then reproclaimed my love to Giancarlo in celebrating 14 years of togetherness.  Early in June, my brother-in-law, Giampiero, married Donella, and it was such a memorable occasion that Show writers put it into a three part episode, A Jason Show Family Wedding, Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.  We followed those with a down and dirty inside scoop on what really happened at that wedding!  My father-in-law has quite the sense of humor from time to time, especially when it comes to his wife, so I shared a little tidbit of it.  The June wrap-up was a couple of posts about the importance of a change of scenery and the fabulous time I had with Amelia during San Francisco Pride.

July
This month started off in a highly unnerving way for Giancarlo, when he heroically administered CPR on our neighbor across the street who had a massive coronary, but he passed away nonetheless.  Later, Single Sentence Soup experienced a teensy, eensy revival with teensy weensy comment feedback.  The hit ABC Family series, Switched at Birth, continued filming across the street from the Show household.  Then, the hardest thing I've experienced in quite a while happened when our oldest daughter began another round of--stuff, and ended up moving to Kentucky with a guy older than me whom she had only met online.  This gave us no other choice than to invoke the phrase "tough love."  It was awful.  I truly believe that one of the reasons I came out on the other side without a visit to the psyc ward was because I self administered some heavy doses of music therapy in the form of OceanLab.  We topped the month off with a trip to Utah and Idaho, and in relation to that I discussed how time heals all wounds.

August
Rennen flew back from Utah with us and stayed for a couple of weeks, which was one of the highlights of the summer for us.  While she was here, we impressed ourselves and yourselves when we went Glamping.  One of my best friends from high school died of unknown causes in her car up in the mountains.  School started again and I found that I had a new student who loved to do bizarre things and tell very tall tales, like putting corn nuts deep into in his own ear and then blaming it on the most docile lamb in the school.  One of my aunts sent me some old family pictures, and one of them was one of my mother and me just after I was born, that I had never seen before.  I continued to try to sort through my feelings about what went on with my daughter.  Comic relief came to the rescue when a lady at my school parking lot thought I could help her with her overheated car engine just because I was a man.  And lastly for the month of August, I took the plunge and signed up for a huge challenge in the form of organic fresh fruits and vegetables called Abundant Harvest.

September
Teacher Tales came back for yet another season on The Jason Show, and in this episode one of my students was floored to learn that his birthday occurs on the same day each year.  Homo Hodgepodge was the title of an episode of Q & A With Your Token Gay, and another Teacher Tales shared more tall tales from corn-nut-in-ear student.   I then experienced a very sour experience at my place of employment that upset me horribly, and it seemed to zap my blog mojo into oblivion because it was so much at the forefront of my mind that it was all I wanted to write about, but couldn't.  However, taking my son to a football game at the end of the month simply could not be ignored!

October
Posts from The Jason Show as well as readership and comments dropped to an all time low in October, and we continued to blame it on the previously mentioned sour work experience.    Marlee Matlin showed up in my front yard.  The Jason Show had a Sunday Roast.  The death of a distant relative briefly brought Amelia home from San Francisco, as well as made me really think about what I would like to happen when I die.  And Diego provided some much needed laughter.

November
Thanks to so much generosity from so many of you, I met my fundraising goal of $2,300.00, which enabled me to participate in the Susan G. Komen 3-Day for a Cure for the second time.  We discussed the elephant in the room.  I pondered the importance of not complaining.    I made my one-item Christmas list, shared a heart-warming and tear-jerking You Tube video called It's Time, and wrote about a funny little Chinese lady named Gina.

December
Counting this post, there were only four in December.  What is going on?  The first one was a big photo spill from 2011.  The second told the world of my worst nightmare come true, and the 2011 season of The Jason Show was topped off with a marvelous extravaganza called Christmas in Victorville.

So there you have it!  I seriously doubt ANYONE in their right mind would sit through this enormously long and perhaps mundane season recap, but since I have the time right now thanks to winter vacation, I have quite enjoyed myself.  It was really quite a year.  And...yes..I love starring in The Jason Show as much as I ever have.

Now...for a quick test.  If you actually read this whole thing (or even skimmed it) please provide actual proof  by telling me the best thing and the worst thing that happened to you on your show during 2011.  We'll see in anyone passes.  Does anyone care to set the curve?

See you next year.