1. Car manufacturers will finally develop a special button for your dashboard which, when pushed, will cause the car in front of you at the drive-thru ATM, wherein the occupant is taking forever to make a simple transaction, to be hurled into the blazing hell of the sun.
2. Said manufacturers will also develop a secondary button, one that can be pushed if you happen to be the twit who can’t grasp modern technology or science, sending a message to Fox News that they should defend your idiocy no matter how much you lie and thus preventing your otherwise-deserved immolation. These dual buttons will basically exemplify current American politics. (Future Historian: “And in the year 2019, it all came down to button-pushing and scare tactics and threats of deportation, the three pillars of the once-great Republican Party. Abraham Lincoln had to block them on social media.”)
3. Gum-smacking in public will finally be recognized as a war crime by the United Nations General Assembly.
4. Restaurant owners will be fined if the entrée they slap on your table does not match the picture on the menu. The fine will double if said entrée has clearly been kept under a warming light since the War of 1812. (Dolly Madison: “OMG, the White House is on fire! Whatever can I save? Hey, why don’t I grab that unfinished portrait of George Washington and run like I’ve got crabs in me knickers.”)
5. Someone will finally figure out that maybe you shouldn’t let just anybody into the White House. (Security Guard: “What was your name again?” Man: “Kanye West.” Security Guard: “Nope, we’re not doing that again.” Kanye: “But I love Donald Trump!” Security Guard: “And that’s the reason why.”)
6. The morally-waffling staff at Twitter will finally realize that what Donald Trump is doing with his account is not acceptable and shut it down. It’s one thing to be a sociopath living in your parents’ basement and spewing provably-false crap. It’s another thing to be the supposed leader of a nation and doing the same.
7. Mark Zuckerberg, the supposed founder of Facebook, will finally be found guilty of being an arrogant snot who sold his soul to the Russians. Along with the personal information of 55 billion users. (“It is up to the user to go find the special setting that we have hidden on a secret page the user can’t find because it doesn’t exist. And even if they do find it, we’re going to do what I want anyway. Because nobody puts Baby Zuckerberg in a corner.”)
8. Is it too soon to mention Donald Trump again? (After all, he mentions his own name every three seconds, especially when he’s pleasuring himself at night.)
9. There will actually be a surprise winner at the Academy Awards. (“And the Oscar goes to… who the hell is that?”)
10. One of the major TV networks will finally allow a quirky but intelligent series to last longer than three episodes. (My heart will go on loving you, “Pushing Daisies”. I will not let go. Love, Jack.)
11. A blockbuster movie will finally be released that doesn’t involve explosions, violent deaths, or a busy soundtrack that tries to obscure the fact that we’ve seen it all before.
12. A brave executive at one of the mega-huge music corporations will finally stand up and say “Hey, maybe we should stop using the Xerox machine to produce new artists.”
13. Someone will win on “The Voice” who isn’t a white, teenage female with 0.0002 body fat. And the billions of unfocused teens who vote for such, with the intensity of woodpeckers on crack, will understand that sometimes you should vote for what you can’t see in the mirror rather than what you can.
14. I will finally release my own album, covering emotional songs from the 70s and 80s that helped me grow spiritually. Think Janis Ian singing “Seventeen”. If you don’t know who that is, well, all the more reason you should buy my album. But you’d better hurry, because I’ll only be on the charts for roughly 13 seconds. (News reporter: “In breaking news, it appears that an unknown artist from Oak Cliff, Texas has just….whoops, never mind. Back to you at the anchor desk, Fred.”)
15. There will come a day when people will understand that just because you didn’t do everything they expected you to do, it doesn’t mean that you couldn’t. Life intervenes, and you just hope you get a second chance, and maybe a third.
16. Gas pump prices will stop showing that ridiculous “X.X9” value for a gallon of gas. 2.99 is three dollars, not two dollars. Who are you trying to fool? That car in front of me that can’t figure out that this isn’t an ATM? (“Why are there so many buttons?”)
17. Digital book publishers will stop charging outrageous prices for something that doesn’t cost them anything to distribute. It’s digital. It’s not like minions are sewing bindings in a slave camp in Guatemala. If you expect me to pay 25 bucks, I want something physical I can put on a shelf and never read, not something ephemeral on a tablet that I will never read. (Mega-Selling Author: “You have no idea what it takes to write a book.” Me: “Oh really?”)
18. Brian will finally learn to stop being bitchy about things that are not really that important.
19. Put no faith in the above entry. After all, this is Bonnywood. (Little Brian: “Momma, someday I want to write stories.” Momma: “That sounds swell. Just don’t be bitchy about it.” Little Brian: “Okay.”)
20. News reporters will stop using the phrase “admitted homosexual” and utilize a more pleasant term, like “happy camper” or “rainbow enthusiast”. This is 2019. The only people who are still afraid of homosexuals and lesbians are people who are still in the closet, like Mike Pence and Jeff Sessions, who have done everything they can to stop people from loving who they want to love. Luckily, one of them is already out of a job. Let’s hope his former boss will soon be.
21. Brian will finally stop re-posting older posts.
22. Put no faith in the above entry. After all, those who forget the past are doomed to re-post it. (Medium Brian: “Momma, I was thinking of re-sharing that post when I was Little Brian and I did something amazingly stupid.” Momma: “That sounds swell. Just don’t post it more than twice.” Medium Brian: “Okay.”)
23. Somebody will invent a fat-free salad dressing that actually tastes good.
24. Ditto, mayo.
25. I will finally get revenge for those times in my youth when the popular people made me feel small because I was different. Concurrently, I will also realize that revenge is a cold dish best left unserved. This doesn’t mean I have forgiven you. It means you aren’t worth the time I would have to spend in the kitchen to cook the dish.
26. I will sing a song of great beauty and insight, one that eases the loneliness that I have felt for so long, even though I know that the only person in the audience who fully understands what I am singing is me. Write this one down, folks. It’s perhaps the rawest moment you will ever get from me.
27. I insist on dreaming in color. I’m a happy camper, despite the misdirection I sometimes proffer to the contrary.
28. Right at this moment, as I type away in the early hours, it’s raining in Dallas. A cold, hard, winter rain. I suppose I could latch onto that development, an accessory for my admittedly melancholy mood. I didn’t plan to get to this point when I started this mess, but things develop and you follow the muse, which is how I write most of my stories. I never know where I’m going until I get there, which, really, is how most of us navigate this thing we call Life.
29. But I don’t want to end on the downswing, not for this piece. I want joy, I crave understanding, I yearn for the critical moment in our world when everything clicks and everybody breaks the shackles of prejudice and nobody hates and we simply accept one another for the warmth we have to offer. And when that moment happens, those of us who can sing, and those of us can’t, will join hands and record an album we will simply call…
30. Peace.
Best of everything to you and yours in 2019. You may say I’m a dreamer…
Big Brian: “Momma, I hope you’re proud of the stories I’ve written.”
Momma: “They sound swell. But don’t get too uppity. Nobody likes a button-pusher.”
Big Brian: “Okay.”
Categories: Hope
Bonnywood Manor 
It’s a fascinating post. All the wit, masking real issues. Man you have a serious talent.
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Thank you for your kind words, although I don’t always do such a great job with the “masking” angle… 😉
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But, then that’s a good thing too.
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You go so far out of your way to make the world a better and more interesting place. I bow to your awesomeness. 🙂
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Thank you, sir. Now, I’d try to help you out of that bow but then my back would go and we’d both be in traction… 😉
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Don’t get me started on “Pushing Daisies”. They just cancelled “Midnight, Texas”, so I’m an old Firefly fan clearly losing pace with what is sellable and what is crap. Meanwhile, I was having a debate about the fb privacy settings, so that gem is going into that conversation on fb. I love screenshooting (shotting?) brilliance. Thanks for the smiles.
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It’s getting to the point where I don’t even bother checking out a new series, concerned that I might actually enjoy it and then they yank it away before we’ve even burped the baby. If something new looks interesting, I give it a while to judge the staying power before I make any kind of investment.
And please, screen-shot away. Bonnywood is all about sharing…
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Yes, a new and better new year beckons, I agree with Sadje’s comment. Couple of songs for your album mentioned in point 14, if I may suggest U2, So Cruel, Motels, Total Control. 30 years on, and oh, the pain…
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Great suggestions for the playlist. We might have to make this a double album. I’ll talk to my producer about it… 😉
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Oh, and # 17 ? I am addicted to audible.com As my eyes have quit, my audible book consumption has increased. With a yearly membership (24 books for “only” $229 or so), you, too, can have all your favorite or new and unknown stories for a mere credit valued at maybe $9.99
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And in the same vein, why does Amazon/Kindle charge an extra 10-15 bucks for the “audible” version of a book? It can’t be THAT expensive to record someone reading a book for a few hours (Somewhat unrelated side note: My books on Amazon have a “text-to-speech” option activated, even though I don’t remember arranging for that to be the case when I published. Is it mechanized? Is it an actual person? Do they sound swarthy and attractive like I imagine my own voice to sound? So many questions…)
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I loved “Pushing Daisies.” It had too much character to continue, however.
Peace to you too. I wish you good things for 2019. 🙂
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That’s exactly it, “Daisies” just had too much character and originality. The network executives had no idea what to do with something that hadn’t seen before and, sadly, many viewers were just as leery as well.
Wishing good things for you as well. Fingers crossed for 2019…
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Yes to the salad dressing and to the Academy awards. Both are much needed. Amazing post!😃😃
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Thank you! I’m tired of trying to be healthy but being disappointed by theoretically healthy condiments… 😉
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#26 💜
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Yes, #26. 😉
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i love the way you use humor –
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And I love the way you get my whimsy…
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Oh wow, amazing predictions. May they come to pass.
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Might as well throw them out there and see what sticks…
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Unimportant things are the best things to get bitchy about – they aren’t important, so they don’t require deep thought or investigation. Buttons to push – how about a trap door behind the podium of those campaign stages, with a button that automatically opens the door with the first lie told by the eternal campaigner, who should never be more than that, and he disappears into the black hole, never to be heard from again. That will allow Pence into office, who will quickly sign a resolution stating that no man should ever eat a meal with another woman without the presence of his wife. or her husband. Or father. Or guardian. Because. We can’t be trusted to exercise intelligence and behave properly. Let the world spin faster and watch our government fly off into space. Never to be heard from again.
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It’s just amazing to me how disparate we have become as a nation when it comes to ethics and morality and responsibility. In this age when we have an amazing wealth of information at our disposal, solid information that is provable, there are so many people who are still in a silo of their own making. We are no longer isolated on homesteads in the barren wilderness, getting all of our information from Ma and Pa Ingalls. It’s not decadence or the devil that will lead to the decline of Western Civilization, it’s willful ignorance…
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I cannot disagree with you, although I wish I could. That willful ignorance is on full display these days, and I’m not sure I dare hope that will change.
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#28, snap, #29, that’ll do.
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That was a bit of a one-two punch, I admit. But that’s my story and I’m sticking to it… 😉
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#1-30. Applause. Because nobody hears one hand clapping (I suppose). You need peeps. You’ve got one right here. ❤ and a restful 2019 with implementation of that button. Say! Can we get 'em to make one that throat punches that asshole at the drive thru who can't decide on the Mega Fat Burger versus the Mega Fat Burger WITH BACON? And waffles back and forth more than some entitles you mentioned.
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I just fail to understand why the rest of the world doesn’t understand that you and I should be in charge of making people responsible for their own actions. It’s not such a stretch. After all, the current system is NOT working.
But thank you for the applause. You know I appreciate it, especially from you…
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18. 21.
You’ll take away some of the things I love most about Brian 😔
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Little Brian: “See, Momma? Some people LIKE what I do.”
Momma: “Yes, but they aren’t in my will.”
Little Brian: “Okay.”
😉
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When is the concert? Can I pre-order tickets yet? Will there be t-shirts? How many vinyls are you printing?
PS – you had me at Soul Dancing
Happy New Year Brian, bringer of happiness.
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I’ll have my publicist get in touch with you, as she’s working on all those details. (If it were left to me, well, nothing would be resolved.) Actually, I’m surprised that she hasn’t reached out to you already, as the current version of the concert playlist includes you and I doing a medley of Simon and Garfunkel hits during the second hour. Hopefully you’ve been practicing the choreography.
Fair disclosure: I nicked “Soul Dancing” from the title of the 1993 Taylor Dayne album. I didn’t think she would mind.
Happy New Year to you as well, bringer of happy commentary…
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I am in favor of this album of yours, Brian. Please make it a reality. I want five copies. Where shall I send the check?
2019 is bound to be better, it’s just gotta be. And it begins with us. 👍
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Oh, no need to send a check. Your copies are complimentary, as is detailed in the contract our agent signed when you were hired to do the cover art. Wait, what do you mean you don’t know about this arrangement? Maybe you should check your email with a bit more regularity, said with love.
Yes, it begins with us. As we can no longer trust those minding the store…
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I didn’t know that the major networks produced an intelligent series. I guess I’ve been out of touch or gave up on the networks long ago.
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Okay, perhaps I stretched the truth a bit there with “intelligent”. Can we agree on the term “minimal signs of life”? 😉
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#3. Wouldn’t you love to just walk up and smack those gum-smackers? #9. That happened. Don’t you remember Marcia Gay Harden? #12. Bwahahahahahaha! And #20. What the gay hell? Those guys are gay?
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#3: Yes, every day.
#9: Fair enough. There are some surprises from time to time, but still, can we be at least a little bit less predictable?
#12: It’s true, though. 20 new bands will be promoted and 19 of them are exactly the same.
#20: I have no idea if they are gay, just being snarky. But SOMETHING is up with them if they are so virulently anti-gay. There’s a story somewhere in there…
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And the sound of clapping was heard throughout the land and it was good…
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Thank you, sir. I’ve always been a fan of good clapping, especially when it’s trans-continental… 😉
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I’m all for that #11. (Then again, I guess it will never happen) 🙂
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We can always hope… 😉
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All for #11 and really weary of willful ignorance.
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Sadly, “willful ignorance” may actually become the defining credo of America if sane people don’t take control of things….
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