One of the advantages of being more mature older is that it’s easier to resist the temptation to drink to excess on New Year’s Eve. Besides, the champagne wasn’t that good. Far too dry for my tastes. The half-bottle of Shiraz I killed this afternoon, however, was just up my proverbial alley.

Reduced-price Christmas candy at Walgreen’s poses a much more serious threat to my long-term well-being than Kirkland champagne. Hey, Turtles are 70% off!

I can’t say that I am looking forward to 2016, except with a vague sense of dread. 2014 and 2015 were terrible; I’m worried about what could happen next. The upcoming elections don’t make things much better, even though I usually enjoy the quadrennial combination circus and shouting match that is the presidential election process.

I can hardly wait until I never have to hear the name “Donald Trump” again. I don’t think that will happen until after the election — even when he loses the nomination, I’m sure he will have a lot of probably offensive things to say and there will be a lot of media outlets just willing to give him the attention. In fact, I may be hearing the name Donald Trump until he dies, which is a terrible thought.

Pat Greene: the sole Martin O’Malley supporter. O’Malley threads the needle between Clinton’s corporatism and Bernie’s socialism. (Hey, not my term — the man used it for thirty years.) He is also the youngest candidate. Not that Clinton and Bernie are not healthy, but Bernie will be 75 when the general election hits, and Hilary will be 69. O’Malley, on the other hand, is 52. I want someone who can go the entire eight years in a job that ages people tremendously. Not only is O’Malley younger (a fact he alluded to in the last debate, only to get booed), he is in terrific shape.

Also, O’Malley fronts a folk-rock band, and lists it on the home page of his website. How cool is that?

My support for O’Malley notwithstanding, I do love Bernie Sanders. He has been the sharpest critic of toxic American capitalism for years now, at least until Elizabeth Warren came along. Also, just by being in the race, Bernie has forced the political conversation in the Democratic party to shift leftward, and deal with economic justice issues. Bravo, sir, bravo.

In more personal news, I received a lot of nifty things for Christmas, from the ridiculous (The Mallet of Loving Correction by John Scalzi) to the sublime (a case of Gosling’s Ginger Beer). I loved all of them, but my favorite was a set of Bluetooth wireless headphones. I can dance around my kitchen without risking pulling my computer onto the floor. Of course, I still have to wait until everyone is out of the house to do that.

The Force awakening is one thing; the Abbey closing is another. As all good Masterpiece geeks know, Downton Abbey ends after this upcoming season (Season 6). Rats. What am I going to do without my Lady Violet quips to sustain me when I’m faced with fools?

Mythbusters also concludes its run with its upcoming season. I may need to do a special “things I learned from Mythbusters” post. In the ads for the final season, Adam asks Jamie what he thinks they’ll be remembered for, and Jamie answers “Blowing crap up.” Yeah, pretty much.

As far as Star Wars goes, it’s wonderful. Full stop. No, I am not going to debate this with all the nerds who can recite every line of a New Hope, or who know exactly how many stormtroopers were on the replacement Death Star in Return of the Jedi.   The Force Awakens is Star Wars for adults.

The Doctor Who Christmas special had River Song in it. My favorite Doctor with my favorite non-Doctor character. (No, she’s not a companion. Hush.) I loved it. Peter Capaldi and Alex Kingston have much better chemistry than Kingston ever had with Matt Smith.

The preceding three comments, as well as three Scalzi books for Christmas (all of which were requested), make me wonder if I might be turning into a…. fan. You know, one of those people. Next thing you know, I’ll be saving up to go to Comic Con. Now that you mention it, though, Comic Con does look like a lot of fun.

For everyone who has seen Sherlock: The Abominable Bride… WHAT THE HELL?????????? For everyone else, ignore the previous comment. For those intending to see it who haven’t yet, heh-heh-heh-heh.

My current media crush is Adam Driver. Good Lord, the man is gorgeous. He’s also a Marine. From Leatherneck to Sith Lord-in-training: who says the military doesn’t provide the opportunity for advancement?

Given that the Bucs sucked once again this year, I’m relieved that the NFL season is over. I am also having misgivings about watching football now, given the concussion issue. While I have not seen the Will Smith movie, I both read the original reporting in Sports Illustrated and watched the Frontline show about it. I do not know if I can in good conscience follow a sport that exacts such a terrible toll on its participants, any more than I can follow boxing. The athletes may be engaging in the sport voluntarily; that does not mean that I have to abet them or the NFL.

Yes, I know that there are people who feel that way about horse racing.

Sam Smith: the male Adele.

IMDb does one thing better than anywhere else, even Wikipedia: answer the “Where in the world have I seen that actor’s face?” For example, it told me that Domnhall Gleeson, of whom I thought “I’ve seen that guy somewhere before” every time be came on screen in SW:TFA, played Bill Weasley in the last two Harry Potter movies.

On a topic other than pop culture: in my ongoing job search, I have made the executive (ha!) decision to unsubscribe from any job listing service that lists UberX as a job opportunity more than once, ever, unless it is for an actual hourly or salaried position (not that I’d take a job with them — aside from my opinion of the company, they’re in San Francisco). Ditto with any firm that has more than one job listing offered which is not in my geographical area. No, I don’t want to move to Wasilla, Alaska. [Insert Sarah Palin joke here.] I have unsubscribed from about a half-dozen so far. They keep multiplying like rabbits, though: I despair of every getting my Work account email box from receiving less than thirty emails a day from firms. It would be one thing if most of what they send me were good matches, but they’re not. I’ve tweaked my settings, but I think keywords in my resume must be tripping something. (And no, I don’t want to do phone sales, although I would be willing to do tech support.)

“Muse” is not an actual job description. Nor is “sage.” I’m still holding out for “philosopher king,” though.

I don’t have much hope.