I hate the last week of the year, personally and professionally. Of course, personal and professional has a blurry line for me because work is pretty much all I do. When I’m done writing this blog, I gotta draw another cartoon.

What I hate on a personal level about the end of the year is that every media outlet conducts those end-of-year segments where they look back on all the shit that happened. They bore me because I had just lived through it all. I don’t need to go back down that road. It’s like after riding on one of those wooden rollercoasters that knock your teeth out while someone was playing Nickelback the entire time and someone says, “Hey, wanna ride again?” No fucking thank you. I’m gonna go ride the Scooby-Doo tilt-a-whirl after spending $40 for a sandwich at Bubba Gumps (I’m thinking of Kings Dominion for this analogy. They may not even have that shit anymore).

Instead of watching real news people on TV gloss over the past year, I’d rather watch the show Netflix has now where’s a comedic take on looking back over the year (I could look it up and tell you the name, but I’m lazy). I used to enjoy reading Dave Barry’s end-of-year review, but I couldn’t stomach more than three paragraphs of it this year.

Professionally, I hate the last week of the year because it typically doesn’t give me any new news. It doesn’t give me much to draw cartoons about. A lot of people make half-jokes that we’re not supposed to do any work during the last week of the year, which I think is a good idea. Let’s all just plant ourselves on our couches and stay there until someone’s ball drops.

But, because I am who I am, I do find stuff during the last week of the year to draw cartoons on. I’ll be OK. I haven’t had an issue with finding subjects since the day Donald Trump came down that escalator in 2015 and started ranting about Mexicans.

So how was 2021? Well, it was better than 2020 but that’s like the Jacksonville Jaguars saying, “Hey, at least we’re better than the New York Jets.” That’s like Nickelback saying, “Hey, at least we’re better than Imagine Dragons.” That’s like Indiana saying, “Hey, at least we’re better than Missouri.” That’s like Sting saying, “Hey, at least my crappy love songs aren’t as crappy as Brian Adams’ love songs.” “Every Breath You Take” is amazing, but it’s not a love song. It’s a stalker song.

There were more deaths from covid in 2021 than 2020, but covid only had ten months for its rampage in 2020. We got a new president in 2021, one who’s not a racist grifting reality game show host. We got the vaccines. We also got an insurrection attempt. The Nazis haven’t gone away. The anti-covid gaslighters from 2020 turned into anti-vaxxers in 2021. There are way too many people in this nation taking medical advice from a moron who calls UFC fights instead of listening to actual doctors and scientists. People went from taking aquarium cleaner to fight covid in 2020 to taking horse medicine in 2021. There were too many people in 2021 spreading conspiracy theories and believing an election they lost was stolen by Italian satellites and Chinese bamboo. And Donald Trump is still ranting about Mexicans.

And just like in 2020, I never had a day struggling to find something to draw a cartoon about.

I expect 2022 to be better than 2021, but then again, I’ll direct you back to my Jacksonville/Jets comment. But, just as your hopes were being raised by the optimistic outlook of a new year, leave it to me to burst your balloon of sunny anticipation…

…there are midterm elections in 2022.

Music note: Today’s tunes to toon to were by Coldplay. Yeah, I know. But since this was a quick and easy cartoon, I only listened to about three songs. I usually don’t start listening to music until I start crosshatching.

Signed prints: The signed prints are just $40.00 each. Every cartoon on this site is available. You can pay through PayPal. If you don’t like PayPal, you can snail mail it to Clay Jones, P.O. Box 3721, Fredericksburg, VA 22402. I can mail the prints directly to you or if you’re purchasing as a gift, directly to the person you’re gifting.

Notes on my book, Tales From The Trumpster Fire: There are 18 copies of my book in stock, which go for $45.00 each, signed. Also, I have copies of my first book from 1997, Knee-Deep in Mississippi available for $20.00.

Tip Jar: if you want to support the cartoonist, please send a donation through PayPal to clayjonz@gmail.com. You can also snail it to P.O. Box 3721, Fredericksburg, VA 22402.

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