New Year's Superstitions - The Traditional and New

Over the course of dinner on New Year’s Eve, I was told to remember that I can’t wash clothes tomorrow or clean the house.  I asked why and was met with varied responses.  Puzzled, I decided to search the Internet for a more in depth explanation.  The Internet did not disappoint and after reading about a bunch of New Year’s superstitions, the hamster in the wheel in my head was in motion and started to question if they made sense.

A couple of these seem to revolve around not doing household chores; which makes me wonder if their origins are rooted in someone having a hangover or was simply too tired from staying up late. Something to perhaps examine at a later time.

No washing clothes on New Year's Day?

Don’t wash clothes:  There are a number of reasons I found for this.  According to TheSpruce.com, some reasons are that in the coming year you could be “washing a loved one away”  or “washing a fortune down the drain” or that one will have an inordinate amount of laundry to do in the coming year^[1].   

Of course I wondered if you launder money for a living.  I would think “washing a fortune down the drain” is probably more applicable if you did.   Additionally, does this washing also apply to the washing of dishes? Perhaps it does. Because another superstition has you breaking dishes on your neighbors’ doorsteps^[2].  I’m assuming these are dirty dishes, because it just seems the most efficient.  Ultimately, I just hope this “not washing of things” doesn’t extend to showers.

Don’t take anything out of the house:  In other words, don’t clean the house.  Garbage, packages, food for the neighbors; nothing should leave the house on the idea luck could leave the home and not come back in.^[3]   Maybe whoever thought of this should have told the dish breaking people (mentioned above) about this tradition. 

Additionally, what if you shower or go to the bathroom?  Just about everyone I know has a house or an apartment with modern plumbing.  So, something is leaving the house in that case.  Moreover, what if you’re in an RV and your wastewater holding tank is full? I would think that needs to be disposed of quickly.

What do you do on New Years if your RV's waste tank is full?

Don’t eat chicken or lobster:  These creatures walk backward and if one wants to move ahead in the new year, these are the foods one stays away from.   As a New Year’s Eve tradition I tend to have crab, which move sideways.  Hmm ... never mind, this one might have some merit.

Open the doors and windows at midnight:  This is to let the old year out and the new one in.  In cold areas this also lets the heat out and the cold in.  If it also happens to be windy, snowing, or raining; it could also let in leaves, debris, or even precipitation in … which would have to be cleaned on New Year’s Day.   It’s a vicious mind game cycle.

New Superstitions:

The above are all great and traditional superstitions.  But I think new and more modern ones are needed.  Here are 4 that I’m proposing to get the ball rolling. 

Don’t launder money: you could be washing away a fortune in the New Year.

Don’t ask someone to solve a device’s minor technical issue:  If you haven’t tried to figure it out try searching the web or YouTube first.  Otherwise technology may leave you behind in the New Year.

Make Ice: For a solid new year

Take Metamucil: So you poop well on New Year’s Day.   This is so people don’t think you’re full of sh*t in the New Year.

References:

[1] Leverette, Mary Marlow. (Jul 18, 2022). "New Year's Day Laundry Superstitions and Resolutions" TheSpruce.com.  Accessed Jan 1, 2023

[2] Lord, Debbie. (Dec 29, 2022). "New Year’s Day superstitions: Don’t wash clothes; do look for a tall, dark, stranger; eat greens" kiro7.com.  Accessed Jan 1, 2023

[3] Lattimer, Dustin. (Dec 30, 2022). "New Year’s superstitions that might be worth tryings" wgntv.com.  Accessed Jan 1, 2023

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Bob Chapek Out as CEO - Not An Apple Moment

About a year ago I wrote a post pondering if the criticisms about Disney CEO Bob Chapek were ones that come with a changing of the guard; like Apple experienced after Tim Cook took the helm.  

Turns out, this isn’t the case.  Many were calling for him to be fired … and that time has come.

The impression that Bob Iger left on the Walt Disney Company looms large and the early mistakes that Chapek had made as CEO made it even more difficult for him to forge his own way.  Variety writes a little more in depth about this: Bob Chapek‘s Early Blunders Made It Hard to Escape Bob Iger’s Shadow at Disney

But Bob Chapek was clearly creating some distance between the company and its customers, shareholders, cast members, and talent.   The complaints mounted and started to speak volumes.  In regards to a bad fit for an executive role, Michael Eisner summed it up best in his 1998 book A Work in Progress: “Disney wasn’t mired in the usual corporate politics.  This was a full-blown crisis, and it was tearing the company apart.^[1]” Ultimately, to put the company on the proper path, that person wound up leaving.  History seems to be repeating itself. 

Disney Stock Price on November 9, 2022 - the day after 3Q earnings report

I have to admit, I was really rooting for the guy to succeed. Bob Iger can’t stay in the role forever and the company needs a good steward and it would be a shame to see the company follow the path of General Electric.  Disney doesn’t have a smoothest of track records when it comes to leadership succession and it would have been nice to see a smooth(ish) passing of the torch. In 1984, Walt’s son-in-law Ron Miller was fired^[2] after a brief tenure as CEO and and Michael Eisner was brought in. Eisner himself was asked to step down in 2004^[3]with then President and COO, Bob Iger, eventually succeeding him.  Now Disney has another one for the books.

With Bob Chapek out Bob Iger has returned to right the ship and find a successor yet again. I suppose time will tell if Disney can break the chain of rough successions and who will carry that torch. 

References:

[1] Michael Eisner and Tony Schwartz, Work in Progress . (New York: Random House, 1998), 388

[2] Hayes Thomas C. (Sept 8, 1984). "Disney Chief is Forced Out" NyTimes.com.  Accessed Nov 21, 2022

[3] Verrier, Richard (Sept 11, 2004) "Disney's Eisner Will Step Down" orlandosentinel.com. Accessed Nov 21, 2022

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Paging Mr. Moro

 

For fans of the Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover, you’ve no doubt heard the phrase: “Paging Mr. Morrow, Mr. Tom Morrow ...”  If not below is a YouTube short video from my last (June 2022) visit. 

Now the title of this post is not a not a misspelling.  When Bob Chapek became CEO of the Walt Disney Company; Josh D’Amoro took over as chairman of Disney Parks. 

I’m just really surprised there aren’t tons of PeopleMover memes or fan art circulating about the person running the parks has who has a last name that rhymes with tomorrow.  At least that’s what I gathered from how he pronounces it.

Walt Disney once said “Disneyland will never be completed. It will continue to grow as long as there is imagination left in the world.”   That probably goes for all the other parks as well.  The Disney parks are always changing; adding new attractions and even changing the old.  Maybe that’s a change that could be on the horizon to one day pay homage to the person is currently running the parks.  Paging Mr. Moro, Mr. D’a moro.

Paging Mr. Moro concept art

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A Stroll Through the Creations Shop, Oct 2021

So much has been written about the history of Mouse Gear I don’t think I could do one justice.   For this sake of this post, a very brief and high level summary would be that Mouse Gear opened in September 1999 in what was once Communicore East ^[1].  Twenty two years later, in September of 2021, the Creations Shop at Epcot would take Mouse Gear’s place.  Along with the Creations Shop, the former Communicore East building also houses the redesigned Club Cool (which we wrote about in a previous post: A Spin Through Club Cool)

From a 2021 Map, where Creations Shop is located

Since 2014, each time we visited Epcot we had to make a stop at Mouse Gear in the former Communicore East building. Valves on the pipes to nowhere gave me something to tinker with while my wife was looking for a new set of ears.  The walls above the merchandise were also decorated with a number of things that could capture my attention: such as shadows of Huey, Dewy, and Louie fighting with (who I’m assuming) is Donald in an office environment.  To my discredit, I didn’t take many photos of these things. But Yesterland has bunch of great Mouse Gear photos.  On January 4, 2020, Mouse Gear would relocate to a temporary location^[1] and it just wasn’t the Mouse Gear I grew to like since our first (re)visit in 2014. 

Partial view photo of the Mouse Gear sign I took on 2019 Visit 

On an October 2021 visit, we got a chance to visit the new Creations Shop.  It’s a great store.  It was well lit, vibrant, nicely spaced out, organized, and styled in the artistry that a Disney fan would love. However, that cartoonish playfulness of the old Mouse Gear is now gone.   It’s a great store.  But to me it seemed to have the experiential feel of a Nordstrom Rack or T.J. Maxx but for Disney merchandise.   We took a video of our stroll through the store in October (notice the Halloween merch). 

I like the store, I just miss the playfulness.  It may be that the redesigned Epcot will be more a bit more mature and serious; or it might be that guests are skewing older and want a shopping experience that is more adult.  Whatever the reason, there are 300 acres of Epcot to play around in.

Me, tinkering around at Mouse Gear in 2015

References:

[1] Mouse Gear Gifts with Real Character, Yesterland.com.  Accessed Dec 6, 2021

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