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The one that's been making the rounds.
January 2 is still an acceptable time frame in which to post this, right? It's weird to think that 5 years ago today I was moving back from Tokyo.
1. What did you do in 2020 that you'd never done before?
Lived through a global pandemic. I was in Asia for the SARS/bird flu/swine flu trifecta, but that was small beer compared to the coronapocalypse.
2. Did you keep your New Year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
For last year’s![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
snowflake_challenge I made a list of 20 goals for 2020, grouped by theme. Here’s how I did:
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
No.
4. Did anyone close to you die?
No, thank goodness.
5. What countries did you visit?
Attolia, Ingary, Middle Earth, the Night Country, and Prydain, among others.
6. What would you like to have in 2021 that you lacked in 2020?
Live music. Seeing friends and family in person. In-person RPG sessions. (One of my main groups is excellent about playing regularly and well online. The others, not so much.)
Also, a tooth cleaning. Even electric toothbrushes and religious flossing will only get you so far after 13+ months.
7. What date from 2020 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
March 7, which was the last time I gathered with the friend group.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Surviving, obviously. Otherwise, more systematically practicing and participating in the hobbies and activities I enjoy. Also, I learned—by ear and completely passively—all five (five! FIVE!) parts of the hornpipe Johnny Cope.
9. What was your biggest failure?
That day I got two blocks down the street before realizing I’d forgotten my mask was certainly the most embarrassing.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Nope. Ironically, the forced inactivity of quarantine actually helped an existing injury heal faster, because there was basically no opportunity for me to overdo things.
11. What was the best thing you bought?
The Destiny Tarot (which I haven’t yet written about in depth) and the Kabbalistic Tarot 5781 (which I have).
12. What was the worst thing you bought?
The replacement laptop I had to buy after Microsuck planned-obsolescenced my old machine with a forced windows update. I hate the new machine with such fiery, frothy passion that I will be acquiring an Apple replacement as soon as I can (*cough*) afford it.
13. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Everyone who behaved responsibly during the pandemic. Everyone who voted rationally.
14. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
See: above, but the opposite of that.
15. Where did most of your money go?
Rent and food, which is no different than any other year.
16. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Games and books, primarily. All Elite Wrestling. Also, discovering the existence of a stationary store (Notepads! Pens! Inks!) within walking distance that offers curbside pickup.
17. What song will always remind you of 2020?
The Acclaimed’s diss tracks on AEW, which are things of delightful, snotty, sloppy beauty.
18. How did you spend Christmas?
With members of my immediate household, like all responsible mammals.
19. What do you wish you’d done more of?
This was not a great year for me for fic exchanges, or posting finished fics in general.
20. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Going in to work.
21. How did you spend last New Year’s Eve?
Having a NYE Bad Movie Night with friends.
22. How did you spend this New Year’s Eve?
Playing online trivia with NYE Bad Movie Night Friends and Friends of NYE Bad Movie Night Friends. The gamemasters actually structured the NYE trivia as a review/roundup of the previous nine months' sessions, which was a lot of fun. For reasons too long to get into, cheesecake has played a recurring role, prompting one of the participants to order a six-inch cake from Cheesecake Factory. Many ridiculous ideas were mooted for what she should wear, say, and do when she opened the door to the delivery guy. By the time the thing actually arrived, we were all pretty personally invested in this cheesecake.
And so we shared equally in her devastation when, upon taking possession of her order, she discovered that the guy had delivered not a cheesecake, but a loaf of bread. And that the guy wasn't answering his phone. And that Cheesecake Factory had closed for the night three minutes before the bread was delivered.
2020 was gonna 2020 literally till the bitter end.
23. What did you learn to bake?
I’m much more into cooking than baking, but I did produce a number of nut-based shortbreads and tea cookies for the holidays.
24. What was your favorite TV program?
All Elite Wrestling, hands down. Bojack Horseman, The Dragon Prince, and Rick and Morty are honorable mentions.
25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
I mean, the usual political suspects had me frothing at the mouth for the obvious reasons.
26. What was the best book you read?
Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss, and I will never get tired of saying that.
27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
This year was much more about listening to old (old, old) favorites than new music, but I finally got a copy of Cran’s Black, Black, Black, and holy crap is it good.
28. What did you want and get?
A promotion, which was gratifying.
29. What did you want and not get?
Visiting family over (any of ) the holidays. Celebrating the GC’s birthday with friends. Traveling domestically, to say nothing of overseas.
30. What was your favorite film that you saw for the first time this year?
I...did not watch a single movie last year. (Documentaries are another story.)
31. What did you do on your birthday?
Celebrated at my favorite brewery with a host of good friends (little knowing at the time that it would be the last time I’d see them in person for the rest of the year).
32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
I mean, obviously, not having to cope with pandemic hardships. Aside from that, I wish I’d completed more writing projects.
33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2020?
The same as it is every year, Pinky: wearing clothes I enjoy.
34. What kept you sane?
Music, books, exercise, and regular virtual contact with friends.
35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
I have an enduring crush on Aubrey Edwards (actually, I have a crush on more members of the AEW roster than not, if we’re being honest).
36. What political issue stirred you the most?
O hai 2020 election.
37. Who did you miss?
The friends who insist on maintaining virtual contact through facebook or not at all. I will use facebook when zuckerturd pays me appropriately for the data I generate.
38. Who was the best new person you met?
I almost said ‘no one,’ but I did meet some really cool people back in February, which was only 11 months ago but feels like an aeon.
39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2020.
That there are limits to even my introversion.
40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
Have an entire song: Like An Itch by Stiffed.
これで以上です。
January 2 is still an acceptable time frame in which to post this, right? It's weird to think that 5 years ago today I was moving back from Tokyo.
1. What did you do in 2020 that you'd never done before?
Lived through a global pandemic. I was in Asia for the SARS/bird flu/swine flu trifecta, but that was small beer compared to the coronapocalypse.
2. Did you keep your New Year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
For last year’s
snowflake_challenge I made a list of 20 goals for 2020, grouped by theme. Here’s how I did:- General fannish goals:
- Complete getyourwordsout: Yes.
- Complete inkingitout: Yes.
- Respond to AO3 comments: Generally, yes.
- Fill at least one notebook or journal: No, if we're talking about the journals I was thinking of when I wrote this (i.e. the nice ones). But I did fill and get rid of several standard issue notepads that had been kicking around for years.
- Complete at least three games in my partially played video game backlog: No. I finished two but then Microsuck planned-obsolescenced my laptop into oblivion and its replacement cost more, has worse specs, and (among other bugs) doesn't recognize any menus that appear on the edge of the display. Which is kind of a necessary prerequisite to successfully play most computer games.
General reading goals: - Observe the 3:1 Rule: read three books for every new book acquired: Haha, no. It was the plague year, so I threw this one out the window in the interest of having some joy in my life.
- Work through one Japanese language textbook cover to cover: No.
- Work through one Korean language textbook cover to cover: Yes, the Mango Languages Korean course.
- Work through one Indonesian language textbook cover to cover: no.
- Work through one Chinese language textbook cover to cover: no.
Finish reading the following five shelf sitters: - Mark Danielewski's House of Leaves: Yes.
- Doug Dorst and J.J. Abrams' S: No.
- Thomas Cleary's No Barrier: No, but I Little Free Library’ed it.
- Dzogchen Ponlop'sRebel Buddha: No.
- Daniel Way's Deadpool: The Complete Collection vol. 1: Yes.
General activity goals: - Go to yoga more regularly: I was on track until covid came along and there was no longer any yoga to go to.
- Go to the zendo more regularly: No, although I did regularly participate in the Freer/Sackler’s online meditation sessions while those were running.
- Learn ten new Irish flute tunes: Almost. To whit: Ale Is Dear, The Cliffs of Moher, The Dusty Windowsills, The Gravel Walks, Jenny’s Chickens, Johnny Cope, Martin Wynne’s #2, Sean sa Cheo, unnamed double jig
- Strength train at least once a week: I was doing great with this until covid shut the gyms down.
- Take a 3 to 5 mile walk most days of the week: Yes, but only in the latter half of the year, once unspoken rules for mask wearing and pandemic sidewalk etiquette were established.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
No.
4. Did anyone close to you die?
No, thank goodness.
5. What countries did you visit?
Attolia, Ingary, Middle Earth, the Night Country, and Prydain, among others.
6. What would you like to have in 2021 that you lacked in 2020?
Live music. Seeing friends and family in person. In-person RPG sessions. (One of my main groups is excellent about playing regularly and well online. The others, not so much.)
Also, a tooth cleaning. Even electric toothbrushes and religious flossing will only get you so far after 13+ months.
7. What date from 2020 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
March 7, which was the last time I gathered with the friend group.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Surviving, obviously. Otherwise, more systematically practicing and participating in the hobbies and activities I enjoy. Also, I learned—by ear and completely passively—all five (five! FIVE!) parts of the hornpipe Johnny Cope.
9. What was your biggest failure?
That day I got two blocks down the street before realizing I’d forgotten my mask was certainly the most embarrassing.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Nope. Ironically, the forced inactivity of quarantine actually helped an existing injury heal faster, because there was basically no opportunity for me to overdo things.
11. What was the best thing you bought?
The Destiny Tarot (which I haven’t yet written about in depth) and the Kabbalistic Tarot 5781 (which I have).
12. What was the worst thing you bought?
The replacement laptop I had to buy after Microsuck planned-obsolescenced my old machine with a forced windows update. I hate the new machine with such fiery, frothy passion that I will be acquiring an Apple replacement as soon as I can (*cough*) afford it.
13. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Everyone who behaved responsibly during the pandemic. Everyone who voted rationally.
14. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
See: above, but the opposite of that.
15. Where did most of your money go?
Rent and food, which is no different than any other year.
16. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Games and books, primarily. All Elite Wrestling. Also, discovering the existence of a stationary store (Notepads! Pens! Inks!) within walking distance that offers curbside pickup.
17. What song will always remind you of 2020?
The Acclaimed’s diss tracks on AEW, which are things of delightful, snotty, sloppy beauty.
18. How did you spend Christmas?
With members of my immediate household, like all responsible mammals.
19. What do you wish you’d done more of?
This was not a great year for me for fic exchanges, or posting finished fics in general.
20. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Going in to work.
21. How did you spend last New Year’s Eve?
Having a NYE Bad Movie Night with friends.
22. How did you spend this New Year’s Eve?
Playing online trivia with NYE Bad Movie Night Friends and Friends of NYE Bad Movie Night Friends. The gamemasters actually structured the NYE trivia as a review/roundup of the previous nine months' sessions, which was a lot of fun. For reasons too long to get into, cheesecake has played a recurring role, prompting one of the participants to order a six-inch cake from Cheesecake Factory. Many ridiculous ideas were mooted for what she should wear, say, and do when she opened the door to the delivery guy. By the time the thing actually arrived, we were all pretty personally invested in this cheesecake.
And so we shared equally in her devastation when, upon taking possession of her order, she discovered that the guy had delivered not a cheesecake, but a loaf of bread. And that the guy wasn't answering his phone. And that Cheesecake Factory had closed for the night three minutes before the bread was delivered.
2020 was gonna 2020 literally till the bitter end.
23. What did you learn to bake?
I’m much more into cooking than baking, but I did produce a number of nut-based shortbreads and tea cookies for the holidays.
24. What was your favorite TV program?
All Elite Wrestling, hands down. Bojack Horseman, The Dragon Prince, and Rick and Morty are honorable mentions.
25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
I mean, the usual political suspects had me frothing at the mouth for the obvious reasons.
26. What was the best book you read?
Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss, and I will never get tired of saying that.
27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
This year was much more about listening to old (old, old) favorites than new music, but I finally got a copy of Cran’s Black, Black, Black, and holy crap is it good.
28. What did you want and get?
A promotion, which was gratifying.
29. What did you want and not get?
Visiting family over (any of ) the holidays. Celebrating the GC’s birthday with friends. Traveling domestically, to say nothing of overseas.
30. What was your favorite film that you saw for the first time this year?
I...did not watch a single movie last year. (Documentaries are another story.)
31. What did you do on your birthday?
Celebrated at my favorite brewery with a host of good friends (little knowing at the time that it would be the last time I’d see them in person for the rest of the year).
32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
I mean, obviously, not having to cope with pandemic hardships. Aside from that, I wish I’d completed more writing projects.
33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2020?
The same as it is every year, Pinky: wearing clothes I enjoy.
34. What kept you sane?
Music, books, exercise, and regular virtual contact with friends.
35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
I have an enduring crush on Aubrey Edwards (actually, I have a crush on more members of the AEW roster than not, if we’re being honest).
36. What political issue stirred you the most?
O hai 2020 election.
37. Who did you miss?
The friends who insist on maintaining virtual contact through facebook or not at all. I will use facebook when zuckerturd pays me appropriately for the data I generate.
38. Who was the best new person you met?
I almost said ‘no one,’ but I did meet some really cool people back in February, which was only 11 months ago but feels like an aeon.
39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2020.
That there are limits to even my introversion.
40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
Have an entire song: Like An Itch by Stiffed.
これで以上です。
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Oh, this is a great way to answer this question!
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This made me smile, and made me want to keep track of my own travels this year.
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