The past is a polarizing topic, as evidenced by the old sayings for and against exploring what has gone before. It can’t be changed, but it provides insight we can learn from. The successes and mistakes are tools by which we can improve our future, so I decided to look back at the blogs from the past months.
The year began with a mini-purge which unearthed a copy of Playgirl magazine from the 70s that was not mine (and how it got into the home remains an eternal mystery). The nostalgia value alone made me keep that as my “one-in-ten rule” save from that declutter mission. During the year I was given the opportunity to have hot guy posts in my social media feed, and being a single lady, I decided to take advantage of that. I now have guys in towels, cowboys, construction hunks, wet dudes in pools, tattooed dudes who barely hold their trousers up, and all varieties of testosterone in poses for my entertainment. And I don’t need to weed out porn.
During the year I encountered a parking lot Karen, and a domestic abuse dispute (I spoke to the cops). The bus stop for Greyhound, which I was used to for nearly two years, changed locations without any prior notification. I don’t have any bus trips scheduled for 2024 until the company decides how they are going to treat their ridership (which should improve). Also, I won’t go to New York until the Metropolitan Opera has a season which does not include environmental protestors interrupting the program (I did not post about it, but a performance of Wagner’s Tannhauser in late November was ruined by paying audience members who chose to unfurl banners and shout at the performers).
I assembled a curio cabinet and a bookshelf, with another to be assembled soon. I may do that to ring in the New Year. I also have two other shelving units and a desk to put together. During the summer I replaced a full set of curtains and got windows installed. The sun porch is still cold, so I needed to purchase a space heater so I can use that area for office space sometime soon. The landscaping continues to thrive as I keep it watered, but winter will soon make watering impossible until spring.
My bullet journal project was put on hold, but I still have it, and I kept a different one to track my daily life without being a whiny diary. One of my new year goals is to spend more time doing quiet crafting.
My food delivery service says I saved hundreds of hours in cooking time, but I haven’t lost a pound. I did posts about the joys of bananas, egg salad, ginger ale and Taco Bell, along with the concept of virtual awards luncheons via Brady Bunch group meetings in the workplace (which is home).
During the year, Great Britain gained a new monarchy, our town pulled off an LGBTQ+ event, the malls struggled to exist in an online shopping world, and people continued to make waiting one’s turn a discomforting event.
I spent most of my time working from home and after hours without television. I turned it off during a TV-free week and didn’t turn it on again except for things I like. This meant a few Marvel, Harry Potter, fantasy and sci-fi marathons on the weekends, occasional series such as “What We Do in the Shadows,” “Shark Tank,” or anything featuring Gordon Ramsay. My Sunday evenings are spent with a friend watching Food Network. My television is from 2013, has an extended warranty and may be the third longest-lasting appliance to the fridge (in first place was a clock radio).
Other posts have dealt with the wisdom of Socrates, the craziness of makeup tutorials as part of cheating boyfriend videos, and the occasional notes about the craft of writing from my point of view as a blogger.
My self-improvement journey is ongoing. Some of the posts I did this year were trying on my spirit, especially when my post about a promising young woman’s loss to the world by her own hand due to bullying was actually read by her mother, who messaged me within hours of the post going live (I am doing my best to follow the pending lawsuit against the school district).
I let my 45th high school reunion go without my presence, for complex reasons only a therapist would likely understand. I do my best not to gripe about myself in these posts, but readers may find something like an association between their daily lives and mine on occasion. My idea behind these posts has always been to discuss and try to make sense of it all. If you find something satisfying in reading what I post, my job has been done well.
My first post of 2024 will come in two weeks, and I’m leaving next week’s post open for whatever may come over the next few days. This is the toughest week, between the hectic Christmas weekend and the curtain coming down on the old year next weekend. The year will kick off on a Tuesday with all the messiness of a concert orchestra bowing and blarping out their first notes before the conductor waves his baton and realigns them into a cohesive assembly.
I will be blarping along with the rest of you through the end of one year and into the start of the next.
Let’s have plenty of nice things to write about.
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