The Year In Review
2021. While, I would say it was more of an improvement on 2020, it still got rough, especially in the last couple of months. I've had to endure grief too. Not everything is all right. Like my uncle still stuck in a nursing home for over a year, and Derek continuing to prey on Grammy. We got the vaccines and I do have a lot less fear after receiving them, but continue to be frustrated with the pandemic because then came the variants. First with Delta and now with Omicron. I'm still confident we will see the end of this this year though because we will have to learn to live with it and COVID will become less of a threat overall in time. And I think that will be sooner rather than later, and I just hope I'm correct about that. There are signs of it with Omicron seemingly milder (it's not offical yet) and the CDC recently reducing quarantine times. It all just demonstrates to me that we will get more back to normalcy in the near future. I had some hopes for 2021, but it's going to take a little longer than that. Good things did happen still. So, here is how my year went.
The only thing that was really significant in January was hearing my uncle Doug got COVID while in the nursing home. Same day he got the vaccine too. I feared for the worst, but he survived it amazingly enough. He stays in good spirits as much as he can, but I still know that things are horrible for him and tbh I hate to say it, but I truly don't know how much time he has left. I just don't see him coming home ever. :( My aunt Kathy also got hospitalized with COVID even after being vaccinated around Thanksgiving. She's fine, but then also fell down the stairs recently. Again, she's OK, but geez.
March and April. An annual endo appt. Not much to say there, except my dad went with me this time because I think my mom was playing tennis. So he met my doctor for the first time and got to know more about my condition. Everything's still good. In April, my parents finally could get vaccinated and so could I. I didn't have the emotional reaction I expected I would, but I looked forward to getting out more and doing more things. And I did have the side effects with the body aches, but it was definitely worth it. It felt like forever waiting to get those vaccines. It was also in April that I finally decided to leave MJJC for good, and I still haven't regretted the decision and tbh maybe it has been better for my mental health anyway. Seeing negative news about Michael Jackson all the time takes its toll. I've enjoyed the extra time leaving has given me. And if there's something really important with Michael Jackson news I need to know, I'll probably find out about it. It was the longest time I've ever spent on a forum, but I think I'm done with forums in general. As far as joining any goes. I spend more time reading things on Reddit if there's something I want to know about (in general). I visit that specific subreddit on whatever topic it happens to be, but I'm not planning on ever joining that website. I'm happy just reading and spending less time on discussions on general (well maybe not always lol). Reddit just has more to offer than forums. Leaving MJJC was for the best, plus I didn't like how they were treating one of the members. That was a catalyst for me.
May. This was the hardest month for me ever, and I know I'm probably going to start crying here. Obviously this is when we said goodbye to our dog Luke. It was so hard, but had to be done. I made the ultimate decision. His health had declined too much and it was hard to cope with both for us and him. The quality of life was just not there. How is my grief now? It's better, but I still miss him a lot and think of him. The hardest part was the absence. Coming downstairs and expecting him to be in the living room and giving him some love. I still feel that emptiness every once in a while. I've stopped being super depressed over it, but he will always live on in my heart, and it still gets hard sometimes. We had fifteen years with him, so obviously we did something right, and most of those years were good ones. I'm grateful. He was a great dog. As for rescuing another dog, maybe that will happen some time this year. It's up to my mom. I'm waiting for her to be ready to do it. But I know it will happen someday. We plan on getting a smaller dog this time. Also in May, I went to my first movie in over a year and got to go out to eat again. My first movie back in the theater was Cruella, and my first restaurant was Maggiano's.
June was a little bit of a frustrating month because I completely lost access to my email. It's a complicated story and I blame big corporations merging and unmerging for this screwing everything up. I don't think they acknowledge that email exists anymore, but I'm OK with this now. I'm using a new email, got everything sorted with the websites I use and I'm getting emails from them again. I'm sure I didn't remember everything, but I got everything worked out with the important websites. The only thing I'm really bummed about is I had Grammy's emails she sent to me saved on my old address for keepsakes when she passes away, so those are lost. I won't be able to look back on them. She doesn't have my new email yet either. Eventually I'm going to have to give it to her. I sort of miss getting emails from her too. June is when I got my new glasses too. My old ones broke in September 2020, but I didn't want to get to an eye doctor until I was vaccinated. I was way overdue for my prescription to be updated. Finally got new ones, although the first pair I got were way too big. Was able to exchange them for a different pair and they fit just fine. No more worries. My brother also left Target in this month. He couldn't handle the stress and his anti-anxiety/depression meds weren't working well. It was a bummer because we could no longer drop in on him at Target to say hi. He's doing better now though and is working at Best Buy -- full time even.
At the start of July, we got an adorable surprise. Two baby crows had settled in to our front yard. It was such a source of joy seeing them every day. Technically it was only a few days that they were there, and sadly one of them didn't make it. I named them Liberty and Glory. Liberty lived on and learned to fly. We could still hear him/her from time to time as the weeks went on. He's/She's an adult now and hopefully still living free. I have no idea if he/she still hangs around here. We also went to the OC fair this month. My first truly risky outing since the pandemic started. Maybe the riskiest thing was watching the pig race and sitting in a tightly packed crowd. I still probably wouldn't do that again, especially with Omicron out there. It was fun though just walking around and watching the rides. The food wasn't great except for the dessert, but we had a good time anyway. I probably wouldn't mind doing it again this year.
In August, we went up to Big Bear to help John with moving Darlene's late mother's things. I mostly just observed. Unfortunately, I had a stiff neck that day, but at least I enjoyed the scenery, blue jays, and squirrels. The state of Big Bear Lake made me sad though.
In September, my mom and I finally got back to Disneyland again. Our first visit back wasn't the greatest because we couldn't get the app to work right. Still kind of annoyed that you have to use it for nearly everything now. Our other visits last year went more smoothly, and I actually didn't mind that there were no more fastpasses. That might change now with Genie+ and lightning lanes. I started watching Fresh Baked's YouTube channel last year and I've learned a lot from his Disneyland videos. I'm sure they will continue to be of use. One thing I'm still not crazy about is the reservation system, but it is what it is. At least I hear the trams are finally coming back this year.
November is when things sort of started going south because we had two pipe leaks. We got them fixed, but not before the water restoration guys tried to scam us and destroy our house. They were going to try to ruin our holidays. It was a stressful situation, but we sorted it out. And hey, at least we got a new functioning toilet out of it. Our old toilet downstairs had its own set of issues. We're still planning on getting the pipes repiped in the near future. That's a whole different project that's still going to be a pain.
Then I think in December is when my health got weird. Probably from all the stress and what came next. First it started with a cold sore, and then I got some weird eye thing. It got red and painful on the left side of my left eye. I finally got some eye drops and they worked like magic. I still don't know what that was because I didn't recall damaging my eye and it didn't seem to be infected either, so who knows? But I'm glad it got better. Unfortunately, a little while after that is when I nearly lost my computer. Blue Screen of Death, wouldn't start up. That really broke me mentally for a day or two, but I finally got it working again, managing to do a system restore and I brought it back to life. And it's still working. Yay. I probably should get a new computer though. I am worried about this happening again, and it's old. Knowing me though, I'm probably going to wait until it's too late. :/ I was in so much anguish over this that I got sick. The first time I was sick since February 2020. I think it's highly possible it was COVID. But there were no home tests available and I couldn't bring myself to get an appointment for a PCR. Bad timing for it to happen just before Christmas. The uncertainity is still there. My fault. But it was like a cold for me. It was annoying, but not so bad at all and went away after about a week. I'm perfectly fine now. I didn't lose my sense of taste or smell, and no other lingering effects. I don't know why my parents didn't catch it or maybe they were asymptomatic. Next time we'll probably get at home tests, if we have to order them online or not, just so we are prepared. It's probably inevitable everyone will get this thing at some point. The sucky part was we had to put Christmas off by a couple of days. It was so weird, and the first time we've ever had to do that. COVID changed everything.
So that was my year. Rough still in some areas with deeply painful parts. It wasn't quite like 2020 though. As always, I read a lot of books (that's my next post), got to see movies at the theater again, played plenty of games, and watched a bunch of shows. The new Marvel shows on Disney Plus were the highlight. I think WandaVision is still my favorite. And I had recently finished Adventures in Wonderland. Still love it and was a little sad when I finished my last episode. I'm now starting on The Muppet Show. I've seen bits and pieces of it here and there, but never watched it fully. I've only seen the first episode, and it was kind of rough, but I'm thinking it will get better. I'm probably not going to know most of the guest stars lol. I can't stand laugh tracks though. I guess I'm just going to have to get used to it. And I will continue to watch Doctor Who and reactions and reviews of old episodes, and any other new shows that catch my attention. I've really enjoyed watching stuff on Disney Plus. And I'm planning on concluding watching The Legend of Korra this year, and starting The Dragon Prince from the same creators.
Looking ahead to 2022, I hope the pandemic finally comes to an end. I have a feeling it will. It's just not sustainable for the economy. We have more theraputic drugs coming out, so things are looking up. I look forward to the day where I can go out and COVID will no longer be at the back of my mind. I was starting to not care about it until Omicron appeared lol. I admit I'm reluctant on going back to the movie theater again for now. Bummer because there are a couple movies I want to see, but I guess I can wait. I think that's where I caught it when watching Spider-Man: No Way Home. There was a lot of cheering. And restaurants, I don't know. I'm going to wait until the surge dies down again, which should happen quickly. Just laying low for now. 2022 has to be great. It needs to be.
The only thing that was really significant in January was hearing my uncle Doug got COVID while in the nursing home. Same day he got the vaccine too. I feared for the worst, but he survived it amazingly enough. He stays in good spirits as much as he can, but I still know that things are horrible for him and tbh I hate to say it, but I truly don't know how much time he has left. I just don't see him coming home ever. :( My aunt Kathy also got hospitalized with COVID even after being vaccinated around Thanksgiving. She's fine, but then also fell down the stairs recently. Again, she's OK, but geez.
March and April. An annual endo appt. Not much to say there, except my dad went with me this time because I think my mom was playing tennis. So he met my doctor for the first time and got to know more about my condition. Everything's still good. In April, my parents finally could get vaccinated and so could I. I didn't have the emotional reaction I expected I would, but I looked forward to getting out more and doing more things. And I did have the side effects with the body aches, but it was definitely worth it. It felt like forever waiting to get those vaccines. It was also in April that I finally decided to leave MJJC for good, and I still haven't regretted the decision and tbh maybe it has been better for my mental health anyway. Seeing negative news about Michael Jackson all the time takes its toll. I've enjoyed the extra time leaving has given me. And if there's something really important with Michael Jackson news I need to know, I'll probably find out about it. It was the longest time I've ever spent on a forum, but I think I'm done with forums in general. As far as joining any goes. I spend more time reading things on Reddit if there's something I want to know about (in general). I visit that specific subreddit on whatever topic it happens to be, but I'm not planning on ever joining that website. I'm happy just reading and spending less time on discussions on general (well maybe not always lol). Reddit just has more to offer than forums. Leaving MJJC was for the best, plus I didn't like how they were treating one of the members. That was a catalyst for me.
May. This was the hardest month for me ever, and I know I'm probably going to start crying here. Obviously this is when we said goodbye to our dog Luke. It was so hard, but had to be done. I made the ultimate decision. His health had declined too much and it was hard to cope with both for us and him. The quality of life was just not there. How is my grief now? It's better, but I still miss him a lot and think of him. The hardest part was the absence. Coming downstairs and expecting him to be in the living room and giving him some love. I still feel that emptiness every once in a while. I've stopped being super depressed over it, but he will always live on in my heart, and it still gets hard sometimes. We had fifteen years with him, so obviously we did something right, and most of those years were good ones. I'm grateful. He was a great dog. As for rescuing another dog, maybe that will happen some time this year. It's up to my mom. I'm waiting for her to be ready to do it. But I know it will happen someday. We plan on getting a smaller dog this time. Also in May, I went to my first movie in over a year and got to go out to eat again. My first movie back in the theater was Cruella, and my first restaurant was Maggiano's.
June was a little bit of a frustrating month because I completely lost access to my email. It's a complicated story and I blame big corporations merging and unmerging for this screwing everything up. I don't think they acknowledge that email exists anymore, but I'm OK with this now. I'm using a new email, got everything sorted with the websites I use and I'm getting emails from them again. I'm sure I didn't remember everything, but I got everything worked out with the important websites. The only thing I'm really bummed about is I had Grammy's emails she sent to me saved on my old address for keepsakes when she passes away, so those are lost. I won't be able to look back on them. She doesn't have my new email yet either. Eventually I'm going to have to give it to her. I sort of miss getting emails from her too. June is when I got my new glasses too. My old ones broke in September 2020, but I didn't want to get to an eye doctor until I was vaccinated. I was way overdue for my prescription to be updated. Finally got new ones, although the first pair I got were way too big. Was able to exchange them for a different pair and they fit just fine. No more worries. My brother also left Target in this month. He couldn't handle the stress and his anti-anxiety/depression meds weren't working well. It was a bummer because we could no longer drop in on him at Target to say hi. He's doing better now though and is working at Best Buy -- full time even.
At the start of July, we got an adorable surprise. Two baby crows had settled in to our front yard. It was such a source of joy seeing them every day. Technically it was only a few days that they were there, and sadly one of them didn't make it. I named them Liberty and Glory. Liberty lived on and learned to fly. We could still hear him/her from time to time as the weeks went on. He's/She's an adult now and hopefully still living free. I have no idea if he/she still hangs around here. We also went to the OC fair this month. My first truly risky outing since the pandemic started. Maybe the riskiest thing was watching the pig race and sitting in a tightly packed crowd. I still probably wouldn't do that again, especially with Omicron out there. It was fun though just walking around and watching the rides. The food wasn't great except for the dessert, but we had a good time anyway. I probably wouldn't mind doing it again this year.
In August, we went up to Big Bear to help John with moving Darlene's late mother's things. I mostly just observed. Unfortunately, I had a stiff neck that day, but at least I enjoyed the scenery, blue jays, and squirrels. The state of Big Bear Lake made me sad though.
In September, my mom and I finally got back to Disneyland again. Our first visit back wasn't the greatest because we couldn't get the app to work right. Still kind of annoyed that you have to use it for nearly everything now. Our other visits last year went more smoothly, and I actually didn't mind that there were no more fastpasses. That might change now with Genie+ and lightning lanes. I started watching Fresh Baked's YouTube channel last year and I've learned a lot from his Disneyland videos. I'm sure they will continue to be of use. One thing I'm still not crazy about is the reservation system, but it is what it is. At least I hear the trams are finally coming back this year.
November is when things sort of started going south because we had two pipe leaks. We got them fixed, but not before the water restoration guys tried to scam us and destroy our house. They were going to try to ruin our holidays. It was a stressful situation, but we sorted it out. And hey, at least we got a new functioning toilet out of it. Our old toilet downstairs had its own set of issues. We're still planning on getting the pipes repiped in the near future. That's a whole different project that's still going to be a pain.
Then I think in December is when my health got weird. Probably from all the stress and what came next. First it started with a cold sore, and then I got some weird eye thing. It got red and painful on the left side of my left eye. I finally got some eye drops and they worked like magic. I still don't know what that was because I didn't recall damaging my eye and it didn't seem to be infected either, so who knows? But I'm glad it got better. Unfortunately, a little while after that is when I nearly lost my computer. Blue Screen of Death, wouldn't start up. That really broke me mentally for a day or two, but I finally got it working again, managing to do a system restore and I brought it back to life. And it's still working. Yay. I probably should get a new computer though. I am worried about this happening again, and it's old. Knowing me though, I'm probably going to wait until it's too late. :/ I was in so much anguish over this that I got sick. The first time I was sick since February 2020. I think it's highly possible it was COVID. But there were no home tests available and I couldn't bring myself to get an appointment for a PCR. Bad timing for it to happen just before Christmas. The uncertainity is still there. My fault. But it was like a cold for me. It was annoying, but not so bad at all and went away after about a week. I'm perfectly fine now. I didn't lose my sense of taste or smell, and no other lingering effects. I don't know why my parents didn't catch it or maybe they were asymptomatic. Next time we'll probably get at home tests, if we have to order them online or not, just so we are prepared. It's probably inevitable everyone will get this thing at some point. The sucky part was we had to put Christmas off by a couple of days. It was so weird, and the first time we've ever had to do that. COVID changed everything.
So that was my year. Rough still in some areas with deeply painful parts. It wasn't quite like 2020 though. As always, I read a lot of books (that's my next post), got to see movies at the theater again, played plenty of games, and watched a bunch of shows. The new Marvel shows on Disney Plus were the highlight. I think WandaVision is still my favorite. And I had recently finished Adventures in Wonderland. Still love it and was a little sad when I finished my last episode. I'm now starting on The Muppet Show. I've seen bits and pieces of it here and there, but never watched it fully. I've only seen the first episode, and it was kind of rough, but I'm thinking it will get better. I'm probably not going to know most of the guest stars lol. I can't stand laugh tracks though. I guess I'm just going to have to get used to it. And I will continue to watch Doctor Who and reactions and reviews of old episodes, and any other new shows that catch my attention. I've really enjoyed watching stuff on Disney Plus. And I'm planning on concluding watching The Legend of Korra this year, and starting The Dragon Prince from the same creators.
Looking ahead to 2022, I hope the pandemic finally comes to an end. I have a feeling it will. It's just not sustainable for the economy. We have more theraputic drugs coming out, so things are looking up. I look forward to the day where I can go out and COVID will no longer be at the back of my mind. I was starting to not care about it until Omicron appeared lol. I admit I'm reluctant on going back to the movie theater again for now. Bummer because there are a couple movies I want to see, but I guess I can wait. I think that's where I caught it when watching Spider-Man: No Way Home. There was a lot of cheering. And restaurants, I don't know. I'm going to wait until the surge dies down again, which should happen quickly. Just laying low for now. 2022 has to be great. It needs to be.