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I offer this as a tentative replacement for the usual year-end meme. If you pass it on, feel free to add one or more wild cards at the end.
1. Births, deaths, marriages?
None among my friends and family.
2. Has anybody you know recovered from COVID-19?
Both my nieces.
3. Someone whose story inspired you, or a story that gave you hope—more than one, if applicable.
Captain Tom is the person I remember, but I read about a lot of people who showed nobility, courage, and generosity. One story was the fast-food drive-through where people paid for the meals of those in the car behind them, all day in an unbroken chain, and then it started up the next day.
4. Did your opinion of anyone change?
My opinion of many politicians sank lower than I would have believed possible. Apart from the national figures on both sides of the Atlantic whom I will not deign to name, the governor of this state and the mayors of San Francisco and San Jose all flagrantly broke lockdown/curfew restrictions shortly after imposing them. On the other hand, Fauci pleasantly surprised me; I had a bad impression of him from And the Band Played On. And the voters of the United States, in the main.
5. Anything you read this year that has stayed with you?
Apart from the idiocies I've read in the research I now have time to do, sadly, what rises to the surface as I think back is Bottle of Lies, which has shaken my faith in the generic drug industry and further eroded my opinion of India.
6. Anything you watched this year that has stayed with you?
Quite a few news and YouTube videos, and mostly not in a good way. But hooray for the Naked Athena of Portland.
7. Any music you discovered this year?
No, my tinnitus is still getting over those years of having to work with the radio playing.
8. Where do you now go for news?
BBC News website; San Francisco Chronicle Sunday print edition (we now have it delivered) and website; AP (I subscribed to their morning digest)
9. Did you learn any skill?
Probably yet another update to the cash register interface and maybe also to the booths control interface at work before my job went away. Some further template complexities on Wikipedia, equally onerous. I had my first Zoom experience, though others did all the skill stuff. I further refined my elite housecleaning skills.
10. Do you have any new activities you started this year?
We established an evening jigsawing routine. I started writing a book some 30 years late.
11. Did you gain or lose weight, do more or less exercise?
Less exercise, more sleep, lost weight.
12. What did you use to buy that you can't get any more?
Subway sandwiches (on my monthly trips to San Francisco); several things I used to get at the grocery store that are no longer available, from a cheese-based snack to raisin bagels and several kinds of bread. But they're doing better. For several months there was no toilet paper and no cleaning spray, and nitrile gloves and hand sanitizer? hah. It isn't hoarding if you haven't seen it for 3 months and buy 2 because you aren't sure you'll see it again for another 3.
I also miss the free newspapers.
13. What did you start buying for yourself that you didn't use to?
I subscribed to the Mountain Messenger and without access to a university library, both the housemate and I bought books instead of work clothes. Also, we now need kitten food, I expect until some point in the spring.
14. Did you make any resolutions for 2020? Were you able to keep them?
No, luckily I never do.
15. What are your hopes for 2021?
Beat COVID; sane leadership that appreciates diversity, including the US Supreme Court; a whole lot of long prison sentences, including for murderer cops, and some death sentences; effective action on the environment, extinctions, and rainforest destruction; dissolution of the WMF either before or after an investigation by the authorities; access to a university library; for the cats to all survive and become big enough to scare off the raccoons.
16. Wild card question.
1. Births, deaths, marriages?
None among my friends and family.
2. Has anybody you know recovered from COVID-19?
Both my nieces.
3. Someone whose story inspired you, or a story that gave you hope—more than one, if applicable.
Captain Tom is the person I remember, but I read about a lot of people who showed nobility, courage, and generosity. One story was the fast-food drive-through where people paid for the meals of those in the car behind them, all day in an unbroken chain, and then it started up the next day.
4. Did your opinion of anyone change?
My opinion of many politicians sank lower than I would have believed possible. Apart from the national figures on both sides of the Atlantic whom I will not deign to name, the governor of this state and the mayors of San Francisco and San Jose all flagrantly broke lockdown/curfew restrictions shortly after imposing them. On the other hand, Fauci pleasantly surprised me; I had a bad impression of him from And the Band Played On. And the voters of the United States, in the main.
5. Anything you read this year that has stayed with you?
Apart from the idiocies I've read in the research I now have time to do, sadly, what rises to the surface as I think back is Bottle of Lies, which has shaken my faith in the generic drug industry and further eroded my opinion of India.
6. Anything you watched this year that has stayed with you?
Quite a few news and YouTube videos, and mostly not in a good way. But hooray for the Naked Athena of Portland.
7. Any music you discovered this year?
No, my tinnitus is still getting over those years of having to work with the radio playing.
8. Where do you now go for news?
BBC News website; San Francisco Chronicle Sunday print edition (we now have it delivered) and website; AP (I subscribed to their morning digest)
9. Did you learn any skill?
Probably yet another update to the cash register interface and maybe also to the booths control interface at work before my job went away. Some further template complexities on Wikipedia, equally onerous. I had my first Zoom experience, though others did all the skill stuff. I further refined my elite housecleaning skills.
10. Do you have any new activities you started this year?
We established an evening jigsawing routine. I started writing a book some 30 years late.
11. Did you gain or lose weight, do more or less exercise?
Less exercise, more sleep, lost weight.
12. What did you use to buy that you can't get any more?
Subway sandwiches (on my monthly trips to San Francisco); several things I used to get at the grocery store that are no longer available, from a cheese-based snack to raisin bagels and several kinds of bread. But they're doing better. For several months there was no toilet paper and no cleaning spray, and nitrile gloves and hand sanitizer? hah. It isn't hoarding if you haven't seen it for 3 months and buy 2 because you aren't sure you'll see it again for another 3.
I also miss the free newspapers.
13. What did you start buying for yourself that you didn't use to?
I subscribed to the Mountain Messenger and without access to a university library, both the housemate and I bought books instead of work clothes. Also, we now need kitten food, I expect until some point in the spring.
14. Did you make any resolutions for 2020? Were you able to keep them?
No, luckily I never do.
15. What are your hopes for 2021?
Beat COVID; sane leadership that appreciates diversity, including the US Supreme Court; a whole lot of long prison sentences, including for murderer cops, and some death sentences; effective action on the environment, extinctions, and rainforest destruction; dissolution of the WMF either before or after an investigation by the authorities; access to a university library; for the cats to all survive and become big enough to scare off the raccoons.
16. Wild card question.