What were the ups and downs?
What were the entertainment highlights?
What was the “new” in your life (a child, a pet, a car…)
The good, the bad, and the ugly, whatever you wish to share, share here.
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Among the happy bits was backing my first Kickstarter - and becoming a member of this forum.
The sad in the year was my mother’s passing.
Milestone: I turned 60, but aside from that, not much new or eventful happened in 2021 - I didn’t rescue a kitten up a tree, or build anything, or manage a hole-in-one - I did get my 2 vaccinations and 1 booster (real, poke-in-the-arm shots, not the pretend ones Aaron Rogers received. lol)
TV or series wise, I enjoyed the Disney+ Marvel minis: Wanda/Vision was the highlight, also liked Loki and Hawkeye.
Not much in music blew me away, but I got back into reading novels - my author of the year would be Murial Spark, I picked up a collection of her stories from the library and really enjoyed them and kept reading her work thereafter.
I made my return to the theater for the first time in well over a year. (My brother and I saw “The Eternals” in Nov)
Along those lines - Being a movie freak I have a few stats and such to share from my film diary…
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I watched 567 movies and shorts in 2021
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The first film viewed was Naruse’s Learn From Experience (1937) on Jan 1st, the last film was The Working Man (1933) a light comedy with Bette Davis and George Arlis on Dec 31.
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My most watched director was Christian Petzold with 17 features and shorts
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My most-watched actor was Peter Cushing with 14
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My favorite 2021 movie so far is Old Henry (but it’ll be about another year before I see enough to seriously consider making a top 10 list)
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Year, not bad, COVID and otherwise (which I have avoided). Seem to be popular enough in the Twitter-verse.
Got to be among the first to visit the Academy Museum, and spent slightly too much to go to the Chinese IMAX and LAFC’s stadium.
Any lowlights? Having to pay more for my apartment, but I make sure I have plenty in the bank.
Hopefully, conventions will be back
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The good:
- Me and my family went to see Olympia, WA
- I became a backer for MST3K’s second Kickstarter
- I graduated high school
- I went to the Time Bubble Tour, and LOVED IT
The bad:
- News I’m not allowed to mention
- My dad and my sister got… THE THING
- Betty White left us…
So here’s to a better future, and Happy New Year everyone!!!
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In sports
The good? While I’m not a big Basketball nut, I was happy when the Milwaukie Bucks won their first championship in 50 years!
The sad? The general manager who helped bring a Super Bowl to Green Bay in early 2011, Ted Thompson, died at age 68, just three years after stepping down from his post with the Packers. Thompson, whose litany of moves included drafting Aaron Rodgers in 2005, was in charge for 13 seasons.
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Best wishes for the new year, all and hopefully the Roaring 20s can finally start!
I was sad that Charlie Watts left us but it was nice to see him enjoying the concert when we saw the Stones in '19.
I was happy to reconnect with online MSTies and get involved with this wonderful show.
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I’m still kinda mentally processing 2021.
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There were quite a few rough patches for me in 2021 but I don’t want to dwell on those.
It was a great year for travel for me! I visited lots of new restaurants and cities near me, and I went on three different road trips in as many months’ time! The highlight was definitely driving out to the western side of the Dakotas. It was my first time going out west and I was simply entranced; I live in the Great Lakes region and usually vacation on the east coast so it was completely different from anyplace I’ve ever been. Now it’s been seven months since I got back but I still think about it every day. It’s my resolve to make it back out there within the next couple years; I feel a burning desire to see the mountains and prairies again 
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When 2020 ended, my plan was to socially distance from 2021. At least until there was a clear bearing on how it was gonna go down. Now, in hindsight, it was definitely the way to go.
Starting with the sour so the post ends on a high note.
The Bad:
- The U.S. nearly saw a coup d’état.
- Wave Three of the pandemic is here. It was completely unavoidable, yet here we are.
- Seventeen new anti-LGBTQ+ bills were enacted into legislation.
- YouTube retired the public’s view of dislike counts. This seems like a small, insignificant thing but it isn’t. What’s exceptionally bad is that they claim it was done after conducting an experiment and “after reviewing the results” but they will not divulge how that experiment was performed or show/prove any data.
- There were plenty of data breaches for the year but the number of repeat offenders is getting really disgusting. Facebook, T-Mobile, LastPass, and LinkedIn need a special spotlight because it keeps happening and they get to walk away with
and a pouty lower lip and “sowwy”. - It’s a good thing that workplace mistreatment got a set of eyes last year and some bad actors are starting to feel the repercussions, but it just goes to show how deeply rooted it is and how long it has been ignored. And the message coming from things like the still-happening exodus in the game industry is mostly falling to deaf ears.
- As an essential (but not frontline) worker, I’m tired. If you are, or have been, frontline then thank you for all you do and have done. You haven’t been thanked enough. Thank you.
- There was a death in the family and, when these happen, I usually have to swoop in and right the ship a little. I had to fly out of my state mere days after the Omicron VoI was confirmed here, and landed in a place that was just starting to ordeal with the Delta VoI. It was… dicey and nerve-wracking, and sorta surreal… but the good news here is that nobody got the 'rona.
- A friendship faltered and crumbled. There actually had never been a friendship; it was a one-sided exercise in milking opportunities and it all came to light and to a head during what should have been a cool, exciting visit and catching-up.
The Good:
- While the SolarWinds breach was not good, it had a silver lining in that it instigated a lot of critical challenge toward the resilience and dependability of high cost “enterprise” “solutions” and turned some eyes back to Open Source.
- Juneteenth became a Federal holiday.
- James Webb launched beautifully and it got an extended mission lifespan because that launch was basically perfect.
- We got a freshened up Dune, a rare horror treat with Censor, Nicolas Cage proving he can still actually act in Pig, and a new installment of The Matrix (which is doing something way, way below the surface if you’re paying attention).
- The U.K. gave Uber drivers workers rights. Let’s see that spread.
- Regardless how one feels about the ongoing pandemic, it’s undeniable that the development and shipment of multiple vaccines in such a short amount of time is pretty incredible. Also, about half of the human race is vaccinated. Right on.
- A close friend of mine got married.
- I started a project in 2017 and worked weekly on it. It is done as of a week ago.
- I finally dove into making real, tangible things from my artwork. Will this become a thing? Dunno yet!
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We survived a year of virtual school. Kids returned to playing summer ball. We took two short trips. Hubby’s first year as a solo practitioner was successful. Kids went back to in-person school. No one in our family got sick, but we’re all vaccinated and grownups boosted.
I really want to take a break from this country, but there’s too much uncertainty to consider scheduling a trip. At least my MST3K masks finally arrived!
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