2022

Last year I made exactly two posts on this blog. The second was about programming bugs and the processes by which companies handle them. The first was my 2021 post. If 2020 was a year interrupted, 2021 was a year on pause. We got a better president (though it was the lowest bar set in the history of this country), and the old president tried to overthrow the government… and about half the country seems to be fine with that. If 2022 wants to be a better year, there better be some high level prosecutions.

On a personal level, my new job has been wonderful. This company learned to do remote well, and have continued that, and adapted. When things were getting better I even went to the office a few times and it was very nice. I rode the bus, which is a thing I can do now. I walked to the bus stop just outside the back of my neighborhood, and rode to within a couple blocks of the office. Commuting without stress. It was glorious. But then everything shut down again because Omicron. Hopefully that will change in the new year.

I did read more books. I’ve read almost all of T. Kingfisher’s books. I have three to go and will be getting to them soon. I also read a few other books. So I feel good about that. I’m going to keep reading into the new year.

Writing, on the other hand, petered out fairly quickly. I tried to reorganize my stuff and my process, and I just never settled on anything that worked. I’m going to keep trying. I want to write more, and reading more has inspired thoughts, but I haven’t been able to capture them on electronic paper.

Exercise went very well. Mostly. We got a Peloton, and I rode that bike nearly every day for months. And I used the app to do some weights and yoga and meditation and other stuff. It was great. I felt great. And then… I went out for a walk one Thursday morning with Brody, our dog, and another big dog ran up to us, off leash, and attacked Brody. I tried to keep them apart, but the other dog managed to get his jaws on Brody’s head, and I knew the next thing that dog was going to do was try to shake Brody and snap his neck. So I dove on the other dog, and I pried its mouth open with my fingers and freed Brody. I hurt myself a lot on the process. My fingers bled from being cut by its teeth, and my body was scraped all over from rolling around on the textured concrete sidewalk. The owner of the unleashed dog arrived and took it away, and Brody and I sat on the ground for a while to calm down. The physical injuries prevented me from working out for a while, and the psychological impact of the attack prevented my from meditating. It basically just really fucked me up for a couple months.

Right about when I was getting physically better, I took a tumble down the front steps of the house and smashed my right knee against the concrete. It’s mostly better now, but still aches a little when I squat at the way down. I probably should have gone to urgent care, but, you know, pandemic panic.

Anyway, with all this mostly behind me, it’s time to get back on the bike I think. I enjoyed the exercise, and I want to do it again.

I did play guitar more. At least until I cut up my fingers prying a dog’s mouth open. They’re healed now, so I’ll probably start that up soon.

On the creation front, I lasted in Making Art Everyday about a month, but so many of the prompts were just flat out uninspiring. I want to do it again, but I need it to be different. Bardot Brush is doing MAE again, but with weekly and monthly versions added on. I might try those. We will see.

Also for 2022, I think I’m going to have to accept that what we have now is closer to the new normal than the old normal. I don’t think we’ll always be as locked down and under such severe COVID threat, but I don’t think it’s going back to pre-2020. There are just too many people who don’t care about anything other than their own inconvenience. And one party in this country has successfully politicized facts and truth as being something they are against. So, we are going to be stuck with walking Petri dishes brewing up variants for a long time to come. To that end, all future vacations will need to involve personal travel and nature. Driving to parks and stuff. Because as much as I like cruises, I’m not sure I’m going to feel comfortable doing those again.

To bring this to a close, 2022, I hope you are better than the last couple of years. And I’m going to read more, write more, exercise more, eat better, play more guitar, and get out into nature. Happy new year, everyone.