The year 2021 has been kind of a blur. Nothing big happened, but nothing bad happened. All my family and friends are still alive and around, so in that sense I am very grateful. Still have my main job, and I guess I probably will until I screw up royally or quit. Still have my hobby job, and I extended it to college football and boxing. And I still have my test scoring job. Oh yeah -- 2021 was the first time I ever worked remotely, so that was new. And while I enjoy not needing to go anywhere -- or dress -- I cannot say I am as productive as I would be if I were at a workplace.
It was kind of hard having my parents here all winter. But I maintain that I would rather have them be here in Minnesota if they contracted COVID-19 rather than Las Vegas or, heaven forbid, a cruise ship. Also, I will say that I can't remember if I had any blow-ups with them as a result of being stuck in the same house week after week. It did help that the lockdown loosened, especially once the vaccine came out.
Oh yeah, the pandemic. That sucked, but unlike in 2020, where I was in mortal fear of getting it because we didn't have what was tantamount to a cure, once my parents were able to get it, and then when I was able to get it in the spring, I felt a tad better that humanity and Earth could get this goddamn coronavirus behind us. Well, that obviously isn't the case. There are too many anti-vaxxers in this country (who also are anti-maskers and refuse to obey any non-pharmaceutical interventions in order to stop the spread of COVID) who are allowing this virus to mutate into a variant that is more able to evade our vaccines, like omicron (or Omicron -- I don't know if I should capitalize it). Along those lines, the developed world needs to get this vaccine to developing countries ASAP. We are an interconnected globe, and while I hate people who have all sorts of privilege refusing something that will help their fellow countrymen, it is on us to vaccinate those who have no means to either manufacture or pay for these vaccines.
(Aside: The continuing divide perpetrated by Republicans to gaslight correct-minded Americans, euthanize democracy and turn the United States into a white- and male-controlled dictatorship has only strengthened in 2021. They are instrumental in this country's inability to get the pandemic behind us. And, I'm afraid, they're winning. If I have been on edge all year, part of it is because of the ongoing pandemic, and part of it is because of these selfish, irresponsible pricks.)
I think I stumbled upon an epiphany earlier this evening. I hear a lot of people who want to say good riddance to 2021. I understand. But I think it's not necessarily its fault. We don't hate 2020 because of the pandemic. We're glad it's gone, but we had no idea how widespread and deadly this pandemic would become (even if experts were preparing us for the worst in late 2019), and we didn't know the measures we as Earthlings would undergo in order to save ourselves. It was a once-in-a-generation surprise, in other words, and so we gave the year 2020 a mulligan. It wasn't its fault. Contrast that to this year, where we anticipated us killing this virus once the vaccines came. The vaccines came, but the virus is as strong as ever (cities and states [including Minnesota] are breaking records for cases now, a fact I find ridiculous), and I and many other people are huddled at home instead of celebrating the New Year with family and friends tonight. We expected 2021 to be much better than it turned out to be, and instead of blaming anti-vaxx assholes for basically siding with the coronavirus, we blame the year.
We shouldn't. Instead, we need to point the blame where it really belongs, and spare the year. Well, come to think of it ... that bastard 2021 has been busy killing before it dies. It took Betty White, Sam Jones, and a member of The (New) Mickey Mouse Club today. OK, fuck 2021.
Oh yeah ... look forward to going back to whoring in 2022, too. I miss doing that and look forward to doing that again.
Happy New Year.
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