the 366 meme, part fifty-two: December 23-31

Dec 23: Do you think you will be making any New Year’s resolutions in January? No. I don't bother with resolutions anymore. If I've failed to change something about myself in the past twenty years, saying "no really, this time!" isn't going to make it happen now.

Dec 24: Do you prefer to receive money/gift cards or an actual gift? From someone who knows me well, either an actual gift or a gift card to a store they know I love. It's the tangible symbol of their attention to me and my preferences, and if they give me an object I wouldn't have picked myself, often it turns out to be something really cool. From someone who doesn't know me well and is doing a token gift, I'd rather get cash or a gift card to a big box/online retailer than a completely unsuitable item that I have to get rid of.

Dec 25: If you could receive a $1000 gift card from any store, which would you choose? The local grocery store, so I'd be set for food for the next several months. Or the Apple store, so I could replace our aging desktop computer. If it has to be something fun, then either Webs so I'd be set for yarn for many a project to come, or the local improv theater so I could apply it towards more classes.

Dec 26: It’s Thank You Note Day/Boxing Day. Do you write hand-written thank-you notes or do you thank people for gifts in some other way? Verbal thanks. Hand-written notes when it's someone out of town.

Dec 27: No matter what holidays you do (or do not) celebrate, do you have a good recipe for leftovers? Post it! Leftover whats? Meat? Potatoes? Soup? Cookies? In general, I don't use leftovers in other recipes; I just reheat and eat as is.

Dec 28: Do you usually make a special effort to thank someone who does you a favor? How do you react when you aren't thanked for going out of your way for someone? I don't know that I usually make a special effort, but I at least try to say how much I appreciate what they did. When I'm not thanked -- well, depends on the thing and the someone. If the someone is an adult with normal intellectual capacity and the thing was at all big, I'm certainly less inclined to go out of my way next time. I will do stuff I don't enjoy for an organization I care about once, and if they appreciate my efforts I may continue to do the thing, but once I'm being taken for granted I'm looking for the exit.

Dec 29: Would you rather your life have a rewind button or a pause button? Depends. Does the rewind replay things exactly as they happened, or can I change them? If I can change them, definitely rewind. If not, pause.

Dec 30: If you could change one bad habit you have, what would it be? Surfing the internet mindlessly.

Dec 31: Do you prefer beginnings or endings? I prefer the beginnings of good things and the endings of bad things.

the end of 2020 meme

via oursin:

1. What did you do in 2020 that you'd never done before? Performed improv theater live online. To tiny audiences, granted, but if you'd told me in 2019 that I'd be doing this, I would have said "yeah, right".

2. Did you keep your new year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I don't do resolutions anymore, and I don't have any for next year.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? A niece by marriage.

4. Did anyone close to you die? Very close, no, but three people I knew from folk dance died during the year, and one's death hit me particularly hard.

5. What countries did you visit? Hahahahahahaha.

6. What would you like to have in 2021 that you lacked in 2020? Writing time, dependable time alone, and frequent affection from an adult.

7. What date from 2020 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? March 13. That's the day that I went to the office and found an empty parking lot; the university had announced at 6am that they were closing due to Covid, but I hadn't heard the news or checked my work email. (It was an empty building, so I figured my risk of catching disease was low; I stayed for a couple hours to wrap up some things and brought home my office plant.)

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? The fact that I'm still alive, did not commit any murders, and did not file for divorce.

9. What was your biggest failure? Not being a superhero.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? Fortunately, no.

11. What was the best thing you bought? My new desktop, which as it turned out arrived the day before I had to start working from home.

12. Where did most of your money go? Improv classes.

13. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Improv classes.

14. What song will always remind you of 2020? Skillet, "Out of Hell".

15. Compared to this time last year, are you....
i. happier or sadder? Honestly, about the same.

ii. thinner or fatter? By pounds, fatter, but my muscle tone's much better. At the beginning of 2020, I could not get up from the floor without using my hands; now I can.

iii. richer or poorer? About the same. I'm spending more on online improv classes, but I'm not going to restaurants or shopping in other stores as much, and it's largely balancing out.

16. What do you wish you'd done more of? That I had the opportunity to do? Knit, spin, write, and exercise. (There are other things I wish I could have done more of, but they weren't options.)

17. What do you wish you'd done less of? Mindless websurfing.

18. What was your favorite TV program? Don't watch TV; can barely concentrate to watch a YouTube video anymore.

19. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year? Hate? No. Think poorly of? Lots of people.

20. What was the best book you read? Best in an artistic sense, Becky Chambers, To Be Taught If Fortunate. An amazing work, and one I am not sure I'll ever be able to read again. Best in the "most fun" sense, Kate Clayborn, Love Lettering.

21. What was your greatest musical discovery? The sundry bardcore videos on Youtube are fun, though I wouldn't call it the greatest (but the Hildegard von Blingin' version of Somebody I Used to Know is worth it for one line in the chorus). My favorite musical discovery of this year is Apocalyptica, with Evanescence as a close second.

22. What did you do on your birthday? A Zoom get-together with my parents and siblings, and a lot of gifts from them; a cake with Spouse and the kids.