Year in Review – 2021 Edition

So, my 2021 started on a high point - both literally and figuratively: for my birthday, I dined at Top of the World, the revolving restaurant at the Strat. I’ve wanted to do it for ages and a generous birthday gift in the form of one of those gift credit card thingies facilitated it. I timed it perfectly – just as the sun was setting. I was alone, of course, and even with the gift card I couldn’t afford to eat or drink too much (two cocktails, an appetizer and a side came to $90 with tip), but it was a great start to an… average year.

I “worked” from home for the first six months of the year. The first thing I did upon our return on July 1 was customize my outgoing email signature to include the following quotation, from George Bernard Shaw:

"The only person who behaved sensibly was my tailor - he took my measure anew every time he saw me; the rest went on with their old measurements.”

Less than 24 hours after returning, more than one co-worker was treating me like shit. Oh well.

What else? Oh, yeah: I am still playing Words With Friends, but the bloom is certainly off compared to last year. I have taken to cheating quite a lot but not with real friends and not with people whose profile pics do not annoy me. What I mean is, when playing the chick with the MAGA frame on her pic, I pull out my cheat sheets – “Two-letter words”, “All 47 Q words without U”, “Words that start with X,” etc., etc. Or go on to a website named “Words With Friends Cheat”, and, well, cheat. This applies also to anyone whose pic features dogs or cats. Actually, pretty much any animal - I once scored 69 points with “quinsy” (noun; acute inflammation of the tonsils and the surrounding tissue) against a guy whose profile pic featured an iguana (I love animals so much I want hundreds of them). I also cheat against any female player whose pic features a hot person of the contradictory gender (“picot”; 57 points; noun; a small embroidered loop). And pretty, skinny chicks too (“aerobe”; 71 points; noun; an organism, such as a bacterium, requiring free oxygen to live) because I am sure they have gotten the colonoscopy their doctor wants them to get because they have someone to drive them to, and pick them up from, the appointment.

I got the two vaccines and the booster. Had no side effects from the first shot; a slight headache occurred after the second; the injection site for the booster still had a rash and a bruise three months later (it’s gone now).

I placed a bet on a horse running in the Kentucky Derby and won $16. The horse’s name did not come to me in a dream like previously, but rather from a tip from a client at work who shares the same name as the horse (Charlie, if I am remembering correctly).

Got three pedicures. A low number because my local Payless closed down so I didn’t have any new cute toe-baring sandals to wear this summer.

Another zero-movie year.

And this post about C-TGs certainly hit the mark: I received not a single one for either Xmas or my birthday. On the downside, however, one of my British friends who was one of the worst offenders in the C-TG giving department did not send me any gifts. Guess I must have really upset him with that post.

Or he could be dead. I don’t mean to be facetious, but after what happened with Kim, and add Covid and my advanced age to the mix, one never knows these days. But death also hit a dear friend of mine, PLL. Her husband Vic passed away in the summer. I tend to hold quite a cynical attitude towards death in the sense that when someone dies I still remember their faults. It seems that most people’s memories falter upon the death of someone. Not me. But Vic is the one rare exception to that rule – every tear shed for him, every heartfelt message left for this man, every tribute, was thoroughly deserved. He was one of the nicest, kindest people I have ever met. He was moral and intelligent and funny; he loved animals and he was an extremely talented photographer; but it was in his relationship with PLL that he excelled. Oh, how he adored her and never let her forget it. I could fill up pages detailing the sweet gestures he made to her. But here for once I don’t mind saying that I am a little angry with him. Because, on those rare occasions when I do want a partner and not a chauffeur, I think of Vic and how he treated PLL and it makes me angry because wow, did he ever set the bar so flipping high. I do not know if any man could ever compare. And I do compare them to him. I miss you, Postman Vic, but thanks for those amazing ISS sightings! You can read more about Vic on PLL’s blog: thewidowspeek.blogspot.com

I spent $166.64 at Target; $188.46 at the Post Office; and $352.24 at the dollar store. That latter number is significantly higher than normal for two reasons: my two nearest branches both closed down and so I did a lot of stocking up; and it is where I buy my banana-flavored Laffy Taffy. I am obsessed with it. Who knew ambrosia existed on earth and came in yellow-wrapped packets of pure joy.

Put 985 miles on my car.

Lost 11.8 pounds. Have not checked, but I suspect I may have gained a significant amount of that back over the Xmas/New Year/Birthday celebrations, because I hit it pretty hard.

And I hope you all get a chance to hit it hard too.  Just be careful.

Happy new year.