2020: A Remembrance

Let’s give a BIG f*** you to the year 2020. F*** COVID!! F*** the politics!! F*** most of you!! (Just kidding, I love each of you!) Don’t let the door hit you on your a** on the way out. Good riddance. See ya, bye bye. I don’t think you will be missed. You will certainly be remembered. Hard to forget, really. Such a weird f***ing year. The joint trauma which we have all endured. Lots of “do you remember when” conversations for years to come. Such a duplicitous year.

The Good the Bad & the Ugly:

Coronavirus, s*** is real!! Yes, that is from a Cardi B song. How do I know this? Bekah, of course. But yeah. I remember the early days where I was making fun of my youngest brother who was freaking out way back when over the virus. D*** fool bought 20 pounds of rice & beans. I held it as sort of a joke. And the an Tom Hanks got the virus!!!! I was wrong, the s*** is real. Still, some truly gifted people seem to disagree with that statement. Place the facts in front of them and they will continue to argue otherwise. It became politicized, which was about one the stupidest thing I have witnessed humanity do. I’ve seen a lot of stupid things, but that just about takes the cake. The numbers are rising. We are not out of this yet, vaccine or not.

Politics. F*** all the politics. I had to say it again. I just about wanted to bury my head in the sand I was so tired of hearing everyone’s opinions and how their opinions were the only right opinion anyone should have. I just wanted the f***ing election to be dead & done with. I had just about had it with everyone. When did politics become my side or your side? Are we not all the same?

Civil unrest. What a year for protest, don’t you think? When everyone is supposed to be isolating themselves, here us Americans are taking to the streets to make our voice heard to a class of people that don’t want to listen and really don’t care.. Great idea, don’t you think.

Getting sent home from work for 2 months with pay. I was one of the lucky ones. Lots of people lost jobs. Due to a pre-existing condition I was told to not come back to work “until further notice.” What a weird time that was. I felt very isolated and alone. I’m an introvert. That time should have been amazing, but it really wasn’t. I missed the daily structure and I missed my campus family whom I see every week. The campus basically just shut down. It was weird and even a little scary at first. When I did go back to work it was kind of nice, but most of the campus was still working from home. It just wasn’t the same. Lots of time for self reflection.

The mask. What can be said of them? At first it was a little weird getting used to wearing and seeing everyone walking around in them. But it didn’t take that long to get sort of used to them. I don’t understand all the no mask wearing mouth breathing mother***er’s that just plain refuse to wear them. It’s selfish childlike behavior. When I see one in the stores I give them the stink eye. I can’t help myself.

Hand sanitizer was the new gold. At first it was a hard to find commodity. I had a source that hooked me up.

Also, don’t f***ing touch your face!!!!

This year took Sean Connery from us. That still hurts. I grew up on all the old Bond movies & Indiana Jones. His passing sort of felt like the passing of a grandparent. One of my all-time favorites. Bond. Indiana Jones. The Untouchables. The Rock. Highlander. Rising Sun. Finding Forrester. The Hunt for Red October. Just Cause. All movies that I grew up watching. Real bummer to have him gone even though he retired from acting 20 years ago.

I can watch this movie whenever it’s on and it still doesn’t get old.

Some terms I have heard too many times this year. Flatten the curve. Yeah, that worked. Social distancing. This term always bothered me. It should have always been “spatial distancing”. We always needed to remain social, especially during these times of isolation. I get why they choose the term though, even though I think it’s wrong. I’m still practicing it. Am I the only one??? What about global pandemic. I thought this would be a term which I only heard in the movies, not one that applied to my way to life. I wish it had remained that way. I always thought it had an ominous vibe to it. No one wants to live during a global pandemic. My favorite must be “under quarantine”. I’ve been under it twice now. Had my brain stabbed. I won’t forget that cloudy rainy day. EVER!! Good times. For some reason back in March & April, quarantine was a word I had trouble spelling. Heck, how often did you use quarantine in your everyday speech? It’s pretty regular now, and I certainly don’t need autocorrect to help me type it out. Thanks, 2020.

Pink hair. Sheesh. And I like cotton candy.

The toilet paper wars? What a moment that was. People were really put to it. Can you imagine? I was lucky. Most of my friends were lucky as well. For those of you that were not, I am sorry. I don’t know what you went through. You know that the world has fallen upon hard times when you start seeing public service announcements informing people what not to flush down a toilet. People were wreaking their plumbing. What a time to be alive.

What about those long a** lines trying to get into the stores? As inconvenient as they were, we probably should still be enforcing limiting shoppers. The numbers are so high and it’s just business as usual. Blows my mind.

Cheetos guy. I will not forget the trip to HEB back when things first went crazy and seeing a guy who had literally filled his shopping cart full of Cheetos. There were none left on the shelf. What a thing to hoard.

F***ing hoarders. It was really weird what you couldn’t find in the stores. Soy Sauce? What the heck. Eggs. Ravioli. Pizza sauce. Mac & Cheese. Meats. All paper goods. There are still items that I can’t find in the stores and it has been 9 months. A guy that works on campus had a cart full of chocolate milk for f*** sake!

When everything was originally shut down and only “essential” personnel were working, we equated those people to the level of being “heroes”. Naturally your nurses and medical professionals, but also grocery store & post office employees. While the majority of the country was on a very “lax” for of shutdown these individuals were still out in it making sure things ran as they needed. I’m sure the average bag boy never considered himself to be a “hero” before the pandemic.

Didn’t Australia burn at the start of the year? Was that this same f***ing year? Good lord, I think it was. Oh wait, America also had a never-ending wildfire season. Oof.

Also, record breaking hurricane season. Yikes!!! Oof…

Exercise. I have lost 18 pounds since mid-March. I was walking a lot. There were 2 days back in April where I reached 11 ½ miles a day. I’m still getting my steps in but it’s not as exciting as walking the neighborhood or on campus. I walk laps throughout the warehouse. I am now averaging between 4-5 miles a day. This is something I plan to keep up with.

One my walks I really enjoyed watching the ducks along the river. One day I actually brought some corn for them to eat. Did you know that you are not supposed to feed ducks bread? It’s a fact that most people don’t seem to know. It’s not good for them. It’s the equivalent of us humans eating nothing but candy all day. Anyway, bring the peas or corn because they love it. It was a real delight and comforting sight to see them gobbling up their treats. The geese on the other hand. I got cardio in one afternoon when a big f***er attacked my a**. I’m sure it was a comical sight.

I spent a lot of time at the Lilly park. It was kind of a sanctuary when I was feeling anxious and blue.

I guess I should also mention tightrope kid. Back in March when I was sent home and spending my time walking the campus, one day I noticed a student walking on a tightrope that he had set up between some trees. That’s not something you see every day. He became a fixture of my walks and one day he was gone. Months went by without me seeing him and then when August rolled around, he was at it again. Oddly, it kind of made my day.

The stimulus checks. I kind of feel it wasn’t fair that we received them since we were still working. But hey, I can’t argue with $2,400 in the bank account. I should frame the letter from the president, right?

Chalk art. That was a lot of fun and I saw some really creative drawings. That was a time when some of the best of humanity was at show. On my walks it was a real treat admiring the chalk art. Before everything became toxic and politicized. Like all good things, it had to end.

On the note of tenderness, what about the bears in peoples yards? It was a real pleasure walking through the neighborhoods and spotting a pear in a tree or in someone window.

I’m on a good vibe roll, so let’s bring up the Easter crosses. This was the first of many holidays that were disrupted by the COVID. Really, because we are all stupid Americans, it was the only holiday that was canceled. All the ones to come people ignored good common sense and found a way to gather. Anyway, the crosses in yards was a fun way for people to join together. Eggs in windows were also fun.

Birthday parades became the thing. Since kids couldn’t celebrate people put yard cards out and encouraged people to drive by and honk and wave. Jamie really got into this. She and her husband built a canon to launch confetti & colored powder. Heck, she and other friends even got together and gave me, a 39 year old, a glow stick parade. I should have seen it coming, but I didn’t. What a surprise. Lot of fun. A real treat.

Speaking of friends, I made one during the pandemic, Yvette. I suppose we would have likely become pals anyway, but the group text kind of sped up the process. The text was nice because it kind of kept us social in none social times. I’ve got a good group on campus. Got lucky.

Something I missed but was still pretty cool was the Blue Angel flyby. They arrived early, but it was a nice idea.

One memory I hold fondly over the last few months was the first successful SpaceX human launch into outer space. It was a suspenseful exciting time to be alive. It felt all the more important with everything else that was going on in the world. It felt like we were all united.

You might think it typical that I mention this as a highlight of the year, but when the bars all closed down they had to come up with some strategy to stay afloat. What that meant was BOOZE delivery!!! It was rather satisfying to not have to leave your house for hooch. Viola, I have liquor on my doorstep. Also, drive-through beers. Nice. I miss that. Bring that back!!! But really, I miss the bars. I know that they are open again but I can’t bring myself to go. I miss my bartender friends. I miss the great conversation. Bekah and I no longer do the late night, but at least once a week we would be perched on a barstool snacking and chatting. I miss that more than I miss the hooch delivery.

Speaking of booze, I bet a good amount of us took to the bottle more than usual. I’m guilty of it. All the bulls*** going on in the world a little distraction didn’t hurt. I wonder what world liquor sales looked like.

Lots of carry out this year. Haven’t eaten inside a restaurant since March.

Before the new normal, Bekah & I would go out for lunch both Saturday and Sunday. Well, not anymore. Since we couldn’t do this we got creative on Sunday and made it a brunch day. Pretty much since March we have been experimenting on different brunch ideas. It has been a lot of fun and has gotten me outside of my comfort zone in the kitchen. We are still going strong with it so it might be a lasting tradition.

Completely related to the above is that we are saving a good portion of our paychecks by not going out for lunch and drinks. I don’t know if we will go back to the way we were. It’s been almost a year since I’ve eaten inside a restaurant. Time will tell.

Lots of FaceTime. Especially with the Slovak. We would see each other a couple times a year. Since March it has become a Saturday tradition. FaceTime drinks. There have been a couple instances where the drinks went down and crazy things happen. Good times. Or hell….

On the subject of technology, I’m now hooked on TikTok. I swore I wouldn’t sign up for that and now I’m viewing it off and on all day.

Not something that I have the patience for, but Bekah really got into doing puzzles. It was fun watching her make progress. She is a puzzle queen. This gave me an excuse to visit with Jody on campus. She was also doing puzzles so we would trade her for something new. For a while it was hard to find puzzles in stores. Everyone was stuck home trying to keep their sanity intact and puzzles seemed a nice avenue.

2020. The year I suddenly like Chicherrones. I’ve been appalled by these things all my life. I think part of it was conditioning by my mother. I was told that they were bad for you at a very young age and I suppose that stuck. Not to mention that the ones that I tried when I was young tasted like paper. Maybe they have come a long ways? Bekah, on one of her diets, brought some into our house. I was horrified. She somehow convinced me to try one. Guess what, I really liked it. Since then I have had more in the last month than I have had in my entire life. I have 5 different varieties of bags at the house. Making up for missed time?

Most of the human race would not be listing this as a positive in a year full of negatives, but being the weather geek that I am we had one HECK of a hail storm. It was totally wild. I have never seen such large hail stones fall for such a duration of time. I stood on my back porch in awe. Lots of roof & vehicle damage around town. Ours, only 2 years old, seems to have been spared. We had one roofer look at it and in 2 min say it all needed to be replaced. Uh, I think I will wait for the insurance dude. What a heck of a storm though. Jeeze.

I finally got to meet my new nephew Patrick. He came into the world right before everything began to shut down and travel was ill advised. I still think it’s ill advised, but I’m happy I was able to see him when the family came. He is so cute and so funny. I can tell he is going to be so different from my other nephew Teddy. The 2 times I’ve shared with him have been some of the highlights of the year. No doubt.

We had a pretty successful semester on campus. Sure, we had some students and employees catch the virus but overall I think we did well. It was a different experience. For one, everyone was working behind sneeze shields. My office became the hub for sanitizer somehow. That was a thing passed down on us by Risk Management. It meant that we manufactured all the chemical wipes. I pretty much kept my hands clean of that and my boss never once complained. If a department needed supplies, they had to come get supplies. We knew if we made the mistake of bringing people the supplies it would become a part time job of its self. Most people were cool with this. A couple we not. Tuff s***. Another thing different was the lack of events. I’m used to so much life on campus but you can’t really do that during a pandemic.

The year ended with the vaccine finally getting distributed. Bekah got it due to being in the health care industry. She is the guinee pig. I know many of people are uncertain if they should take it due to how quickly it was produce. I get that. Initially I was reluctant. I’m not worried about being microchipped. That’s just silly. I’ve had other vaccines. I get the flu shot each year. Whatever side effect that may come of this can’t be as bad as catching COVID. Am I right?

The time truly did fly by. 10 months of living with COVID. What a year. 2020

In true 2020 fashion the year ended with a winter storm. Sleet, snow & drizzle. Since I didn’t need to go anywhere this was a pleasant surprise. A good cap of for a hell of a year.

So it seem a lot of good did take place this year. Does it outweigh the bad? That’s hard to say really. A lot of it was due to cause and effect. Without that bad I wouldn’t have gotten most of the good. But what good things would have transpired had COVID never happened? In an alternative reality that very life is being lived out. It is what it is.

BTW, I didn’t get the virus nor did any family members.

Songs that helped me get through the year that are new to me:

Wow. That got a little long. I guess it’s a playlist.

Jalapeño

Filipino Chicken Adobo. Connie made this meal for us. My lord was it good. I wasn’t sure what to expect initially. I mean, I liked everything being thrown together but I wasn’t sure how they would blend. Happy I was.

Last brunch of 2020. Let’s go with something decadent and fancy as all kinds of f***. Prime rib hash!!! Roasted a potato with onions and fresh thyme. Added the diced prime rib and some spinach. Topped with a fried egg. Best leftover ever.

Animal style bunless burger. In-N-Out Burger rip-off. The trick is to add mustard into the ground beef when you and mixing it. Also, caramelized onions and Thousand Island dressing. Real treat.

Last family gathering of the year. I wanted something simple & easy so I made skillet King Ranch chicken. It was warm and delicious. Start with a southwestern salad. The family liked it. See you guys in 2021.

The last grilled meal of the year!! Grilled fried rice and veggies w/ teriyaki steak, chicken & shrimp. A real b**** of a meal. I basically cooked 5 meals at once on the same dang griddle. Start with the veggies. Add the rice. Mix together. Scramble and egg. Start the chicken. Follow with the steak. Finish with shrimp. Things move fast. Bekah said it was perfect.

Taco pasta. Funny, this came up on my Facebook memories a year ago. I said it was great and I would do it again soon. A year later here I am making it again. It was good.