Bye Bye 2020!

 

It's almost time to say good-bye to 2020. Thank goodness!

When I think about how little I’ve done, writing-wise, in 2020, I feel rather ashamed. But I’ve decided to give myself a break. I haven’t completely stopped writing so that’s a big plus. And I have lots of ideas for the future. Another plus.

In the past year, I’ve done more decorative painting projects and taken a few Zoom classes with Chris Haughey, a designer and teacher who I’ve had the pleasure to take classes from in person. I’m also grateful that I was able to attend the Creative Painting convention in Las Vegas in February, the last time I was out of Los Angeles County. I also started relearning the Swedish I sort of/kind of learned at one point in my life via duolingo.com. It’s been fun to spend a few minutes each day relearning the things I’ve long forgotten. And I did a couple macrame projects, which turned out to be quite fun.

Since Covid is raging here in Los Angeles County, I'm not going to be doing much to celebrate the new year. I'm not much for a New Year's Eve party, anyway. I pretty much hang out at home with the husband and hope that I'll stay awake until midnight.

I did find a few interesting things you can watch online. Las Vegas won’t be doing an in person celebration, but they’ll be streaming an event online which they’ve dubbed “Kiss Off 2020”. Starting at 11:45 pm PST on December 31st they’ll be counting down to the new year. At midnight a 2020 sign will be revealed and then blown up. Then a 2021 sign will be lit up, streamers will come down and there will be a 10-15 minute fireworks display. You can view this virtual event on their Facebook page or their YouTube channel. I’m not sure, but I’m hoping that it will be made available to view later for those of us who don’t want to stay up that late.

The Space Needle will also have a New Year’s Eve celebration they’ll be streaming online via spaceneedle.com/newyears Not sure if this one will be available to watch after the event happens.

If you have kids, there are a lot of Noon Year’s Eve events they can participate in. Apparently, this has been going on for a few years at libraries. This year, of course, it’s moved online. They count down to the new year at noon instead of midnight so the little ones can feel like they’ve participated. Check your local library to see if they have one.

My wish for you in this coming year is that you all stay healthy and safe and that the world returns to normal soon.

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In other news, the American Dialect Society chose its word of the year. Not unexpectedly it is Covid. In the running were Covid, 2020, antiracism, Before Times, BIPC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color), doomscrolling, pandemic, social distancing, and unprecedented.

The digital word of the year was doomscrolling, obsessively scanning social media and websites for bad news. You haven't done that one, right?

The Zoom-related word of the year was “you’re muted”. In the running were Zoombombing, Zoom fatigue and zumping (Zoom+dumping) which is breaking up with someone via Zoom. I guess I shouldn't be that surprised that zumping is a thing now.

The Pandemic-related word of the year was "social distancing". In the running were contact tracing, coronials (the coronavirus generation for the predicted baby boom in the wake of the pandemic), Covid, flattening the curve and moronavirus, foolish behavior or ideas related to the virus.

The Slang/Informal word of the year was “the rona”, a term for the coronavirus. Covidiot was in the running in this category.

You can read the full account here: https://www.americandialect.org/2020-word-of-the-year-is-covid