Happy 2022!

/ diotimasladder

A few hours to go until the new year…

To be honest, I don’t know how much of this one I’ll remember later on down the road, as I’m not particularly good at recalling events in time. (I’m the one who shows up to your doorstep the day after your party holding out a bottle going, “Where is everyone?”) Far in the future, I’m sure I’ll think of the pandemic as belonging to 2020, even though it’s still going on and doesn’t seem to be ending any time soon.

So what will stand out about 2021? Oh. Wait. No. No. We won’t talk about that.

How about this instead: 2021, my short story gets published. Yay! It’s actually already out for After Dinner Conversation subscribers, and it seems it will be coming out soon on Amazon:

Not sure if the above image is working, so hopefully this will take you to the right place.

On another note, here’s this year’s X-mas lights dog walk. I finally got around to making a movie out of all the footage I collected. Unfortunately, I couldn’t use the Tula Mic I got for Christmas, but hopefully we can all look forward to better sound quality from my little movies in the future.

Well, I’m glad Geordie got to go on the walk this year and that he got to open a few presents early (as you’ll see in the movie), because two days before Christmas he tore a knee ligament and now I’m carrying him everywhere. Poor baby is taking it well, but it certainly put a damper on Christmas morning. Normally he opens his own presents (sometimes he refuses to wait his turn and absconds with his wrapped treasures to the other room to open them in privacy), but this year he could only sit and watch us open his presents for him. He played with a squeaker toy for a few seconds, then took a nap. It might not sound like much, but given what he’s going through, it’s rather inspiring.

So let’s raise a glass to Geordie Bear, and hope for a happy new year for all of us.

How about you? What will you remember about 2021?

19 thoughts on “Happy 2022!”

  1. Oh, no, what happened to Geordie Bear? How’d he hurt himself??

    Happy New Year and all hopes for a wonderful 2022 for you and yours. I’ve already had my bottle of champagne, but the evening is yet young! Might take a (very short) walk in the 6 degree temps to clear my head.

    And now, back to the party!!! HAPPY NEW YEAR!

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    • Well, the way Geordie hurt himself is all my fault. He loves to chase the water stream coming out of the garden hose, so all summer I’ve been washing him by letting him play and bite the wah-wah, then shampoo, let him play, rinse, repeat. Well, it was fairly warm up until recently, and I thought I could get away with it one more time before it got too cold and I had to start giving him real baths inside, which he doesn’t love. Well, it was one time too many, apparently. He was running around the fountain chasing the wah-wah when he let out a yip, and I could see something was seriously wrong. So here I am carrying him dripping wet to the car so I can drive him to the vet for the millionth time.

      No more running for him. I have to be the adult in the room, but it’s hard. I keep thinking about the moment when I made that stuuuuupid decision to wash him outside. Still kicking myself because I actually consciously thought about whether to take him inside and give him a proper bath or let him run around in the backyard. If it hadn’t been such a warm day, things might’ve gone differently. Damn!

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      • Oh, that’s awful, Tina! Guilt and regrets and best efforts gone awry, those painful curveballs of life. Weird how a single instant can bring so much change (said everyone who’s been in a bad traffic accident).

        I’ve gone through that on a much milder (and generally harmless) level with Bentley, who desperately wants to take much longer walks than she’s really capable of. There were a number of times when I was dog-sitting her, wanting her to have the best possible walk, that I let her keep putting more distance between us and home. Then she’d end up exhausted and either chilled or over-heated depending on the time of year. It took me years to learn her limits. As you say, being the wise adult, and doesn’t that just break your heart a little because they don’t understand you’re doing it for their sake.

        Dogs are like us partying in our 20s. No idea of moderation for their own sake! Silly loveable dummies!

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        • I know exactly what you’re talking about with the best possible walk and overdoing it. That was why I ended up buying a doggie stroller for Geordie, although I doubt that would work for Bentley, given her size. It was a bit tricky finding one that fit Geordie’s odd shape, and let’s face it, he’s only getting fatter as he gets older. Fatter, but cuddlier. 🙂

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  4. Dear Tina,

    Congratulations to you on having your short story published in “After Dinner Conversation”, the esteemed outlet for philosophical stories!

    I noticed that you and I are two of the three persons who have read and like Charles Atkins’ latest post entitled “Foucault’s “Postmodern” Optimism”, and so I thought of you and come over here to catch up with you. I have also just submitted a long comment to his said post regarding Foucault as well as some outstanding matters regarding historians, philosophers and scientists, plus a number of critical issues.

    I hope that you have been doing reasonably well. As for me, I have found that writing, journaling and/or (re)searching (whether cognitively, verbally, textually or multimodally) can be very helpful in capturing one’s moments or intents. I have learnt a great deal about myself from working on my websites and composing very detailed and erudite contents for them. Some folks have told me that they do not understand or know much about me. In some cases, some of them have even become mocking, hostile and/or dismissive. Had they bothered to visit my website(s) and take a really good look, then they would have found out much more about me, and also quite a lot about themselves through their response to and understanding of my posts and pages, some of which, for whatever reasons, have garnered a lot of attention, comments and likes.

    May you find the new year very much to your liking and highly conducive to your writing, reading, thinking and blogging whatever topics that appeal to your literary flair, intellectual exploration and creative acumen!

    Yours sincerely,
    SoundEagle

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