Oh neat!
I do not have as much to share. It's been a strange year in its way, no major disasters but a lot of unsettling or unexpected stuff. The general dumpster fire this world is becoming of course. Late summer and fall Chicago was under ICE siege and my neighborhood and those near us have heavily Mexican and Puerto Rican populations (yes I know, but ICE doesn't) and that still ebbs and flows. I also spend several months on a Grand Jury during this time.
So it was a weird environment of feeling my city and my neighbors threatened and simultaneously seeing and hearing a lot of unrelated things I'm not ordinarily aware of - a few of them funny, a lot of them unsettling, and a handful absolutely horrific.
And yet at the same time feeling so fucking proud of my city and community, whether it was all the gaggles of people watching and whistling, escorting kids home from school, offering up free tows for people who didn't feel safe retrieving their car from a job site or health clinic, etc. Mutual aid campaigns to buy out tamale vendors and deliver their wares to unhoused or struggling neighbors, attempting to drive business to restaurants, stores, etc. whose usual clientele were staying low to the ground, and similarly using what privilege we have to track, call out, or otherwise be salty. Likewise, some of the Grand Jury witnesses were so impressive and moving. It's all still swirling around in my head and I'm kind of still processing.
And other things happened! Saw some Buffistas at the crossword tournament, which was EPIC! Visited family in Toronto and did a skywalk on the outside of the CN Tower. I got invited to Bachelor Camp with two friends who tied the knot this summer and have become even better friends. Did a little bit of travel here and there. And work is generally fine, so I'm a lot better off than many.
Also put back on a fair amount of the weight I had lost, but I'm working on it. We'll say no more about that.
AND. I finally mailed my X-mas cards and if yours was one of the ones I wrote out while waiting for Buddy Guy, I had the club put a stamp on the envelope. They thought I was a weirdo but who cares?
...Buddy Guy....stamp...."
I wondered what that was.
Thank you all for the cards this season. They cheered me up, and I needed that.
Same, dcp! We’ve taken a ll the other holiday decorations down but I’m keeping the cards up for a while.
Same here -- well, except I didnt decorate other than a pointsettia, so the cards are my Complete Winter Decoration Ensemble. They are lovely.
We took stuff down, but now I have a second string.
I'm looking at the strand of Christmas lights that have been there since Dec. 2024 stretched across the top of some low bookcases under a picture window looking to the East Bay and figuring that a reply now to Good Riddance 2025 is almost timely for me.
I'm still around, same house, still on the pool committee at the nearby charitable org / lodge, & swimming more while not doing yoga at all and not much walking or hiking. Surprise, osteo arthritis can be in your feet and hips, not just hands.
Family that was alive 5 years ago is still alive, which is good. I'm the youngest of 4 by 8, 11, and 13 years, so age is coming for us all. The nephews are okay. Both of the musician's kids are into children's / youth theater; going to kid musicals is a 10 out of 10 on the fun & joyful scale.
I've been flying to Portland instead of driving the last several years, which is always fun. I rented a car and had several days at Breitenbush in the Cascades (first time there since fire took out most of the buildings), plus met up with a friend from Eugene (whose house along the Mackenzie
River burned down in the same fire) who is even more into the McMenamin's passport thing than I am -- twice, we have driven to every McMenamin's from Portland to Bothell WA - all in 1 day once, and with a night over in Bothell once (they have a HUGE pool!).
I'm thoroughly enjoying the fandom on IG around Heated Rivalry. I'm amazed every time I read people who are not Buffistas using the word "AO3." I gather it's a fast growing index of stories.
I learned this year that I have total aphantasia, where you don't imagine images when you close your eyes. It never occurred to me that some people have actual / real images of characters or situations in their minds when they read, for example. I "see" in words, but it isn't really images. It continues to be interesting.
I think of you guys but don't come over to say hi, and I should. All my best wishes to all.
Oh hey, I ran across a spreadsheet and thought I'd tell you -- I'm the one who made all the pillowcases; about 30 to individual Buffistas. Most had self explanatory themes -- like baseball + music for David Smay, or teacups + mom to sj, or robots to Toni and dragonflies to Askye and Hello Kitty to Steph. Several Dr. Who fans. A few, people never posted about them, and I always wondered if they got the reference. Like, cereal box fabric for meara, the queen of serial, or pink gingham in remembrance of ita for the few who called themselves the pink gingham mafia. It was a lot of fun making them. Joanne's Fabrics is no more, yo - I couldn't do it now even if I wanted to. I hope they are getting used / were not tossed out.
Hey you! Bothell McMenamin's is the BEST. (I've been wondering how you are! <3 )
Oh hey, I ran across a spreadsheet and thought I'd tel you -- I'm the one who made all the pillowcases; about 30 to individual Buffistas.
That is so cool. I always wondered and thought it would always be a mystery.
