2021: It was a lot but I'm okay

[schneefink]

Fic I posted in the past year:
Hades
The Garden of Endless Summer, an OFC & Persephone flash fic and surprisingly my only Hades fic so far (the sequel has stalled)

Castlevania (TV)
Building for the Future, a Hector & Isaac post-canon fic

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
A New Area, Miriam post-canon fic
Ritual of Cooperation, 14k of Johannes & Zangetsu missing scene adventure

Carto
Inside the Secret Lair, a Granny Maldpo drabble

Not very much at all until Yuletide. Yuletide was great though, hopefully a sign of things to come.

In a fannish sense, 2019 was a book year, 2020 was the year of podcasts, and 2021 was the year of video games. That was a surprise. I started playing Hades in December 2020 (by now I played it for over 360 hours), and in January 2021 I started playing other games too. I played more than a dozen different games this year, all Indie games both because they're fun and (usually) shorter and cheaper, and because I'm playing on my laptop that can only handle so much. Apart from Hades, some other favorite games were Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night and both Ori games. I also really enjoyed Transistor, Pyre, SOMA, Yoku's Island Express… I keep meaning to start using a Goodreads-for-games.

I watched far more TV than last year: I especially enjoyed Castlevania and recently Wheel of Time. Barely any movies though. The only podcast I listened to was the finale of The Magnus Archives, which I enjoyed. Also fewer books than in past years (overview.)

I managed to post at least some recs, so that was good. As for online places, pretty much the same as last year: mostly DW, and lurking on Twitter, Tumblr, and sometimes Reddit and Discord.


2021 was year two of the pandemic, which was… scary and exhausting and frustrating. I got my first vaccine dose in late May, that was a relief, and by now I got my third dose. Very few of my family and friends caught COVID and then only mild cases, extremely lucky (and I am also very lucky that as far as I know there are no anti-vaxxers among them, that is surely related.) We had lockdowns again, that wasn't fun, though this year I never worked from home. We had less than a dozen choir practices and I don't know when we'll have the next one – I never thought choir singing would be a high-risk hobby but here we are. Our D&D campaign is also still on hiatus, which is sad. (We tried online and it didn't work for us.)

Work is very stressful and as a result I did a lot of overtime and the atmosphere at the office isn't always good. Fingers crossed we'll get some more colleagues soon to lighten the load (our bosses have been trying to recruit someone for months now but it's not easy.) I do still like the work though, and it's also good to know that if it gets worse I can always quit and easily find a new job.

I managed to pass several uni exams and now the end is in sight, which is such a relief. I'm planning to reduce my work hours from 30 to 20 hours for the summer semester, March to July, to increase my chances of finishing my degree in summer. It'll be so nice to finally be done with it. I like my studies but working 30 hours at the same time is a lot.

Sadly I was much less physically active than in the year before. Starting in spring for several months I couldn't go running because of my foot, and when that was healed it was already cold and grey outside which makes it very hard to find the motivation. (In addition, in other years I didn't care if I got a sore throat or a cold but currently I'm rather paranoid about that so I'm even more hesitant to go running.) Hopefully next year I will either start running again or find some other activity I can do regularly.

Notable things: LB and I went on a vacation to Malta, which was amazing. …yeah that was basically it, not much happened. My friends LK and MSZ finally got married!, that was nice.

Plans for 2022: finish my degree, decide whether I want to become a tax advisor or get a Master's degree, do some kind of regular physical activity, hopefully write a bit more and play a TTRPG again.

I'm so grateful for all of you and the community here on DW. May you and your loved ones have a great 2022.

Comments

[nnozomi]

That sounds like a pretty damn accomplished year, given that it was 2021. I hope you can have choir back soon, knock wood.
I couldn't go running because of my foot, and when that was healed it was already cold and grey outside which makes it very hard to find the motivation.
Let me know when you want to trade climates! I stop running for four months every summer because it's so hot, humid and glaring-sunny out. Cold and grey works fine... ;)
All best wishes for a lovely 2022!

[schneefink]

Thanks :)
Maybe we can both have a mix, that would be nice! Usually when it is very hot in summer I go early in the mornings or late in the evenings, but in winter there is no better time.

[primeideal]

Congrats and good luck on the degree progress! \o

[schneefink]

Thanks! I was delighted when I found out that I might be able to finish this summer.

[yuuago]

Hooray for degree completion being so close! The work hour reduction plan sounds like a good idea, it's so hard to get through school stuff when you have to work a lot too. Good luck with everything!

[schneefink]

Thanks! I probably could continue to work 30 hours for this one semester, but that would leave me absolutely no energy to do anything besides work and studying and I don't want that and fortunately I don't need to do that.

[extempore]

"our bosses have been trying to recruit someone for months now but it's not easy"

Wir sitzen im gleichen Boot, aber aus Erfahrung kann ich sagen, dass es hauptsächlich dann schwer ist, wenn die Bezahlung nicht passt. Die meisten unpassenden Sachen (z.B. kleines Büro o.ä.) kann durch Überzahlung wettgemacht werden. Es gibt schon genug Bilanzbuchhalter und auch StB-Anwärter, aber die kosten halt. Wobei wir neulich wen hatten, der charakterlich daneben war, sowas komt natürlich auch vor.

[schneefink]

Ich glaub auch, dass wir mehr Bewerber:innen bekommen würden, wenn mehr Gehalt geboten würde... wenn es dringenden Bedarf gibt, muss man halt auch mehr bieten. Angebot und Nachfrage und so.

[sheron]

Those are great 2022 plans -- good luck with your degree!

A vacation in Malta sounds amazing....!

[schneefink]

Thanks!

I keep meaning to do a photo book or at the very least a write-up of our Malta vacation. It was absolutely fantastic. I especially loved the stone age temples and necropolis, and the scuba diving.

[sheron]

Oh please do write it up, someday when you get a chance!

[schneefink]

I will! :)

[definitely_not_an_alb]

Bad offices are the worst, my condolences, and big oof to the whole of 2021. Wishing you success with the last part of the degree, tho!

I never thought choir singing would be a high-risk hobby but here we are

Is it bad that I laughed at that, because big same. I miss singing so much.

[schneefink]

Thanks!
I miss singing too. There is a choir practice planned for next week, vaccination and PCR-test mandatory, but it still seems unnecessarily risky... on the other hand, the risk is likely low? I don't know yet if I'll go.

[nonesensed]

Sounds like quite the year! Is there a "Goodreads but for video games"? Because if so, I want to get in on that! I'm still super grateful you recced Hades so well because it's easily the best game I've played in a long time - my sister & I are already I don't know how many hours into it and have made it to the final boss [Redacted] three times already, which is pretty darn good for how "out of shape" we are, gameplaying-wise :)

And yeah, D&D online really isn't the same as playing IRL. I've "had to" get used to it, since one of my groups have people in another country in it, but it's definitely not for everyone. Hope you get to play together again soon!

Best of luck with your degree and hope you too have a great 2022!

[schneefink]

I'm delighted you're enjoying Hades so much :D Kudos on making it to [Redacted] and good luck!

A quick search a few days ago showed me several different "Goodreads for games" options, I've just been too lazy to decide on one and start an account.

Thank you :)

[nonesensed]

It'll likely take us a good while to get past [Redacted], especially as work starts up again next week, but I'm only glad I get to enjoy the story and the gameplay longer 😁

Will definitely give googling that a try!