2020: One Man's Trash Is - Basically, It's All Trash. Except...

I don’t need to write up a paragraph explaining or sympathizing or metaphoring my way through the shit show that was 2020. However, I remember posting back in 2016 (the year my Aunt Peg died) about trying to find something(s) positive from the year.

As I look back on 2020, while lots of stuff sucked harder than your mom after an 8-ball and some Mad Dog, I actually thought of quite a few things that made me happy. Not all of it was life-changing or allowed me to connect to a deeper meaning of the universe. AND THAT’S OKAY. We didn’t need to reinvent the wheel here, folks. We just needed to keep our shit together as best we could. And whatever we could find to help us do that deserves some accolades.

Don’t judge me for finding and using a Tae-hyung gif.

ENTERTAINMENT

YouTube: While I’ve been entertained by a lot of content on YT, there are a few creators that I either discovered or just binged new and old videos as a form of comfort. Rachel Maksey is an absolute joy to watch, as her crafting/vintage/sewing/cosplay/awkwardness speaks to nearly all aspects of my soul. Christine McConnell has been on my radar for years (if anyone remembers that pic going around of strawberries, cookies, and chocolate put together to look like some kind of delicious, aquatic, evil octopus…that was her doing). I recently signed on to her Patreon and have been privy to a lot more content, one craft along video in particular that gave me my lovely funeral fan. Chase Holfelder, the guy who likes to transpose songs in a major chord to a minor one, has put out a lot of cool covers. I also signed on to his Patreon because I love his content. Muyskerm (aka Bob) is a long-time friend and fellow gamer of Markiplier (who I rediscovered at the tail end of 2019). And if anyone has a better laugh than Bob, I dare you to present your evidence. He plays all different kinds of games, but I enjoy watching the same ones he plays with Mark, but from Bob’s POV. It actually changes the whole feel of the game. And let’s not forget Bailey Sarian, she of the Murder-Mystery-Makeup-MONDAYS! Bailey is a beautiful YouTuber who does her makeup and talks about a true crime story every Monday (well, almost every Monday). She’s cute as a button, and gets major points for having a pitbull named Saint!

None of these photos are mine - I found them on the internet (Pinterest, YouTube, Twitter, music blogs)

Music: I really got into Spotify this year. In the past, if I heard a song I loved, I just bought it on iTunes. Now I can find it on Spotify, like it, and it’s forever in my library. I don’t get the Pro version, so the ads I have to listen to pay for the artists’ works, and the beauty of Spotify itself. When it sent out the 2020 wrap up, turns out I discovered 78 new artists! Granted, they were all K-Pop, but still…well, maybe one or two weren’t, but that’s neither here nor there. Let’s move on.

Food: With the whole pesky pandemic, the Korean snack subscription I had was canceled. Eventually, the Daebak company (the owners of Snack Fever) were able to find a good shipping partnership with DHL (instead of Korea Post), and got it back on the market. So I signed back up, not realizing I could only choose the Deluxe box version. And I’ll never go back to the ‘regular’ box ever again. We get so much good stuff each month that both I and the hubby enjoy. And we usually tear through that sucker within a week. They have more than one kind of subscription, so you should go check them out.

On-Line Movie Parties: Since we couldn’t get together as often as we liked this past year, my writing group had a bunch of on-line movie viewing parties. Even our beloved Halloween and Christmas Horror parties had to be postponed until 2021, but that didn’t stop us from getting together - virtually anyway. It was a nice way to connect with friends without having to worry about spreading the plague.

DIY/CRAFTY PANTS

I really honed in on my crafting activities this year. I started to learn more about sewing so I could actually use the machine that belonged to my dad, and have at least three projects on my to-do list right now; I made Coraline-esque dolls of me and the hubby; I’m learning to crochet; figured out how to make a realistic looking head cage from craft foam for Halloween; I made a shirt for my dog that matches the onsie pjs I made for myself; and I’ve been baking up a storm (FINALLY found an apple butter recipe that works, tried some new recipes and revisited old ones - we now have a staple homemade bread, so we will never buy bread at the store again). For the sake of brevity, I won’t post everything I did… But I hope I continue to challenge myself in all the DIY/Craft/Baking arenas, even after we’ve recovered from this pandemic.

WRITING

I haven’t done as much new writing this past year. One of my doctors posited that perhaps because this year has been so scary on its own that I couldn’t come up with anything more terrifying (at this moment in time). It would explain why I haven’t felt very inspired to write new stuff. I do have a handful of works that I’ve been submitting or cleaning up. But the best part was having a new work published in November - the Plague of Man illustrated novelette that I created with my buddy, Don England. I’m so proud of what we made, and from some of the feedback we’ve gotten, it seems like people want us to keep creating this series. So YAY!

MAKEUP

Notoriously Morbid cosmetics is not a new brand to me. I had their lipstick subscription service for a year (I think in 2018?) and I got their Halloween advent calendar twice. I signed up for the Vanishing Cabinet makeup subscription, and they have blown me away. I always disliked loose shadows, usually avoiding them or pressing them myself. But the colors and themes NM delivered this year have been phenomenal.

BH Cosmetics is also not new to me (I’ve mentioned them before in blog posts or reviews). They came out with a holiday themed palette that has won over a ton of nay-sayers. I was not surprised by the quality of this palette, so the second it went on sale, I snapped it up. And I don’t regret it for one moment. I’ll write up a separate post for this baby.

LIFE

I’m not sure how I would have handled the quarantine/pandemic alone, and I’m glad I never had to find out. The hubs has been a solid pillar through the whole mess, all while keeping me sane, and his business running. I know how much of a pain in the ass I am during ‘normal’ life, let alone on top of this outbreak. I’m just thankful he’s with me while we navigate this madhouse!

My little wigglebutt is a constant source of anxiety, but also love. Dozer is just about 15 years old now (I think…) so his senior dog issues have become numerous and stressful, mostly for him but for me, too. I worry every time he moves; I’m scared he’ll try to do something on his own and hurt himself. But even with all that, I love having him with me all day, even if 90% of what he does is sleep.

In case you didn’t know, my bff’s family is basically my family. She, her house, her siblings and parents provided a refuge for me as I was growing up. Even when my bff and I went to different schools, lived in different cities, had different lives, we never lost touch. She and her family will always be a part of me, and the few IRL interactions I’ve had with anyone outside my home have mostly been with them. I am so grateful that they simply exist, and am beyond joyous that I can call them family (ironically, I can’t find any pictures of THEM specifically - which I probably wouldn’t post anyway - but here are some pics of the fun stuff we do together).

Hmmm…food and booze. I’m sensing a theme…

I’m sure I could find even more to be happy about, but for the sake of everyone’s sanity and TL;DR tendencies, I’ll leave it here. Let’s hope that 2021 can offer even MORE stuff to be thankful for.

What did you find this year that made you happy?