Like 2020, 2021 wasn’t quite the year we expected or hoped for. Here in the United States, 2021 started with a violent insurrection attempt inspired by the former president. His inability to accept defeat was predictable; as I mentioned previously, he never learned to lose. Thanks to quick thinking on the part of Capitol police, none of the lawmakers were injured, the election results were certified, and many of us were able to watch the inauguration of a new President later that month. An easy option for following the ongoing investigation into the insurrection is to read Heather Cox Richardson’s daily updates.
Going into 2021, we knew that COVID vaccines were being tested and produced and would soon be available for all adults. Unfortunately, the rollout was initially slow, though it sped up as vaccine production ramped up following necessary approvals. By summer, vaccines were also available for teenagers.
Having attended a wedding via Zoom at the beginning of the year, the opportunity to socialize as more friends were vaccinated was eagerly received. Bristol Renaissance Faire reopened after taking a year off, and I drove to Minneapolis for a friend’s barbecue. Just as things were starting to look up, we lost a young family member in Guatemala to the pandemic, right as he became eligible for the vaccine. (Countries that aren’t developing their own vaccines tend to have a slower rollout.) On the same day, we lost a friend in Wisconsin; we attended his funeral later that week. Near the end of the year, my aunt in England passed away; I watched funeral via LiveStream.
As the Delta variant wave climbed, conventions tweaked their policies to include vaccinations and masks, allowing Dorkstock to a somewhat quieter Gamehole Con in October. So there has been gaming – outside the house even – and goodness knows we bought too many board games there.
Some happier highlights from the year include writing – in addition to the ongoing character journal that I maintained for my Quest Calendar, I submitted a couple short stories for competitions and worked through the write, edit, re-write process with a local writers’ group to include a short story in an anthology called Triple Vision.
I also wrote a couple songs this year, mostly about fandom (“filk”), including a Blowin’ in the Wind parody about Avengers: Infinity War, Cthulhu Sleeps Tonight, inspired by a crafty friend, and a silly song about ducks and my friend John’s charity bike ride.
Safe to say, 2021 was neither the best of times nor the worst… just somewhere in the middle, and somewhat unexpected.