From Kristine Kathryn Rusch:
I realized this month that I have a weird form of pandemic PTSD. As those of you who regularly follow this weekly blog know, I order at least six paper calendars for the year ahead. In 2021, I added a calendar at Dean’s request that’s dedicated just to our runs. I also ordered an extra calendar when my usual exercise calendar (which I use for reading—go figure) kept getting delayed due to printing issues.
I’m usually extremely organized with my paper calendars. By this point in the year (and I’m writing this on December 20), I should have everything that I have scheduled for 2022 logged into the paper calendars.
Right now, I have many things that I know about for 2022 logged into the computer calendar. I’m anal about that thing, with its reminders and its messages and its notifications. If I schedule something, I log it into the computer that day.
However, I said “many” because I haven’t yet logged in my class dates and times. Which I just realized as I’ve been writing this post.
I’m really reluctant to look at my schedule for 2022.
For this one, I blame 2021. I filled out my 2021 calendar at this point in 2020. I was excited about the vaccines coming, excited that we might return to in-person everything in 2021, excited about having a sane president. I was hoping that we would be able to put the increasing insanity of the previous five years behind us.
I wrote a really upbeat blog about it, coming into 2021, which, if I remember correctly, went live…on January 6
. . . .
I’d get my feet under me only to be swept away by something that I truly did not expect. I probably could have foreseen all of it if I were willing to acknowledge how dumb some people are, how gullible other people are, and how venal a whole lot of people are. But I try to be optimistic about the human spirit. I really do.
. . . .
I went forward, sometimes with great disappointment. Sometimes with a shake of the head. And sometimes with complete stubborn determination.
I was just about to type that for me, personally, 2021 wasn’t a bad year. And then the back of my brain started listing the dead friends and family members who had been alive at this point last year, the sudden move, the continually changing exterior landscape and, yeah. 2021 was…well, it wasn’t the worst year of my life. Not even close. But I can’t say it wasn’t bad.
Dean and I survived just fine, but I do feel like we’re living in a rubble-filled crater from the year, trying to make the best of the times ahead.
. . . .
I did not realize the toll that 2021 took on my scheduler brain. Realize that I schedule everything. 2020—once we got through March or so—did not have this kind of impact. Everything was canceled or we expected it to be canceled, but that was not the case in 2021.
I thought things would be on. Not much would be canceled. Lots got canceled, even now at the end of the year due to Omicron. (Dammit.)
My calendars are a scribbled mess of changes.
As I typed that section in my blog about school, I realized what my hesitation was. In August, I signed up for the Entertainment Law class ahead of my planned schedule on taking it because the class would be in-person. A different class, one I need to take and had signed up for, went from in person to online, so I bailed.
Online learning has its place, but a lot of in-person teachers suck at it. I had a prof in 2020 who was a great raconteur in person. We moved to online in March…and he just drily narrated his notes. Clearly, he needed an audience.
If I’m going to pay a lot for school online, I’ll seek out people who can teach well online, not people who are doing their best poorly.
So I canceled out of a class and took EL, which ended up being a great decision, except that my Thursdays became nightmarishly long. I don’t want to do that again.
Link to the rest at Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Here’s a link to Kris Rusch’s books. If you like the thoughts Kris shares, you can show your appreciation by checking out her books.
I almost missed this post.
I still have every calendar I have been given for Christmas since the 70s, so I don’t need to buy any new ones.
I have them sorted by what day New Year’s Day starts in the week, Sunday, Monday, etc… Just pulled out a calendar that starts on a Saturday — 2011 Fantasy — and hung it on the wall. I’m all set for the year.
– The days are all the same, only a few things don’t match the actual year.
For planning, and keeping track of events, I make my own Week-at-a-glance pages. I could go into loving detail about how I design the pages, but the main point is:
– If I actually fill both sides of the page(letter size paper), then I’m doing too much in a week.
The world gets heavier an heavier every year. Thank God we have heroes who will shoulder the burden.
PG, if you can’t or won’t or don’t want to stop carrying KKR’s posts, could you at least use your powers of omission to leave out the political potshots? They are why I unsubscribed from her Patreon and her blog posts in the first place.
Before I unsubscribed, by the way, I emailed her and she responded. She said “going forward” her blog would be a “safe space” for everyone. Yeah, whatever. I’m a retired Marine. I don’t need a safe space. I just need to not be ambushed by people I trust. And seriously, what do politics have to do with setting up a variety of calendars?
I get it, KKR. You’ve made millions of dollars in this horrible, evil capitalist nation, yet you hypocritically rant and rave on the side of socialism. Poor little priveleged white girl, you have never been deprived of Anything in your life, yet the only thing you can bring yourself to actually contribute to this nation is your Opinion and your virtue signalling. Please, stop already.
Yes?
Sad that that was news to her.
Maybe she needs to broaden her news sources so she can understand we live in a world run by idiots.