Progress Report: December 2021

“And now, the end is near. And so, I face the final curtain…” Frank Sinatra, My Way

Okay, so that’s a little bleak for an opening line, but hey, why not? 2021 is coming to an end, and it’s a weird time, both to look back and look forward.

And that’s why Sinatra is playing in my ear as I write this.

2021 has had the benefit of not being the absolute tire fire that was 2020. After nearly two years of living an altered life, people have (whether they agree with leading health officials not) returned to a semblance of normalcy. Some people lamented the passing of a slowed-down world in which they hadn’t accomplished everything they thought they would without the oppressive specter of having to be at work (I count myself among “some people”). Either way, it’s safe to say the last two years have been an adventure.

Which brings us to the time to look forward. 2022 is a fresh 12 months, a full year to accomplish all our goals and make things happen. Or it’s another year to recover from a fully disrupted life. Or whatever else we need the next year to be.

So, here’s what’s going on for December:

- You may or may not have noticed a bunch of book reviews going up over the last week or so. Yeah, that’s continuing through the rest of the year, as I’ve read some great (and some not-so-great) stories over the last several months. There should be reviews coming every couple of days, so keep an eye out on that.

- I’m going to power through the first draft of my project as much as I can for the rest of the year. It’s been slow going this year, but I’m making one last push to get through as much as I can in December, and then I’m going to put it away, finished or not.

- I’m going to try to go over some plans for next year, goals that I hope to accomplish.

- There’s a reason this is posting near the middle of the month, and that’s because we went on vacation! We spent Thanksgiving in the New York area with my family, then spent two weeks tooling around various cities in Germany! I’ll be talking about that for the next couple of weeks as well, so stay tuned!

This year has been a rough one, no doubt. There is still a ton of uncertainty in the air, even as we tried to rebound from a tumultuous 2020. There’s no shame in feeling beat up by the last couple of years; I know I feel that way, even despite the good things that have happened in that time. But 2022 is coming, and hopefully we can all rise to meet the challenges ahead.

Until then, though, may you and yours enjoy the various holidays of the season.