Well, looks like we made it. A whole new year.

What an accomplishment!

Feels like the time for one of those particularly reflective end-of-the-year retrospectives, doesn’t it?

Much has already been said about how unique a time it has been, without getting into the morbidity of the topic. Perhaps I cannot add so much. Suffice to say it’s been hard times for a hell of a lot of people. No doubt about that.

Just hope it’s not terribly naïve to be cautiously optimistic now that we will soon enter a new era…

Life is never easy, and there will be a lot of challenges ahead. That said, it simply has to get better.

Right?

Things seemed to have truly turned around, or at least started to turn around, just at the very end. Politically speaking, that is. Yes, things are by no means all better just yet. That will take a lot of work, but the worst is seriously over with back in the home country and that makes for some real reason to feel hope.

Anyways, personally life is good here in Taiwan and I am grateful to be here. I get to be part of a positive community, I get to work for a living (though I don’t love that part), and I even get to be creative and then share my creativity from time to time. This current year started out with a cancellation of a book fair, and then we all had to wear masks. Blech. I would have liked to promote my own books a bit more, make some progress in that field instead of hit pause. Yet I did get to do a book fair last month so that was cool.

I changed jobs this year, I participated in an unlicensed regional Burn event, and I only traveled in-island. I even voted.

I survived the holidays, and now there’s only one more all-night party to go to with which to ring in the new year and that’s gonna be a lot of fun 😄

Like everybody else out there, I have many goals for 2021. I need to catch up on my own prose writing and share a new novel when the time comes. Exercise, studying, I generally need to get it together personal growth-wise on so many fronts.

I also look forward to watching many movies after we’re all vaccinated and pop cultural life goes back to normal. I have much to read and series to binge.

So much to do indeed….

At least we have a chance.

Here’s to the rest of the world, maybe just maybe we’ll make it ~