Sixteen Things I Accomplished in 2022

When I look back at all the issues and crises and distractions that came my way in 2022, I sometimes wonder how I got anything accomplished at all. But I did! And looking back and recounting how my days went by in 2022 provides me with some indication of what direction(s) to take in 2023:

1.  Got third bedroom painted.

2.  Got side gate replaced.

3.  Got the chest of drawers that I've had since childhood repaired and repainted, even though I painted it with a matte finish and I'm already beginning to think it should have a glossy finish.

4.  All the pictures and other artwork that have been cluttering up the rooms of the house, making the place resemble the storeroom in a museum, have found places for display, if only until another re-arrangement of a room. I don't have anything stacked against walls or just left laying around anymore.

5.  Got my mother's antique dolls, that were literally in pieces, put back together and prettied up and on display, and cleaned up several vintage stuffed toys and put them on display, too.

6. Read thirty books and watched more than 100 movies.

7.  Got new flooring installed in the kitchen and laundry room.

8.  Wrote and pub. twelve "Life After Mother" columns as well as several "My Recycled Life" columns and a few editorial features.

9. Probate is over! I now have my own house along with a substantial stock portfolio.

10.  One thing that has been on my "to do" list for years has been:  get spare prescription sunglasses, and I finally did!

11. Another thing that's been on my "to do" list for years has been:  attend Los Angeles Times Festival of Books and that I finally did.

12.  Sold essentially an entire crate full of sports memorabilia, along with bag after bag of books, and a few DVDs, too.

13.  I submitted a "viewer playlist" to KTLA and it got played.

14.  I rented a chainsaw and sawed up some old falling-apart wooden patio furniture, then called the city's bulk-collection service to come haul it away, the kind of nagging project that's been on my "to do" list since 2019.

15.  Put on a garage sale that unburdened me of roughly twenty items and earned me roughly a week's worth of pocket change. The things sold proved to be key to a sort of "slide puzzle" approach to organizing the art, crafts, knickknacks, and collectibles that make my house more like a museum. Once certain things went out the door thanks to the sale, what to do with certain other things came into focus, and then what to do with certain other things followed.

16.  Kept up with my social media sites, let's see if I can name them all:  Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Alignable, clippings.me, blogger.com, Tumblr, Nextdoor, Letterboxd, Goodreads, Discogs, Deviant Art. I think I can shorten the list by deleting the clippings.me site.

Sixteen Things I didn't Expect in 2022

"Life is what happens as we make other plans," is an old saying attributed to wits ranging from Dorothy Parker to John Lennon. I kept to a schedule in 2022, applying myself day after day to my goals for the year, but life kept interfering with my carefully scheduled plans. In hopes of being able to predict the unpredictable in 2023, I've made up a list of what I found to be the most stressful complications that blew major portions of my plans for 2022. What I didn't get done in 2022? Some of the following is to blame:

1.  I didn't know I was going to have to get two root canals and make about half a dozen trips to the dentist because of tooth trouble that still may not be over (see 8. below).

2.  I didn't know I was going to have to go to the urgent care office three times for various minor health issues, and a fourth time for a COVID and flu test (see 8. below).

3.  I didn't know a sprinkler pipe was going to burst in my front yard just as the 4th of July weekend began, and fixing it would require four companies over four weeks.

4. I didn't know I was going to have a separate emergency concerning another sprinkler head and have to get that replaced, too.

5.  I didn't know I was going to have a major falling-out with my BFF, but treasure her even more after we healed our rift.

6.  I didn't know I was going to have a falling-out with my hairdresser of nearly thirty years. She never responded to my letter of apology, and so it looks like I'll have to get a new hairstylist.

7.  I didn't know I was going to spend several days and several hundred dollars getting my mother's antique dolls restored. That wasn't one of my goals at the beginning of the year--it just happened to present itself as a major priority as the year went along.

8.  I didn't know I was going to spend almost the entire time between Thanksgiving and Christmas battling the flu and recovering from it, which threw off my entire schedule for the month, and moved about four weeks of tasks into next year. I was able to keep up with the necessary deadlines and be able to celebrate Christmas in a small way, but I had to picture my life as having one giant "pause" button and another giant "reset" button. The infection also seems to have affected my teeth where the root canals were performed, so another trip to the endodontist looms still. 

9.  I didn't know I was going to have to get the shocks and the tire sensors on my car replaced, or deal with a flat tire. 

10.  I started the year knowing I needed a COVID booster, but I didn't know I'd be advised to get another one in mid-year and that, toward the end of the year, that yet another booster, for the Omicron variant, was being advised.

11.  I didn't know I was going to get a notice from the Social Security Administration that I needed to update my Ticket To Work status, even though I was only a few months shy of my 65th birthday, when I would no longer be eligible for the Ticket To Work status. Finding a new service provider and meeting the requirements to search for work took several hours a day for weeks that stretched into months. I never got any response to my dozens of pitches for freelance work, and health matters intervened toward the end of the year.

12.  I didn't know getting a new cell phone because of 3g phone service being shut off would be such a hassle. I learned much about how the cell phone market has changed since I last bought a phone back around 2010, but I have no patience for all the complications that go with the world of owning and using a cell phone these days. My new phone doesn't even have 5g service, it's only good for 4g service, and I'll probably still have to do some shopping around to see if I can get a better, cheaper plan or a phone that's more appropriate to my needs.

13.  I didn't know my computer monitor was going to permanently break down ("die" is the current catchphrase) and I'd have to hassle getting a new monitor and/or using a monitor inherited from my father as a back-up.

14.  I didn't know my car's "malfunction" light was going to go on and I would have to hassle that.

15.  I didn't know my office chair was going to lose part of its caster and I'd have to find a repair shop for the job, or that one of my five filing cabinets was going to break a handle, which would lead to the realization that it was broken in more ways than just a handle, which would lead to me having to consolidate my files into four cabinets and scrap the fifth one.

16.  I didn't know my cat's fur was going to get matted to the extent that I needed to get her to a cat groomer.