Skip to main content

Last Year

I started off 2025 with a terrible experience that for me took a lot of time, meditation and forgiveness to get past. That seemed to set the tone for the entire year; I'd be happily working, and then suddenly some disaster, ailment or unkindness would derail me and then I'd have to work my way through the fallout. It was that classic lather, rinse, repeat situation that never seems to improve. This past month has been a mirror to the first one, ending 2025 as badly as it began.

My relationships shifted and changed, the world became colder and more hateful, and it seemed like there was nothing I could hold onto while I recovered from whatever cruel thing that had happened -- only there was. My creativity was always ready to pull me out of the poisonous to me situations, as well as my writing and my wonderful day job. It sounds trite but it's true; that really helped me manage all these toxic incidents without sinking too deeply into depression. To see some of my favorite projects from this past year, check out my album here.

Refusing to let the ugliness get to me was a year-long slog, but I managed. As a result I am still working and creating, although I've become much more wary. For the first time in my life I'm putting me first, and while that still feels a bit selfish it has been good for me. I'm done with tolerating abuse from people and situations that are toxic to me. I am considering shutting down my social media and just blogging, even though I'm probably just writing for myself at this point. Hey, I like writing for me. :)

As for 2025, farewell, you nasty year. Don't let the door hit you in the butt on the way out.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Stuff

After finding this Caron one pound skein of lovely peach yarn in my thrifted lot I raided my stash for two cakes of Mandala in Pegasus, which matches it perfectly. For practice and hand therapy I'm going to make another Worth Street Afghan with this free pattern , but this time I'll use the yarn that was recommended for it plus the one pound skein. I'm not quite ready to do the vintage/recycled linen quilt I had planned (still a bit too nervous about the idea), so I'm going to use some color therapy and make a quilt from these thrifted green fat quarters. I considered doing another Yellow Brick road patchwork pattern, but I might go with a split rail fence like this one.

Journal Find

This is a page from my 2010 poetry journal. My handwriting isn't the best, so I'll transcribe it: If my heart survives to tell all the secrets kept inside it will be an abalone shell in which the beauty did reside. But I think I will always be lost to the tides that rage in me . . . humbling and polishing . . . I don't write many self-portrait poems, but this one isn't too embarrassing. A bit overly dramatic, but the girl I was eleven years ago went through some tough times. I'm in a much more peaceful place today.

Fasten Your Seatbelt

Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds is an epic, dazzling film that hurls you into the Korean version of the afterlife while showcasing some of the most impressive special effects I've ever seen in any movie. The story begins with the death of firefighter Kim Ja-Hong (Cha Tae-hyun) who jumps out of a burning building with a child in his arms. The kid lives, but he dies at the scene. Two strangers inform him that he has passed away right on schedule, and toss him into a vortex that takes him to the world of the afterlife, where he meets his three guardians: Gang-rim (Ha Jung-woo), Haewonmak (Ju Ji-hoon) and Lee Deok-choon (Kim Hyang-gi). At the gates of the afterlife Ja-Hong learns that he is considered a paragon (an exemplary person who lived a noble and self-sacrificing life) and is eligible to be reincarnated -- but there's a catch. First he has 49 days to make it through seven hells in which he will be judged on his sins. His three guardians will help and defend...