2022 in the Rear View Mirror
30/12/2022 03:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
izmeinaIt’s that time of year again. The annual quiz which I have been doing for at least ten years now.
It is a miracle the stupid useless Big Mac is still around for the occasion. Mind you, it did take 20 minutes just to get into Scrivener without being endlessly pelted by spinning beach balls.
1. What did you do in 2022 that you'd never done before?
I left it until the very end of the year to catch COVID.
Sunday 18th to be precise.
I definitely did not have that on my Things To Do in 2022 Bingo Card.
I started taking anxiety medication because all the usual mind tricks and distractions had long stopped working.
But now that I know a lot of my anxiety is simply due to sensory overload, I find I am able to watch for the warning signs and stock digging myself deeper in a hole of misery.
2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I don’t do New Year’s Resolutions. I prefer to adopt new habits and add new ones as the old ones go on autopilot.
Unfortunately, some habits that I thought were well and truly established fell by the wayside when the shit hit the fan. So I will try to get back into my old routines again.
The most important of all is to start menu planning and to stick to it.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
No
4. Did anyone close to you die?
My Fairy Godmother died. I got to know here when I signed up for a work exchange program in Germany. She was originally from Scotland. Since her husband was a pastor at the local church - a Muggle version of the Ministry of Magic, I used to call them Molly and Arthur Weasley. Especially fitting since she was one of two people who loved the Potter books and got me hooked with the teaser “There is no good and evil. There is only power and those too weak to seek it”
She also had George Orwell and William Shakespeare on her list of favourite writers.
As for famous people - the big one of course was Queen Elizabeth of Great Britain. She had been on the throne all of my life time and it is hard to believe that she was the last of the world leaders left from WW2
The other big name on the world stage was Mikhail Gorbachev.
He came to power during my teenage years. Things really did look like they were going to change for the better under his leadership. But he let too many genies out of the bottle. The Chinese Communist Party apparatchiks must have been watching very closely and made sure that it would never ever happen on their watch.
5. What countries did you visit?
I had been planning and saving for 5 years to visit Amsterdam, Prague, Lubeck and Vienna and even booked the tickets in early March 2020 for a Grand Tour in September
But the Covid gods had other plans.
Then along came another giant speed bump in my grand plans. My stash of savings set aside for that Grand European Adventure that never happened never survived. I had to raid it last year to get a shower put downstairs.
So at this rate, there will be only virtual serpent travel until some time in 2024.
6. What would you like to have in 2023 that you lacked in 2022?
A green and growing garden. My garden was actually green and growing until a string of 35 degree days just a week before Christmas.
I have planted out the verge this year and just over 2/3 of the new weeds are still alive and thriving but it is now coming into summer time which is the killing time
An uncluttered, neat and orderly house with a place for everything and everything in its place.
I did manage to achieve this desirable state of home affairs from November 2022 until mid February this year but then I totally crashed, went into zombie mode and have never quite got on top of things since then.
I am gradually building up a bunch of habits so that I can get some of it done on autopilot.
I have also learned through trial and error that I find it much easier to keep to cleaning and decluttering schedules when I have as much as possible written down already.
Putting things on paper is a sort of sneaky back door hack to the serpent subconscious.
7. What dates from 2022 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
Friday 28th January - this is the day everything started to fall apart although it would be several weeks later before I would realise it.
I had an appointment with the Job Mob where some clueless newbie advisor told me that because I was over 55 I could do 15 hours per week of voluntary work and no longer have to jump through job mob hoops. All I had to do was get my employer to sign off on paperwork.
I was so happy and so hopeful.
It didn’t last long. I went to Centrelink with all the forms filled in only to be told by some petty clerk that the rule applies only to those over 60. But the rules are always written in a way so that they can interpret them whatever they like which varies from one day to the next. Ask 2 Centrelink clerks the same question and get 5 different answers.
Also I had my first appointment of the year with my shrink. It was weird because it was by phone instead of in person.
That also went pear shaped when she screwed up the Medicare rebate paperwork and instead of getting the payment within 24 hours, after a bunch of emails and phone calls, 4 visits to assorted government departments each with a wait of at least 30 minutes and ALL of them on 40 degree days, it ended up taking until mid March to finally get my money.
Thursday 24th February - I am sure nearly everyone remembers this day which will live on in infamy when the rest of 2022 is forgotten.
I knew that Putin was a nasty petty vindictive little shit with delusions of grandeur but thought that it was all BS, bluster and attention seeking since so many world leaders kept crawling to his giant IKEA dining room table begging him not to do it.
But he really was that reckless and vengeful.
It reminded me so much of when GWB and co attacked Iraq. So many hoped it would not happen right up until the very last minute.
Sunday 1st May - the first day of a new habit. On Sundays I now go to a local cafe to catch up on all the newspapers and then spend the rest of the afternoon pottering around in the garden, planting, watering or just watching the critters in the garden.
Saturday 30th July - the day my Fairy Godmother died
Thursday 8th September - the day the Queen died.
Monday 28th November - Lunch with the Grinch.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Staying alive. Especially now that I am currently COVID positive.
Also - paying off my credit card in full and adding some extra fat for the road.
It took 8 months to max it out and less than 8 days to clear it completely. Of course things usually work the other way around. But more on that later.
9. What was your biggest failure?
Not being sufficiently assertive. Especially when dealing with dodgy Job Mobsters.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
I have been very lucky this year. Getting rid of the pesky bitchy baby bag last year solved a lot of problems.
But unfortunately I have been a lot more neurotic and agitated than usual. Especially in January and February. I just cannot seem to shake off those damned Dementors who keep trying to sabotage any attempt at being a contented curly serpent.
I currently have COVID but it seems nowhere as bad as the bronchitis that my brother Dudley had for nearly 16 of the 20 days he was recently here in Oz.
11. What was the best thing you bought?
Normally the annual zoo membership and subscription to the Washington Post are top of the list but this year I did not renew the zoo membership.
So aside from books and trinkets bought at assorted charity shops, it
was likely to be Fringe shows. This year I managed to go to more than 20.
12. Where did most of your money go?
I used to have an app where I entered my spending at the end of every day. Several years ago the government agency that runs Money Smart stopped offering support so it died. But I am sure the general pattern has not changed too much so since there has been no major renovations this year, the main place my money landed was in local cafes.
The mundane muggle stuff was mainly council rates and water bills.
No electricity because I am still in credit from the various election sweeteners offered by the state government as well as solar panels covering most of my electricity usage.
I know the price of electricity is sinfully cheap here compared to most of the world this year but it is still a bit of a scam that I get paid 7 cents for each kilowatt of solar power that I export to the grid while I get charged 15c for the lowest off peak rate right up to 56 cents for on peak (which I only clock up in winter)
Other than that, public transport, coffee and pots of chai or earl grey tea and a ridiculous amount on culture vulture events at the Fringe Festival.
Also weeds. Lots of weeds. I get a discount at the nursery where I work on Fridays.
Officially I stop planting after the spring equinox but of course I keep getting tempted by all the adorable leaf babies.
And books. Lots of books. I work in 2 different charity shops so I can get some amazing stuff for a fraction of the book shop price.
I also got a bunch of Copic markers along with refills for a pittance at the op shop.
13. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Musical chairs at Number 10 Downing Street.
Liz Truss managed to to meet 2 monarchs during her ten minutes in office. It was almost as if the Queen was hanging in there just to make sure that BoJo had really left the building.
14. What song will always remind you of 2022?
I cannot think of any. The radio station at work plays about 20 songs from the 1980s so I am pretty out of touch with current musical trends. I did get a bit nostalgic when “Running up that hill” by Kate Bush made a comeback. I would have preferred the most magical and majestic “Cloud bursting’ but it didn’t happen.
15. Compared to this time last year, are you:
Older or wiser?
Obviously older and hopefully wiser too
Thinner or fatter?
Still fat but a bit less so
Richer or poorer?
Richer.
I never thought I’d see the day that the Grinch was handing out Christmas presents. But that is exactly what happened and I still cannot quite believe it.
Also, working in an op shop means that even if I don’t have much money, it goes a lot further. I never buy clothes, home wares, music or books new anymore
16. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Being in the Green Zone.
This has been a particularly chaotic and crazy year with never ending moving goal posts
17. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Being cranky and neurotic. Hoarding and other crazy irrational behaviour. Needing to find sneaky ways to get around this stuff
I have discovered that writing in my little black book is a big help for getting shit done. Especially for sneaking messages to the inner serpent. If I have a bunch of jobs on a To Do list written down for particular days and times then it is much more likely that I will actually get them done
18. How did you spend Christmas?
After a 3 year absence due to a string of 40 celsius days every single Christmas Day since 2019, I finally managed to have the long awaited graveyard picnic with Petunia.
It was a crisp and crunchy sunny day and the mercury topped at a lovely 30 celsius.
As well as wandering around the gorgeous graveyard, squiggling in my black book outside the cemetery cafe and reading, I planted a few succulents in Petunia’s postage stamp sized patch and had a toast to her and the new year.
19. Did you fall in love in 2022?
What is love?
20. What was your favourite TV program?
I don’t have a television but I used to like Gardening Australia and The Gruen Transfer - a program about the dark art of advertising.
21. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
No named individuals but I have developed a particular loathing for guttersnipes on bikes and skateboards who hog the footpaths and get their jollies out of attempting to run over or at least frighten unsuspecting pedestrians.
These creatures weren’t on my radar much last year but now they pop up on plague proportions everywhere and for a creature so easily startled as me, I despise them with a vengeance.
22. What was the best book you read?
Red Notice by Bill Browder
I was reading this around the time Putin invaded Ukraine. It was the life story of a man who began as a cruel heartless goblin whose only goal was to make loads of money in the new frontier of Robber Baron capitalism.
But Putin’s kleptocratic government murdered his tax lawyer Sergei Magnitsky and Bill Browder’s search for answers and for justice transformed him into a decent human being.
This book lays the groundwork for understanding much of what has happened in Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union and Putin’s ascent to power.
The Institute by Stephen King
A definitely dystopian take on the secret boarding school for magically gifted children.
23. What was your greatest musical discovery?
2 spooky songs - kind of country gothic I guess
Atlantis Kerryn Fields
Fallow Fanny Lumsden
24. What did you want and get?
Lots of wicked weeds and books
25. What did you want and not get?
A visit from my sister in Amsterdam
26. What was your favorite film of this year?
I have not seen a single movie this year either on the computer screen or in the cinema.
But the trailer for Lyle the Crocodile looked adorable
27. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I lurked in the garden of the Fremantle Arts Centre which used to be a lunatic asylum.
I also planted an apricot tree in the garden.
28. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
A spell to banish Dementors because the old ones don’t work for me anymore
A lot less chaos and moving the goal posts
But these days after all the craziness around the rest of the world, just making alive to the end of the year is an achievement
29. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2022?
Fashion is an alien concept to this slobbish serpent. But we are rather partial to green hats and baggy blouses to hide all the blubber.
Aside from picking up good but cheap black blouses, shirts and skirts from the charity shop, I also got a few beige, green and brown shirts, scarves and hats.
30. What kept you sane?
Sane - Izzie sane? Never ever?
But the main thing connecting me to reality is the garden. I have paid a lot more attention to it this year since I was out of action for a whole 2 months last year due to being post op and another 2 months this year in watering mode only due to the heat wave.
31. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Does Volodymyr Zelenskii count as a celebrity?
Mr Z wasn't completely new to me since I had been glued to the first trump impeachment trial where his name kept coming up over and over again.
But to go from avoiding the Don's tantrums to standing up to Putin when so many others were willing just to curl up and roll over was quite an astonishing metamorphosis.
"I need ammunition not a ride" will go down in history. Even if it turns out to be a fake good news story.
Now a special mention for the celebrities that I despised the most
Ginge, Whinge and the Giant Pity Party across the Pond
The dignified stoicism of "Never complain, never explain" is completely lost on this SPARE pair.
They make tiresome domestic dramas into Dan Brown level conspiracies.
I'm still awaiting the big reveal that Prince Charles is really the Lizard King
Secrets and Lies
32. What political issue stirred you the most?
Putin and the Special Military Operation - I could not believe how a country infamous for hackers and cyber crooks got their butts so thoroughly kicked by a bunch of plucky little sunflowers.
Scott Morrison the bulldozer
Australian Federal Election
Clive Palmer
FTX
Such a delicious sense of Schadenfreude when the tedious bitcoin cultists get bitten.
Emperor’s new tulips. The lot of them.
I think Warren Buffet said it best
It is only when the tide goes out that you see who has been swimming naked
33. Who did you miss?
It’s nearly 5 years now but it’s still Petunia - my old partner in crime, weed and wine worship. Also Liz - my Fairy Godmother
34. Who was the best new person you met?
I don’t get out much these days
35. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2022:
When faced with a difficult or scary choice, choose the option that preserves or increases your integrity and self respect.
Because acting out of fear just weakens you and the fear does not go away but has babies who then torment you too.
Blessed are those who expect nothing for they shall not be disappointed
I noticed that I can cope with the big disappointments and major dramas but it is the little things that really get under my skin
And the other big one - never ever underestimate the power of the reptilian brain. Not the wise and playful inner serpent but that miserable irrational paranoid creature that goes into survival mode at the slightest provocation even when there is no actual danger.
I still cannot get that damned creature on a leash and had to resort to getting pills for anxiety because all the usual tricks for dealing with those pesky Dementors no longer work.
It is a miracle the stupid useless Big Mac is still around for the occasion. Mind you, it did take 20 minutes just to get into Scrivener without being endlessly pelted by spinning beach balls.
1. What did you do in 2022 that you'd never done before?
I left it until the very end of the year to catch COVID.
Sunday 18th to be precise.
I definitely did not have that on my Things To Do in 2022 Bingo Card.
I started taking anxiety medication because all the usual mind tricks and distractions had long stopped working.
But now that I know a lot of my anxiety is simply due to sensory overload, I find I am able to watch for the warning signs and stock digging myself deeper in a hole of misery.
2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I don’t do New Year’s Resolutions. I prefer to adopt new habits and add new ones as the old ones go on autopilot.
Unfortunately, some habits that I thought were well and truly established fell by the wayside when the shit hit the fan. So I will try to get back into my old routines again.
The most important of all is to start menu planning and to stick to it.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
No
4. Did anyone close to you die?
My Fairy Godmother died. I got to know here when I signed up for a work exchange program in Germany. She was originally from Scotland. Since her husband was a pastor at the local church - a Muggle version of the Ministry of Magic, I used to call them Molly and Arthur Weasley. Especially fitting since she was one of two people who loved the Potter books and got me hooked with the teaser “There is no good and evil. There is only power and those too weak to seek it”
She also had George Orwell and William Shakespeare on her list of favourite writers.
As for famous people - the big one of course was Queen Elizabeth of Great Britain. She had been on the throne all of my life time and it is hard to believe that she was the last of the world leaders left from WW2
The other big name on the world stage was Mikhail Gorbachev.
He came to power during my teenage years. Things really did look like they were going to change for the better under his leadership. But he let too many genies out of the bottle. The Chinese Communist Party apparatchiks must have been watching very closely and made sure that it would never ever happen on their watch.
5. What countries did you visit?
I had been planning and saving for 5 years to visit Amsterdam, Prague, Lubeck and Vienna and even booked the tickets in early March 2020 for a Grand Tour in September
But the Covid gods had other plans.
Then along came another giant speed bump in my grand plans. My stash of savings set aside for that Grand European Adventure that never happened never survived. I had to raid it last year to get a shower put downstairs.
So at this rate, there will be only virtual serpent travel until some time in 2024.
6. What would you like to have in 2023 that you lacked in 2022?
A green and growing garden. My garden was actually green and growing until a string of 35 degree days just a week before Christmas.
I have planted out the verge this year and just over 2/3 of the new weeds are still alive and thriving but it is now coming into summer time which is the killing time
An uncluttered, neat and orderly house with a place for everything and everything in its place.
I did manage to achieve this desirable state of home affairs from November 2022 until mid February this year but then I totally crashed, went into zombie mode and have never quite got on top of things since then.
I am gradually building up a bunch of habits so that I can get some of it done on autopilot.
I have also learned through trial and error that I find it much easier to keep to cleaning and decluttering schedules when I have as much as possible written down already.
Putting things on paper is a sort of sneaky back door hack to the serpent subconscious.
7. What dates from 2022 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
Friday 28th January - this is the day everything started to fall apart although it would be several weeks later before I would realise it.
I had an appointment with the Job Mob where some clueless newbie advisor told me that because I was over 55 I could do 15 hours per week of voluntary work and no longer have to jump through job mob hoops. All I had to do was get my employer to sign off on paperwork.
I was so happy and so hopeful.
It didn’t last long. I went to Centrelink with all the forms filled in only to be told by some petty clerk that the rule applies only to those over 60. But the rules are always written in a way so that they can interpret them whatever they like which varies from one day to the next. Ask 2 Centrelink clerks the same question and get 5 different answers.
Also I had my first appointment of the year with my shrink. It was weird because it was by phone instead of in person.
That also went pear shaped when she screwed up the Medicare rebate paperwork and instead of getting the payment within 24 hours, after a bunch of emails and phone calls, 4 visits to assorted government departments each with a wait of at least 30 minutes and ALL of them on 40 degree days, it ended up taking until mid March to finally get my money.
Thursday 24th February - I am sure nearly everyone remembers this day which will live on in infamy when the rest of 2022 is forgotten.
I knew that Putin was a nasty petty vindictive little shit with delusions of grandeur but thought that it was all BS, bluster and attention seeking since so many world leaders kept crawling to his giant IKEA dining room table begging him not to do it.
But he really was that reckless and vengeful.
It reminded me so much of when GWB and co attacked Iraq. So many hoped it would not happen right up until the very last minute.
Sunday 1st May - the first day of a new habit. On Sundays I now go to a local cafe to catch up on all the newspapers and then spend the rest of the afternoon pottering around in the garden, planting, watering or just watching the critters in the garden.
Saturday 30th July - the day my Fairy Godmother died
Thursday 8th September - the day the Queen died.
Monday 28th November - Lunch with the Grinch.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Staying alive. Especially now that I am currently COVID positive.
Also - paying off my credit card in full and adding some extra fat for the road.
It took 8 months to max it out and less than 8 days to clear it completely. Of course things usually work the other way around. But more on that later.
9. What was your biggest failure?
Not being sufficiently assertive. Especially when dealing with dodgy Job Mobsters.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
I have been very lucky this year. Getting rid of the pesky bitchy baby bag last year solved a lot of problems.
But unfortunately I have been a lot more neurotic and agitated than usual. Especially in January and February. I just cannot seem to shake off those damned Dementors who keep trying to sabotage any attempt at being a contented curly serpent.
I currently have COVID but it seems nowhere as bad as the bronchitis that my brother Dudley had for nearly 16 of the 20 days he was recently here in Oz.
11. What was the best thing you bought?
Normally the annual zoo membership and subscription to the Washington Post are top of the list but this year I did not renew the zoo membership.
So aside from books and trinkets bought at assorted charity shops, it
was likely to be Fringe shows. This year I managed to go to more than 20.
12. Where did most of your money go?
I used to have an app where I entered my spending at the end of every day. Several years ago the government agency that runs Money Smart stopped offering support so it died. But I am sure the general pattern has not changed too much so since there has been no major renovations this year, the main place my money landed was in local cafes.
The mundane muggle stuff was mainly council rates and water bills.
No electricity because I am still in credit from the various election sweeteners offered by the state government as well as solar panels covering most of my electricity usage.
I know the price of electricity is sinfully cheap here compared to most of the world this year but it is still a bit of a scam that I get paid 7 cents for each kilowatt of solar power that I export to the grid while I get charged 15c for the lowest off peak rate right up to 56 cents for on peak (which I only clock up in winter)
Other than that, public transport, coffee and pots of chai or earl grey tea and a ridiculous amount on culture vulture events at the Fringe Festival.
Also weeds. Lots of weeds. I get a discount at the nursery where I work on Fridays.
Officially I stop planting after the spring equinox but of course I keep getting tempted by all the adorable leaf babies.
And books. Lots of books. I work in 2 different charity shops so I can get some amazing stuff for a fraction of the book shop price.
I also got a bunch of Copic markers along with refills for a pittance at the op shop.
13. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Musical chairs at Number 10 Downing Street.
Liz Truss managed to to meet 2 monarchs during her ten minutes in office. It was almost as if the Queen was hanging in there just to make sure that BoJo had really left the building.
14. What song will always remind you of 2022?
I cannot think of any. The radio station at work plays about 20 songs from the 1980s so I am pretty out of touch with current musical trends. I did get a bit nostalgic when “Running up that hill” by Kate Bush made a comeback. I would have preferred the most magical and majestic “Cloud bursting’ but it didn’t happen.
15. Compared to this time last year, are you:
Older or wiser?
Obviously older and hopefully wiser too
Thinner or fatter?
Still fat but a bit less so
Richer or poorer?
Richer.
I never thought I’d see the day that the Grinch was handing out Christmas presents. But that is exactly what happened and I still cannot quite believe it.
Also, working in an op shop means that even if I don’t have much money, it goes a lot further. I never buy clothes, home wares, music or books new anymore
16. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Being in the Green Zone.
This has been a particularly chaotic and crazy year with never ending moving goal posts
17. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Being cranky and neurotic. Hoarding and other crazy irrational behaviour. Needing to find sneaky ways to get around this stuff
I have discovered that writing in my little black book is a big help for getting shit done. Especially for sneaking messages to the inner serpent. If I have a bunch of jobs on a To Do list written down for particular days and times then it is much more likely that I will actually get them done
18. How did you spend Christmas?
After a 3 year absence due to a string of 40 celsius days every single Christmas Day since 2019, I finally managed to have the long awaited graveyard picnic with Petunia.
It was a crisp and crunchy sunny day and the mercury topped at a lovely 30 celsius.
As well as wandering around the gorgeous graveyard, squiggling in my black book outside the cemetery cafe and reading, I planted a few succulents in Petunia’s postage stamp sized patch and had a toast to her and the new year.
19. Did you fall in love in 2022?
What is love?
20. What was your favourite TV program?
I don’t have a television but I used to like Gardening Australia and The Gruen Transfer - a program about the dark art of advertising.
21. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
No named individuals but I have developed a particular loathing for guttersnipes on bikes and skateboards who hog the footpaths and get their jollies out of attempting to run over or at least frighten unsuspecting pedestrians.
These creatures weren’t on my radar much last year but now they pop up on plague proportions everywhere and for a creature so easily startled as me, I despise them with a vengeance.
22. What was the best book you read?
Red Notice by Bill Browder
I was reading this around the time Putin invaded Ukraine. It was the life story of a man who began as a cruel heartless goblin whose only goal was to make loads of money in the new frontier of Robber Baron capitalism.
But Putin’s kleptocratic government murdered his tax lawyer Sergei Magnitsky and Bill Browder’s search for answers and for justice transformed him into a decent human being.
This book lays the groundwork for understanding much of what has happened in Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union and Putin’s ascent to power.
The Institute by Stephen King
A definitely dystopian take on the secret boarding school for magically gifted children.
23. What was your greatest musical discovery?
2 spooky songs - kind of country gothic I guess
Atlantis Kerryn Fields
Fallow Fanny Lumsden
24. What did you want and get?
Lots of wicked weeds and books
25. What did you want and not get?
A visit from my sister in Amsterdam
26. What was your favorite film of this year?
I have not seen a single movie this year either on the computer screen or in the cinema.
But the trailer for Lyle the Crocodile looked adorable
27. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I lurked in the garden of the Fremantle Arts Centre which used to be a lunatic asylum.
I also planted an apricot tree in the garden.
28. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
A spell to banish Dementors because the old ones don’t work for me anymore
A lot less chaos and moving the goal posts
But these days after all the craziness around the rest of the world, just making alive to the end of the year is an achievement
29. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2022?
Fashion is an alien concept to this slobbish serpent. But we are rather partial to green hats and baggy blouses to hide all the blubber.
Aside from picking up good but cheap black blouses, shirts and skirts from the charity shop, I also got a few beige, green and brown shirts, scarves and hats.
30. What kept you sane?
Sane - Izzie sane? Never ever?
But the main thing connecting me to reality is the garden. I have paid a lot more attention to it this year since I was out of action for a whole 2 months last year due to being post op and another 2 months this year in watering mode only due to the heat wave.
31. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Does Volodymyr Zelenskii count as a celebrity?
Mr Z wasn't completely new to me since I had been glued to the first trump impeachment trial where his name kept coming up over and over again.
But to go from avoiding the Don's tantrums to standing up to Putin when so many others were willing just to curl up and roll over was quite an astonishing metamorphosis.
"I need ammunition not a ride" will go down in history. Even if it turns out to be a fake good news story.
Now a special mention for the celebrities that I despised the most
Ginge, Whinge and the Giant Pity Party across the Pond
The dignified stoicism of "Never complain, never explain" is completely lost on this SPARE pair.
They make tiresome domestic dramas into Dan Brown level conspiracies.
I'm still awaiting the big reveal that Prince Charles is really the Lizard King
Secrets and Lies
32. What political issue stirred you the most?
Putin and the Special Military Operation - I could not believe how a country infamous for hackers and cyber crooks got their butts so thoroughly kicked by a bunch of plucky little sunflowers.
Scott Morrison the bulldozer
Australian Federal Election
Clive Palmer
FTX
Such a delicious sense of Schadenfreude when the tedious bitcoin cultists get bitten.
Emperor’s new tulips. The lot of them.
I think Warren Buffet said it best
It is only when the tide goes out that you see who has been swimming naked
33. Who did you miss?
It’s nearly 5 years now but it’s still Petunia - my old partner in crime, weed and wine worship. Also Liz - my Fairy Godmother
34. Who was the best new person you met?
I don’t get out much these days
35. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2022:
When faced with a difficult or scary choice, choose the option that preserves or increases your integrity and self respect.
Because acting out of fear just weakens you and the fear does not go away but has babies who then torment you too.
Blessed are those who expect nothing for they shall not be disappointed
I noticed that I can cope with the big disappointments and major dramas but it is the little things that really get under my skin
And the other big one - never ever underestimate the power of the reptilian brain. Not the wise and playful inner serpent but that miserable irrational paranoid creature that goes into survival mode at the slightest provocation even when there is no actual danger.
I still cannot get that damned creature on a leash and had to resort to getting pills for anxiety because all the usual tricks for dealing with those pesky Dementors no longer work.
