Us, December 25, 2021: Leo, Roy, Ondine, John, Shadow
Us, December 25, 2021: Leo, Roy, Ondine, John, Shadow
Happy Old Year's Night, and so long to 2021.
2021 began with an armed insurrection in the U.S. as armed pro-Trump militants attempted to reverse the election and stage a right-wing coup. It ended with few prosecutions, and none at all at the congressional level; the Great American Experiment as a democratic republic has been declared dead by observers on both sides of the political spectrum as the nation glides apathetically toward civil war. We enter 2022 with constitutional challenges to vaccine mandates, Roe v Wade, and even the mere discussion of race and gender as part of education.
Yet, politics goes on; a $1 trillion infrastructure bill was signed into law, and problems at the U.S.-Mexico border continue to define political battle lines. The rich grew ever richer during the pandemic, in part resulting in a taxpayer-subsidized, developmentally privatized space race between a trio of multi-gazillionaires: Amazon's Jeff Bezos, Tesla's Elon Musk, and Virgin's Richard Branson. On the other hand, NASA launched the James Webb Space Telescope on Christmas Day.
Meanwhile, COVID-19 continues to hospitalize and kill thousands in this country, due largely to libertarian resistance to vaccines, masks, and public health policies. California had its highest single-day infection rate just a few days after Christmas, a reflection of social distancing fatigue, stubborn individualism, and a virus that continues to find conditions ripe for evolution into ever more varied and virulent forms. According to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Tracker, there have been 287.6 million cases worldwide, with 5.4 million deaths. In the U.S., there have been 54.4 million cases with over 825,300 deaths. San Diego has seen 451,000 cases and over 4,400 deaths. These are direct COVID-19 deaths only, and do not include the countless thousands of people who died as a result of not being able to access needed medical care due to resources diverted to COVID-19.
We all got vaccinated as soon as we could, of course, and most of us have also had the booster. Our brush this year with COVID-19 was sort of remote, as Roy tested positive in a random check at school in Colorado. He was quarantined for ten days, but otherwise had only a few mild symptoms. He's also the only one in our immediate family who hasn't had the booster. His reasons are largely those of personal convenience and individualistism.
Global news include China crushing the last vestiges of a free press in Hong Kong, and Russia declaring a member of the punk band Pussy Riot a "foreign agent." The Summer Olympic Games were held in Tokyo. And the U.S. pulled precipitously out of Afghanistan, abandoning local allies to the Taliban.
Here in California, a recall election targeting governor Gavin Newsom fell short, and the Dixie Fire in Northern California burned over 1500 square miles and destroyed over 1,300 buildings.
Against all that chaos, our lives have been filled with quiet, steady progress. Note our new family portrait!
Leo (19) finally got started on his music production program at Point Blank Music School at the historic former Mack Sennett Studios in Los Angeles, long delayed by COVID-19. He moved into an UPstART shared housing facility in July, and is half-way through the program. He has enjoyed the classes, and is glad he waited to attend in-person. The shared housing thing got interesting, though, as the year wound down, with UPstART suddenly going ghost, the water and power shut off, and people continuing to live in the units. Leo is looking into alternative housing.
One of the things Leo has been doing, is cooking for himself and others. His go-to in L.A. has been massive pork burritos that he pre-makes and freezes for himself, but here at home he's made ramen, peanuty pork, fried chicken sandwiches, burritos, pizza, chicken teriyaki stir fry, and milk bread!
Roy (21) is nearly done with his BA in Marketing at University of Colorado, Colorado Springs! His job at the Ent Center has continued to keep him busy outside of schoolwork. This was the first semester he had a car with him, as we took over Grammy's Toyota Corolla in July. He continues to see his girlfriend, Danielle, and spends a lot of time with her and her family when he's in San Diego.
One new skill he learned and shared with us, was baking sourdough bread, as a marketing class project had him working on a plan to launch a starter with a celebrity connection. He showed us how to make the bread, and, although after baking upteen loaves of it with his student team he's sick of sourdough now, we love it!
Ondine has been at Kaiser for six years now. She's evolved her position into a hybrid model, making phone visits but also making in-person visits when needed.
She expanded her novella into a full-length novel, submitting it for a second round of sensitivity and beta readers. She also started an OWL newsletter for fellow writers, and has sent out a four or five editions. And, she had her first short story published, as part of the San Diego Decameron Project!
She's also been busy taking Barbara to all her appointments, including a study of a promising new blood infusion treatment for Alzheimer's Disease.
John started the year as a part-time anthropology student, and ended the year as a part-time assistant archaeologist! He had his first in-person class, a 4-unit field excavation class, which he loved. The class involved excavating at Rancho Penasquitos Adobe, and then cleaning and cataloging artifacts at the lab at the downtown campus. He has one class to go to finish his Certificate in Archaeology!
In 2021, John completed his AA in Anthropology at San Diego City College, won an archaeology scholarship, started an on-call job at NWB Environmental Services as an archaeological field technician, and started a second on-call job at ASM Affiliates as an assistant archaeologist! He also completed volunteer archaeological field technician training with the California State Parks Colorado Desert District, and was accepted to take the exam to be an Assistant State Archaeologist. Wow, he's a real (if low-level) archaeologist now!
Shadow had one stay at the dog hotel while we were in Monterey, where he got so anxious because of all the barking that he had to be taken to the vet! Sigh. He recovered just fine, there was nothing wrong with him. He also had his annual check-up, with a different vet at the same clinic, which went fine.
Travel-wise, Ondine, Roy, and Leo went camping at Sand Pond for nine days in June, where it was hot hot hot, and we had a relaxing four-day getaway to Monterey in October (a mood temporarily broken by calls from the PetSmart pet hotel about Shadow). We also had an Ishida clan gathering in August, the only one of 2021 and the first since the pandemic. That was the first time we'd met John's cousin Brian's bonus son Nigel and Nigel's family. We also went up to L.A. a few times to move Leo into his digs and to visit. John and Roy took a trip to L.A. in July to pick up the Toyota Corolla, staying at John's sister's house.
Otherwise, the world sort of came to us. A pair of hawks again raised a brace of hawklings in the tree behind out back yard. We had a houseguest from Germany, Schaho, who stayed with us for a few weeks while he attended SDSU. Schaho is a friend of Till, Ondine's friend Desiree's son. We saw Bea a couple times in 2021, first in February and then in November. John's Mom came to stay for a couple days over Thanksgiving so we got to share Thanksgiving with her and Barbara.
2021 gave us our first taste of being empty-nesters, if only for a few weeks. We went for walks, took the dog to dog beach, and ate whatever and whenever we wanted. It was so relaxing!
Departures in 2021 included John's Aunt Maria (Frances' sister), who died in October at the age of 100.
Arrivals included Santiago, John's nephew Andrew and his wife Salome's baby boy, born in March!
New acquisitions include Grammy's 2007 Toyota Corolla, which Roy has been using. We took it over in July, but the registration only got squared away last month. It has been a great car, sturdily getting him back and forth and all the way home despite snow and storms. Roy also bought himself a new high-end Alienware gaming desktop computer with a 27-inch monitor. Leo got a new phone, a Samsung Note20 Ultra 5G, in January, and in November John upgraded to the same phone. We also got a new Epson ET-2850 EcoTank network scanner/printer/copier, and a Netgear Nighthawk Tri-Band AX-8 wireless router. We also got new bamboo bedsheets, three new camping tents for Sand Pond, a Bissell Spinwave 28599 robotic vacuum cleaner, and Tilley hats. The boys got new passports. John got his dad's Parker 51 fountain pens restored and back in service, put new pedals on his exercise bike, and discovered Poshmark and Depop for used archaeology clothes.
Major discards include John shutting down his advertising business, turning away clients and, for the first time in 30+ years, not renewing his business tax certificate.
The short-term future holds a lot of milestones as this coming spring Roy graduates from UCCS, Leo completes his program at Point Blank, and John finishes his Certificate in Archaeology. All three will be on the hunt for jobs in their respective fields. We plan to travel to Colorado for Roy's graduation. We're determined to enjoy what empty-nest time we have, since it's highly likely we'll have a full house again come May.
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