Write. Read. Repeat.

New year, same busy ass life.

It is currently 5:57pm on December 31st, 2024. I hate to name some cliche like “oh what a year it has been”, but damn…what a year it has been.

My house flooded due to a burst pipe.

I went to Japan and had an amazing time being able to explore a new country.

I went back to college full-force, and while it has been stressful at times, each new quarter only reminds me just how worth it it will be in the end.

I read 28 books, only two shy of my goal for the year.

My heart dog got bone cancer and lost her leg, though she hops around here like it never happened.

One of my cats has been absolutely crushing his diabetes though his heart murmur went up two grades.

My other cat has been more loving in the last six months than she has in the last six years.

My husband has been able to come home more, though once for a funeral and it never feels like enough time together.

I have somehow managed to go to school full time and work full time without going more crazy than I already am.

However, through all these ups and downs, 2024 has been the best year in well… years.

While I am not one to put a lot of weight into making New Year resolutions, I do have a few.

1. Go to the damn gym more (a classic, I know).
2. Finish my Associates.
3. Actually read 30 books this year.
4. Not be so terrified by not knowing where to and how many times we will move this year.
5. Write. Every day. Even if it is a single, bullshit line.
6. Stop hating life so much.

It’s that last one that will honestly be the hardest. I have lived my life as a pessimist, and while I do not seem myself becoming a bubbly bitch who loves everyone and everything, getting my anger and hate for the human race under control is at least a step in the right direction.

One of my first exercises for my anthropology class is to write an introduction by answering the main question “what in your life has made you the person you are today”. I was slightly surprised by my answer.

As students and lovers of literature, we become obsessed with characters and the people who write them. So in my effort to back track on all the hate for people I have collected through my time of trying to reverse the damage people have caused to animals, I want to understand people as a whole. To be good at analyzing literature, you must have an idea of and interest in the human condition. What better way, as a science-based person, to learn about humans than to study them?

All the classes I take, I try to tailor them to what will help me become a better reader, writer, and person. So, in this self-evolution, I enrolled in this anthropology class.

While I cannot say if I ever will ever be comfortable with not hating humans on sight, or what 2025 will hold, I will do my best to keep my eyes and mind open to the world around me. If any one is to have any kind of New Year resolution, let it be an unbiased-as-possible curiosity into the people around you.

Let it be understanding first, not judgement.