Do you remember we were standing here a year ago?
Our minds were racing and time went slow
If there was trouble in the world we didn’t know
If we had a care, it didn’t show
But now I worry our horizon’s bear nothing new
‘Cause I get this feeling and maybe you get it, too
We’re on a rollercoaster stuck on its loop-de-loop
‘Cause what we did one day on a whim
Has slowly become all we do
– Tame Impala – One More Year: A song that’s ostensibly not about COVID-19 but might as well be.
It’s been a year since the COVID-19 pandemic hit North America and destabilized the notion of “normal” life. And the ensuing year is a strange one to look back on.
In one sense, it feels as though nothing of note happened from March 2020 until now. But in reviewing my blog archives, that doesn’t seem to be the case. Here’s a short review.
- At the start of 2021, I unknowingly picked possibly the worst time in the 20th-21st century history of automobiles to learn how to drive and get my license. Thankfully, I ended up passing my test and becoming a certified road killer after months of waiting
- With more time at home, I got back into World of Warcraft, promptly got back out, craved something new, and then, in the absence of any viable alternative MMORPG, got back in for Shadowlands
- I doubled-down on gaming at home and got a new NZXT BLD gaming PC. It kicked ass (and still does)
- Not being able to exercise at the gym mostly sucked. But soon enough, I reinvented my routine at home and began lifting household items like bags of cat food and canned goods before graduating to weight plates
- Cyberpunk 2077 released. I played it and was mostly disappointed but appreciated some aspects of what it did. Later, I mused about the game’s over-reliance on filler content.
- Due to social restrictions, financing my life in one of the most expensive cities in the world during a pandemic began to feel not only completely and utterly pointless, but like a raw deal. The more I dug into the Canadian housing crisis, the more frustrated I became. Like many — and as someone who can ostensibly live as a digital nomad — I explored possibilities of living elsewhere and being able to afford more
- In the absence of Other Shit to Do, I found a new hobby in car detailing
I hope you’ve enjoyed this post! I strive to write & post something new at Digital Visceral at least once a week. If you liked what you read, you can get updates whenever I post by clicking the button below. Feeling extra generous? You can buy me a coffee here!
