The 2024 Meme

I copped this meme from alicey long, long ago. And this year, I noticed daphnep had made some interesting additions. The last question is my own.

1. What did you do in 2024 that you'd never done before?

Saw the Northern Lights and a total solar eclipse. Hit a deer with my car.

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

Oh, I never make New Year’s resolutions.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

Not that I know of.

Ichabod’s X-girlfriend Liza—whom I used to refer to as “the future mother of my unborn grandchildren”—had her second baby. Yes, a tiny pang was felt.

4. Did anyone close to you die?

Not close to me, but definitely a member of the karass… Barbara Angell’s sister Janet. Barbara was devastated. My personal history with Janet was complicated on account of she had hired me to write one of her law school papers Back In the Day, and then she didn’t like what I wrote. Also, we both briefly dated this lawyer who was a dead ringer for Robert Downey Jr. back in his junkie days and who was also a junkie.

Did anyone close to you get married?

If they did, I was not invited.

5. What countries did you visit?

Sadly, I wasn’t able to exceed escape velocity in 2024.

6. What would you like to have in 2025 that you lacked in 2024?

Money!!!

7. What date from 2023 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

You know, in general, I don’t remember dates and anniversaries. Except for birthdays. Birthdays are big.

That said, on September 6th, Molly Coddle Cat took off on a one-month walkabout, and I almost had an attack of diarrhea in front of the ticket desk at the Hayden Planetarium.

“We can’t let you visit the planetarium without a ticket!” the ticket-heads kept telling me, and I kept telling them, “You don’t understand. I don’t want to visit the planetarium; I want to visit the bathroom. And if you don’t let me visit the bathroom, I am going to have disgusting, runny, smelly diarrhea all over this floor, and you are going to have to clean it up.”

In retrospect, this is not unamusing. But at the time, it was humiliating. Though, they did finally let me use the bathroom, so crisis averted.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Staying comparatively sane.

9. What was your biggest failure?

Oh, probably not making more money.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

Yes and no.

Like many other people who formerly worked in the healthcare industry, I loathe doctors. But Ichabod wanted me to check out long-term care insurance, and in order to do that, I had to get a physical. So, in January, I made my first visit to a doctor in over a decade.

First, my blood pressure in the MD’s office turned out to be so astronomically high that Dr. Gaunt (not her real name, but her real appearance!) seemed seriously worried that my head was going to explode. This was weird because, throughout most of my life, my blood pressure has been very low.

Then, my blood tests revealed that my cholesterol was high, and my thyroid hormones low. I was ultimately diagnosed with Hashimoto’s disease, an autoimmune condition, and put on synthetic thyroid hormones.

Thyroxine is actually one of the hormones that play a vital role in cholesterol metabolism: Without it, the liver won’t eliminate excess cholesterol. Once my serum thyroxine levels returned to semi-normal, my cholesterol went back down & my blood pressure dropped to normal—which is still high for me.

But, of course, I developed Hashimoto's prior to 2024.

11. What was the best thing you bought?.

My desk.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?

Barbara Angell. She was a really good friend to me this year. In May, when I was beating myself up over that first trip to California—which I made to talk Long-Ago Eleanor out of killing herself but which cost so damn much money ‘cause I did it on the spur of the moment with no planning & little or no heed to how much things cost—Barbara called me and talked to me for an hour and a half.

“You did a really good thing,” Barbara kept repeating. “A noble thing. You saw a friend was in trouble, and you tried to help—”

“Yes, but I was being manipulated,” I said.

“That’s not on you. That’s on her,” Barbara said.

True. But I was the one who had to pay the bills.

Barbara was also on hand for the planetarium diarrhea adventure, and again, she was infinitely reassuring.

Ichabod was also an incredibly thoughtful & supportive son this year.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

Long-Ago Eleanor. Though I think she’s mentally ill, so she can’t help her behavior.

Lois Lane. With whom I’d had concrete plans when I first decided I had to move from the Hyde Park house: We’ll pool our resources & get a place together. Then she got laid off. And I understand how getting laid off might change your relocation plans—only she didn’t tell me she was changing her plans, she ghosted me. This was not only anxiety-provoking, it was also hurtful since we were not just situational friends; we were real friends.

Stew. Who told Ichabod just before Thanksgiving that he never wanted to speak to or see me again. For absolutely no reason other than that I am Alicia’s cousin.

What all three of these situations have in common is that I went wayyyyyy out of my way to be supportive of these three people. Literally! I flew to California to talk Eleanor out of killing herself because suicide was not just some abstraction, she had a date and she had a plan, which she shared with me over the phone. “Promise me you won’t do anything till we can talk in person,” I begged. And then got off the phone & booked an outrageously expensive plane ticket.

And after Lois Lane quit Literacy Connections but before she snagged the (short-lived) dream job, I brought over a shopping bag of food every week, some from my garden and some from the supermarket, because I could tell she was going hungry. I didn't make a big deal out of it. I just brought it over to her apartment & left it there.

When Stew was going absolutely nuts over the Annie thing, I called him every day for two weeks straight and talked to him for hours. Because I didn’t want him to think he was totally alone & unloved.

I've let the situations with Eleanor & Lois Lane slide—because self-interest was a factor in both. I wanted to move & had these connections worked out, they would have worked out to my benefit. So, it wasn’t like I was being altogether selfless.

The connections did not work out; my self-interest was thwarted. I never want to see either of them again. Eleanor keeps making overtures—which I ignore. Radio silence from Lois Lane—but she is fully capable of making herself as miserable as I might wish her to be.

Stew is kinda/sorta family. It is very likely I will see Stew again at some point in the future, so I wrote him a note. Very short & to the point: My feelings were very hurt. I did nothing to deserve this.

He called yesterday. I was kinda shocked I debated for a few seconds but in the end, I picked up the phone. He rambled; I listened in stony silence. He began to cry. Uh-uh, I thought. “Sorry, Stew,” I said. “I have to go. Be well.”

14. Where did most of your money go?

Living expenses. Living in Wallkill is about 50 percent more expensive than living in Hyde Park was.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

Seems like there were things that excited me in 2024, but I can’t remember what they were right at this moment.

16. What song(s) will always remind you of 2024?

None.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:

I. Happier or sadder? About the same.

II. Thinner or fatter? Thinner.

III. Richer or poorer? Poorer.

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?

Traveling.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?

Feeling sorry for myself.

20. How did you spend Christmas?

Christmas was Not a Good Day. I whined about it fairly recently, so no need to whine about it here.

21. Did you fall in love in 2023?

No, but I did develop an intense one-month crush on my housemate-cum-landlord. Pheromones! He’s a complete dick, so I’m glad the crush lapsed. Still, the crush was entertaining, & I wouldn’t mind having one again on someone more appropriate.

22. How many one-night stands?

:::Falling off my chair, howling with laughter:::

23. What was your favorite TV program?

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. I would have imagined this novel to be impossible to film, but the BBC did a great job.

24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?

I have a naturally vindictive and grudge-harboring character, but I try very hard not to hate people. Hatred is toxic, and it inevitably leaks out of whatever psychic vessel you store it in. Then it contaminates all your thoughts.

25. What was the best book you read?

Kate Atkinson’s A God In Ruins.

26. What was your greatest musical discovery?

None.

27. What did you want and get?

Hmmmmm. It seems like I get things I want all the time. The Universe is kind to me. But offhand, I can’t remember what those things are.

28. What did you want and didn’t get?

Money!

29. What was your favorite film of this year?

La Chimera

30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

I don’t remember what I did on April 11, but the week before, I went up to Ithaca to view the eclipse. Met up with my BoyZ and lookfar and her crew. The visit was not entirely glitch-free but I had a fabulous time anyway.

31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

Money! Are you sensing a theme here?

32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2024?

I need to do something about my personal fashion concept. Synthroid made me lose a lot of weight, and seriously? I don’t have any pants that fit. So, I still kinda look like a bag lady.

33. What kept you sane?

I kept myself sane. At times, it was a struggle.

34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

Josh O’Connor. Tom Burke.

35. What political issue stirred you the most?

The American election.

36. Who did you miss?

Oh, I miss everyone I’ve ever known in brief spurts & flashes.

37. Who was the best new person you met?

Wasn’t a good year for meeting new people.

38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2024:

Attach your own oxygen mask first.

39. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:

None.

40. Post a picture of something that made you happy this year.



Lucy the Elephant, the ultimate roadside attraction!


41. Did you wrong or hurt somebody in 2024?

Not intentionally.

42. Is there some new place you are planning to visit in 2025?

India.

43. Where would you have wanted to go and did not in 2024?

India. Viet Nam. Cambodia.

44. Did you learn any new life skill in 2024?

No.

45. Any new food or drink preferences developed in 2024?

No.

46. What is your greatest fear for 2024?

That I won’t be able to earn enough money. That I’ll fall and break my hip. That I’ll develop dementia.

47. Did you follow any sports event in 2024?

Professional sports do not interest me in the slightest. I do enjoy some live sports, though.

48. Which social media did occupy most of your time in 2024?

Facebook.

49. Is there somebody you feel particularly grateful to this year?

Ichabod. He looks out for his Mama!

50. Five predictions for 2025

1. The U.S. will withdraw from the World Health Organization
2. The U.S. will withdraw from NATO
3. The Ukraine War will end. (Ukraine will cede Crimea.)
4. If the Affordable Care Act isn’t repealed, the part that covers accessible birth control & access to mifepristone and misoprostol will be repealed
3. Trump will die June/July 2026