Well, we’re heading to 2023. This year has been a good one, with things getting back to normal. Still, though, I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve dined indoors. Something along the lines of five, and one was a business lunch. My husband and I are now double boosted (including the bivalent vaccine) and my son is fully vaxxed. We even got Covid ourselves, back in July (so before the bivalent. And our little guy wasn’t yet vaxxed at that time). It wasn’t bad for us. I was “sick” for, perhaps, half a day – had chills. That was pretty much it. Though it didn’t help that we were isolating during that Rogers outage. At least I found my old boom box. That was pretty much our only connection to the outside world.
Jr. Mintz started Junio Kindergarten this past September, and if you heard the holiday episode of Cynthia Talks Life, you’d know that he’s doing very well. He’s only four years old and can already read simple sentences. The school teaches using phonics, which really helps. The only thing we need to see is whether he retains what he reads once we get to more complicated books. Some people have a harder time doing that. I think it’s mostly people who get bored easily.
So what am I looking forward to in 2023? Even more normalcy! I want to take Jr. Mintz to the Ex in August – I had thought about going this year, but it was a bit too soon. But 2023? It shouldn’t be a problem then. I’m also hoping to do more indoor dining, though I’m unsure whether my husband and I would be going out for Valentine’s Day. We are definitely going to be celebrating the Lunar New Year at the CN Tower this year, however – the annual “Spin of Prosperity” dinner which has been on hold during the pandemic. The last time we went up was in 2020! The only question is whether Jr. Mintz can sit still for the entire 70 minutes for the full circumference.
Globally, I hope inflation, especially food inflation doesn’t go up too much. Groceries are already expensive as is, and it’s sad to see people who have always been able to put food on the table to have to struggle and make cuts. And the increased likelihood of a recession doesn’t help. I feel for those in tech and finance. Globally, I’m hoping for more harmony. I want the war in Ukraine to end. I hope that people in China are able to be more “normal” after three years of living more or less like hermits (especially in larger urban centres where lockdowns kept on occurring). I can’t imagine the state of these people’s mental health. Very sad. Especially for children.
For me, I’m, once again, trying to decrease my time on social media. And maybe do another Facebook friends purge. Many of my so-called have become so “woke” and politically correct that they are doing more harm than good. Some of their comments about being more “inclusive” by explicitly noting various ethnic groups feels very “othering” to me. To be honest, I avoid anything that has this kind of note. It’s disgusting to me, sick to my stomach, even. And when people tell me that I need to “shut up” (well, not in those words, necessarily, though it’s happened before) and give other people a chance to talk, well, you actually AREN’T giving me a chance. And it’s not like the kind of voice I have/my stories and experiences are super-mainstream to begin with. So why not listen? All stories matter. There’s a reason why I have a podcast.
Speaking of podcasts, I admit that I have been a bit lazy with Cynthia Talks Life. I really need to drop more episodes. I know I’ve said that I’m going to take it to Reels more, but the lack of time – ranging from work to my son being in kindergarten and trying to sign him up for extra-curricular activities (while at the same time, not overwhelming him) takes over. I guess I need to be more organized, too.
Anyway, that’s it for 2022! Happy New Year, everyone!
