(no subject)

[girlofprey]

There will not be a Slashies tonight, as there are so few entries it wouldn't really be a competition. However, here's a recap of my year:

• I went to RHS Harlow Carr in January, and I really enjoyed it. I liked the winter-scented garden, I liked the pine forest section, I liked the colourful winter willow plants. It was a trip to get there, but I really liked it, and genuinely considered/am considering becoming a member of the RHS.



• I don't think I got into perfume this year - I'm pretty sure that was from displays for last Christmas - but I really continued my interest in it. I discovered Penhaligons early on in the year, and Much Ado About the Duke, which if I ever get the nerve up to buy it, I think will be one of my favourite perfumes ever. And I discovered a bunch of places in Leeds where you can go test the perfumes they often sell online without samples - like Maison de Dior - and that was really helpful. Things got harder after it became more difficult to go out to shops to smell perfume, but I'm looking forward to taking advantage of the resources in years to come. And just this week, I found that a perfume I'd been interested in was on sale, and I could get it at a price I was comfortable paying for something I'd never smelt, so I count this as a success.



• I reorganised at least part of my bedroom. I bought my beautiful chair, which I love, and got rid of my desk and learned to do without that extra surface space. I'm extremely happy I did that as well.



• And bought the cool music centre, and got given all my dad's old vinyl records. I'm annoyed by the clicking of the CD player, but given the state of things I think I'm going to learn to live with it. And it doesn't make CDs unbearable.



• I finished going through my CDs, for which ones I wanted to get rid of! Calloo callay. That was a job that was 'to do' for a few years now. I kept probably too many, but at least no longer have any CDs I've never listened to and am not sure I'm that interested in. Now I have either listened to them, or I am definitely interested in them despite never having listened to them. And I'm glad to have the job done with.



• I discovered that Chester Zoo do 'one-on-one experiences' with the spotted hyenas they have there. I'm also very excited to do that when I next get the chance.



• And then! It turned out that there were spotted hyenas at Yorkshire Wildlife Park, which is about half an hour's drive from me! And they had babies! Which are very rare for hyenas in captivity. I assume my love made it happen.



• I got to see Blu Cantrell in concert. And Salt'n'Pepa, and Shaggy, and Nelly. It was a pretty cool night.



• I started going on more walks with the dog and mum. The dog in general is getting more walks than he's ever gotten. He's started to look for if I have socks on whenever I come down the stairs, and when I do have them on he starts twirling around. We also learned that we can let him off the lead, sometimes, if there are no distractions around, and he will come back and let us put it back on him when we're done. And sometimes he even listens to us while he's off the lead. Our bonding is up about 500% from where it was last year.



• Mum and I saw rabbits very regularly in a particular field near us, to the point that I started calling them Fiver and Hazel. I saw a skylark flying over the field once, singing. I've seen goldfinches and great tits in the wild, near us, which I previously only did on random trips through the countryside, and at bird sanctuaries. Once we saw the tail of a fox, plain as day, down one of the paths we used to walk down. I've seen sparrowhawks fluttering over the fields we walk past, a heron in a stream after the council cleared the brambles away from it, I'm pretty sure I saw a merlin resting on a pylon briefly, and last week I'm fairly certain we saw the sparrowhawk resting in a tree along our usual path, and then a buzzard flying overhead hunting pigeons. Our dog found a frog in a field, far away from any water hole I know about. We found a baby mouse on a path, and shielded it from the blazing summer sunshine that seemed to be blinding it, until it could get to the grass at the side of the path.



• Here are the plants I've started loving over this year: tufted vetch, forget-me-nots, pink and white -striped field bindweed, field scabious, aster, toadflax, hawthorn in the winter and autumn. I learned that the garden flower I love that drapes over people's walls is wisteria. Add to poppies, and wild roses, and bluebells, and foxgloves, which I already loved. I saw a field full of I think lupins in the summer, and it was like looking into another world.



• I love jewellery. Got into the wonderful world of just gemstone jewellery on Etsy. Bought some. Maybe too much. Re-confirmed my love of amazonite and garnet, and padparadscha sapphires. Discovered grandidierite, tanzanite, bumblebee jasper, poppy jasper, Montana sapphire, and apatite. Among many others.



• Ghost of Tsushima came out. It was a pretty good video game. I shipped people in it. Assassin's Creed: Valhalla came out. It is a pretty good video game. I shipped people in it.



• Sony gave me the kind of superlative media experiences I only really experience from them, in the form of the Playstation 5 Reveal Event in June, and the Playstation 5 Showcase in September. Both made me feel like I wanted to jump out of my chair, particularly the June one. To anyone who is not a huge Playsation fan, the constant symbols may look a bit culty, and it is, but if you're in the cult it's overwhelming.



• The Playstation 5 released, despite fears production would be compromised. And it is great, despite people's fears that it wouldn't be. And I got one, which not everyone can say. I love my local games shop, very very much.



• I restarted and finished Project Zero 5: Maiden of Black Water, a game I bought and first started 5 years ago. The only Project Zero game I've managed to actually play. It was good. I'm glad I finished it. The ending was beautiful, in that bittersweet way that Project Zero games have. There were pretty people in it, and I shipped people in it.



• This has gone past midnight. Whoops.



• We had Women's Month, in August. I didn't do everything I intended to do personally that month, but I was pretty proud of what I did do.



• One thing I did do, personally, was rewatch the 2016 Ghostbusters film. I love that film. It was a great film. I love Kirsten Wiig.



• Recent Youtube recommendations also led me to SNL's The Californians. I love Kirsten Wiig, and apparently also that man who plays Stuart.



• And the woman who plays the maid.



• I discovered how marvellous Paul McCartney is.



• Georgia turned blue. Never forget.



• Chadwick Boseman died, and that was really sad, but I found myself incredibly touched by the story of his last few years. As someone with OCD and hypochondria, and a distinct fear of dying of cancer, I honestly couldn't imagine anything but despair, and the last few years of your life ruined if you got a cancer diagnosis. But Chadwick Boseman just kept on working, and didn't tell anyone, and did beautiful, light-hearted human work. I'm not a fan of the Marvel films, but Black Panther was one of the ones I did enjoy and would call a good film, and a lot of it's because of T'Challa and his story. The idea that you could just carry on, and do good work, and develop friendships and be good friends with people even while dying - never seemed that real to me before Chadwick Boseman died. And now it does.



• I got into wrestling early into the year. I sort of fell out of it after they started putting on shows without crowds - maybe because there were no crowds, or maybe just naturally - but I really did enjoy it and intend to get back into it at some point. That was a nice new thing.



• I think I also started watching Kritter Klub this year, a channel about animals and animal rescues in South Korea. Some of their videos are a hard watch - I don't think they have animal cruelty laws for strays in South Korea - but some of them are so lovely, and it's become a go-to channel for me throughout the year. I learned about wonderful, terrible cross-breeds of dogs, like maltese and husky, and retriever and whatever that small dog is (turn on CCs for the full stories). Nature is magical. I also started watching The Dodo regularly. Some of their videos are a bit twee, but some are also really lovely. I recommend Possum surprise in a cupboard.

I don't really believe in being like "fuck 2020, and good riddance!", because I feel like for the past few years everyone's been like "thank god that year's over, bring on the next one!". And now this. We really don't know what's coming in 2021. But here is hoping for more good things.