Like many of you, we're having a hard time believing that it's March 2021. When the pandemic started, no one could have predicted that it would last so long, that we'd lose so much or all the other ways 2020 would demand our attention and call us to action. In addition to the more than half-a-million American lives taken by the coronavirus, there were major protests for racial justice, a presidential election, a rise in anti-Asian hate crimes and an attempted coup at the U.S. Capitol. Add to that the ongoing economic trauma of surviving a once-in-a-generation crisis with little to no aid, and it's no wonder most of us are exhausted and are finding it hard to process the past 12 months.
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I will forever be grateful for the This year has been long enough that I managed to get in shape (for the first time in years) and out of shape. Weird flex, I know.
To do so, we asked ourselves, plus our friends and followers, a series of questions about what they did and didn't do this past year—like what made you irrationally angry, what did you binge and what or who did you miss? We promised to publish everything anonymously so we'd get more honest replies, and we combed through the responses for the ones that felt relatable and made us laugh out loud. That’s just what we need right now, you know? We hope these confessions and rants make you say "It me!” at least once. We also hope that the optimism we’re feeling every time someone we know shares a vaccine selfie becomes more frequent. We all need that. {in}
Here at Inweekly, we debated a few different ways to look back, and honestly, any attempt at summarizing the year just made us mad and really, really sad—mad because it didn't have to get this bad and sad because we personally lost loved ones, people we love lost loved ones and we know that grief is being felt by countless others around the world too. So we decided not to do it. There are going to be more than enough COVID think-pieces and timelines published this month anyway. Instead, we opted to use this, our one-year anniversary of shit-getting-scary issue, to reflect on our time in quarantine (or our time of staying home a little more than usual, depending on how much you heeded CDC recommendations).
c ke r .. .
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I secretly love being able to pretend my usual adult acne is maskne.
I went without wearing socks or underwear.
Ugh, Facebook. I unfollowed my brother-in-law, sister-in-law and my sister. I have zero regrets. March 18, 2021
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live music?
Y'all remember
I realized I know a lot of assholes. (And if you're wondering if I'm talking about you, I probably am.)
Yeah, me neither.
I broke up with coffee and fell in love with hot tea.
Comfort food & comfort shows that's how I made it through.
Anybody else order two entrees (you know, to reach the delivery minimum) with plans to save one for lunch the next day but just end up eating them both straight away?
Sourdough starters are supposedly really hard to kill, right? Not for me.
Very proud to say I shaved some minutes off my Rubik's Cube time.
God, I miss
I binged old shows with a sense of urgency that made zero sense.
What did you totally forget about? Pants.
The first week of the stay-at-home order, I was drinking morning margaritas while I waited for my coffee to brew. Yikes, huh?
I finally quit Facebook and I sleep better because of it.
Like, I already know who Gossip Girl is, but that didn't seem to matter at 3 a.m. when I was just two episodes away from the reveal.
I bought yellow curry paste in April to learn to make one of my all-time favorites at home.
I still haven't opened it.
I learned that I really miss malls; I hated them before the pandemic. I know "Emily in Paris" was trash. But I watched all 10 episodes. Twice.
Oh, let me tell you about the violin I bought on wish.com and touched once...
Nachos were an every-night ordeal.
Not the good nachos either—I'm talking tortilla chips, taco sauce, sharp cheddar, baked in the microwave and served with a sour cream chaser. Those nachos held my hand while I cried my way through "Grey's Anatomy" or when I was swooning over Wayne from "Letterkenny." 212 1
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Dating is a skill and, man, spending a year on the bench has made me rusty.
Remember when Zoom happy hour was kind of fun? Those were the days.
Taylor Swift will forever remember quarantine as a time when she made two amazing records. I will forever remember quarantine as a time when I listened to those records every damn day.
It wasn't planned or an official taste test or anything, but I definitely tried all the different Cheez-It types. My unofficial results? Glad you asked! The Extra Toasty ones are amazing, especially when tossed in hot sauce, and the Cheese Pizza ones are nasty AF.
Yes,
I had more time at home to cook.
If you didn't show up, at least once, to the Graffiti Bridge protests this summer, I probably won't show up for you anymore.
No,
I still don't want to do it.
Working from home 100% solidified the reality that I love my coworkers … but that I love them even more from afar.
I LEARNED TO SAY "NO."
I've always been bad at it, but here's hoping I'm better going forward, even when I can no longer use the pandemic as my reason.
I felt personally attacked every single week my iPhone told me my screen time usage was up.
I miss going out for
"just one drink" after work and ending up on the Seville Quarter dance floor at 2 a.m.
I won't be mad if
buy-it-for-yourself and eat-it-all-by-your-damn-self birthday cakes remain socially acceptable after this.
I will forever be mad at 2020 for a million things, and taking Chadwick Boseman will forever be one of them. March 18, 2021
What "old" thing did you fall in love with again?
My husband.*
*We got this answer four times—four! So husbands, considered yourself loved … but also on notice. 13