1. What did you do in 2020 that you’d never done before?
Survived a pandemic?
2. Did you keep your new years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I don’t remember if I made resolutions, but I probably didn’t keep them. My 2021 resolution is to Do Better and get the vaccine the minute I’m allowed to.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
No?
4. Did anyone close to you die?
Yes, my dad’s dad, my last remaining grandparent died in February. There wasn’t a funeral, but I wish I’d made the trip up to Indiana to see my family. (In 2020 we also lost our Sadie Pot Pie but it feels rude to mention it at length)
5. What countries did you visit?
LOL. None. Fucking COVID.
7. What date from 2020 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
November 9, the day that the election was finally called.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Voting. Staying as outwardly positive as I could when Sadie died and Gene lost his job all on the same day. (That part was easy. I was still mourning Sadie the entire time Gene was out of work. I don’t care if that was misplaced sadness)
9. What was your biggest failure?
Not being demanding enough.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Not really. I was diagnosed late last year with fatty liver disease, which is a sight better than the original diagnosis (Hepatitis C).
11. What was the best thing you bought?
I bought a custom portrait of Scooby, Betty and Sadie. Well, I requested it. I have neither paid for nor received it but I am extremely excited about it.
12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Mine, dammit.
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Republicans. All of them. And if you’re a Republican and reading this, Fuck You!
14. Where did most of your money go?
Uber Eats.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Any day I was permitted to go into the office.
16. What song will always remind you of 2020?
Harry Styles’s Fine Line. I listened to it so many times while I was working, while I was relaxing, while I was trying to convince myself that it was bedtime. It has a recurring lyric “We’ll be all right” that I found extremely soothing.
17. Compared to this time last year, are you happier or sadder?
I’m sadder. In 2021, we’re moving again, away from the little friend-family group that we’ve built up here. We lost our Sadie Pot Pie.
18. Thinner or fatter?
Fatty fatty bo-ba-latty
19. Richer or poorer?
Same.
20. What do you wish you’d done more of?
I WISH I HAD BEEN ABLE TO LEAVE THE FUCKING HOUSE TO GO TO MY FUCKING JOB AND I WISH I’D BEEN ABLE TO GO TO INDIANA TO SEE MY FAMILY.
21. What do you wish you’d done less of?
SITTING IN MY GODDAMNED HOUSE
22. How will you be spending Christmas?
Xmas 2020: at home, just Gene and I and the dogs.
23. Did you fall in love in 2020?
Just with Soda Bear.
24. Any one night stands?
No, but we bought a new sofa! It has power foot rests and is marvelous.
25. What was your favorite TV program?
Ted Lasso.
26. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
No one new
27. What was the best book you read?
Oona Out of Order (a trippy time traveling book). The Idea of You (a book about a 40 year old fucking the 20 year old cutest, most erudite member of a British boy band).
28. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Harry Styles. His voice mostly never fails to calm me down when shit’s getting crazy.
29. What did you want and get?
My new refrigerator, stove, microwave and dishwasher.
30. What did you want and not get?
To see my family.
31. What was your favorite film of this year?
I saw shockingly few movies this year, so I would say the Bill & Ted’s movie.
32. What did you do on your birthday?
We had a nice dinner in. My plan for my birthday (March 22) was to get a massage and go to the Melting Pot and both were fucked up due to COVID.
33. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
If I could have seen my family.
34. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2020?
Hey, I change my yoga capris every other day!
35. What kept you sane?
Harry Styles. I just got home from buying a copy of his issue of Vogue.
36. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
See above. And also Don Henley, obviously. Some things never change.
37. What political issue stirred you the most?
The loss of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the despicable way her seat on the Supreme Court was filled so quickly. For a month or two before the election, I had to ban political YouTube videos because they were too upsetting to me. (And even now, I usually scroll Twitter while they’re on and if I happen to have a finger extended to use for scrolling?)
38. Who did you miss?
I miss Sadie Pot Pie. I miss my family. I miss my best friend. I miss my teammates.
39. Who was the best new person you met?
One of the temporary helpers we have during our data conversion is mostly lovely.
40. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2020:
If your grandpa dies and your entire family is at your parents’ house and you’re thinking “Hmm, I could get to Indiana for not a horrifying amount of money. Should I go?”, you must absolutely go in case a worldwide pandemic breaks out, forcing you to stay home for months.
41. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
Put a price on emotion, I’m looking for something to buy/You’ve got my devotion but man I can hate you sometimes (Fine Line, by Harry Styles)
42. (New Question for 2020) Hey Elaine, are you going through a midlife crisis, what with all of this pop music performed by a 26 year old?
Yes, I think so.