Time to get back on this blog. Time to get on the year-in-review post, before anything else. Summary: 2021 was a lot better for me than 2020 was, even if the rest of the world continued to spiral into insanity. Let’s dive into the reasons why.
Remember how I had that sinus infection starting in fall 2019? In September 2020 I saw an ENT and got treated for the throat irritation that was causing it. The medication started to slowly work. Then in February 2021 I got COVID-19. COVID the first time–it did weird things to my brain. But after I got over COVID I started to feel better overall. Less sinusy. I felt well enough to go start doing things. So that made a huge difference.
I still spent way too much time in bed I had a bad habit of binging political commentary videos while playing solitaire on an electronic device, even when I was healthy. One of my New Years resolutions is to cut it out–I do think it is very important for me to make sense of the current issues, but the way I was doing it was not contributing to my overall wellness, I think. Seven days out, I haven’t relapsed. Now to fix my sleep schedule.
I also discovered online gaming this year. My new touch-screen computer is great for it. I love Among Us way too much, but I’m glad that it’s something that I can do with my brothers once in a while. I’m a good crewmate but unfortunately I’m a terrible imposter…but there’s room to grow. I also enjoy playing Settlers of Catan and Risk online. Pro tip: if you want to get good at a board game, play an online version for practice in your spare time.
From late February to early November I participated in a wellness study run through BYU. It was a bit challenging because I had to fill out a wellness survey every morning (or whenever I got up) and evening. I also had to wear a watch-type Fitbit device that kept track of my health stats 24/7. But the aim of the study was to learn about the wellness habits of young adults on the autism spectrum, so I am happy to have contributed to that as well as to have picked up some generous compensation.
The Year in Films and TV
I only wrote literally ten (10) blog posts in 2021. That’s kind of a shame because it was a pretty good year for entertainment. 2021 was just a good year for entertainment period because the stuff we were supposed to get in 2020 that got delayed finally came out, and Hollywood also figured out how to do reasonable COVID-19 safety measures on set to the extent that they can film things in-person. So stuff is coming down the pipe.
This year, my family and I got into the habit of watching the new episodes of each Disney+ series every time they come out. The fam is literally a peanut gallery but it’s still good bonding time.
For reasons that I would rather not get into here, I was disappointed with The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (but let’s face it, considering how obsessed I was before with Bucky there only a 30% chance it wasn’t going to disappoint me). I haven’t seen Eternals yet and I’m hearing mostly bad reviews. I haven’t seen Spider-Man: No Way Home yet. Probably this weekend.
But everything else that Marvel Studios put out in 2021 was FANTASTIC. Loki was probably the best series, some brilliant writing there, but the Hawkeye series last month was a lot of fun. I hate to say ‘stay posted for reviews’, but hopefully this is the last time I’ll say it.
I made a Scarlet Witch costume (and matching red cloak) that I hadn’t been planning on. I enjoyed WandaVision THAT much.
Season Two of The Chosen was also great. Can’t wait to rewatch it for the review.
I didn’t watch other TV shows as much as I would have wanted. I did see Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure, though. That was a good decision.
I’ve also been enjoying my first year as a fan of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Believe me, sometimes my siblings will start conversations about random stuff I haven’t seen at dinner for no reason, and it’s nice to understand what they’re talking about if they decide to talk about ATLA.
I did make an honest attempt to start watching Chuck, but it was a little too lewd for my taste and part way after starting season two I realized I wasn’t into it.
My brother David rewatched several Star Trek series last summer. I decided to watch with him, partly to see if I could validate my reasons for not liking Star Trek in the first place, partly because I’m lazy and I have a hard time ignoring whatever it is my family members will watch in the living room (unless I have a really, really good reason). Surprising to say, I enjoyed the parts of Deep Space Nine and Voyager that I saw. I’ve been meaning to write to this blog about how much I respect Star Trek as a fandom to begin with so now it looks like that essay will have a little bit more meat.
Books I Read in 2021
Okay I didn’t do that much reading as far as new or old books, but the books I did read were PRETTY AWESOME, and as it turns out most of them were vintage.
The Feral Child
First, briefly, let me talk about the one good contemporary book I enjoyed, The Feral Child by Che Golden. I got this book and a selection of other works at Dollar Tree. You don’t think Dollar Tree books are going to be good, or they’re a market for authors who can’t get published anywhere else. But The Feral Child was a good-old fantasy adventure based on ancient Irish and Celtic mythology–you have no idea how much I needed that, even I had no idea. It was a little slow getting into but the further I got into it the better it was.
The Kenneth Roberts Adventures
The books that I read for the first time this year that I read this year and enjoyed the most were Arundel and Rabble in Arms by Kenneth Roberts, written in the 1930s. These are actually two of my dad’s favorite books, and late in 2020 he just ordered copies as part of a set of Roberts’ other works.
Something I never mentioned in my Benedict Arnold obsession-confess-all blog post in the fall of 2020 is that my father actually tolerated my antics during the worst part of the Arnold phase I went through in eighth grade (eighth grade is just difficult for me to talk about). When my dad was younger, he had an interest in American military history and he has several books about the American Revolution. So him being a fan of Kenneth Roberts’ works ties into that. Call him a low-key enabler.
More recently, Dad mentioned to me in passing as he was re-reading Roberts’ works that Benedict Arnold was a historical figure who appeared in Arundel and Rabble in Arms and I should read them.
What dad didn’t tell me was that SENPAI WAS A MAIN FRIGGIN CHARACTER (*flailing arms*).
Don’t worry: I didn’t skip the parts that didn’t have Arnold in them. The fictional characters are entertaining in their own right and have an interesting story arc that ties into the historical events. Some of them are complete weirdos, even by modern standards. I was amused enough that after I’d finished reading the books I came up with a set of memes.
But Roberts does Senpai justice and it’s beautiful to read.
I came up with a celebrity fan cast to help me visualize the characters while I was reading and the only thing I absolutely NEED to keep from my list for the miniseries is Chris Pratt to play Cap Huff.
I need to rant a little bit more about Arnold for a bit.
I sent an e-mail a Kenneth Roberts biographer/expert and I asked about why Roberts was so into Benedict Arnold. The expert said that Roberts wanted to portray the history of the events he was depicting accurately, and to do so he needed to address Benedict Arnold accurately–and by that discarding the judgments passed by generations of other historians because of his treason and recognizing Arnold’s contributions before that point.
Let me summarize: the campaigns that Roberts depicts in Arundel and Rabble in Arms–basically Arnold’s activity from the march to Quebec through Saratoga–were Arnold’s major contributions to the American side. When Washington and other Continental generals faced horrible setbacks in their attempts to fight the British, Arnold’s personal daring and strong leadership helped other American efforts to defend our infant country to succeed. Arnold had Washington’s back well before he was trying to stab it.
Kenneth Roberts’ fictional protagonists saw Benedict Arnold at his best. They saw Arnold for the hero–and good man, even–that he was. And Roberts used them to demonstrate that he was adored by the soldiers who fought for him, even as Arnold was actively undermined by the petty jealousy of people in authority who should have supported him.
Whereas Liberty’s Kids still portrays Arnold, Washington, and other historical figures of the revolution as larger-than-life (or parental figures) because its protagonists are, well, children, Arundel and Rabble-in-Arms show Arnold as a leader but also a peer and an adult friend of Roberts’ adventurers: he shows them personal favors, he even gives them relationship advice. In turn, the heroes help Arnold with his military campaigns. The mutual amiability only leads to Cap Huff, Peter Merrill, and Steven Nason and company to respect Arnold even more.
Roberts’ ordinary heroes–I think of them as Arnold’s Proud Boys–represent the literal blood, sweat, and tears that ordinary men put into the effort to build our country under the leadership of America’s founding military leaders as all of them faced daunting odds and critical setbacks. And they make a good argument that Arnold’s contribution to the American cause before he betrayed it should not be forgotten. To use a slang term I learned this year, that is BASED.
The Space Trilogy by C.S. Lewis
I’ve been meaning to read these books for years, along with Lewis’ nonfiction. I found the first book, Out of the Silent Planet at a local thrift store and I decided to splurge on it. I was absolutely captivated. Narnia is good but the Space Trilogy in comparison is like the fabric section of JoAnns’ in comparison to the one at Walmart. Lewis’ storytelling is amazing, and his worldbuilding shows, if nothing else, that he was friends with J.R.R. Tolkien. That was my impression for the first book. The trilogy as a whole also showcases Lewis as a medievalist, a mythology fan, and, of course, a Christian writer.
I ordered a three-in-one volume of the trilogy on Amazon to finish out my reading experience. The other two books of the trilogy are kind of a letdown in comparison to the first one, because I was expecting more of the same style of story. For Perelandra, I think Lewis was exploring themes other than straight-up fantasy worldbuilding. That’s not to say, however, that Perelandra is boring. What he does is still pretty impressive: I’d use the words “raw” and “spectacular” here.
The third book (That Hideous Strength) felt like a British version of Atlas Shrugged, laced with some nightmare horror but definitely also an emphasis on mythology (but Atlas Shrugged has its horror moments too). It’s not what you would expect from a modern book of the same genre or even from a Narnia adventure. However, Lewis’ foresight of the issues that plague today’s world is almost spot-on.
The Space Trilogy as a whole is not a standard science fiction series like the pulp sci-fi of the era that produced it. Even if you go into it expecting a story that is just standard sci-fi with good writing, you can’t quite predict where the action is going to turn next, or if it will pause to explore some moral or spiritual point. However, I did fan-cast Tom Hiddleston as Ransom while I was reading it, and I think that was a good choice.
I’ll never think of Mars the same way again. Or C.S. Lewis.
Progress in Cosplay
Since I felt well enough on a consistent basis, I did a lot of sewing this year. Most of it was on costume stuff–some of those costumes I have been planning for years.
While I work on sewing projects (as well as making those little felt sharks that have been such a big hit) I have been watching documentaries, most of them about history and as many as I can find are about the middle ages. So I’ve been feeling my inner medievalist revive, and I do have a slate of medieval costumes I would like to make if I get the chance.
Last fall after I finished the Scarlet Witch I did make a kirtle and gown, ninth century, for Helena Ravenclaw (Hogwarts founder Rowena’s daughter). I’m going to do Rowena this year. And the diadem. I have material. I did Rowena Ravenclaw for Halloween about thirteen-ish years ago and I’m dying to do a proper medieval version. And this year while I’m at it I’m going to re-read Harry Potter because screw the SJWs.
My biggest achievement this last year, as far as cosplay? BELLE.
Rough Landing
The last thing I worked on last year was a “birthday dress”–a medieval t-dress and bliaut, all in green. A gift to myself for my thirtieth birthday, right? I had leftover material from McGonagall that I put to use for the gown. Unfortunately, right around Thanksgiving I got sick and it turned out to be COVID-19. Again.
And then four days after my birthday, I woke up with a weird pain in my side. I had the intuition to go to the hospital to get the pain in my side examined. It was appendicitis. The doctors caught it just in time. Recovery was painful, not going to sugarcoat it. But I was able to eat regular food for Christmas dinner. So no big parties for my 30th birthday. And no new celebratory dress until after the fact. But I’m alive and I made it through. There were a lot of blessings in that experience.
I wasn’t able to go to any conventions this year. I was planning on going to FanX Salt Lake sadly at one point but then my extended family in Utah (whom I would have stayed with) came down with COVID and after that it just didn’t make sense for me to go.
Yeah, the rest of the world freaking out about a pandemic is one thing. Me actually catching the disease and then family members catching it is something else. I can promise you that the (Modena) vaccine worked for me and my immediate family. It’s 100% your decision to take it, ask your doctor if it’s right for you first. In the meantime, I still believe that it is not my job to judge or blame people who don’t wear masks or get the vaccine.
However, my dad’s family did have a family reunion in Wyoming this summer. It was loads of fun, apart from the fact that I was tired most of the time and caught a slight cold. There was plenty of spending time with extended family back home in Arizona too. I learned to kayak, and it’s definitely something I want to consider turning into a hobby.
Pressing Toward the Prize
In spite of a few setbacks, looking back at 2021 I feel like I started taking steps towards actually doing things that I have talked about and dreamed about doing. It’s a good feeling. In 2022 I’m going to continue that trend and go even farther. Particularly in the cosplay department. Expect more sharks, and in-person.
As far as this blog goes, expect lots of reviews and me playing catch-up on everything that came out last year, and also more anniversary posts.
Sometimes I do wonder what the point of this blog is. But then I remember that if I want to be a writer, I need to keep writing. A very tall British actor who played a dwarf told me to write every day. So this blog is what is going to keep me writing, especially when I have inspiration for nothing else.
Any other writing projects? Well, when there is something to report I’ll share it.
I have started to realize that being an independent adult as well as a person that can achieve their goals is a feasible possibility. All I have to do is find the right way to move forward, and by that I mostly mean find a stable job so I can buy a car and move out again. Maybe a writing project will have something to do with it.
All I have to do is to act. And persist.
Do I like something? Do I enjoy something? Am I even obsessed with the thing? That’s great. Let me use that enjoyment and passion to drive myself to accomplish. Let it take me to explore the world, to stretch my mind, to strengthen my body if I can. I want to put that energy towards becoming something.
In dealing with the calamities of the day and age we live in, there’s a quote from The Avengers (2012) that has that covered:
“Until such a time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on.”
The Apprentice Chronicles 
Leave a comment