2021 In Review

 

I only realized last night that tonight is New Year's Eve, so here's the annual review.

While not the greatest year, 2021 was at least a lot less apocalyptic than 2020 and provided a little more opportunity to do a few things.

I was able to meet all the goals I had set back in January, with the exception of physically going back to work. Although, I was at least able to enjoy a Christmas lunch with several coworkers recently.

I was able to get a real haircut, browse through a bookstore for a while and, thankfully, see a movie in theatre! It took until just last week, but I got to travel and see my family again. And, of course, I got both COVID vaccines (with a third coming, hopefully early in the New Year).

Like in 2020, I did A LOT of writing this year. Most of it was just for fun, like creating my own fictional Pokémon game and expanding the Scooterverse, but I also decided to do some serious writing again too, with another big series for the blog, a five-year plan, and a post I decided to submit to The Mighty (which didn't end up getting published). 

Aside from work, a COVID booster, and seeing the new Spiderman movie, I have no clue what 2022 will bring and, frankly, I'm setting the bar low. Just need to be optimistic.

Cheers and Happy New Year's!

Christmas 2021

 

Back to work today, so Christmas holidays are officially at an end. It was an enjoyable break, and timed perfectly, considering how things are at the moment.

Things kicked off with my first trip/flight/visit with my grandparents in two whole years! I'll be honest, I was really scared about travelling the handful of days leading up to our departure, but Ottawa's airport was great, everything felt safe and, other than a bumpy landing, we had a nice flight to Halifax. 

The first day of our vacation, we went to visit my Nanny Perkins (Mom's mom). Not having seen her in two years, I got a bit emotional (this would happen a few times throughout the week). After sitting around and chatting for a few hours, we treated my grandmother/she treated us to dinner. After that, we drove around looking at all the Christmas lights, and got the usual "tour" of where everyone was born, lived, worked, went to day care, etc.

The next day, we made use of our rental's snow tires during the vacation's one day of Winter weather in order to visit with my Grammy and Grampy MacLellan, as well as my Uncle Sean (Dad's parents, brother) for a big Christmas dinner.

The day after, my sister and I spent time with my Nanny while our parents ran some errands. For dinner, I got to enjoy one of my two "asks" for the trip: fried clams, something I'd been waiting two whole years for!

For our final day on the East Coast, we celebrated Christmas.

We opened cards, gift cards/certificates, snacks, and other small gifts we were able to pack. Later in the afternoon, we went to one of Dartmouth's shopping malls and saw Woody the Talking Christmas Tree, my second "ask".

Woody wasn't feeling so well.

After that, we went out for a nice dinner then back to my Nanny's place. I took time to explore the basement, like I usually do. I found a few really awesome old books (which my grandmother said I could have), including a hardcover edition of Ian Fleming's Goldfinger from 1959, published in Oxford, England!
 

So cool!

While saying goodnight, and goodbye, to my grandmother, I had a moment where I got super emotional. It's been so long since I've been down there, and because of her heath it will probably be the last real Christmas with her. And who knows what's going to happen with the pandemic. It's all really sad, and kind of stupid in a way. Oh well, focus on the good times!

We got to say one more quick goodbye the next morning, before a delicious brunch and catching our flight home later in the afternoon. 

What followed was a nice, relatively quiet Christmas with the family.

This trip was several months in the making and I'm so, so happy we were able to do it! Not sure when the next trip will be, but hopefully sooner than two years.

Cheers!

 

Writing About Speaking

 

The other day, I was going through a pile of folders and found a bunch of old articles, speeches, and speaking-related papers. Most related to Leaders of Tomorrow, the group that introduced me to advocacy and public speaking.

This story goes back to 2002, when I was sitting as a Youth Representative on the North Dundas district council for Easter Seals. Early in the Fall of 2003, I was asked if I would like to be a part of a pilot group Easter Seals was launching called the Leaders of Tomorrow. The group was made up of 15-20 young adults from all across Ontario who would act as advocates for Easter Seals, and promote disability and accessibility awareness in general. The participants were also required to do 10 to 15 public speaking engagements over two years. I said yes, and had my first meeting with the group a few weeks later at a youth conference. 

I was presenting shortly into the next year, doing quick "thank-you's" at fundraising events, a couple talks to students at one of the local schools, and I even worked Easter Seals into a presentation for a Sociology class I was taking.

During college, I linked in with Easter Seals Ottawa and did a couple interviews for telethons and the news. I spoke in an ad that made it on the Jumbotron during an Ottawa 67s hockey game. And in what has probably been my worst speaking experience, I went off-paper (as in no written speech at all) and made a REALLY bad joke in front of business people, professional athletes, and one of Ottawa's best-known news personalities at a skating event with the Ottawa Senators, the city's professional hockey team!

After graduating, I got heavily into speaking, giving presentations at Easter Seals events, a Transitioning Resource Fair organized by the Children's Treatment Centre I had gone to years before, and to classes at Ottawa's two universities. It was also at this time that I had been asked to be a part of the second Leaders of Tomorrow group.

After that, I started presenting on my own behalf, mostly to some of those same university classes and campers at Easter Seals Camp Merrywood.

Eventually, I would be diagnosed with Joubert syndrome in 2011 and go on to speak at the Joubert Foundation's conference in 2013, which itself would lead to a lot more opportunities.

An unintentional walk down memory lane and something I've never written about before. 

Cheers!

Doing Things

 

This last month's been an eventful one, for a change.

Just this afternoon, I had a Christmas lunch with people from work, in person, on my own. Nice pub-style restaurant with a pretty ginormous club sandwich and a Pepsi that came with...wait for it...a plastic straw!!

The first time I've had decent social interactions and done anything without the aid of my family in nearly two years! In one way, it was so weird. But it was also so great to see everyone in person and have a good meal. 

And that hasn't been my only outing or achievement from the past thirty days. 

Earlier this week, I had a yearly home care assessment and was able to get that re-instated starting early next month. I've been glad to have had my parents' help during this period, but getting that part of my past routine back will feel so good!

Finished my Christmas shopping recently, with a trip to one of the local shopping malls, another thing I haven't done in a while. While there, I proverbially patted myself on the back and treated myself to a Payday bar and something I saw online and HAD to try for myself: bacon brittle.

And last but not least, a couple weeks ago I went and browsed around a local bookstore for the first time since last March. I went a little crazy and got more than a few items for myself (normally a pre-Christmas taboo), but one of those books was Villains United, from DC Comics.

I read about this story long ago, and have spent YEARS searching for it in stores and online. So, a once-in-a-lifetime (probably) find!

It's odd that I'm counting appointments, lunch, and small shopping trips as adventures these days, but oh well. It's some fun and good practice for the big Christmas trip next week!

Cheers!