As I’m typing this, I’m also counting down to Christmas, and based on the timestamp on the top bar of my laptop, there’s officially 30 minutes left before it’s the 25th of December again. However, if you’re reading this, it’s probably Christmas already. The past few weeks leading up to this day have been strange, but hasn’t the entire year actually been weird in itself? I can’t be the only one missing what used to be normal — the holidays usually meant in-person festivities and gatherings, but 2020 refused to agree to any of that, unfortunately. Still, it feels nice to say that we’re a few minutes away from Christmas and to even be writing about it. It’s my favorite holiday, after all. How’s it been for me anyway? Let’s see.
Before anything else, let me just say, I haven’t forgotten about my deadlines… so, on the 26th you’ll certainly find me at my desk typing away at my research papers that are due next year. And speaking of deadlines, just how did the semester even fly by so quickly? The previous months consisted of both synchronous and asynchronous classes for me which obviously are totally different from the normal face-to-face classes at university. It truly was a challenge for everyone, and it will keep testing us for a few more months, but let’s just hang in there!
Also, I did mention in one of my latest posts that I recently got back into writing after quite a while so that’s one thing I’m particularly happy about these days. It just feels great to be writing drafts that are not prose nor poetry. But it’s not like I’m writing the next great novel, so I don’t necessarily push myself to finish something when I don’t feel like writing about it anymore. I start with a first sentence and let it flow from there, see where the story (or essay, sometimes) goes. If I finish writing it, great. If not, then that’s okay, too. Writing is more of a meditative process in my case, though, I’d love to write for a living if given the chance one day. I mean, who am I kidding?
So far, I’ve read 53 books this year, which is honestly the most I’ve done in a while. Reading slump got to me both in 2018 and 2019. Looking back, reading wasn’t much of a priority because of my university schedule. Because of that, I’m really glad that I got to read as much as I could this 2020! My most recent read was Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier and it was an absolutely beautiful book. If you can remember, I had a *stylistic* rant about it in my latest entry and thankfully, I was able to get myself a copy a few days ago — finally.
One more thing I wanted to mention in this little update was that I got a MacBook upgrade for Christmas and I couldn’t be more grateful about it, simply because my last Windows laptop has given me enough trouble already. The screen was freezing almost all the time and for no reason at all, and I’ve lost several files because apps and softwares just kept crashing. I’ve been a Windows user my entire life, and to be honest, I’m liking macOS better so far. The MacBook just gets the job done and I love that.
But anyway, would you look at that, it’s Christmas proper already! So, here goes… Happy Christmas, everyone! I love the fact that next year I get to look back and say that I spent the first hours of Christmas 2020 writing a blog post as a simple commemoration of how this year’s holiday season went for me — the perfect wrap-up I’ve been looking forward to since December 1st. I hope that amidst the pandemic, we still get to celebrate with our loved ones even through Zoom calls and see them albeit not physically, but on screen at the very least; that is, if you’re away from home right now. We will all get by and this whole pandemic thing will all soon be over, we have to believe that it will. On that note, cheers to a lovely virtual Christmas and here’s to hoping that next year’s going to be a better one! It’s been a great catch-up, see you around!
Photo credit: Melnychuk Nataliya
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