Paff

I'm trying to think of something that's neither Covid-related nor political.

fujishig

I don't even understand the purpose of that law... are people who sell 600 bucks worth of stuff on ebay really raking in the dough not paying taxes that it's some huge loophole that needed to be closed?

The other tax thing that worries me (but not zyzzle for once) is the child tax credit thing and how it'll affect what I owe on my taxes, which I guess I'll figure out soon enough (hopefully the tax programs are fully updated by the time I get all my paperwork in January)

But yeah, all that pales in comparison to Covid-19 still raging on, with the one solace being that at least my entire family is finally vaccinated.

Nick Danger

Other than that, I've had a very good year. I had my first full year of retirement, we got vaccinated, we buried my mother's remains and I got to see my aunt and uncle one more time, we went on our first long road trip in 3-4 years, and someone who loves me moved into the house in December.

asianxcore

Two of my friends died within days of each other.

One friend died from complications after heart surgery (in his late 30s), the other died from heart failure (in his late 20s).

tasha99

This for me, too. I tend to be that way, but I was really making progress about getting out of my shell and out of my house in crowded situations. I was flying coach, taking public transportation in big cities, working lots, and doing lots. Covid lockdowns just brought it all back, because now I'm not used to going out, I'm not inclined to go out, and I have no need to go out. It's not terrible, because I do love being home, but I don't think it's as healthy to be locked in all the time. In theory, all I want is to be home and only see family, but in practice, I do enjoy getting out and meeting people. It just is taking bigger and bigger pushes to get me out.

danwiz

Anti-vaxxers.

story

The things that made 2021 a tough year...

The underlying layer of trauma that impacted everything: the global COVID-19 pandemic.

The worst incident of the year: the attempted coup and insurrection upon the United States on January 6, 2021 brought on by treasonous seditionists.

The hardest part of work: remaining an encouraging presence in the midst of so many hard things.

The most challenging thing as a family: deciding how to do what and when in the face of so much uncertainty.

The toughest challenge on a regular basis: figuring out a spending / savings / investing plan in the face of so much uncertainty.

Bonus hard stuff: being involved in 12 funerals and memorials with more postponed to next year.

The hardest thing personally: I gained weight and lost confidence and that really stinks.

Decker

Wasn't sure if I should put this here or in the Make You Feel Old thread

EdTheRipper

Work-related stress drained me for a good portion of the year. I work as a clerk in a butcher shop at a grocery store, and the company decided to do away with cutting meat in-store. Everything is processed and packed off-site and delivered to us two days after ordering it. Due to this, there were buyouts offered, several good friends left the company and I spent several months wondering if I was still going to have a position or end up getting dumped into another department. Finally, about two weeks before Thanksgiving, it was made official that I was retaining my position and staying in the same store. It was a huge weight off of my shoulders.

Outside of that, having one of my guinea pigs pass away was really rough. I'm always the one that doesn't want the pets, but then gets the most attached to them.

TomOpus

Sorry to hear about your friends. It's weird to hear of someone, especially much younger, die from the same thing that I had. I've heard the same thing from others but their relative/friend who died was older than I am. I guess I'm extremely lucky to still be alive.

MLBFan24

Getting J&J shot the week before the blood clot issue was announced. Granted I’m ok 9 months later, but I now know I got the worst vaccine that nobody wants. Without getting political, I just hated the fact that the message was “rush out and get the first vaccine available in your area. Don’t wait!” So I went to Walgreens at my first opportunity and got J&J.

However, I’ve avoided COVID so far (wedding, July 4th, 5k race volunteering, Halloween), so maybe J&J doesn’t work for most people, but it seems to be working for me. Maybe I shouldn’t hate J&J so much…

Nick Danger

If it were me, I wouldn't give another thought to blood clotting. Out of 17,000,000 vaccines, 54 people got blood clots. That's odds of roughly 1 out of 315,000. You're more likely to be killed by a meteorite. Of those 54 who got blood clots, only 9 died. Even safer!

zyzzle

You know what? I think that happened to most of us. I know I ate too much comfort food in 2021, as well. We've all lost confidence. Nobody likes grasping in the dark at straws, which is what we've all been doing... and not having all the answers or even many of the answers, and it makes me very nervous and a bit of a misanthrope. Financial uncertainty can be planned for; it is at least one thing you can control and / or mediate to some extent by saving for "a rainy day", which has now extended to two bad years... One can't plan for inflation and extreme cost-of-living increases like we've seen, but then, well, the nest egg you've wisely saved over the years can at least eliminate ONE kind of stress, although it still hurts seeing such unmitigated greed and misuse of money by others who are spending and acquiring yours....

I work with people (teach) and let me tell you, the amount of psychological damage I've seen is pretty staggering. So is the amount of ignorance in otherwise "booksmart" people. It grates you down, and you can't do anything about it, because it's outside the domain and / or provenance of what you're supposed to be doing. Teaching science to university students is not about fixing broken personalities and lack of common-sense. I could be fired for doing that (ie, some kind of moral turpitude or some "platitude" like that). So, instead I trog on and regret that the world has become so fractured....

morriscroy

At various times over the past year, I had the opposite problem of losing appetite where I didn't eat anything for a day and didn't feel hungry. Waking up feeling weak the next day.

morriscroy

How exactly is this ignorance manifested ? (Besides stuff like qanon, conspiracy theories, etc ...).

story

I started a new thread as the positive-framed companion to this thread. I encourage people to go there, too.

Abob Teff

As bad as the things are in this thread ... this made me laugh!

Abob Teff

I would rank the state of our nation as worse than COVID. Sure, the pandemic didn't do us any favors, but the downfall of the republic has long been coming. I just didn't figure we would hit this point this fast.

Abob Teff

What kind of guinea pig Ed? I've always loved "giggle pigs!" As a kid I had three (Gizmo, Stripe, and Nippet) ... which became as many as 25 at one point. Later I had a few as an adult (Bogart, Bacall, and Dreyfus), but my wife never liked them. I've long been on the lookout for another Peruvian longhair (Gizmo was the only one I ever had).

Abob Teff

The year was so bad, nobody has even mentioned the police brutality protests that gripped the nation ... that was this year, right? Or am I confusing that with the sharp uptick in rabid pangolin attacks and alien invasion? (I think those are next year.)

EdTheRipper

Abyssinian.
They really are such fun pets! I only had hamsters as a kid so, when my son was younger, we always went with hamsters for him. Their lifespan is so short though. After we had 3 pass away on us,the wife suggested guinea pigs. She had experience with them while she was growing up and knew they lived longer. I've been hooked ever since

rexinnih

People, including family members, still not taking the vaccine.

tanman

That really sucks. Really hope he makes a full recovery.

I think that's one of the most depressing things about COVID. Is how it's really changing relationships. We had a small mostly outdoor family party this Christmas and of course a lot of people didn't go. My sister didn't go because my cousin's wife has decided to go all cuckoo with conspiracy theories. Oddly enough she and my cousin are vaccinated. He had to because he's a freakin' doctor at the VA. I had to get up and away from multiple conversations because they were just steering into the wrong direction. It's been eye opening when you think you know people. Unfortunately he's my best friend/cousin and we haven't really talked much at all since COVID.

John Galt

$600 is the traditional threshold for 1099s for independent contractors and other various non W2 compensation. No, people selling $600 worth of stuff aren't raking in the dough, but there's plenty of people making $5000, $10000, $15000 that are taking advantage of the system. And like all the state sales tax changes in previous years, the government wants to make sure they're getting their share. Of all the things that went on during 2021, changing a tax law which now requires people to report their income honestly and doesn't give a competitive advantage to people purposely cheating the system isn't on my list.

John Galt

I got into this over the summer with two of my best friends from college who are hardcore, Christian conservative, freedom fighting, anti vaxxers. Of course it was a conversation that got derailed about the benefits of the Covid vaccines, but they threw every standard argument against Gardisil that was based on verifiably false information. And after being proven wrong, the response was "well, I'd rather we just teach our kids not to be whores than giving them some unproven medicine". As if he had forgotten exactly what he was like in college just twenty years earlier.