Year 2024 wrap-up
Dec. 30th, 2024 08:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
avreliaThe end results of the year
it was a very busy year, that has seen me accomplishing quite a lot, mostly unexpected. Things I wanted mostly fell by the wayside, but I did to some stuff.
So, in a random order.
1) I ran a bookclub that I started in October 2023. a year ago I celebrated its start, but now, after a year I celebrate myself for staying the course and not yielding to gale winds of more strong-willed members who know the best way to run a book club. I am not looking for the best way, I want my book club run my way. It is a small thing, but it was important to me.
2) I become a member of a school site council basically by inviting myself in. Again, a tiny thing, but important to me. It allowed me to see some inner workings of our school (elementary) and a district, and it also led to
3) me making and running a math club at school for 2-5 grades. Older kids participate in MOEMS math olympics, younger ones learn to solve fun math problems. I didn’t want to run it, but I wanted kids to have it, and there was nobody else ready to do it (except for one other mom, who is my partner in running it)
4) I did a reading kids club over the summer, hoping it will grow into something more than me reaign books to a handful of kids. It didn’t, since after the summer my life veered off course I planned.
5) My mother in law arrived from Kyiv, and we spent months arranging her life here. We kind of settled her, comfortably enough, I hope, even if not ideally. But well, a lot of weekends we spends driving around the Bay area looking at various living arrangements.
6) I hardly ever wrote anything, having hardly any mood and focus. I don’t want to say I didn’t have time, but when I had, I couldn’t write.
7) I read a lot. For book club and for myself.
8) I kept amusing myself with making jewelry. I love to put stuff together, but now it seems time to learn how to do it properly (so it would not break apart or scratch, or look weird).
9) I bought a lot of paper books, having accepted that this is my hoard, and I don’t care whether I or my family will every read them. I do try. It is rather funny to buy books in Russian now, when it is so much more difficult. Maybe I do want a library of my own.
10) I got summons for the jury duty, and then I got chosen and spent seven weeks going to court and being a juror. It was quite an experience, that ended up meaning a lot to me.
11) I discovered that I love California
12) I felt more comfortable with myself and my place in the world this year. And, the year that is almost over reminded us that the world is a shitty place right now, but I am kind of used to it. I am living in a post-apocalyptic world right now. Bad things happened and have been happening. And might happen in the future. But I started a math club, and kids are excited to solve complicated math problems with me. I helped to bring some actual justice in the world. I made some lives a bit better with my bookclub. I made new friends. I met wonderful people. I know a path forward. There is a wound in me that’ll never heal, but it’s ok. it’s how people live. I miss terribly my family and Russia, and I am terrified of going there, and I feel guilty for being terrified to go and see my family. It is a problem I cannot solve. But I can do other things and I am doing them. It’s not that bad.
it was a very busy year, that has seen me accomplishing quite a lot, mostly unexpected. Things I wanted mostly fell by the wayside, but I did to some stuff.
So, in a random order.
1) I ran a bookclub that I started in October 2023. a year ago I celebrated its start, but now, after a year I celebrate myself for staying the course and not yielding to gale winds of more strong-willed members who know the best way to run a book club. I am not looking for the best way, I want my book club run my way. It is a small thing, but it was important to me.
2) I become a member of a school site council basically by inviting myself in. Again, a tiny thing, but important to me. It allowed me to see some inner workings of our school (elementary) and a district, and it also led to
3) me making and running a math club at school for 2-5 grades. Older kids participate in MOEMS math olympics, younger ones learn to solve fun math problems. I didn’t want to run it, but I wanted kids to have it, and there was nobody else ready to do it (except for one other mom, who is my partner in running it)
4) I did a reading kids club over the summer, hoping it will grow into something more than me reaign books to a handful of kids. It didn’t, since after the summer my life veered off course I planned.
5) My mother in law arrived from Kyiv, and we spent months arranging her life here. We kind of settled her, comfortably enough, I hope, even if not ideally. But well, a lot of weekends we spends driving around the Bay area looking at various living arrangements.
6) I hardly ever wrote anything, having hardly any mood and focus. I don’t want to say I didn’t have time, but when I had, I couldn’t write.
7) I read a lot. For book club and for myself.
8) I kept amusing myself with making jewelry. I love to put stuff together, but now it seems time to learn how to do it properly (so it would not break apart or scratch, or look weird).
9) I bought a lot of paper books, having accepted that this is my hoard, and I don’t care whether I or my family will every read them. I do try. It is rather funny to buy books in Russian now, when it is so much more difficult. Maybe I do want a library of my own.
10) I got summons for the jury duty, and then I got chosen and spent seven weeks going to court and being a juror. It was quite an experience, that ended up meaning a lot to me.
11) I discovered that I love California
12) I felt more comfortable with myself and my place in the world this year. And, the year that is almost over reminded us that the world is a shitty place right now, but I am kind of used to it. I am living in a post-apocalyptic world right now. Bad things happened and have been happening. And might happen in the future. But I started a math club, and kids are excited to solve complicated math problems with me. I helped to bring some actual justice in the world. I made some lives a bit better with my bookclub. I made new friends. I met wonderful people. I know a path forward. There is a wound in me that’ll never heal, but it’s ok. it’s how people live. I miss terribly my family and Russia, and I am terrified of going there, and I feel guilty for being terrified to go and see my family. It is a problem I cannot solve. But I can do other things and I am doing them. It’s not that bad.
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no subject
Date: 2024-12-31 05:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-01-04 02:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-01-02 09:45 pm (UTC)That is lovely to hear!
And the math club and reading club sound great!
no subject
Date: 2025-01-04 02:55 am (UTC)and even my stint as a juror helped me feel like part of a community.
no subject
Date: 2025-01-03 05:21 pm (UTC)The way I see it, every life is a pile of good things and bad things. Hey. The good things don't always soften the bad things, but vice versa, the bad things don't necessarily spoil the good things or make them unimportant.
no subject
Date: 2025-01-04 02:56 am (UTC)