At the end of each year, I always take a moment to examine the ups and downs I experienced. Due to work and our current political/social climate, the majority of my year was so stressful that I often worried I would suffer from a heart attack or stroke. Somehow, I made it through.
What follows is my personal and professional review of 2018. I:
* Produced/edited hundreds of breaking news stories about the second year of Donald Trump’s presidency, the wars in Syria, Yemen and Afghanistan, the genocide in Myanmar, the 2018 Winter Olympics, the peace deal between North and South Korea as well as the Trump-Kim summit, the Austin bomb attacks, the mass shootings in Parkland, Fla., Pittsburgh and Thousand Oaks, Calif., the pipe bomb attacks on the media, former presidents and Trump critics, the midterm elections, the California wildfires, numerous earthquakes and hurricanes, dozens of celebrity deaths, the birth of a royal baby and two royal weddings.
* Penned 30 journal entries.
* Passed the 54,000th tweet mark on my personal Twitter account (@jadewalker).
* Worked on Sift, a new iPhone app that launched in October.
* Launched the Tumblr page Oddly Titled Tomes and relaunched Hooked From The First Page.
* Updated The Written Word and The 10th Muse mailing lists.
* Maintained two Instagram accounts: @thejadewalker and @catsofjade.
* Worked on two novels.
* Wrote 5 poems (two of which were broadcast on NHPR).
* Read 54 books — thus completing my 2018 reading challenge — and numerous magazines.
* Watched 35 films and dozens of TV programs.
* Went leafing in the White Mountains.
* Participated in The Society of Professional Obituary Writers, the New Hampshire Writers Guild, the New York City Writers Group, the South Florida Freelancers Group, the Authors Guild and the Silent Book Club (Manchester, NH chapter).
* Created my first sourdough starter and baked a loaf of bread from it.
* Completed an escape room adventure and saved my partner from a serial killer.
* Thrice hosted vacationing friends in our home. Also suffered from food poisoning after eating at a local restaurant. Sadly, one of our friends came down with it, too.
* Took a class called “The Science of Well-Being” at Yale University.
* Signed up with the Parker Solar Probe: A Mission to Touch the Sun to have my name added to a memory card that will be included on the Parker Solar Probe spacecraft.
* Bought new glasses.
* Joined a gym. Went for a while and stopped. Plan to return.
* Tried to get more sleep. Failed miserably, due to stress.
* Planted herbs and flowers in deck boxes. Amazingly, only the thyme died!
* Installed a second bird feeder and a water bowl.
* Took a Sunday Mourning Haunted Trolley Tour through Portsmouth, N.H.
* Saw comedian Juston McKinney in concert in Concord, N.H.
* Saw the play “Love Letters” at The Palace Theater in Manchester, N.H.
* Attended the Comics Come Home cancer fundraiser in Boston.
* Attended a Q&A with astronaut Scott Kelly in Portsmouth, N.H.
* Dressed up as a butterfly for Halloween. M was a (successful) butterfly catcher.
* Voted in the 2018 midterm election.
* Decorated two Christmas trees and the front of our house and mailed 40+ Christmas cards.
* Suffered from at least 32 migraines and lost 61 days of my life to pain. Average headache duration: 22 hours, 16 minutes.
* Mourned the deaths of an aunt who shared my birthday and a friend I’d known for 20 years.
* Celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary.
* Reconnected with a friend I hadn’t spoken to in 33 years.
* Adopted a litter of kittens.
* Turned 45.
Goals for 2019
* Change careers.
* Organize the pantry and replace the stove.
* Plant more flowers and veg in the garden.
* Sleep at least 7 hours a night.
* Work on my fiction.
* Read at least 60 books.
* Focus on the good.
* Practice hygge.
* Win the lottery.
Some people view obituaries as morbid stories, but in truth only one line of an obit deals with death. The rest of the story focuses on the amazing lives people led. 