2020 Retrospective - Thoughts and daydreams about the ill-fated start of the decade

2020 certainly took me by surprise. I was on vacation down South as COVID was developing. This was around March.

I have been hearing about COVID being overseas; I didn't think much about it then. It wasn't until the first COVID patient was tested positive was when things started to ramp up. Good thing I got back when I did.

Even when places started to close, I thought COVID was going to be like Ebola. We would have a lockdown, then it would pass like every other scare tactic. Boy, was I wrong. It persisted longer than I thought. I was getting antsy, even depressed for a time. Worrying about getting sick and not seeing family or friends puts a toll on your mental health.

It was eerily quiet for a time. Then George Floyd happened. Riots began to kick off. I thought, this too shall pass. And what are we doing protesting when we should be on lockdown? Nope, it went on and on for months with no end in sight. That was it for me: 2020 was not a good year altogether.

I was optimistic about 2020; there would be a cultural event that would swing the cultural pendulum back to stability. The 90s had Rodney King, the 00s had 9/11 and the Iraq War, the 10s had Occupy Wall Street and Donald Trump. Now the 2020s has Corona and BLM.

Things weren't all bad. I used the lockdown to rethink. And I have a newfound respect on things that we've previously taken for granted.

Having said that, I think many of us would rather forget about 2020. 2021 will be a continuation of 2020, let's just hope we're approaching the light in the tunnel.
 
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In all honesty, I don't really know what to say. This is going to be a very different time to look back at in hindsight a decade from now than just about any other year, and there's so much going through our minds that it's hard to even really write a solid retrospective on the year at the moment. It's currently December 28th, 2020, and I have absolutely no idea what's gonna go on in 2021. But, I'm optimistic, because black pills are for fags.
 
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I had a really nice time personally, I've just been chilling and playing video games and reading and watching some movies. I guess in the future, living in a pod, eating bugs, and renting air from my landlord won't be so bad after all.

As for the state of the world, everybody's not holed up in trenches getting gassed and machine gunned so I suppose it could be worse. Maybe we'll get there in 2021.
 
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2020 has been a wild year for me. When the lockdowns started in March I weighed 236 lbs and was on my way to getting the many diseases that come with obesity. With the help of my parents (providing me healthy food) and me getting out and exercising I am now about 163lbs.

On a less positive note I managed to overdose on weed multiple times. I am committed quitting it for good. My body is the best shape it's been in years but my mind is a mess dealing with weed withdrawal (was having up to 2 grams a day of high thc stuff). It's been 16 days since I my last toke and I am getting better but I get stressed out and have mood swings easily.

Praying to God the lockdowns end next year as I would rather not live through a global economic depression and be free to live a normal life again. I miss doing my dog walking business. :(
 
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2020 was scary because it was the first time I ever remember actual normies saying that people's freedoms needed to be taken away from them for their own good. It's always been a Social media/MSM talking point, but there was a terrifying number of just regular people saying it.

I also had friends of 20+ years turning on me because my viewpoints couldn't just be bad or wrong; they were convinced I was outright spreading lies and "undermining our democracy." 4 years of screaming Russian interference was fine though.

I got openly red-pilled this year, and even more scary Kiwi Farms is the only place I can really express my honest thoughts. That you autists are the only ones that will listen to me sounds like a horror movie.
 
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What I saw that stood out in 2020, Corona-chan and the Elections aside, was shock value media in The Last of Us 2 and Cuties being released in the same year, both reprehensible in their own ways, which makes me wonder if the releases of those were intentionally timed to make people feel even worse, during a year where a lot of things are not going well. Not to mention that those could be signs of what's to come with future media.
 
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Thiletonomics said:
What I saw that stood out in 2020, Corona-chan and the Elections aside, was shock value media in The Last of Us 2 and Cuties being released in the same year, both reprehensible in their own ways, which makes me wonder if the releases of those were intentionally timed to make people feel even worse, during a year where a lot of things are not going well. Not to mention that those could be signs of what's to come with future media.
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Doubtful, since release tend to be booked a few months to a year in advance depending on the project. Last of Us Part II was probably set to release in 2020 before Corona was even on anyone's minds.

Cuties was likely made in 2018-2019 and then put on Netflix in 2020 as part of some pre-existing contract but I do think Netflix's ardent defense of it to be sickening, especially with their recent decision to unperson Johnny Depp.
 
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Syaoran Li said:
Last of Us Part II was probably set to release in 2020 before Corona was even on anyone's minds.
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Did TLOU2's leaks have any effect of the game's release date though? I don't remember if TLOU2 had an officially announced release date, prior to the leaks happening. And even if the leaks didn't change the release date for the game, TLOU2 being released on Father's Day weekend is either Druckmann intentionally rubbing more salt in the wound, or he was just ignorant that it happened to be Father's Day weekend. Not to mention that Druckmann is a father himself, with at least one daughter.
 
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Thiletonomics said:
Did TLOU2's leaks have any effect of the game's release date though? I don't remember if TLOU2 had an officially announced release date, prior to the leaks happening.
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No. Naughty Dog persisted on the release date in spite of the leaks. They did try to copyright claim videos with leaks on YouTube, but the damage was done.
 
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None of my family care at all about corona virus. Dad openly distains it constantly, being a [big guy] at [large governmental organization], and claims everyone who died or even took time off was catagorized for corona to get that sweet money. I felt weird cautioning him to at least be a little careful, as everyone else is doom posting IRL about it constantly. There is no middle ground.

At my job, we were forced to work in a conex box rather than out of our usual bay workshops. That enabled us to be totally retarded and fuck around all of the time, rather than some of the time. That was a plus. All the places I'd hit up for used guns or trucks were totally emptied out because of stimulus and unemployment checks. That's a negative.

2020 was a total wash, I did what I wanted and progressed a bit. The only difference was the comedy as people lost their collective minds. Also watched a coworker turn into a QBoomer because of covid and BLM. Was quite an interesting microcosm watching that unfold.
 
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It’s still too early to predict what 2021 will bring, even with the ongoing pandemic and economy going up and down. If anything, I think 2020 was a blessing in disguise, since it made me appreciate the slow slice of life moments that were handed down to me.

This year made me focus on self studying and self teaching subjects in the hard sciences like chemistry and physics, while also making more time to go to the park a whole lot more. The traditional jogging and pull up exercises actually made me appreciate nature a whole lot more. And next year, I’m going back to grad school, and if I get accepted, I’m studying computer science while self studying mathematics on the side. Everyone else is talking about 2020 being the worst year they’ve experienced, while at the same time not realizing how lucky we have it if you compare to to other years that have been considered much worse – also when you realize people are trying to out-miserable the miserable by competing over who can make other lives’ worse in the process. Even through the thick and the thin, we still have the power to see the change that we want to see, instead of trying to “change the world” with things that will be considered meaningless.
 
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