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---
title: Welp, it's a New Year.
description: …and what a year it's been already.
synopsis: …and what a year it's been already.
date: 2025-01-23
imageURL: /img/IMG_20250122_172636_762_copy.webp
imageAlt: A closeup of a Braun wristwatch.
---
[Trump has been inaugurated](https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5097933-trump-ymca-dance-inaugural-ball/); Elon Musk is [performing Nazi salutes](https://www.politico.eu/article/elon-musk-salute-sparks-fury-from-europe-left-wing/) in public, the U.S. is [withdrawing from the Paris Agreement](https://www.npr.org/2025/01/21/nx-s1-5266207/trump-paris-agreement-biden-climate-change), the White House Spanish-language pages have been [shut down](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/trump-adminstration-shuts-down-white-house-spanish-language-page-and-social-media), [whitehouse.gov](https://www.whitehouse.gov/) now features some sort of [onanistic hyper-nationalist movie trailer](https://www.wired.com/story/white-house-website-marvel-movie-trailer-helicopters-bald-eagle/), the federal government is [officially hostile](https://19thnews.org/2025/01/trump-transgender-executive-order/) to [transgender people](https://19thnews.org/2025/01/trump-executive-order-transgender-military-ban/), the Trump administration has [ended birthright citizenship](https://19thnews.org/2025/01/birthright-citizenship-lawsuit-pregnant-women/), immigrants are [hiding in their homes](https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/01/21/immigrants-skip-work-amid-ice-fears/) for fear of arrest and deportation, an official government website has a god-damn [Shiba Inu meme](https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/trump-made-doge-part-government-117981045) on it (along with an ASCII version in the page source), more than half of U.S. citizens [read below a sixth-grade level](https://www.snopes.com/news/2022/08/02/us-literacy-rate/) (that's the level expected of a twelve-year-old), capitalism is still steamrolling ahead just about everywhere, people are still eating cute, fluffy animals even though beans exist, you're now officially, explicitly, [allowed to call LGBTQ+ people mentally ill](https://www.axios.com/2025/01/09/meta-moderation-transgender-women-hate) on Facebook, Threads, and Instagram, and the planet is burning.
Anyway, the *now* section of my website is supposed to be a bit less existential, so here's what I've been up to:
I spent much of the end of the year working four-day workweeks, which, my friends, is the way to go. I miss those short weeks already. After that, I had a Christmas celebration with Sol's folks, which, despite a minor medical emergency was a nice time. I am happy to say that the person affected is recovering well. I gave some hand-made incense for presents, and I got some very useful things from my [wishlist](/wishlist/), including a Braun wall-clock so that I can tell the time when I'm doing dishes or otherwise can't access, or don't want to be distracted by, my phone.
One thing I'm trying to focus on in this new year is being less salty. I'm trying to accept people as they come, and regain the calm that I used to be able to retain in the face of great stupidity. Goodness knows there are people in this world who offer me this grace, so I intend to get some practice in offering it to others.
I've started [a forum](https://incensemakers.org/) for the fine folks of the incense-makers Instagram group. I'm very much hoping it takes off, because not only will it be a better, safer, and more useful way to catalog our shared knowledge, but it might mean that I can once again leave Instagram as the group is literally the only reason I'm on the platform. I'm also hoping that I don't wind up having to do much troubleshooting; we will see.
I am also working towards the [Google data analytics professional certificate](https://www.coursera.org/professional-certificates/google-data-analytics) because it seems like it ought to be fun, especially learning SQL (which I refuse to pronounce *sequel*) and R. If it turns out to be useful career-wise, great, but that's not why I'm doing it.
[^1]: And no, I don't mean give a portion to charity. The fact that you are rich should not mean that you get an outsized say in what issues get addressed. Get over yourself.