Sarah O'Connor

I’m not very good at remembering certain things I’ve done; or rather I’m not great at remembering achievements. It’s not that I have a bad memory; it’s actually pretty good (unless it’s remembering people, then its bad). It’s just that I Maybe I just have too high standards for myself, whatever the reason I wanted to write about my 2018 (even though this would have been a better topic last week). Luckily, poor memory or not, I have a memory jar where I collect little slips of what I’ve done throughout the year, so at least I have that to job my memory!

On January 1st 2018 I started this blog. Technically I had started making it the day before, using the morning and afternoon of my New Year’s Eve to buy a domain on WordPress and link all my past work into the different categories I’d created. But January 1st meant I needed a blog post, because even though this website doubles as my portfolio, its home page is my blog. I promised myself I would write a blog post every week, my goal to post on Monday. While I didn’t always post on Monday, I managed to write a blog post each week, sometimes more than one since my WordPress stats tells me I’ve written fifty-five (not counting this) blog posts on here. I’m not going to push myself to do more, it’s hard enough some weeks to write a blog post here and keep up with my other writing projects.

There’s a gold wristband and beaded necklace from last New Year’s Eve when I went with some friends to Liuna Station, I put it in since the event also took place after midnight, and I liked how nice the wrist band was.

In January I also found out my ten minute play A Spell for Schoolgirls was accepted into the HamilTEN Festival. It was my first time submitting a play with the chance of it being performed and I was both excited and scared to be a part of the festival. It went off beautifully in April thanks to the amazing actresses in the play. I found an old cookie wrapper from Subway and in pink highlighter it says “These are magic cookies. Once you eat them, you become calm and everything in your life goes perfectly.” My sister got me these on the opening night of A Spell for Schoolgirls because of how nervous I was. She was right, they were magic!

In March I adopted my cutie calico Cordelia. I had been thinking about getting another cat after my sweet Tamsin died but had a lot of trouble getting to that point while also wanting to make sure I adopted a cat that felt right. I felt right when I chose Tamsin and wanted to be right again. When I saw Cordelia (then Maggie) in the pet store she walked right up to me in her little cage and I knew she was the one to adopt, I even knew what I was going to name her. It was scary, and through some rough patches getting her and my sister’s cats to like each other she’s finally comfortable in our home and has learned to tolerate her brother.

I went on hikes with one of my best friends in Burlington, Hamilton, and also did the stairs a few times (something I really need to get back into). I joined an Ultimate Frisbee team and have been playing since May (I think) and have loved every minute of it!

I went to a quite a few cons and put more work into my cosplays than usual. I was Tina Belcher at Toronto Comic Con, Penelope the hamster from Hamtaro at Con Bravo, Pin-up Sailor Pluto and Hipster Ariel at Fan Expo, and wore a Steven Universe dress to Forest City Comic Con.

I saw a lot of movies; my jar is mostly filled with movie tickets and missing even more. Here are the ones in the jar (and some I can remember):

• Lady Bird
• The Shape of Water
• A Wrinkle in Time
• I, Tonya
• Coco
• Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri
• The Post
• A Quiet Place
• Game Night
• Star Wars: The Last Jedi
• Isle of Dogs
• Ralph Breaks the Internet
• Bohemian Rhapsody
• Mary Poppins Returns
• Avengers: Infinity War
• Deadpool 2
• Black Panther

I read forty books, which is a failure because I had a goal of reading fifty. It was better than the year before when I only read thirty, but I’m determined this year to reach my goal of fifty.

I went to the Sound of Music Festival with a group of friends, we sang Disney songs loudly from the car on the way their and home. I also went to Sew Hungry, a food truck festival with another group of friends and had an ice cream that was in a churro cone that my friends paid for because they are both dumb and nice and I love them immensely. I went to the Lindt store for the first time and are some of the many chocolates my sister bought. I went to Harry Potter trivia, tried and failed at guessing who would win at the Tony Awards. I got drunk for the first time, I went to some parties and swam tipsy in a pool in the pouring rain at three a.m..

I went to a pagan festival in the summer and bought a really cool witches hat. I learned to say no more, I learned more about being alone. I wrote more (because I joined a lovely writing club), edited less (need to fix this, or do just as much of both). I ate vegan tacos, and vegan burgers, quite a lot of vegan food actually.

I was accepted into a playwriting unit and am currently working on a play that will be read sometime this year. I’ve loved talking with these women about mine and their works, throwing around ideas, and learning how to be more open talking about my writing and enjoying the criticism I get too.

I was laid off from my full-time job for four months which was hard, but I came back in September. September presented its own problems. My sister was sick, and we didn’t know what was wrong. She lost her voice so fast and I missed it so much. I didn’t take care of myself as I should have and everything felt too tight, too small, and too much.

I broke down (only for a little bit).

I went to church for four weeks because I made a promise to God that if my sister got better I would go. She got better, thank God (literally I guess) so I went and Catholic guilt is a hell (whoops) of a thing. I disliked the priest, a lot of my old friends from church thought I was coming back, tried to get me to come back.

I’m not coming back. At least not yet, not with this priest. Maybe not at all.

Who knows?

I went to Florida with my best friend and sister and since we can survive cockroaches in a seemingly clean AirBnB we can survive anything together. I love travelling with friends (and in general) and can’t wait for more adventures I will have with them, whether we travel far or just to the movies. They make everything exciting and fun and they make my life so much better.

***

Looking at the jar, and picking at my own memory while sorting through the trash, it’s amazing all that happened in a year. It can seem so long at times, so short and more often than not for me boring. But it’s clear now my life is anything but, I did so many new things, met new people, and 2019 will be no different.

So thank you all for coming with me to movies, for travelling with me, for listening to me, for reading this blog, for everything. My life is touched by so much love and so many amazing people, people I depend on, people I don’t always show it to. So thank you, thank you, thank you for it all.

You have no idea how much you do.

Until next year I guess! (Are lame New Year’s jokes still allowed?)

(Picture of my memory jar my own.)