A New Year, A New Hope

Source: YouTube

Happy New Year everyone!  The year 2020 has come & gone!  I wish I could say the same for COVID-19.  The year started off well but then turned to panic & chaos because of what I mentioned in the previous sentence.  Thankfully, we’re adapting and surviving.  Here we are, a new year, and the pandemic continues.  However, there is hope on the horizon.  Several vaccines have been developed and appear to work.  (Trials were held as early as April 2020).  Now they just have to be mass produced and delivered to everyone in the world.  Unfortunately, that will take time. 

Of course, having so many vaccines available may make things complicated.  Which one to choose?  Can vaccines be mixed?  Which vaccines should be avoided?  Hopefully, these questions will be answered really soon.  I don’t hold any brand loyalties to pharmaceutical companies.  I just want to get a vaccine that works.      

Administering the vaccines will also take time because priority lists need to be created.  Frontline workers & the elderly are at the top.  I think educators should also be up there because we’re in frequent contact with children.  We shall see what the powers that be decide.

I mostly stayed indoors for the duration of the Christmas break.  I did walk outside a few times and went to the stores to buy things, but I didn’t attend any of the activities organized by the Hamlet Office.  Maybe it was the constant darkness & cold that kept me inside.  I took Vitamin D pills everyday but I still felt tired.  I kept myself busy by playing games, watching movies, exercising, and occasionally playing piano.

I slept in on December 31, wanting to be fully rested for New Year’s Eve.  I didn’t want to miss the clock striking midnight.  I didn’t do anything special during the day.  I just took a moment to remember everything that had happened on the planet for the last 365 days.  If COVID-19 hadn’t “crashed the party” then 2020 would have been another great year.  Instead, the decade of the 2020s began “on the wrong foot”.

Sydney Harbour Bridge. Jan 1, 2021.
Source: Hollywood Life

I spoke with family & friends over the internet as the clock neared midnight.  The new year had already begun in other parts of the world and I watched several highlights of those celebrations on YouTube.  The best one was the fireworks being launched from the Sydney Harbour Bridge.  I also kept a link open to the live feed of the festivities at Times Square.  There were people there but not as many in previous years due to pandemic restrictions.  It’ll take more than COVID-19 to shutdown the world-famous event.

Several friends & I watched the ball in Times Square descend, counting down the final minute.  When the ball reached the bottom, everyone exclaimed, “Happy New Year!” and fireworks were launched into the air.  I turned on the fireworks app on my cell phone and tapped the screen many times, displaying many colourful fireworks.  I drank a can of Pepsi Zero to celebrate.

Fireworks were launched into the night sky all over Arctic Bay immediately after midnight.  About twenty minutes later, a very long parade of skidoos, atvs, and vehicles snaked through the town.  The long procession passed my residence.  I would have joined but my skidoo lights weren’t working.  I believe the parade ended out on the ice with all participants forming the year 2021.  Seeing & hearing the celebrations outside made me think that I should have hiked up one of the nearby hills and film everything.  I would have had to dress warmly, keep the camera batteries from freezing, have at least 2 flashlights, and carry lethal protection just in case.  Well, there’s always another time, I guess.

I’ve been assigned three classes for the new semester: Grade 10 Guitar, and Grades 10 & 11 Social Studies.  Another teacher took my Grade 10 English class.  I didn’t mind.  Having one less class to teach didn’t mean an easier workload.  It only means you have extra time to make the classes you do teach better. 

In 2015, 3045 Army Cadet Corps created recruitment posters with the help of several cadets and a local photographer.  (The cadets who participated volunteered).  Five years later, I pitched the same idea to the current cadets in ranks because I felt it was time for updated photographs.  Many cadets volunteered to participate.  And then COVID-19 had to ruin everything.  I had to postpone the photoshoot several times before we finally got the chance on January 13.

The local photographer turned half of the gym into a photo studio, complete with expensive lighting systems.  I explained to everyone that I was looking for pictures of cadets in their dress uniforms, field training uniforms, playing sports, and showing off our marksmanship & biathlon programs.  I didn’t mind who did what; as long as the photographer got good quality pictures that I could turn into recruitment posters, all would be well.

The photoshoot lasted the entire training night.  I thanked the cadets & the photographer for volunteering their time.  The cadets thanked the photographer.  He later emailed me a batch of pictures he felt were the best.  I edited them and added captions.  I then printed & laminated a few and stapled them to the corps’ bulletin board in the school.  Hopefully, they’ll attract recruits.