Tag: new year

The Beginning Of 2026

On December 31, I was working. Even though I worked from home, it was a pretty intense workday. I was hoping to start early and finish early, and make a nice meal to bring to my mom to celebrate the New Year with her, but “early” didn’t happen.

Most times, Igor is around for this early celebration, and then he brings my mom to my place, but since he went to celebrate with Anna’s family (which is definitely more fun), I figured I can’t/don’t want to make a trip to my mom’s house twice, and decided to make it simple and bring all the food to her place.

I prepared myself to sit and nod to everything she would say, which is the only way to keep things calm these days, and that’s exactly how it went. The events and facts she does and does not remember anymore are pretty random. Somehow, many people believe that when older people forget things, they forget the most recent events and remember their past really well. I don’t know what to tell you about others, but that’s definitely not the case with my mom. If there is anything she remembers, it’s repetitive things that she does every day. As for the past, even when she thinks she remembers some events, in reality, she does not remember them clearly, and I can see a difference between how she described them ten years ago and now.

It’s really sad to see, and I can imagine who scared she should be feeling that the world around her is becoming an unknown and dangerous place.

I didn’t plan to go to the Chicago River for the fireworks; not because Igor was not here; I am perfectly fine to go anywhere on my own. It was relatively cold, and also, I had too many things I needed to do before next Monday. On my way back from Armenia, I was making plans for the upcoming week (till January 5), and I was debating with myself whether I should do some fun activities, like going to the Navy Pier, or whether I should focus on catching up with life. By the end of the day December 31, the answer was clear!

I went to bed before midnight, and missed all the Happy New Year texts 🙂

On January first, it was even colder that on December 31, and also cloudy, which made it a perfect weather to be inside and focus on different aspects of community work. Also, I went to my mom one more time, to change her bedding and take her laundry to wash, and since I also took her shower curtain to wash, I returned one more time to put it back :).

The highlights of the day were several conversations with people with whom i do not talk often, and finally catching up on emails with friends, so I guess, the day was not entirely hopeless, and also, I finished some of my ong-overdue-tasks. Still, I hope that January 1 didn’t define the rest of 2026 :).

TIME Magazine: Exercising For PR

One more “New Year” Time Magazine article – I always loved the idea of competing with myself rather than with others. Keep reading below!

Continue reading “TIME Magazine: Exercising For PR” →

TIME Magazine: Questions To Ask Yourself

One more New Year’s article from Time Magazine. I agree with pretty much everything it says. People often don’t believe me when I say I do only those things I want to do, but that’s the driver of my life. When I decide that I “need” to do something, it always means that I “want” to do this to achieve something :). I understand that there is a fine line, but that’s how I think about it, and that’s the most important/ I never think that someone or something “makes” me to do certain things – it’s only me who decides.

I asked myself most of the questions which are listed in this article during the quiet time of the past two weeks, and there are some changes I want to make – because I want some things to change:)

The full text is below.

Continue reading “TIME Magazine: Questions To Ask Yourself” →

Closing The Holiday Season

It has been a very intense weekend. On Friday night, Anna and John were consuming my Christmas gift for them: a Broadway show, a hotel night, and babysitting. Later on Saturday, we got together with them, my mom and Igor for the last Christmas presents exchange. I postponed my Christmas tree removal until Sunday afternoon so that we could open the presents by the tree.

I told the girls that the tree was coming down so they could take everything that they could find on the tree. To my surprise, when I took down all the ornaments, I found two unnoticed chocolate ornaments, one candy cane, and two gingerbread cookies.

Also, I had a scary moment when I could not find my cucumber on the tree! I mean actual “mine” – the one I brought from Russia, the one I had since as early as I can remember. I took the flashlight and finally found it, along with one more lost ornament – the skates from Ireland.

The last look at my mantel and the cards before taking everything down

I took down everything, all the lights and all the other house decorations. The tree was still so fresh, dripping some resin and smelling the forest and the holidays! I couldn’t be happier with this year’s tree!

I am never sad when I put Christmas decorations away. They’ve been up for a month, and I am ready to say goodbye. The day I remove the decorations and the tree is out feels like the actual start of the New Year!

TIME Magazine; Gen Z Is Drinking Less Alcohol

There were several “New Year – New You” interesting Time Magazine articles that i wanted to mention. This one is especially interesting given the latest announcement of the US Surgeon General about alcohol being more dangerous for people’s health than it was previously believed. I can tell from my experience that nowadays, it is definitely more socially acceptable not to drink alcohol, and pretty much any establishment has a minimal selection of mocktails.

The full text below.

Continue reading “TIME Magazine; Gen Z Is Drinking Less Alcohol” →

Happy New Year!

This New Year’s Eve, the Metra schedule was less convenient than last year; the fireworks were at least twice shorted, and Mayor Brandon Jonson didn’t give a speech before the countdown. But the weather was better, and there were way more people out!

Welcoming The New Year

Igor and I went to the City of Chicago fireworks, and I have nothing but good to say about how everything was organized this time. We should have come earlier and watched “The Best of the Art on the Mart,” but I was not sure that the CTA would deliver as promised (it did!), so we decided to come later and saw only a little bit:

Continue reading “Welcoming The New Year” →

Between Christmas And New Year

I like this time of the year. I might not be celebrating the New Year as many of the ex-Soviet people do, but I am not one who exclaims, “What’s so special about this day?!” I do look at what I’ve done in the year that is about to be over, and I like it when I hear the year-end podcasts and interviews on the radio. No matter how arbitrary the date is, I like the idea of looking back and seeing what went well and what didn’t, what I can do to correct the course, and what all of us can do to make the world a better place.

That being said, a couple of Time Magazine articles that caught my attention during this holiday week:

Why New Year resolutions fail – I was always curious just about that, and this article gives an interesting perspective (and I added several books to my reading list)

Thirteen ways the world got better in 2023 – A very important reading for obvious reasons. The article lists important breakthroughs in fighting climate change, advances in medicine, and crime reduction.

9 mental health resolutions – The one I never thought of is “develop empathy for someone different from you.” One thing that always puzzles me is “time for yourself.” I think that whatever I am doing is “time for myself,” because I am doing what I want to do, and you will have hard time convincing me otherwise!

And finally, the essay about a new year resolution that resonates with me (most likely because it’s for my age group).

Since there is more than one article today, I am not copying the whole text, so if any of my readers from Russia have difficulties accessing them, please let me know, I will make separate posts for each of them.

Closing The Holiday Season

It was another extremely productive week. Still, many people at work were on vacation, and although many questions and issues required my intervention, I had long periods when I could focus on my big projects or debus something complex. 

Also, I kept a list of my tiny “do-to” things that must be done at some point – everyone has such a list! I managed to cut it dramatically during the first week of the New Year. I dare to say I did everything I planned:).

I keep thinking about how fortunate I am with my job, where my knowledge and skills are so much needed, and people treat me with respect and appreciate my community work as well. It feels good every day, and I am counting my blessings.

My list for this weekend was modest because the workweek was productive, but I had three huge items on my agenda: to take off all Christmas decorations, take off all tree ornaments, pack everything, and put it back into storage. And it took pretty much the whole day (except for talking to Boris and visiting mom). It sounds right because decorating took many hours as well:). When I decorate house my house for Christmas, it is one of the most joyful things because it makes my place magical. And when I take the decorations down, it feels like: Ok, the holidays are over, and it’s time to dive into life, into the new year, into all new things I want to do. 

And once again, looking back at 2022, it was just an outstanding year for my professional development, although war dominates all aspects of life. And once again, I am not depressed because of the war. I am angry but also very active and productive.

The last glance at my holiday cards before I pack them, sign the year, and put away – Thirty-four this year!

Into The New Year

The last (long) weekend appeared to be remarkably productive, more than I could imagine. I had a to-do list so gigantic that I was sure I wouldn’t be able to complete more than two-thirds of it, and I ended up being done with almost everything. In fact, I have a good chance to cross off the remaining items before Friday :).

Most importantly, I talked to lots of people. Having several days in a row when I had time to talk, to email, and meet people, I seized this opportunity. And it feels amazingly good.

I remember how I was going to prioritize interactions with people last New Year, and then how all my plans were ruined together with so many other things and became so irrelevant that I didn’t want to recall them. I am not making any grand plans for 2023, and I am not putting together a list of New Year’s resolutions. There were things that I wanted to complete during the last weekend, and I did. Some of them could be considered New Year resolutions, but overall I’d say: I know what the right things to do are now, next month, and next year, and always, And I am trying to do as much as I can, every day and every week, and I keep to-do lists and roll them over.

I feel good about the new year. I feel angry and productive – that’s my new thing, my new state of mind and soul, which I acquired in 2022: angry and productive. And it really helps:)