Into The Future · 5:47am Jan 1st, 2020
So we are two and a half hours away from the new year here in California. I'm eager to leave 2019 behind. Hell, I'm eager to leave the decade behind. Basically since 2015, my life has been fairly unpleasant in one way or another. However, I have high hopes for the future, and what a future it is! 2020! One of the most futuristic of all years. It ranks right up there with 1999 and 2050. And it will forever be linked to Cyberpunk 2020, which is one of my favorite role playing games. Hilarious to think of playing that game in the early nineties and looking at the tech in the sourcebooks. It seemed so plausible that we could at least have rudimentary cybernetics by 2020...
Anyway, my wife and I have finally moved. I'm not exaggerating at all when I say that buying this house was one of the most difficult things that I've ever done. It took a full time effort from my wife and probably cost me ten to twenty hours a week on top of my full-time job for about two months. It was hell!
Now we are here, though. The scenic Sierra foothills. Where I used to live in the bustling bay area. I now live in a town of 300. It's a crazy adjustment. I do still have to go back to the bay area for a garage full of stuff, though. Last time I went back, one of my neighbors had a pen full of puppies barking and crying in the driveway. The other was working on some kind of engine. He revved it for about six hours. My property smelled like gas fumes. The neighbors behind us had a two hour screaming match while their seemingly-insane dog barked at them. My friends, this is why I moved to the Sierra foothills. As horrendous as the process of buying this new house was, it's tranquil.
It wouldn't be me though if this all just worked out. The second we moved in, the water heater stopped working and we found out that the dishwasher heating coil isn't functioning. Luckily for us, we have an in-law unit on the property with its own hot water heater, so we could still shower, but it's a pain in the ass when the temperature is near freezing. Still better than wanting to kill all of my neighbors.
My neurotic, anxious dog seems much more relaxed and happy. The cat is more spry and is eating and drinking more than before. My wife is feeling positive about things again. It's such a great change. I'm sure there will be a million challenges to come, but at least they aren't coming at me in an environment that I absolutely detest. This was a very positive change in my life.
So here's hoping that all of you have positive changes coming up in 2020. I wish you all the best. We all deserve happiness. Reach out and grab it with both hands. Sometimes it's difficult getting to that place, but don't give up. I nearly did about twenty times during this process, but now that I'm through, I'm so pleased that we persevered.
It's good to hear that you're in a better place and a better frame of mind. Good luck with the new home and enjoy yourself!
We do. I have a buddy who has an implant that feeds him insulin when it detects that his blood sugar is getting too high. There are a great number of deaf people who can hear now thanks to cochlear implants. They're working on heart and kidney replacements too.
We just don't have laser eyes :P
5178200
I know, but I mean things like functional cyber arms. We have the very beginnings of them with things like brainwave-controlled hands, but they aren't limb equivalents yet. Cochlear implants aren't swappable for an ear. They "hear" differently and take an adjustment period to figure out the sounds. We are getting close, but I don't really count cybernetics as fully here until they have the same functionality as the part that they are replacing. We have made great strides in the last decade or so, that's for sure.
5178219
Hey man, you said rudimentary :P
My son was born this year. He turns one in a few weeks. Crazy. This decade brought the fandom for me, and it's been one of the best things to ever happen to me. This decade also brought the worst things to ever happen to me as well, but such of life. Here's to an awesome decade. May the good stuff be better, and the bad fade away.
The new decade doesn't begin until 12:01 am January 1st, 2021.
It's very good to hear that all those trials and tribulations you went through to get this new place have brought you and yours more happiness. I heartily wish you all much more of that happiness in the months and years ahead.
I had to look that one up! We generally call them "granny flats" or "granny annexes" over here.
5178284
Besides, this is definitely the start of the 2020s. 
Well, okaaaay -- but that was also true with the century/millennium in 2000, and nobody much took any notice then either.
5178284
That's not how decades are counted. Centuries are. That's why we're in the 21st century.
If decades were counted like that, we would've just finished the 2nd decade and be starting the 3rd. But we're not. We finished the 10s and we're starting the 20s.
Decades are counted colloquially, for the ease of referencing a time period that's relevant to a human being. Centuries are counted for use in a calendar.
5178379
The math is the same, whether it's decades or centuries.
5178329
Actually, people took great notice of the start of the new millennium. Some argued for 2000, while others 2001.
5178530
The math is irrelevant. What's relevant is what's being discussed. When we discuss "the 90s" we're talking about a period from 1990-1999. That's literally how it works. Usage creates meaning.
Centuries, on the other hand, are more abstract, and not used in the same way decades are.
5178533
I can see I'm wasting my time.
Carry on.
5178530
I was around in 2000, and I'd say that while there was a fairly vigorous debate about when the millennium began, there wasn't much of one about the date that was more significant to the ordinary person in the street. That was 2000 without a doubt. Go back a thousand years and it was also 1000, not 1001, which excited all kinds of supernatural fears and so on. (Actually the 1000s are an interesting century in themselves from an English POV, regardless of when you start, but that's a whole other subject!)
Not, in everyday terms, that it really matters all that much. So I'm off to think about ponyfic now. Have a good decade, whether you start it this year or next!
Glad to hear you're doing alright, and a belated welcome to what hopefully will be less of a downhill decade!
And… Sierra foothills? I've gotta ask, if only to figure out whether you're within a stone's throw. Sacramento region, or further north or further south?
5199855
I live near Jackson. Between Mokelumne Hill and Glencoe.
5199914
Cool! I'm in Grass Valley — far enough north that a direct drive down would involve several hours of winding foothill roads, but it looks like we're both within about an hour's drive of Sacramento. There's a few Sac authors I occasionally go visit and do writing nights etc. with — Caliaponia and Rocket Lawn Chair mostly. Should I try to drag you into our Discord chatter?
5200901
You can certainly send me an invite, though I gotta say that I'm a very infrequent Discord user. I often close it and forget to open in back up for long stretches at a time. Still, I do like talking with the pony folk.
5203743
Haha, same. Dropped you a PM.