My 2019 post is fun to read and I enjoyed the process of writing it. 2020 year has sunsetted into 2021 with a few themes carrying over into the new year. I felt compelled to do the same again. Here is the scene:

Kags and Yots are sitting at an empty bar together somewhere that is unaffected by the pandemic. There’s a man in a suit at the bar drinking a whiskey neat and the bartender is watching soccer on the television across the room. Kags orders a PBR while Yots has a Jack and Coke. The transcript of their conversation is as follows:

Kags - “Cheers to 2020. May we depart the most bizarre year we have experienced yet and may 2021 be unbelievably better.”

Yots - “Cheers” (glasses touch)

Kags - (sips) “Where do we even begin?”

Yots - “There’s a day that sticks out in my head. Somewhere during mid-May on a Friday afternoon. That was the last time we took the bus from Downtown SF back to Inner Richmond for the last time. Wasn’t it eerie?”:

Kags - “That was the beginning of it all. I remember walking out of the office with a knot in my stomach. I couldn’t help but feel like everything was going to change right then and there. I was nervous. There was a man with a dog walking by me while I was waiting at the bus stop. I asked him if I could pet his dog and he nodded. I don’t think that man would let strangers touch his dogs anymore but I appreciated it at the moment.

”A lot happened that week. I had just come back from CRSSD after the outbreak of COVID on the east coast. I monitored the news a lot which sparked a ton of anxiety at work. This was also my first month into a new job. I attended a global sales kick-off event for the entire week. We all thought we would return to work within a few weeks, I really hoped we would too. That never happened. A few weeks turned into a month, which eventually turned into a few more months. It eventually changed to summer of 2021 and even now, I’m not even sure if that’s accurate. No one really knows.”

Yots - “Well there’s a vaccine out now. There’s a light at the end of the tunnel in all of this. We’re almost there, we just need to hang on a little bit further.”

Kags - “Agreed. However I question the prediction that life will just return back to normal. I don’t know about that. I think there is some positive change that can come out of this yet. It feels like we are at rock bottom anyway. #NormalizeWearingMasks”

Yots - “Ok let’s take a step back. Aside from work culture shifting from in office to full remote, what else has changed. Name a few off the top of your head”

Kags - “I moved back to Los Angeles into a house with a few friends. I moved again right before Christmas into a condo with my girlfriend and family friend (who happened to set the both of us up). I started a book club that dwindled down in numbers, exercised a ton without a gym, and managed to get back into shape, and the Lakers won a championship. These were all solidified milestones of the year but I think a lot more changed than over the course of the year. “

Yots - “What do you mean?”

Kags - “Well since most businesses closed and I couldn’t see my friends that much, I sat at home and consumed social media and read books. The civil rights revolution happened after the killing of George Floyd in May. Those who were listening and watching woke up to a revolution that sparked overnight to dismantle systemic racism. That was huge. I was absolutely stressed about it too. I kept looking at myself wondering ‘what have i don’t to contribute to this systemic problem’ and wondering if I’m a bad person for ignoring the elephant in the system for such a long time. I couldn’t sleep during this time because my mind was rushing to breakdown my own inner prejudices.”

Yots - “We aren’t a bad person. Everyone was going through it too, we weren't alone in it”

Kags - “I stopped asking myself those questions. I was paralyzed by the overwhelming amount of content i was consuming. I talked about systemic racism to people who were also unpacking the same thoughts and discussed what we could do about it. I read books, watched documentaries, and listened to podcasts as much as i could. It was absolutely exhausting to cram all of it into one summer.”

Yots - “And now that’s it? Systemic racism has been defeated?”

Kags - “Fuck no. We are only touching the beginning of it. We are at a significant turning point in civil rights history. Change has been made and we aren’t even close to saying that this is fixed. This isn’t a sprint to finish, there’s no procrastinating. We all have a part to play in this movement, do your part. #BlackLivesMatter”

Yots - “What else has changed?”

Kags - “Going back to the thought of being cooped up at home for most of the year. My personal priorities started to shift. In a way, I was forced to grow up and begin to think critically about that future. I took a serious interest in my own finances, investing, and how to set myself up for success in the future. I read more books on investing and how to gain my own share of the market. Working at a wealth management office for a year rubbed off on me (ask me about stocks, but don’t expect anything insightful). I set personal financial goals and I successfully surpassed my initial plans with flying colors. I intend to build off of that momentum in the next year. Hopefully finance won’t consume me. I loathed the finance talk at the firm I worked at. Ironically I might be turning into one of them.”

Yots - “Tell me then, what are some lessons you learned investing in the stock market?”

Kags - “Crypto is an enigma, I finally bought a pair of Crocs that I have been touting for the past year, and ETFs are the safest bet. But please enough about stocks. What did you learn this past year?”

Yots - “What did I learn? Hmmmm…..I learned that we live in a society that has become so divisive that we are in an era where “if you’re not for me, then you must be against me and we cannot be cordial” is all around us.”

Kags - “Please do explain”

Yots - “2020 was an election year. This was a historical election year that I hope I never encounter ever again. The whole nation was divided. The shithead who won the 2016 election contributed to the division of this country between two parties. I began following politics on a daily basis reading a ton more news outlets and refreshing my twitter feed for election news when it became time to vote. The dichotomy of this election was the massive amount of mail-in voting. I voted back in 2016 at my local elementary school. I had a feeling of civic duty walking out of that poll booth. This time I filled out my ballot on the kitchen table with my laptop at my side. I had ample time to decide who to vote for, research each candidate’s platforms, and seek out the underlying racist dumbasses who tried to get themselves into local office seats. I felt like I was going through another college exam.”

“Despite the increase in my national awareness, it didn’t help the fact that every news outlet, social media feed, and local TV station spewed out divisive information each day. I once walked into a deli to grab a sandwich and the person making my sandwich wouldn’t shut up about the Democrats. Now if it isn’t obvious, I’ll make it clear now: I voted for Biden. However, that doesn’t make me a left-winged liberal who wants to tear down each governmental structure that has wronged us. If anything I learned I am more conservative than I had initially thought (still liberal don’t attack me). Our government is far from perfect. There is a massive amount of reform that needs to happen but I don’t truly believe that eradicating our infrastructure completely without a seamless transition plan will benefit anyone. Regardless, I’ll leave the politics to each party’s corrupt elected leaders. Doesn’t matter who is in charge, they’re all corrupt. one way or another until politicians can learn to properly engage with their constituents. AOC is leading by example. Until all of our politicians can hop on a twitch stream and knock a few rounds in Among Us, none of them really care about the common people.”

Kags - “Are you sure you want to project this to the people reading this? Someone is going to disagree with this and may cause some unwanted messages in your DMs”

Yots - “And if they come knocking, so be it. If there’s anything I’ve learned this year is someone is going to disagree with what you’re saying. They will pick out a few words that you have said and hyperfocus on a few words instead of the bigger picture. Truth be told, i don’t care much about politics, the people involved with politics, or elections. I’ve been force-fed this media since the day we went into lockdown because it was either this or the ungodly memes that are diminishing my attention span. I chose the first because my generation doesn’t run to TikTok but we will gladly suck our time with Instagram”

Kags - “Oh shit Instagram. We’ve spent a lot of time on that platform this year. My favorite IG of the year was @airfryerguy. That guy is fuckin awesome. Beautiful voice and delicious recipes that are just magnificent.”

Yots - “Right??? It’s been cool seeing a few people in my network focus their attention on social media and take it more seriously. @itsforkandspoon and @hungryhanna are two accounts that I have thoroughly enjoyed over the year and I’m ecstatic to see them grow. Plus if I ever need something quick to eat, they usually have something good on deck.”

“Just some other good feeds that I watch on the daily are @humphreytalks, @tinysnekcomics, @asiansneverdie. If you love informative finance reels, cute animal comics, or hilarious asian memes, I recommend checking out any of the three.”

Kags - “Are we plugging shit that we have enjoyed over the past year?”

Yots - “I think so. What do you want to plug?”

Kags - “I think I got one. Ever heard of the podcast Asian Not Asian?”

Yots - “The podcast where two asian guys talk American issues that nobody cares about?”

Kags - “Yeah that one! The two hosts, Mic Nguyen and Fumi Abe, are hilarious. Mic is this grand old-fashionable dude who reminds me of kid who did too much karate in high school. And my girlfriend says I laugh a lot like Fumi. Might be a Japanese thing but that guy is downright funny. I’m almost certain he’s a satyriasis (big word for male nymphomaniac) [yes i looked that up]. He recently did a podcast with a fleshlight in the background and will routinely talk about his weird sexual fantasies he suppressed when he was younger.”

Yots - “Their lockdown episodes got us through some rough times. I remember walking through Golden Gate Park listening to their podcast like I felt like they were walking with me admiring the trees and making dick jokes in public. Classic.”

“I think the last thing I want to plugs is an app. I’ve become extremely organized thanks to Notion, the all in one digital organizer and project management app. I have been using it to track my to-dos

Kags - “Do you miss living near Golden Gate Park? You may never live close to a music festival venue ever again. Outsidelands was so.close to that apartment that you could walk to the entrance.”

Yots - “To be completely honest, I do not miss San Francisco one bit. I wouldn’t have traded my time in the city for anything really. Living in the city was fun but I know myself and I fucking love living in Socal. I eat waaaay more Japanese food and I regularly see my grandma”

Kags - “