Lynlee Derrick’s year in review

Lynlee Derrick, Editor in Chief

Creating a home in staff this year has undoubtedly made this year more manageable. With the rough end of the year last year—and subsequently never getting a true goodbye with the 2020 seniors and my pseudo-mother Ashlyn Korpak—The Central Trend felt tainted by despair and distaste left from the beginning of the pandemic, and I didn’t even see myself truly loving online TCT the way I have.
Blue Powerade. I feel like this doesn’t need an explanation. I cannot stop drinking it. Is this bad for me?
Not experiencing that bad of road conditions up until right now has honestly made me more comfortable behind the wheel. While my friends may judge my driving ability—they still get in my car every time without complaint, and I somehow have become the designated driver for every outing—I know that if they ever saw me drive 5 mph in the snow and curse out ice patches, my reputation would be in shambles.
Embroidering has brought me peace; I feel like I’ve aged 30 years over quarantine, and my new habit of embroidering since the start of March matches this growth. It upsets me, and I can never tie knots right, and sometimes the thread breaks, and the needle pokes me far too often, but I still like it. Call it Stockholm Syndrome, I guess.
Baking a tres leches cake that everyone loved on the first try is my actual defining moment of 2020. I’ve become more experienced in the kitchen with my recent attempts—since the start of quarantine in March, 80% of my vegan baking creations have been inedible—and this cake wasn’t just decent, it was perfection.
The purple felt llama creation Abby Wright made for me from a weird Walmart crafting set that had no concept of how tape cannot work with felt (I am still considering emailing the company to let them know how flawed this craft was) has been a symbol of 2020. Nothing has gone right, and nothing has been easy, but we have persevered together. And Abby Wright’s llama now sits in a makeshift hammock on my wall.
My mother has two giant nutcracker statues that are made out of metal and scare me. I genuinely fear them so much that I don’t like walking past them at night; however, she has moved the outside, so my 2020 has been much better with this recent decorative change.
Getting my diagnosis of PCOS has changed this year, and I can’t tell if it has been for the better or worse. Undeniably so, my numerous doctor’s appointments a week and everything else PCOS entails has changed my perspective on life.
Buying Playdoh at Meijer—a variegated collection of colors, of course—made quarantine bearable. I highly recommend this for 2020. I take out my anger on the Playdoh.
The cacti lining the main kitchen window in my house have somehow survived 2020, and they’re thriving. They’re an ounce of hope in that sense—they’ve made it past this year, and I hope to do the same.
College season is almost over, and I need a hallelujah for that. While I still have five more colleges to finish applying to, I will proudly procrastinate writing those until the final minute.
The grace from my teachers has made online school and the end of the 2020 school year ten times more comfortable for me. I’ve felt that a majority of my teachers understand that this time isn’t easy—that we need a few extra days or some more help as learning through the screen isn’t the same—and i would not have made it to January without the compassion from my teachers.
Diet Pepsi forever and always gets me through my days.
My acceptance to Minerva, one of my top schools, has made all of my work since 2003 feel validated. While I know I shouldn’t give a university that much power over my feelings, I can’t not feel proud of myself for doing this—for getting here and showing Minerva that I’m worth their acceptance.
This is another dedication to Abby Wright—to her as a whole. Thank you for coming with me everywhere, for making the Taco Bell drive-thru fun, for advocating for safety and change and happiness alongside me. 2020 would not have been the same without you.
My pipe dream of getting a ferret has entertained me for months, and I got an ornament with a ferret on it for Christmas. Wanting one has been a defining trait of 2020, and I am determined to get one in 2021.
The health and safety of my family members is what has gotten me through 2020 so far. I am extremely lucky to have all of my family members, and I recognize that. In the middle of this pandemic, the knowledge that we are all safe has kept me calm.
I have devoured many Jim peanut butter jars, and that has been a quirk derived from 2020.
Spending more time with dogs has been one of the blessings of 2020. With Sampson getting older—he turns 13 in July—and Doxie being the two-year-old dog she is, I want to cherish these moments with them, especially as the ones with Sampson are undeniably numbered.
I am addicted to Spotify and have listened to over 110,000 minutes of music this year, and without music to drown out the world and all the anxiety 2020 has brought, this year would have been much more tragic in my melodramatic, teenage mind.