Post 100, 2020

What a ride 2020 has been thus far. To be honest who knew how this year would play out. Australia was thrown into 2020 making international headlines with our bushfire crisis. Leadership was nowhere to be found on a federal level, well unless you went 10 hours across the pacific to Hawaii.

Shane Fitzsimmons locally in NSW lead with honestly and brutal home truths. Sometimes leaders need to drop the spin and deliver the real facts. Raw and truthful.

Unfortunately the fires were just the start of 2020. Throughout the fires, the smoke in and around parts of NSW my dog (shared with my partner and his family) was diagnosed with cancer.

I have no desire to have children and being gay it has never really been on my roadmap so pets are super special to me.

I still remember my childhood pets Ben and Max.

Maverick was a whole different pet. He had some much personality. He was a friend. He was like no other dog. His decline was swift, I cried lakes in the lead up to his passing and by March, 2020 he was gone.

Just like that one of my best friends was gone. In a small box, he was gone.

Whilst being treating he was a real mess. I carried him to the park to go to the bathroom, I woke up during the night when he had the runs and I tried my hardest to make the little guy comfortable. I truly loved Maverick with all my heart.

With not much time to grieve, 2020 took a whole new turn. COVID-19 hit.

I am lucky to have a steady job. I have worked from home since late March. No one I know has been impacted by the health crisis however through work and loss of hours, I know a number of people finding this time rough.

Everyone has an opinion about COVID-19, how we got here, how Australia is so lucky, how America and the UK is in a world of pain. I will not share my thoughts.

As COVID-19 became less of a drama in Australia, things went from bad to worse in the USA.

George Floyd was murdered by his local law enforcement. This was nothing new in the USA. A country with so many issues. Race relations has always been an issue. Gun violence, violence towards citizens from police and the black lives matter movement.

Like the rest of the world I was horrified about what happened to George Floyd.

This started a chain of events with protests and the movement growing across the world. Finally it feels like enough is enough. Could COVID-19 actually reset the world? Can there be real change in the USA in November?

Clearly the experiment of Donald Trump is a failed one. A once simple slogan, Make America Great Again is looking fairly untrue right now. Or in Kellyanne Conway's words, this Make America Great Again was an "alternative fact".

It's undeniable now America is a red hot mess. 100,000 plus dead due to COVID-19, 40,000,000 unemployed and growing whilst the country now is even more divided than pre Trump. Would Hilary have been able to avoid the shit show of Trump?

So 2020 is an interesting year. One thing seems to be ringing true. Nothing will be the same after COVID-19. Will it just be health wise around physical distancing or will we also get social change too?

The way forward of working will 100% different. Will live music ever return to normal? Will we get to ever return to "normal"?

So after 99 posts this is an honest post. A post about the year I lost my baby boy Maverick, a post about what the hell is happening.

This is for you Maverick I will always think about you and at the darkest times a Maggie Rogers song just spoke to me. I can't listen to this song anymore because it takes me back to Peace Park. With you sick and weak. With you trying to fight on. The one day in the park you got some energy from somewhere and interacted with another dog. The day I thought things might, just might get better.

This song is beautiful so was my little man Maverick. I will always think of you on April 1st, your birthday the pound gave you. How strange it is such a playful doggie was born on April Fools.

Here is to a way happier remainder of 2020.