It is currently Friday, December 29 which means in just 48 short hours it will be Sunday, December 31 also known as New Year’s Eve! Which means the next day will no longer be 2017, but rather 2018, because time marches on and that’s how our calendar system works or whatever. To be real, this year has been overall terrible, and it’s not like there’s a magic button that will suddenly right all the institutional wrongs when the clock strikes midnight on Sunday – AND YET. A lesson we learned this year is that even when the world is on fire, it is possible to find joy. On Christmas we published a round table of perfect moments we managed to experience in the midst of this depressing-as-all-fuck year, proving that even in dark times, small sparks of happiness are still real. We hope that you’ve been able to find pockets of happiness throughout the year, too.
With that attitude in mind, we’re over New Year’s Resolutions. Who cares about making lofty and/or empty promises to ourselves on January 1 that will inevitably make us feel bad throughout the year? No one has time for that bullshit in 2018 – there’s enough to feel bad about without adding resolutions into the mix! We wanna talk about stuff we’re looking forward to in the coming year, because against all odds, that stuff does exist.
So in lieu of a typical weekly Friday Open Thread, we put together a roundtable about what we’re looking forward to in 2018. You can use the comment section to tell us what you’re looking forward to in the new year, or tell us about your day, or just show us a photo of your cat. Which is to say, this post has all the same rules as a regular Friday Open Thread – we just wore sequins to the party and made a fancy cheese board, because it’s New Year’s Eve weekend, ya know? (If you need a reminder about how to post photos or videos in the comments, we’ve included it at the end of this post!)
Happy New Year, Autostraddle Family. We love you, and above all else, we’re looking forward to spending another year with you.
Vanessa, Community Editor
In 2018, I am either going to move somewhere new or I am going to keep living in Portland. I will either be accepted into an MFA Creative Writing program or I will not be. It might sound weird, but I am super looking forward to whatever happens in this scenario. If I’m accepted into school and I end up moving – that will be so exciting! If I’m accepted into school and I end up staying – that will be so wonderful! If I’m not accepted into school then I’ll start thinking about a different next step for my life, and wow, I bet that will be so interesting, whatever it is.
I’m a person who usually finds a lot of joy in schedules, plans, and obsessing over every single possible outcome. And yet – I just can’t bring myself to do that when it comes to this particular situation. I feel genuine excitement for whatever turn my life takes next. I think that might be called growing up, or perhaps it’s just learning to give fewer fucks about that which we cannot control, or maybe it’s a sweet reflection on how much I appreciate the constants in my life – my girlfriend, my family, my friends – and how I know no matter what happens re: where I live or if I do or do not go to school, I’ll still be able to find joy because I’m surrounded by people who are just so damn good.
I’m also looking forward to midterm elections.
Heather Hogan, Senior Editor
I am so excited to get out on my bike in 2018! I had some surgery this year that did wonders for my physical and mental health and also my energy levels! I’ve gotten to spend more time on my bike in the last few months than I have in the last few years. Biking has been my favorite thing since I was a wee tiny babe. It makes me feel so good in my body and so good in my brain and heart and I can’t wait to pedal all over these five boroughs here in NYC and up into the Hudson Valley and who knows maybe I’ll even take a trip somewhere just to ride my bike! I’m also looking forward to the huge offering of YA fantasy novels with female protagonists coming out in 2018 and, as always, snuggling my cats and my partner and drinking some new and delicious beers and whiskies and watching gay women kiss on TV. And also — get this — working with my therapist to set professional and personal boundaries and keep them.
Also what Vanessa said re: midterms.
Carrie, Staff Writer
I’m kicking off 2018 by relocating to Washington, DC to work in disability rights advocacy full-time and attempt to save the republic from itself. As of this writing, I’ve been approved for a fantastic apartment in a neighborhood that’s heavy on “Kindness Lives Here” lawn signs and bake sales benefitting the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund, so feeling pretty solid on that. I’m thrilled to be moving somewhere that will teach me how to resist while looking the bad guys right in the face (but still making sure I feel safe at home). I am going to learn so much in this next year and look forward to my biggest opportunity yet to do good work.
And, keeping with our theme, I’m excited to drive people to the polls during the midterms.
Casey, Contributing Writer
It will surprise no one when I say that I am excited about many bookish related things in 2018! I got my first real librarian job in late 2017, so I am pumped about getting to live my dream of working at a public library and working around stories and information and making an everyday difference in library patrons’ lives. Also, did you know the film version of The Miseducation of Cameron Post (one of my favourite queer books) is coming out in 2018? Also, also, also, did you know some books by my favorite writers are coming out next year? They include: Amber Dawn’s second novel Sodom Road Exit (“family melodrama and supernatural lesbian thriller”!!), Inkmistress by YA author Audrey Coulthurst (alternate title described as “of bisexuality and bloodshed” by the author), I’m Afraid of Men by Vivek Shraya (about toxic masculinity and homo/transphobia), and Little Fish by Casey Plett (the Lambda winner’s debut novel where a 30-year-old trans woman learns that her own grandfather might also have been trans). So many great books!
Tiara, Staff Writer
2017 was a weird year. It started off really really strong, with a ton of new opportunities and deeper friendships, and then in the last month or so a lot of that suddenly fell apart and I’m still blindsided by it all. At the same time, while all of that crumbled, I managed to make some good connections that have given me opportunities for 2018. The more specific examples are co-producing an all-disability super-queer cabaret for Midsumma (Melbourne’s version of Pride), being on the organizing team for an indie games festival, and taking the idea of being a Queer Lady Magician more seriously given that everyone I know is SUPER EXCITED about the prospect – but those are just early days and I’m sure there will be more. There have also been some new friendships that have come about partially because of things falling apart, which has been such a pleasant surprise.
And that’s what I have to look forward to in 2018: new connections and opportunities popping up amongst the rubble. I tend to not really like planning or looking forward to anything because of massive cherophobia (the idea that the moment you feel happy is when everything falls apart on you) and feeling like the walking manifestation of “if you want to make God laugh then all you have to do is tell him your plans.” But little concrete confirmed things are a start.
KaeLyn, Staff Writer
I’m looking forward to my first-ever book coming out. OMG I JUST TYPED THAT INTO THE INTERNET SO IT’S REAL I GUESS. Mark your calendars for June-ish to pick up your copy of Girls Resist!, a YA guidebook on how to do organizing and activism for girls who are mad as hell and ready to take action! Right now it still feels abstract, like how does this mess of word docs end up being a book with a cover and illustrations and stuff? I’m grappling with lots of internalized fears about messing it up and not living up to my own standards. When I’m not caught up in my own feelings and anxieties, I’m super proud to create a book that is for girls, not about girls, and that respects girls as the powerful activists they already are.
Girls Resist! feels like a big milestone for me and one I didn’t know was going to happen, ever, especially right now. Some of ya’ll may know I went to college for creative writing and then, like, stopped writing pretty much completely and went into a career as a community organizer. I hadn’t written for publication until I started writing for AS in 2014. It was because of a post about activism and organizing on AS that I was approached about writing this book. So, like, this all just feels full-circle and f*cking lucky and really neatly packaged with an angry feminist bow on top. Let’s do this, 2018!
Oh, also yes, I’m going to give all the money (OK, so not actually that much, but some money) and do all the phonebanking to win back our rightful seats in the midterm elections. Bye, GOP!
Kaylah, A-Camp Staff
In 2018 I will be ending my vow of celibacy and honestly I’ve never been more excited to BONE! Since 2015, I’ve been putting in the hard work to love and accept myself and to be the person I’ve always wanted to be. You’d be surprised (or maybe not) at how much time and mental and physical energy is spent flirting, swiping, and screwing. My life and my emotions were spiraling out of control and I just didn’t have the time or energy to spare. Since taking a break from sex and dating I’ve made KILLER progress. I went to therapy for the first time, started meds, quit my boring job, and made some of the biggest decisions of my life! When I look in the mirror I hardly recognize myself, and I fucking love it. Making time for my self-improvement is THE smartest thing I’ve ever done and now that I feel like an actual person, I’m ready to rumble. I’m pretty shitty at checking my notifications, but please know that my DM’s are wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiide open!! wink
Nora, Fashion & Beauty Editor
Things I’m looking forward to in 2018 include the publication of my debut book, Material (out in March or so via Von Zos), about my attachment to objects and myriad surrounding thoughts/neuroses – as well as my planned move from NYC to Minneapolis, where I shall live like a queen on my freelance income, and hopefully in the not too far off future have a modest house with a giant dog. Happy new year to me!
Laura M, Staff Writer
In 2018, I’m excited for my wedding! We booked a brewery! There’s gonna be food trucks! I’m wearing a gold gown! And at the end, I’ll be married to the handsomest, funniest, smartest, most caring and wonderful person! PUMPED.
I’m also thrilled to be part of Katie West’s anthology, Becoming Dangerous: Witchy Femmes, Queer Conjurers, and Magical Rebels on Summoning the Power to Resist, coming out in February. Mey’s in it too, guys, and it’s gonna be incredible.
Mey, Trans Editor
I’m looking forward to more Steven Universe and One Day at a Time and Hayley Kiyoko’s debut album and resistance to Trump and the Republicans growing and turning into more real-life changes and Black Panther and the new Purge movie and all the projects and comics and books and shows made by my friends. I’m looking forward to getting more tattoos (be on the lookout for a Pitbull one and a furry cowgirl soon). I’m also looking forward to continuing therapy and growing and healing and learning by doing so. But mostly I’m looking forward to spending more time with my friends and chosen family and girlfriends. I’m looking forward to seeing so many other of my friends who constantly make my life better and make me a better person. I’m looking forward to visiting my girlfriends more and for them to visit me. I’m looking forward to family.
Valerie Anne, TV Writer & Social Media Co-Editor
I’m going to take a scriptwriting class next year or so help me! I want 2018 to be the year I really ramp up my writing and actively seek out ways to keep my creative energy high. These past two years have been hard, and there are hard things looming in the future, so I am looking forward to mining for joy in the places I’ve found comfort this year, like Buffering the Vampire Slayer and Wynonna Earp and all my badass friends who have been getting shit done and doing cool things, but also finding new and exciting things to keep my little hope flame alive. I’m going to like eight million cons with my friends from all over the country and I’m really excited to see them again. I have a lot of cool projects in the works right now that I really hope come to fruition in the new year, but overall I just look forward to spending time (even virtually) with my friends, and maybe making some new friends, too.
Lucy Hallowell, Writer
I’ve been wracking my brain for something to look forward to in the coming year, and it’s hard, people. Sure, the midterms are a tiny ray of hope, but November feels eons away the way time passes since last November. But one thing I’m looking forward to is seeing old friends. This summer, a college buddy got married and a gaggle of college friends descended on Portland, Oregon to celebrate. We had so much fun together, we decided to plan a vacation this summer all together. So, come the end of June we’ll all be in a house in Maine together, laughing, giving each other shit, and enjoying being outdoors with our kids. There’s nothing like friends who’ve known you since you were a teenager. So, yeah, I’ll look forward to that.
Molly Priddy, Staff Writer
I look forward to seeing potential in 2018. This year has been one of backsliding and seeing how much bullshit I and many others could handle while still being able to live our lives. Next year is about using the strength I’ve built up by muscling myself afloat this year in a more proactive way. I look forward to seeing how I fare as a single person post-divorce, seeing where I land, and seeing how I rise to the challenges of both. Basically, what I’ve learned in 2017 is that my life may try to kill me, but I’m emerging stronger, like steel tempered with flame. So look out, 2018 – I give fewer fucks and have much more confidence. Shit’s going to get AWESOME.
Riese, Editor-in-Chief
I am so excited to live in a city where I have friends! I’m excited that when I’m invited to things like the GLAAD Awards or a screening, I can just drive there instead of flying. I’m excited to make new connections and to harass the writers of The L Word reboot until they let me write an episode. Also to hopefully at some point acquire health insurance…
Crystal, HR Director
Okay this is very boring but what I’m most looking forward to in 2018 is fingers crossed having a year of positive and uninterrupted employment! I haven’t had that since moving to the U.S. in 2015 and as a person who requires a solid foundation / environment for a variety of reasons, this life has been extra stressful lately. So I’ll be very happy to work. I’ll also hopefully be taking a family vacation to Alaska and meeting my nephew in Australia, pretty stoked for those things.
Rachel, Managing Editor
So much of 2017 was so directionless and confusing and more about just getting through things than going anywhere in particular with my life! I am tempted to decide that what I am looking forward to is Making Moves and aggressively Building the Life I Want, but you know what? That sounds like an intense expectation to set for myself! Instead I am actively looking forward to pursuing pure and authentic pleasures in 2018, no matter how small they are: a space of my own that I love living in, keeping my plants alive, having good coffee in the mornings, making brunch for someone I love, the noise my cat makes when she takes off running after the laser pointer. Can’t wait!
Alexis, Staff Writer
I just saw Tiffany Haddish explain how she spoke everything she wanted into existence so I’m speaking several things into 2018. One, I am finally going to A-Camp. I’ve tried to go like three times in the past but it’s happening this year. It’s gotta. Also, I’m gonna graduate from my coding bootcamp and get a better job (not necessarily in that order) and get the hell out of spaces that re-traumatize me and feel like I wanna not exist, less! I’ll drive so I can get myself where I need to go and feel less stuck! I’m going to write more! I’m going to read more! I’m going to love theatre and basketball and all my old loves more and give myself room to grow! I’m gonna cry cause I really need to! I’m going to forgive myself the most because after all this time, I think I need to start! I’m gonna keep using exclamation points in writing and life without apology! More gayness (in movies, in books, in personal life) all around! Literally all of these are attainable because I’m already in the process of doing them, so really I’m looking forward to moving forward!
Carolyn, NSFW Editor & Literary Editor
I’m looking forward to taking all the broken pieces of my life from 2017 and jumping on them, burning them, and sweeping them away. And then I’m looking forward to only having people in my life who deserve to be there, to seeing things I’ve been building come together, to prioritizing what’s important and to getting rid of what isn’t, to being myself for myself just as hard as I can, and to putting as much good energy into the world as possible.
Natalie, Staff Writer
On January 15th, I’m going to sign up to join MoviePass, the new movie ticketing subscription service…and then, a month later, I’ll use it to see the movie I’ve been looking forward to for the better part of a year, Black Panther.
And then, I’ll go back the next day and see it again.
And then again on the next day and the day after that and the day after that.
And I’ll probably keep seeing it until Ava DuVernay’s A Wrinkle in Time comes out… and then I’ll just see that about a dozen times…
My pop culture life is gonna be Issa Rae at the Emmys, basically.
Beyond that, I’m looking forward to the midterm election while being mindful not to exhaust myself with the daily outrage that this administration merits. I’m anxious to see if Arizona can deliver a bisexual atheist to the US Senate or if Georgia can elect its first black woman governor or if my home state of North Carolina can put an end to the Republican supermajority in the legislature and I’ll be doing everything within my power to bring those things to fruition.
Neesha, Staff Writer
I’m looking forward to centering my pleasure in 2018. For the past 30 years, I’ve made sure that everyone else was okay. I’ve missed out on fun because I had to work harder than everybody else as a Black queer non-binary woman. A longtime community organizer, I always put collective needs before my own.
My Saturn return taught me I need to be selfish sometimes. I endured unprecedented pain and trauma this year and deserve ample time to heal, process, and prioritize my joy. I spent 2017 feeling bad about nearly everything in my life, so 2018 will be dedicated to pleasure activism and doing what makes me feel my best.
Heather Davidson, Contributing Writer
Wow, everyone else seems to be looking forward to elections and major life events and self-actualising, but I’m mainly excited about the trip to Disney World my girlfriend and I have planned for the spring. My parents never took me as a kid, despite the many hours I spent obsessively poring over the parks’ Wikipedia pages when I should have been playing outside. Now I’m an adult and I’m taking myself, and we’re going to have the best time.
Raquel, Staff Writer
It’s been a hard couple years, we can all acknowledge. But I’m looking forward with hope: hope that we’ll see more ground shifting towards people like Danica Roem and Ilhan Omar and Kamala Harris coming into office.
I just left a very comfortable job at a major corporation and moved across the company to work at an agency that works for the government, because I feel hope that a little grunt worker and design thinker can help shape, maybe slowly, maybe in just minute ways, but bit by bit we can shape how the government builds for and works for its citizenry.
On a personal note, my very favorite person is also leavin’ Texas for the District, to come move in with me, and while I expect some challenges I absolutely cannot wait to build a life and a space with this phenomenal and handsome human being. It’s the first time I’ve ever truly lived with a partner, and I’m excited to learn what it looks like to co-create an environment that nurtures the relationship that creates it. I can’t wait to get to know the neighborhood, to choose my nooks and my dive bars and the spot where I’ll read and the spot where I’ll write. I can’t wait to see my little monsterface kitten grow into a fat, happy cat. I will continue to treasure these moments of joy and goodness when the rest of the world looks horrendous. That’s the spark that I need to keep alive, to rekindle the hearth of a world that looks like we want it to.
Also, I look forward to reading even more great books and great pieces by women, people of color, and queer people!
Cameron, Saturday Morning Cartoonist
I have broken my left foot/ankle every year since 2015. Maybe in 2018 I will Not.
Stef Schwartz, Vapid Fluff Editor
I look forward to breaking Cameron’s ankle.
Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya, Staff Writer
I am looking forward to the release of the feature film Ocean’s 8. I feel like I have been waiting my entire life for it. But if Sandra Bullock and Cate Blanchett do not kiss on the lips in it, then I’m suing for emotional damages! I can’t wait to see it 8 times in theaters! I love cinema!
A.E. Osworth, Staff Writer
My wife and I are both doing the Many Moons Workbook. We each have our own workbook but we’re doing them together. So there’s that! Hopefully the world doesn’t end before we get through them! On a more serious note, I’m looking forward to working on my novel with feedback from a brilliant agent that I didn’t have for the previous four drafts of it AND ALSO looking forward to deepening my ties with my queer and trans community. It feels too much like a resolution, but maybe I will be a braver person who loathes myself less in 2018. Maybe.
And after Roy Moore was rightly and soundly trounced in Alabama, I am also looking forward to midterms.
Audrey, Contributing Writer
I’m looking forward to looking forward! 2018 will be a year of many big decisions and concrete steps toward things I’ve known were part of my path for a long time, and in 2017 I gathered so many emotional and logistical tools that I feel like will equip me for this coming year. I know that all sounds vague as heck but like, after spending December 2016 in a state of absolute dread, it’s wonderful to be excited about the new year at all.
Reneice, Staff Writer
In 2018 I am looking forward to having some semblance of stability and peace. The last three years of my life, and ESPECIALLY 2017 have been incredibly hard. They’ve been every tarot reading I get involves the death and/or tower and/or moon card hard. Nothing has felt consistent or safe. I haven’t been able to meet the usual standards I have for myself and I don’t think there’s a single person I know that I haven’t let down in some way. I’ve just generally been lost, and hurt, and struggling to hold it all together. I don’t know if its optimism born from sheer lack of ability to see things getting worse, but I finally feel like this chapter of suffering is in the final editing process with a publishing date of December 31, 2017. I’m starting 2017 in my favorite city in the world with my best friends and the person I love. Afterward I’ll be heading back to my apartment that finally feels like home in LA due to some new furniture and rugs I bought, and getting started on plans that I’ve already laid to make 2018 my most creative year to date. I’m looking forward to growth nurtured by light rather than forced in darkness. Bring on the sun.
Alaina, Staff Writer
While I’ve been working towards it since last September, in 2018 I will officially be a real life Master and become a PhD candidate officially. School is weird and hard, but also the only thing I’ve ever felt good at and like I could commit to for more than 6 months without getting depressed. It feels so good to know that after 21 years of being in school (holy shit), next year I will be at the real, true, beginning of the end of my career as a student. It’s scary and exciting and also hugely important to me. I’m very proud.
Laneia, Executive Editor
I just adopted the kitten I’ve been needing since 2011 — Winona Forever — and I’m really looking forward to our first full year together, especially all the Saturday afternoons we’ll spend on the sofa watching British real estate shows! I’m also making everyone in my house choose an instrument and take lessons (except for Megan, who has already taken lessons), so probably by August 2018 we’ll be a Partridge Family-esque situation, traveling the countryside, playing Dolly Parton covers and good naturedly complaining about ‘the bus.’ I’ll need significantly more flowy skirts for this.
Yvonne, Senior Editor
This year was the first year I felt like I made real money moves, ala Cardi B, in my writing. I mean, for the first time I feel I was successful in achieving my writing goals. I always thought about these goals but never really did anything about them, so this year I changed that! I took a local personal essay writing class and it forced me to just freaking write and then I published a personal essay here! I wanted to do more original reporting and I did the damn thing!
2018 is all about continuing what I started at the tail end of 2017 and writing ferociously. I can’t wait to talk to more queer people and tell their stories and write about things that matter most to me.
Also, I can’t wait to get married to the love of my life! It’s going to be an exciting year!
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I am really looking forward to NYE! It’s the best holiday, I spend the whole day/night watching movies, making an elaborate dinner of some sort, and reflecting on the year and making plans for the new year. I haven’t decided what to make but I’m leaning toward my amazing tomato soup and grilled cheese.
For 2018, I’m looking forward to feeling more confident in my work at grad school. My first term was a struggle, but now we are focusing on things that are like soooo in my zone of skills and interests, like creative non fiction and feminist queer theory. So I’m excited that I’m going to write some stuff again! The first half of 2017, I wrote two different chapbooks, then the second half hardly anything. Only in the last two weeks have I managed to get back to writing and thankfully found a project I could probably expand and work on forever. I’m also hoping to make at least a few trips to visit friends, hopefully make it to A Camp again (timing is perfect but $ isn’t so idk), and form stronger bonds to my friends in general. I am hoping 2018 will be a year for having a chosen family I can depend on, moving forward I’m going to need one more consistently, so if I can sort of get it started now that would be great!
excited for 2018 for youUUU!!!
??
I know this isn’t really possible to have as a goal, as it requires another person, so I’ll say my wish for 2018 is to be in love with someone who loves me back (aka be in a real, loving relationship). I want to share my life with someone. I want us to explore each other’s minds and bodies.
Also, floss my teeth more.
You can make it your goal to meet new people. Then you might meet a future partner and/or you might meet some great friends.
It may not be a wish that you can fulfill on your own, @caterrachel, but opening your heart to all the possibilities is the first step. Best of luck to you in 2018!
kaylah i can’t wait to flirt with you in 2018 ?
I thought I wasn’t looking forward to much and then I realised I am looking forward lots. I am starting the new year single by choice and happy about that and looking forward to enjoying single life, in comparison with three years ago when I was newly single in a more complicated and difficult way. (But I do hope my recent ex isn’t reading because I don’t want to hurt her).
Anyway I have holidays planned – a solo trip, another trip that is partially solo but with a party, a holiday with my best friend, and I am just waiting for London ClexaCon tickets to go on sale so that I can look forward to it as a definite.
Sounds like you have some super fun trips and adventures planned for the new year! Hope you have an amazing time!
Thank you!
I’m really really really looking forward to hopefully getting into any of the MFA in writing programs I applied to (shout out to Vanessa! You have no idea how big my grin was when your wants were the first thing I saw as I opened the page). I’m looking forward to the change this will bring me. Seven years ago, I moved from the only state I’d ever known to a new state; a state where I knew no one, and I had barely enough money to pay my bills. But I survived, and some would even say I have started to thrive. And now, I am looking forward to 2018, and the chance to move across continents, to give my dreams a go, and be braver than I’ve ever been in my life. I’m fucking terrified, but god I want this.
I’m also looking forward to all the movies, TV series, books, comics, games, every single thing I need to make my nerdy ass happy. And that includes some nerdy af t-shirts and hats and jewelry. Yup, I shall be that happy to be queer, happy to be a nerd, having a blast, with two middle fingers up to the patriarchy.
2018 will be my year of continued love and discovery. And it will also be the year when I will join the ranks of AS’s A+ members, just because you guys are amazing, and I want to do my part in keeping the brilliant, awe-inspiring, life-changing machine that is AS moving smoothly.
Happy New Year everyone!!!! Hope 2018 is kinder, more gracious, fulfilling, and filled with some monumental ass-kicking (especially at the mid-terms).
Yay yay yay all around! Good luck on your MFA apps!
Thank you!!!!!!:D
This year has been so so hard in so many ways, but it’s been especially hard as I’ve struggled with my health. I’m not at a place where I have answers yet or a set plan so it’s hard to look ahead when i know 2018 is also gonna be painful and tough. But! My goal is to be more patient with myself and my body. To do less comparing to the abled people around me. To allow myself the time to rest. To allow myself the time to be angry. To allow myself the time to just be. I don’t think this will be a year of total acceptance but i can try for more love and compassion.
I also want to eat more fruits and veggies so i don’t get scurvy and tell the people i love i love them more often.
Those are all awesome goals! Wishing you lots of love and compassion in the new year!
This year I am looking forward to the gay extravaganza that will be my BFF marrying his partner in October. It’s going to be the most GAY, most FUN ever, and honestly in a year when I know I’ll be obsessing over elections and polls and shittastic news I know it will also be good for me to have long conversations obsessing about teal vs turquoise and which five toppings to pick for the S’mores bar. (They’re having a S’MORES BAR Y’ALL!!!)
I’m looking forward to learning how to meditate and taking dance classes more often and working on feeling in my body.
I’m looking forward to Black Panther and A Wrinkle in Time and all the amazing books I’m going to get to read and talk about with my amazing co-workers for. my. job.
I am also looking forward to doing more creative work, and y’all–
I literally, this morning, finished writing the last chapter of the first draft of my book.
I wrote a book, y’all.
I. Wrote. A. Fucking. Book.
I have a lot of revision work to do on it, obviously, and I’m looking forward to doing that work this year. I am looking forward to putting it out there in the world, whether that means it being accepted for publication, or just putting it in a format that I can share with my friends. Either way, I am looking forward to saying I finished a final draft of this book by the time 2018 is over.
And I’m looking forward to starting the next thing I’m going to write, too.
Also the midterms. Let’s take the government back.
@lezbrarian Congratulations on writing a fucking book!
A s’mores bar sounds absolutely divine.
I am more excited for this s’mores bar than is probably logical.
Congrats! Writing a book is freaking HARD. I’m super happy for you!
Thanks! I am also looking forward to reading your book!
Like others I too am waiting for the midterms, it’s going to be interesting. I also now looking forward to the KaeLyn’s book Girls Resist!, which I must have missed she’s writing. I’m personally looking forward to meeting new friends in 2018(there is at least 3 people I’m FB friends who I may meet within the next month irl). I also looking forward to new episodes of TV(last season of Portlanida boo) and celebs coming out. I am also hopping buy more gender neutral clothing and more make up from companies owned by woc.
I just kind of got into bitcoin(yes I know), like some have gotten into investing, I am curious to see where all this goes as it seems like some big name companies are now sponsoring/inveting in this stuff. Would certainly make following the money a bit easier, though fees could be high like credit cards. Also, cannabis will be legal come January 1st, that’s going to be weird, as it always felt legal since I was a kid(we were the first with medical and did have some of the lax’s laws). Would be cool to go to a non-cis men focused LGBTQ cannabis event, like a cannabis lounge or dance party. I like it over drinking as I can be more attentive when a grabby cis-gay man comes along “mistakenly” grabs me, and then get’s snippy when I tell me not cool. I seriously need less of that in my life.
I took a hike Monday and posted an image of it for the Christmas thread, but here is some more images of Spring time in California.
Not sure why it came out purple online, it was correct on my computer.
More from the deer family
Thank you for viewing and reading my post. Have a positive weekend and a Happy & Queer New Year!
Great photos, and good luck with 2018!
Thank you!
I still don’t understand bitcoin! I’m glad someone does, @needlesandpin! And don’t worry…you didn’t miss anything re: the book. I haven’t been very public about it on AS.
Well I wish you much luck your book release @kaelynrich! I know a few kids who might be interested….
Bitcoin is like a digital currency, that has minimal regulations(the ones there are obvious like you can’t use for illegal activities), & I think is encrypted. I’ve heard the Winklevoss Twins(the guys who are super well off & who Mark Zuckerburg kind of stole the idea of Facebook from) have a large sum of shares in the coin itself. There is hundreds of different bitcoin like currency that could be converted to money or bitcoin. It volatile like the stock market in many ways and if someone really wanted to could create a coin called like Unicorn Coin or Queermo and try to get people to buy and sell that.
I died and was then borne anew while reading Cameron & Stef’s 2018 plans.
I’m looking forward to marrying My Future Wife and for the US government to let her live here FINALLY because immigration shit (even from Canada!) takes fucking forever.
I’m also going to create things for ME again. I know I’m lucky to be employed full time as a designer creating work I love with people I love, but it’s not the same and I recognise that now.
I’m also looking forward to seeing many of your faces again at A-Camp at this new location that I (as a (West) Coastal Elitist) am excited about.
So glad that you’re feeling the war Stef has waged against me & my poor ankle. I see that Outsider solidarity is real. ?
I relate very hard to 2017 being “directionless and confusing and more about just getting through things than going anywhere in particular with my life”. It feels like a wasted year, though I know it hasn’t.
What I look forward to is finally graduating (bachelor’s degree) and starting to apply for jobs I actually really want. It’s supposed to happen in January, but I’m afraid to be optimistic about finishing on time for that deadline, so let’s just say “sometime in 2018”. It’s taken me so damn long to finish my studies, and brought me so much anxiety and sadness, so it will be great to see what’s on the other side of that mess. I also look forward to my therapy – not the beginning of it, which I absolutely dread, but later on, when it might be starting to help.
I’m looking forward to a lot in the new year. I’m going to work towards making more of a local connection to my queer community, since I’ve started to feel kinda isolated this year. I also hope to get involved in some old hobbies I’ve dropped over the years. 2017 felt like the year that I got my professional/working life a bit more sorted out, so now I’d like to focus more on my personal/social life in the new year.
Not to mention my anticipation of the 2018 elections!
Happy New Year everyone!
2017… oh, 2017, where to begin? My year started off on a forced break from my studies due to problems with the Bursar’s Office, money problems, and the Tragedy in November bearing it’s terrifying orange fruit. It’s ending with me having slipped up in one of my classes, but with hope of being able to swing taking it in the summer so I can graduate soon.
So, 2018. Here’s hoping you’ll be better. The Mueller investigation is causing the Cheeto-dusted-one fits, and the midterms are coming up. I’m one semester (and one class… urgh) from getting my bachelor’s degree. So I need to start applying to graduate schools (I’m not likely to get in due to my lackluster grades, but I’m still going to apply to at least the Universities of Turku and Aarhus). So, if not grad school then job hunting looms large in my 2018. Either way, I’m probably going to move away from Colorado, where I’ve lived (with a several month exception in 2009) since 2006.
2017 was a very stagnant year in many aspects of my life, and honestly I just kind of floundered around with existential dread hanging over my head. so, 2018 is hopefully going to be a year of change and movement! I am making some inquiries into more schooling (a completely different vein than my first endeavor that I graduated with in 2015), and it’s terrifying and overwhelming but also feels right. Let’s just ignore the 36k student loan from the first degree, and focus on the amazing possible future degree that will take a long freaking time because I am going to ahve to do it little steps at a time! Better little steps than none at all, right?
YES LITTLE STEPS ARE BETTER THAN NONE AT ALL YOU GOT THIS!!!
A+ on the RENT lyrics, I feel so seen.
THANK YOU FOR NOTICING I ALSO FEEL SEEN <3
Happy Friday y’all! I’m very happy because I survived Christmas with my family without one single argument or squabble which I think is the first time ever, plus NOBODY asked me when I’m going to “get a boyfriend”.
My new years “resolutions” are things I wanna do but I’m looking forward too….
1. Get my swim speed up from 3km/h to 4km/h min and maybe 5km/h (I know that doesn’t sound fun and it’s not really but it’s the first time I’ve ever given myself a truly obtainable exercise goal)
2. Make cakes again. I used to make cakes and cupcakes all the time but since I emigrated I hardly ever do. I did however decorate our Christmas cake in a very yule-themed way and although that’s technically not 2018 I’m gonna count it as a start ?
What do you think?
I wish you all a happy new year, and love to all of you especially the AS team who have done an amazing job keeping everything together ?
@vickys1 That is a GORGEOUS cake.
Thanks! My mother wasn’t too sold on the theme, but even she had to agree it looks good haha
THAT’S AMAZING
Excuse me that cake is INCREDIBLE.
That took real talent. Looks fantastic!!
Aww thanks everyone ?
@vickys1, that cake is incredible…it’s so beautiful that I’d feel bad about being the person who had to cut into to take a slice.
It’s not baking, that’s art.
You absolutely must start baking again in 2018, the world needs more beauty in it.
It’s hard to bake when you first move abroad because everything is such a hassle. Finding the right ingredients when they aren’t in the same place/packaging/quantities you are used to, getting together all the utensils, adapting to a new oven…
But it feels like such an accomplishment when you can get it all together. And that cake is GORGEOUS. Hope you make many more!
I’m excited for my birthday tomorrow!
I’m excited for a two month trip back to Thailand Jan/Feb!
Happy early birthday!!!!!!
Happy early birthday! :)
Happy Birthday, @vitamincee!
THANK YOU
In 2016 I messaged this cool-sounding queer in my city on AS and we met up and it turned out they ARE the best, and now we’re engayged so that’s a thing I’m looking pretty forward to
NINA YOU’RE AN INSPIRATION
AMAZING
honestly this is the dream
Congratulations!
Congratulations!
THAT IS AWESOME, @lemonade!
Congratulations to you both!
It’s the home run of sliding into DMs! XD Congratulations Nina!
I don’t know why but I’m really excited about 2018. Maybe it’s because I’ve got a bunch of QTIPOC events lined up in January and February which means more chances to accomplish one of my goals for 2018: make more LGBTQIA+ friends, because you can never have enough! Along the same social vein another goal of mine is to go on an actual date with someone I like. I want to be in romantic relationship, but I’m pretty open to what it can look like, so baby steps!
Other goals: finish the final draft of my manuscript so it’s ready for submission. Write out this short story I have planned out to submit to a literary journal for people of colour. I also have aesthetic goals!: Upgrade my make up game so I have blended eye shadow, highlighter and even matte lipstick! (I will say that my foundation game is on point ;))
I’ve typed up these goals and I’m gonna put them in my wall. I did the same for 2017 but my priorities changed so I didn’t achieve everything I outlined at the start of the year. Maybe the same thing will happen in 2018. Who knows?
It’s gonna be a happy new year everyone ????
Yay for new friends and new projects! What’s your manuscript about? :)
It’s a YA speculative fiction novel about a black, bisexual girl who is on the run from mages after discovering another kind of magic. Been working on it for 3 years now, and it’s gonna be the first in a trilogy ?
@amillionprompts Rihanna blessed us with Fenty Beauty in 2017 so that we’d all have aesthetic goals for 2018. I think that goals the perfect compliment to your manuscript being finished, too…after all, you’ve got to look amazing for that author photo.
Congrats on the success of 2017 and best of luck in the new year.
Wishing you all the success in new year Natalie! I can only hope that in 2018 I get the full time job that gives me Fenty Beauty money ?
KaeLyn is your book available for pre-order?
Also omg Stef.
@creatrixtiara It will be eventually!
I’m excited to hear more about your cabaret and QUEER LADY MAGICIAN stuff!!! Sounds sparkly and awesome and inclusive!
I’m still so surprised how many people are into it!! I’ve got ideas, I just need to learn the damn skills now.
I forgot to add this to my comment but I’m super keen for your queer lady magician show! #highlightof2018.
2018 is either going to be amazing or a total shitshow. 2017 ended with a death, the breakup of a serious, multi-year relationship, being in debt for the first time ever (aside from student loans), and general misery. So… it can only go up from here? Right? I’m looking forward to living my nomadic dreams, succeeding in my first year of complete self-employment, and CAMP. Also, last year one of my goals was to learn how to do actual good things for my skin/face and I made almost no progress on that front, so maybe I’ll try again this year.
I’m sorry you had an unhappy year, I hope you have lots of good experiences in 2018.
BRB willing Carrie the best vibes and all the energy because without the ADA I never would have graduated high school and yeah maybe adult me is not like the most productive member of society at the mo and I often grapple with what the fuck “productive” even means…but in my state all the disability lawyers work for the school system and do nothing but obstruct the rights of children. AND THAT IS FUCKING WRONG in a way I’ll never get over. I tell my self I’m a Ravenclaw/Slytherin but some part of roars and hungers for justice like a Gryffindor and will not be satisfied with half measures or bullshit.
When I was a kiddo it was only parents groups fighting the good fight and lobbying in the way a single plaintiff could not until there was enough ADA precedent for schools to back the fuck off and treat me to my rights without a threat.
You’re fighting for US as one of us and I worry about you burning out so I wish and will you the best energy, support system and most powerful self care.
All of the best to you Carrie.
ALL OF IT.
Thank you friend, I’m gonna do my best for all of us. ??
Velkommen, queermo
2017 was long and hard and shit and full of shitty people and doing freelance work which is hard and also the fucking marriage equality postal survey and my mental health is really bad. So I’m mostly looking forward to tackling and getting over my depression and anxiety and maybe being happy. I did make lots of new friends this year so I’m keen to hang out with them more. And maybe getting to a place where I can be in a happy relationship eventually. I’m also hopeful I’ll get more steady employment. But also Australia has an election this year too! So hopefully that won’t be completely terrible.
I forgot to add more tattoos and Hayley Kiyoko’s new album!! Super keen!!
Hayley Kiyoko putting more gay in the world is always a thing to look forward to! Wishing you the best of luck and all the success with everything in 2018 xxx
…didn’t Australia JUST have an election?!
Yeah but there’s gonna be another one this year. Probs an early one. Also we have the Victoria election.
We had Double Dissolution election called by Mal in 2016 by which he managed to hold onto Federal power by one seat.
We are not actually due another Federal election till early 2019 but because;
a) the govt’s really “on the nose” with the electorate,
b) there are a number of electoral calendar problems with an election in early 2019 because of several State Elections which are also due, the govt may choose to “go early” if their poll numbers pick up,
c) there are still several Lib Nat and ALP pollies whose legal occupation of seats are in doubt, so an early election may need to be called, and also,
d) there are several States due for State elections in 2018. Depending on how they go the Feds might risk an early Federal Election too.
So really it’s anyone’s game in 2018/19.
2018 will start off better simply because But I’m A Cheerleader is coming to Hulu and Amazon Prime. AWOL has been on Amazon Prime for a couple of months now. It’s going to be a triple feature Tuesday for me. Carol, AWOL, But I’m A Cheerleader. That’s the extent of my plans for 2018.
I’m looking forward to A-Camp coming back to California
I’m looking forward to waiting until I’m fully awake to write a very long post on a Friday Open Thread on my phone so I don’t accidentally write it in the A+ priority inbox and send it to the very wrong place.
Which, of course, is a thing I’m pretty sure I just did.
So. Happy 2018!
I am looking forward to 2018 simply because it means it will no longer be 2017 because this year fucking sucked. Though there is still time for my bod to change things, knock on wood, 2018 will just be better because I’m not starting it out recovering from several days in the hospital.
I mean, while there are medical things that will at least hypothetically be happening in 2017 if my insurance stops being Literally The Worst, uh yeah, having 2 surgeries will really suck (even though having them is exciting and good! I’ve just been averaging 1 surgery a year for the past couple years and would like to Be Done With Surgery Now Please). Having to postpone one or both of them if it turns out my GI problems are due to a bad gallbladder will suck more (gallbladder isn’t the leading theory, the leading theory is my GI system is messed up ’cause my nerves are all messed up, which y’know FUN).
And I guess watching the pup continue to grow into being a fully grown doggo will be great!
I’m looking forward to loving myself better and then that love overflowing ~ ~ ~
to feel the freedom of letting go of fears, of letting go of tears
to soaring high
and
higher
still
Also to never wondering/caring if I’m too weird/flaky/overenthusiastic/overfond of tangy things/sensual/excitedaboutsharingbooks!
Does anybody know what’s going on with “The 100”? From the comments I’ve seen lately, people are saying that Clarke is the worst thing ever, and that Bellamy is so great. I’m not sure what the hell is going on.
Maybe they realised they lost their queer audience when they pulled a Tara and have decided to cash in on their white edgelord nerd boy whatever that is uncomfortable with powerful lady person characters and likes to see them torn down instead?
<_<
What bothers me is that the audience is buying into him.
My parents are ardent Republicans since Reagan, I know how you feel.
2017 was a really big year for me on a personal level, what with quitting my job to go to a coding bootcamp. In 2018 I’m looking forward to getting a new job (which pays a lot better than my old one), and learning a lot from it. Once I have that job, I’m excited to have the time/funds to take some exercise-y classes (dance? yoga?). I’m excited to get back to writing fiction, and maybe continue to relearn how to write about myself. I’m excited to read all the books/comics I kickstarted this year (seriously, I have five awaiting me). I’m looking forward to doing more work on figuring out how I want to conduct my relationships with people, and starting new relationships. I’m looking forward to having better healthcare. I’m looking forward to having my adorable fuzzybutt kitty for a whole year, and rubbing my nose on her forehead every day.
Good luck! Sounds like you have a lot of good things going for you!
I’m not looking forward to a lot of scary things I know are down the road for me this year, but I am looking forward to accomplishing more in cooking.
Alexander Graham Bell said, “When one door closes another door opens, but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us” and people have played that uh metaphor(?) by suggesting something involving a window. Me, I want to mess with it by suggesting I’ll take the damn thing off its hinges with butter knife.
But the way that metaphor is set up really resonates with me and some of how I feel I’ve fucked my life up by grieving the closed door until the open ones close and bar themselves too. Reflection on the past is good but getting lost and re-wounding yourself with it not.
I need to look forward.
Go you!!!
What’s past is past, take the lessons from it and move on. Obvious message from an old bat, but I do hope that your world sorts itself out this coming year. Clearly, I don’t know you but look forward to reading your thoughts and opinions from week to week. Don’t short sell yourself, you’ve got a lot going for you Best wishes and all the luck for 2018.
Thank you <3
Happy New Year All!!
The Fireworks Have Just Started On Sydney Harbour, Its 2018.
Have A Great Year Everyone….We All Deserve It!
I’m looking forward to more Autostraddle ! 2017 was made much better for me because of AS. Really. There is a Before AS and an After AS in my personal timeline.
Autostraddle is the first place I check in the morning and the last place I visit before going to bed. Because you bring me joy, sizzle, laughter, compassion and reflexion.
All of you expanded my culchure and my self-awareness.
You helped me come out for the second time, and much more successfully than the first time thank you ! Although I’m struggling because, 2017 tabarnac, thanks to everyone’s extraordinary honesty, I know I’m not alone.
You’re all so fecking cool.
So I’m looking forward to spending more time with you.
…And, I’m also looking forward to having more crushes, on women I can _actually kiss_, wouldn’t that be rad ! I have you all to thank for that courageous thought too !
I’m looking forward to going home for the first time in 4.5 years. And I’ll get to stay several weeks!
But I’m also nervous AF about it because I have the sweetest old housewolf (TyLoup). He’s 16 (today!) and has had multiple strokes. He’s recovered well from all of them, but I’m trying to prepare myself for the very likely possibility that he won’t make it through 2018. And while I want him around as long as he is healthy enough to enjoy his puppy life and be happy, I’m also kind of terrified that he might not go until I’m away this summer and then he might think I abandoned him at the end (he’s been in shelters twice in his long life). But I can’t damn well not see my human family because of my dog. SO! Lots of excitement and an equal dose of anxiety to start the year.
My parents might even re-arrange their travel plans so I can visit family in California with them. And I’ll stop my Las Vegas to see one of my best friends and my absolute favorite artist. And I might do a float trip on the Illinois. And I’ll eat aaaallll the food I can’t have here.
I’m also looking forward to getting control back from technology. I subscribed to Freedom and intend to lock myself out of my personal Twitter and just keep one to use for research and one for Woso news when the NWSL season starts up. Quitting FB was the best decision I have made in the last few years, now it’s time to stop chain-reading articles on autopilot and letting algorithms decide what vibes get into my head.
I’m also looking forward to biking to work more often thanks to the bike pump and repair kit my GF’s parents got me for Christmas. Half of the ride is along the banks of a beautiful river.
There are also so many movies I am looking forward to this year! Which hasn’t been the case for a long time.
Wishing you all a joyful 2018.
Happy New Year to you Rachel and TyLoup ! He’s such a cutie.
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