If some sardonic bully from an internet meme kept stopping Tiktaalik from crawling onto land — ostensibly because of something about modern life being so horrible that staying simpler and poorer in the water would have been preferable — I think Tiktaalik would try once again to make it onto land. I have decided I should be like Tiktaalik.
Dec. 31, 2019 was the first time I uploaded this image, hoping for a Happy Stu Year. Then in 2020, COVID conquered the world. I uploaded it again for Dec. 31, 2020. Twelve days after that, and my mother died suddenly and undexpectedly. Twelve days in, and 2021 was already the worst year of my life. I uploaded the image again for Dec. 31, 2021. In 2022, my father died. I uploaded it again for Dec. 31, 2022. The year 2023 was when I was threatened with something horrible and life-changing in its horribleness and cruelty. I uploaded the image yet again for Dec. 31, 2023. All throughout 2024, I lived in fear of that threat. I uploaded the image again for Dec. 31, 2024. In 2025, the life-changing threat against me was finally acted upon.
If I were still as superstitious as I was raised to be, I would think this image is cursed. But no, I am uploading it again. I think that’s what Tiktaalik would want of me. Here is hoping that in 2026, I will finally have a Happy Stu Year.
