Remember when we stood on the precipice of a new year, convinced that 2021 would be the year that 2020 wasn't, and everything would go back to normal? How'd that work out for us?

Some things got back on track in 2021. Politicians kept politicking, and celebrities kept celebriting, but much happened that we probably wouldn't have predicted. Here's a list of 50 things that we know now that we didn't when the year was launched, fresh and new and full of promise.

We didn't know that …
1. A bare-chested man wearing a buffalo headdress would be photographed inside the Capitol — and that wouldn't be the strangest or most terrifying thing that happened on Jan. 6, when a mob of self-professed patriots tried to overthrow democracy.
2. We also didn't know that we'd still be trying to figure out what really happened almost 12 months later.
3. COVID, beaten back with restrictions, masks and three different vaccines would still be the lead story on the front pages every morning and the TV news every night as another variant threatens.
4. Billionaires Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos would be launched into space — of their own free will — on their private space crafts within days of each other.
5. Alec Baldwin would be the subject of a criminal probe after his prop gun went off and killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during a rehearsal on the set of his low-budget Western movie, "Rust."
6. The hashtag #FreeBritney would seem to work as Britney Spears is freed from the conservatorship that had shaped and sometimes cruelly ordered her life for 13 years.
7. California Gov. Gavin Newsom, sometimes seen as a savior and sometimes as a villain, would survive a contentious recall election that had a larger cast of hopefuls than an "American Idol" audition.
8. Countries all over the world, including the United States, would step up COVID vaccine practices, ending the year with more than half of the world's population sporting vaccinations — and that it still wouldn't be enough.
9. All those pictures of our dinners and family reunions posted to Facebook and Instagram would end up feeling like symbols of the social media giant's betrayal as a whistleblower told us what really was going on behind the scenes.
10. The last of the troops first sent to Afghanistan in the wake of 9-11, two decades ago, would depart in such chaos, with the Taliban sweeping back into power so quickly
11. Golden State Warriors' Steph Curry would continue to do astounding things, including breaking the record for most 3-pointers.
12. As bad as overcooking the calamari can be, "Squid Game" would be so much more terrifying, as the Netflix series wrapped its tentacles around viewers and became the most-watched show.
13. "The check's in the mail" would lose its place as most popular excuse, replaced by "It's on a cargo ship anchored off the coast."
14. "Jeopardy!" would be plunged into scandal when the show's producer, hired to replace the late host, Alex Trebek, was revealed to have made some questionable and unsavory comments and had overseen productions rife with hostility and discrimination.
15. We'd see both sides of the justice-system coin with the conviction of the police officer who killed George Floyd, and the acquittal of the young White man who came armed to a Black Lives Matter protest and killed people.
16. "Ted Lasso" would show us that it's hip to be uncool.
17. San Francisco, according to Instacart's review of purchases, would have a love affair with bananas, Hass avocados, tofu, lacinato kale, oat milk and flat leaf parsley.
18. The Oxford English Dictionary, in picking its 2021 word of the year, would skip over the oft-used "jab," "shot" and "Fauci ouchie," to get straight to the heart of the matter, going with "vax" as its word of the year.
19. Broadway would once again turn on those lights … before a COVID variant would turn them off again.
20. Hilaria Baldwin, mom podcaster and wife of Alec Baldwin, who spoke with a Spanish accent and touted her Spanish upbringing, would be exposed as a White woman raised in Boston.
21. We'd all be talking about — and rooting for — Bennifer again.
22. We would get so accustomed to wearing masks that we'd forget to remove them when we were home.
23. Supply chain troubles would get so bad by the end of the year that Kraft, makers of Philadelphia Cream Cheese, would offer to pay home cooks $20 to make any holiday dessert other than cheese cake.
24. The Queen of Twitter, Chrissy Teigen, would be dethroned after it was discovered she had a past as the Queen of Mean.
25. Comments by Harry and Meghan would launch an international search for the royal racist — the family member who allegedly questioned how dark the skin of the couple's baby would be.
26. Dell and Sonya Curry would have a nasty divorce, joining a growing trend of couples who split after decades of marriage.
27. Facebook would change its name to Meta, and nobody would really care.
28. Tiger Woods' career and life would almost come to an end after a single car accident nearly cost the golfer his leg.
29. Popular KTVU anchorman Frank Somerville would be pulled off the air, not once by twice, the last one proving to be final.
30. The Obamas would throw the social event of the season for the former president's 60th birthday, but they would have to uninvite people because of a pandemic surge.
31. The #MeToo movement would continue to clear the decks, pushing New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo out of office and taking out his little brother, CNN news anchor Chris Cuomo, too.
32. The character of Mr. Big in the rebooted "Sex and the City" franchise would die by Peleton, and then the actor who protrayed him, Chris Noth, would be accused of sexual assault by two women in instances that date back years.
33. We'd be so enchanted by Bernie Sander's "swittens" and inaugural attire.
34. Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers would do well as a temporary "Jeopardy!" host, but not so great when it came to getting a COVID vaccine.
35. Simone Biles would do something even more amazing than an Amanar Vault, putting her own physical and emotional health first and showing us a different sort of champion.
36. The Trinidad and Tobago health ministry would spend time debunking the claim by Nicki Minaj, who tweeted that her cousin's friend in Trinidad had to cancel his wedding because he developed swollen testicles after the COVID vaccine.
37. Texas would take steps to practically ban all abortions in the state, and the US Supreme Court would hear arguments that could lead to the reversal of Roe v. Wade.
38. We'd all be agog at the meteoric rise of GameStop's stock, but as quickly as it went up, it would crash back to Earth.
39. The line between fantasy and reality would blur when USS Enterprise Capt. James T. Kirk, embodied by actor William Shatner, would blast into space aboard Jeff Bezos' phallic shaped craft.
40. A massive cargo ship named the Ever Given would get stuck in the Suez Canal, creating a shipping nightmare.
41. Ellen DeGeneres, once the queen of the talk show genre, would be called out for overseeing a production rife with bullying and abuse, leading to a year-long farewell season.
42. Bill Cosby, who was convicted in 2018 of three counts of aggravated indecent assault, would be released from prison on a technicality.
43. Kanye West and Kim Kardashian would be headed to divorce court.
44. Disgraced rapper R. Kelly would be convicted on nine counts of racketeering and sex trafficking, with some charges going back nearly 30 years.
45. After a 7-month journey, NASA's Perseverance rover and Ingenuity helicopter drone would begin exploring Mars at Jezero Crater.
46. A resignation wave would sweep the globe in the spring and summer, as employees used the pandemic to reflect on their work-life balance.
47. We'd be watching the 2020 Summer Olympics in 2021.
48. Capybaras in Argentina began reclaiming an affluent neighborhood near Buenos Aires that was once their territory, chowing down on manicured flower beds and tidy lawns.
49. After years of backlash and a much-needed broadening of voters, the Oscars finally would have a break through in diversity with Chloé Zhao becoming the first woman of color to win best director, and Yuh-jung Youn becoming the first Korean actor to win an Oscar.
50. And that we would mourn the deaths of Cloris Leachman, Tommy Lasorda, Cicely Tyson, Larry King, Hal Holbrook, Christopher Plummer, George Shultz, Marty Schottenheimer, Mary Wells, Rush Limbaugh, Vicente Fernandez, Eddie Mekka (best known for playing Carmine "The Big Ragoo" Ragusa), Stephen Sondheim, Mick Rock, Peter Scolari, Colin Powell, Norm Macdonald, Michael Constantine, Michael K. Williams, Willard Scott, Ed Asner, Markie Post, Dennis "Dee Dee" Thomas (co-founder of Kool and the Gang). Dusty Hill (ZZ Top), Ned Beatty, Clarence Williams III, B.J. Thomas, Gavin MacLeod, Charles Grodin, Olympia Dukakis, Walter Mondale and Bob Dole.