My dream, from 7-8 this morning:

I screened a movie for friends. There had been a murder on a campus, which created fear and chaos. A dashing young vampire took the opportunity to ingratiate himself with a beautiful woman and her friend. While they were all at his apartment, the power went out, and he went to light candles, but the match wouldn’t catch. Somehow, this affected time, both forwards and backwards. Suddenly, the woman and her friend didn’t find him charming anymore, among other problems (him becoming a suspect in the murder).

More people had come over to watch the movie halfway through. They were complaining about it (one complainer was played by the same actor who was Dr. Cox in Scrubs). Our power went out, and I started to light candles as I explained what they had missed in the beginning. Did I mention the meta-ness when my candles didn’t catch? Yes. Did I tell people that the movie was Sliding Doors, but with vampires? Yes. Did I suggest that we all watch Shadow of the Vampire? Yes.

How do I know this was my 7-8 dream? Because I also woke up at 7, from a dream in which Melissa and I were going to a play in the Bay area. We took Thoth and Graymalkin with us, dropping them off in an empty lab on the Berkeley campus on the way. When we returned, the lab was covered in litter. The professor who ran the lab was a very hot guy in a wheelchair. He was telling me I didn’t have to clean it up if I would go out on a date with him. I explained I had a fiancé. He said, “I can tell you’re still attracted to me.” I explained that having a fiancé didn’t mean other people became unattractive, and I was relieved he knew I thought he was hot, because I didn’t want him to think being in a wheelchair was the reason I wouldn’t go out with him.

Interpretations:

I watch a lot of movies.

I want people to know I’m woke.

I’m impotent, since I couldn’t get the match to catch, but so was the vampire.

A couple of weeks ago, I found myself telling my students how rare something was:

“In my [pause while I did the math] 25 years of teaching, I have never read an essay that . . .”

I stopped and wrote myself a note: “Celebrate.”

My celebrations are usually low key. Birthdays are quiet dinners with friends and family and small celebrations with my beloved book group. I’ve skipped all my graduations. Four of my five books have come out without a big party. If some friends hadn’t thrown me something for my PhD, there wouldn’t have been a real Party (with a capital P) for just me in my adult life.

In the summer of 1998, I taught for the first time. I realized what I was supposed to be doing: teaching.

Thus, on Thursday, after I turn in my grades for classes 326, 327, and 328, I will see colleagues and former students and raise a drink to a quarter century of a job I love.

I have a lot of things to update my two readers on. In fact, there’s so much it’s what’s kept me from updating in a while.

I can’t do it all now, but here’s the health stuff.

For this, just know that my back and neck and head are still awful.

My gut is SO much worse.

Before the pandemic, I was used to chronic diarrhea, and I was managing it. For some reason, during the pandemic, I swung the other way.

Since I’ve been back to teaching in person, I’ve swung back. However, I’m not managing it well now. Before, I could be okay on half an immodium a day. I would wake up in time to eat, get a sense of my gut, and see if I needed the half a pill before heading to class.

Current status: I almost didn’t make it to the bathroom after class a few weeks ago, and about two times a week, I’m crippled by my IBS. Along with the diarrhea comes cramping that leaves me whimpering on the floor. I have to take up to three immodium to make it stop, which means I don’t go at all for two days after. Then, it’s back to a system in overdrive.

All my docs have been able to confirm so far is that I indeed have IBS.

In other, more hopeful, news, I’m having a little surgery on Monday to try to fix my ear problems. Unlike most people, I can’t pop my ears. Any change in elevation, in a car or plane, hurts.

I’ve managed to convince my team to use a smaller than normal breathing tube during the procedure, since I have an obstructed airway, and a nausea patch, since my last surgery recovery went so badly.

I haven’t, however, gotten them to agree to catheterize me. They think they don’t have to, since the procedure is short, but the last two times docs have thought that, I’ve woken up covered in my own piss. I’m thinking it’s because I only ever truly relax when a doctor puts me under.

Fingers crossed that they listen to me this time.

Growing up, I didn’t see the appeal of St. Patrick’s Day at all. My non-Irish grandmother would boil corned beef and cabbage, and people featured on tv news would drink too much. It was just the tradition fallacy: we had to eat a very bland meal because we had been doing so every year. If this was supposed to be good, I thought, surely we would have it more often.

I embraced St. Urho’s Day, which I’ve written several posts about on this blog. It was a way to be close to my grandfather, to embrace my Finnish heritage, and to celebrate the comedy of a completely made-up holiday.

Two things happened last year, though, that have shifted me.

First, I used some of my recovery time from surgery to continue my grandfather’s genealogy work. I’m actually a little bit Irish. The Irish ancestors I know about so far are Malones and O’Ferrells.

And then I lived in Dublin for three months, which I absolutely loved. Ireland is dear to my memory and my heart, and now that I’ve had my own local pub and other haunts, it’s one of my former homes.

Thus, today I am making corned beef for the first time. It’s in the crock pot. Since I don’t like boiled cabbage, I’m going to have some spring rolls as an appetizer.

(I’m not worried about being inauthentic: in Ireland, the dish isn’t corned beef and cabbage; it’s Irish bacon and cabbage. Side note: Irish bacon is about as appealing to me as boiled cabbage.)

I’ll pair my dinner with one of my Irish whiskies. And I’ll pet my cats, since it’s also St. Gertrude’s Day.

The start of the year has been busy (when isn’t it)?

MLA was in San Francisco. A terrible storm and a terrible neck kept me from attending in person, but I am lucky Zoom allowed me to see presentations and attend the Atwood meeting.

Speaking of Atwood, I got the Atwood journal finished in the middle of the month, all 264 pages of it!

Eight students won writing awards this month; two were mine.

Dante and I ventured into “the city” to see the Ramses exhibit. Even though they timed the entries, it was overcrowded and uncomfortable, but I’m still glad we went.

We celebrated Martin Luther King Jr day by watching the new Puss in Boots.

I greeted five new classes of students, scaring off tons of Health Science students with my announcement that we don’t use five-paragraph essays in professional health science writing and that I expect them to proofread.

I was late to office hours for the very first time. UCD has given undergraduates the right to park where teachers do, if they pay a little bit more (Karma, do you have to pay to park at UCD? Yup! Almost five dollars a day!), and I had to try three different lots.

My students had their first stand-up special.

I’m working to keep up a few of my New Year’s Resolutions. I want to make one new recipe each week & try at least one new cocktail recipe per month. Since I’m about to be overwhelmed with grading, I did a lot of new recipes this month to balance out my upcoming failures:

New Recipes: Spiced Roast Chicken with Tangy Yogurt Sauce; Berry-Jam Fried Chicken with Savory Cornbread; Mustard and Rosemary Pork Tenderloin with Fried Apples; Saucy Chicken and Peppers with Manchego Polenta; Slow Cooker Chicken and Stuffing; Red Wine Chocolate Cake; Pork Medallions with Red Pepper Sauce; Ginger-Sesame Pork Burgers with Slaw; Thai One-Pot; Air Fryer Turkey Parmesan Burgers

New Cocktails: Moonpool; Lemon Basil Martini; Death in the Afternoon; Corpse Reviver 2; Lemon Lavender Sour; Blood Orange Irish Mule

My beloved friend, Chris Ledesma, died in mid-December of cancer. Last night, The Simpsons honored him:

Chris started as music editor in 1987, when The Simpsons was just a series of short “bumpers” on The Tracey Ullman Show. Someone working with him said to hang on–that the little yellow family might get their own show. When they did, in 1989, no one expected it to last for more than a few seasons, because so few things did.

Chris ended up being the music editor from 1989 to November 2022.

When Denise and I published our first Simpsons book, Chris was one of the two people affiliated with the show who reached out to us, inviting us down to the studio. Over two trips, he arranged for us to have a tour of the studio, to watch Alf Clausen lead the studio musicians in recording the music for “Flaming Moe” and to watch them record the voices for “The Spy Who Learned Me.”

From the first moment, it was clear that Chris was one of the nicest men on the planet. He introduced us to everyone and gathered autographs and souvenirs for us along the way.

Denise and I have kept in touch with him and his adoring and adored wife, Michelle.

If you’ve heard my phone ring with Homer Simpson cursing my name, that’s because of Chris.

If you’ve heard the story about how the music editor recorded himself asking a question about “Who Wears Short Shorts” and spiritual enlightenment to the writers and producers and them answering, that was Chris.

It hurts that he’s gone. I’m so lucky that I just have to turn my head to the right to see his words:

For those who knew Chris and want to do something in his memory, his wife suggests a contribution to New Symphony West, a local charity supporting childhood music education.

If there’s a heaven, I know Chris is playing music with the angels now. Chris, old friend, lead them in a song about short shorts for me.

Movies*: 134

Ones I most recommend that you might not know about: 3 (The Mitchells vs. The Machines; the new Persuasion; Russell Howard: Lubricant)

Times an Irish woman sitting near me talked all the way through The Banshees of Inisherin, feeling really proud of herself for announcing what a character was about to do, when the character had just said, “I will do x,” but could not grasp one of the last plot points at all: 1

Number of the 53 Oscar nominated films seen: 48

of the Oscar shorts nominated:

4 of the documentary shorts

4 of the live action shorts

4 of the animated shorts

Short film festivals attended: 2

Resolutions to watch a short film a day in 2022: 1

Resolutions broken to watch a short film a day in 2022: 1

Short films watched in total, though: 103

abdominal migraines: 2

Shows rewatched in their entirety**: 14

(Got to Season 28 in The Simpsons rewatch)

Pies in apple bags: 1 (which my nephew ate most of)

Headlining stand-up performances: 1

Laptops broken by cat (with an assist from me): 1

New obsessive hobbies: 1 (genealogy)

Famous ancestors found: tons, cause we’re linked to John of Gaunt on mom’s side

Discoveries that my paternal grandfather’s parents were cousins: 1

Discoveries that I am linked to Scottish Andersons on both parents’ sides: 1

Times I found Daniel Boone in the tree: 1

Times I missed my grandfather, who would have been excited to see what I found as I continued his work: so many

Shows kept up with (and sometimes finished), not counting ones that were rewatched entirely***: 39

Countries traveled in: 5, two of which get their own blog (USA, Republic of Ireland, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Spain)

Incredible heat waves in Spain: 1

Trips to foreign ERs: 1

New tv shows watched****: 35

Hysterectomies that almost got cancelled due to COVID surge in the hospital: 1

Hours the boy waited in the waiting room for my hysterectomy: 12

Times vomiting while being wheeled out of the hospital, because they didn’t admit me for some reason: 2

Times I learned I have a weird M antibody in my blood: 1

Grammar errors in the letter UCD sent me about my weird blood: 3

Trips to Chicago: 2

Museums, galleries, heritage sites, etc: 58

Months I had to wait for an ear exam I needed: 5

Months still waiting for a dermatology appointment: 4

Health system fuck ups related to my allergies in just one week: 4

Average number of healthcare appointments, weekly: 3

Dear Friends Lost: 2

Weird Al shows missed cause I was in Dublin: 1

Trips to Nando’s: 14

Performing Stand-Up, here and abroad: 7

Senior stand-up shows: 3

Sold out stand-up class shows: 1

Times swimming: 3

Breweries in Napa: 1

Wineries in Napa: 1

Times I actually picked up my wine club selections from Placerville: 1

Different whiskies and scotches consumed whilst in the British Isles: 83

Atwood journals out: 1

Atwood journal pages: 405

Times I was surprised by the bad writing other journals apparently let their authors get away with, when reviewing the abstracts in the bibliography section: so many!

New breweries: 6 (3 in Indianapolis)

Servings of lamb: 20

Servings of the best fries in Indy: 2

Bourbons tried in Indy: 6

Atwood Newsletters produced: 3

Letters of Rec written: 12

Live comedy shows attended, including performances by Jim Gaffigan, Tig, Keith Lowell Jensen, John Mulaney, and Hannah Gadsby: 14

New shitty used cars: 1

Times a friend snuck in under my not dating anyone rule: 2

Times one of those friends became my boyfriend, then my fiancé: 1

Days without a bra in a row, since I fell in December and it hurt my busted shoulder too much to get into one: 60 (not counting the December days)

New Recipes Tried******: 61

Favorite new recipes: 7 (Dijon Thyme Burgers; Rosemary Paprika Chicken with Fries; Lamb Ragu; Red Lentil Soup with Lemon; “Best Damn Pork Tenderloin” in the Air Fryer; Huli Huli Chicken with Macaroni Salad with Lemon and Herbs; Chicken and Leek Stew)

Times I was able to cook in my little Dublin room: 0

White Elephant Parties with my new in-laws: 1

Quarters off for medical leave: 1

Days I was horrified anew at the state of the Republican party: 365

Texts from my fiancé’s QAnon mother (whom I have yet to meet & whom everyone keeps warning me about) to his brother, indicating that my fiancé was probably just marrying me for my money: 1

Times I have looked around my shitty apartment or worried about the horrible sounds my car makes and laughed about the idea of anyone thinking I have money: hundreds

Actual concrete plans to tie the knot made: 0

Dishes I made with last new year’s ham*******: 13

New, mysterious body problems: 4

Days waking up not in awful, continuously worsening pain: 0

Courses taught: 9

Terms abroad that almost didn’t happen: 1

Learning that that term abroad may not happen, for anyone, again: 1

Podcasts listened to********: 19

Applications for relief of my direct loans through TEPSLF: 1

Clarity about whether it’s been granted: 0

Letters from DOE saying my small parent loan will be forgiven if the Supreme Court allows it: 1

Times I served on an honors committee for a student writing on Atwood at another university: 1

Conferences attended: 3

Conference appearances I had to cancel to teach in Dublin: 3

Magazines subscribed to*********: 4

Tours of the Isle of Sky: 1

Rioja festivals: 1

Days overseas: 92

Times I explained to my mother why I was going to Peñíscola in Spain & told her how they spelled it: 2

Times my mother got her souvenir magnet from Peñíscola and said, “but did you realize they spelled Pensacola wrong on it: is this a joke magnet?”: 1

Covid Boosters: 1

Times I got Covid, despite all the world traveling I did: 0

Yay for vaccines!!!!!!

Books finished**********: 111

Anubis ER visits: 1

Anubis surgeries: 1

Years since I had physically seen my now fiancé when we had our first date: 20

Dates with said fiancé: 11

Shortest number of days each date consisted of: 3

Times my voting ballot got to me in Ireland, despite simply having my name and the name of the street on it: 1

Times I got dressed up with the Pumpkin King, in February: 1

Live Plays attended***********: 19

Times I posted about a play and then got to chat with the playwright: 1

Talks attended: 1 (Kendi)

Perfect engagement days: 1

The details:

*Movies: Labyrinth; Being the Ricardos; South Part: Post-Covid; The Wings of the Dove; Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them I; Chaplin; Return to Hogwarts; Queen Bees; Mary Poppins Returns; Luca; Paddington 2; Red Notice; Eddie Izzard: Sexie; Eddie Izzard: Stripped; Save Yourselves!; Force Majeure; Ron’s Gone Wrong; Living in Oblivion; Nights at the Museum Trilogy; Spenser; Don’t Look Up; Leslie Jones: Problem Child; Michael Che: Shame the Devil; The Courier; Sister Act; Russell Howard: Recalibrate; Tick, Tick, Boom!; The Addams Family; The Hand of God; Four Good Days; Ali Wong: Don Wong; Licorice Pizza; The Lost Daughter; The Worst Person in the World; Summer of Soul; Attica; Daniel Deronda miniseries; The French Dispatch; Keith Lowell Jensen: Not for Rehire; Taylor Tomlinson: Quarter Life Crisis: Iliza Shlesinger: Unveiled; Taylor Tomlinson: Look at You; Russell Howard: Lubricant (4x); Nate Bargatze special in The Standups; Nate Bargatze: The Tennessee Kid; Jim Gaffigan: Comedy Monster; Seeing Red; The Mitchells vs. The Machines; CODA; Drive My Car; Parallel Mothers; King Richard; Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings; Death on the Nile; Flee; West Side Story; The Tragedy of Macbeth; Nightmare Alley; Belfast (x2); No Time to Die; Cruella; Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom; The Eyes of Tammy Faye; Ascension; Death on the Nile; Beetlejuice; Lucy and Desi; The Iron Giant; The Adam Project; They Came Together; Jerrod Carmichael: Rothaniel; Doctor Strange 2; Travels with my Aunt; Kimi; A Room with a View; St. Elmo’s Fire; Tonight or Never; Special Agent; Le Test; Arthur Rambo; The Princess Bride; Brave; Meet the Parents; The Green Knight; Star Trek IV; Everything, Everywhere, All At Once (x2); Downton Abbey; Persuasion; Thor: Love and Thunder; Us; Uncharted; The Duke; The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent; Cabin in the Woods; Nope; Prey; See How They Run; Ron Funches: Giggle Fit; Decision to Leave; Black Adam; The Woman King; Enola Holmes 2; Confess, Fletch; Wakanda Forever; Hasan Minhaj: King’s Jester; The Wonder; Patton Oswalt: We All Scream; Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris; Mr. Malcolm’s List; Jurassic Park: Dominion; Trevor Noah: I Wish You Would; 4 Thin Man movies; The Fifth Element; Bridget Jones’s Diary; 8-bit Christmas; The Banshees of Inisherin; Bros; Aftersun; Disenchanted; She Said; Always; Once; Living; National Theatre Live: The Seagull, Jack Absolute Flies Again, The Book of Dust, Henry V, and Prima Facie; Marcel The Shell With Shoes On; Glass Onion

**Shows rewatched: Modern Family; Scrubs; The Good Place; Barry; Only Murders in the Building; Good Omens; For All Mankind; Resident Alien; The Unbreakable Kimmie Schmidt; Ted Lasso; Community; I’m Sorry (3X); Avenue 5; Star Trek: Lower Decks

***Shows kept up with (and sometimes finished), not counting ones that were rewatched entirely: The Simpsons; The Expanse; Archer; Seaside Hotel; Dexter; Bob’s Burgers; All Creatures Great and Small; After Life; Saturday Night Live; Ramy; Reservation Dogs; Woke; Mr. Mayor; Discovery of Witches; Master of None; Star Trek: Discovery; The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel; Killing Eve; Picard; Outlander; Mr. Mayor; The Last Kingdom; Last Week Tonight with John Oliver; Hacks; Grace and Frankie; Stranger Things; Russian Doll; Bridgerton; Harley Quinn; Breeders; Better Call Saul; Disenchantment; The Crown; Dead to Me; Miss Scarlet and the Duke; Doctor Who; Late Night with Seth Meyers; The Good Fight; What We Do in the Shadows

****New Shows: The Other Two; Silent Sea; Around the World in 80 Days; Foundation; Invasion; Vienna Blood; Mare of Easttown; Sex Lives of College Girls; Siempre Bruja; Acapulco; Sweet Tooth; The Woman in the House Across from the Girl in the Window; The Gilded Age; Framed: A Sicilian Murder Mystery; The After Party; Awkwakina is Nora from Queens; Inventing Anna; Vikings: Valhalla; Our Flag Means Death; Abbot Elementary; Star Trek: Strange New Worlds; Kids in the Hall reboot; Vikings; Uncoupled; The White Queen; Sandman; Moonhaven; A League of Their Own; A Private Affair; She-Hulk Attorney at Law; The Extraordinary Attorney Woo; Paper Girls; Reboot; Station 11

******New Recipes Tried: Apple-Ham Quiche; Raspberry-Ham Sandwiches; Creamy Cauliflower, Potato, and White Bean Soup; Dijon Thyme Burgers; Garlic Soy Chicken Thighs; Piri Piri Chicken Breast and Pasta; Spanish Tortilla with Ham; Black Manhattan cocktail; Pad Krapow Gai; French Bread Pizza; Sweet and Sour Brussels Sprouts; Chili-spiced Chicken; One Dance cocktail; Kofta Burgers; Homemade Air Fryer Fries; Curried Lentil Stew with Ham; Chicken Parmesan Sliders; Chicken Bacon Ranch Bake; Slow Cooker Sweet and Sour Chicken; Rosemary Paprika Chicken with Fries; Spiralized Potato Nests; French Onion Pork Chops; Sesame Chicken in the Slow Cooker; Cumin Burgers with Harissa Mayo; Air Fryer Cod Sandwich; Air Fryer Salmon Patties; Hoisin Pork in the Air Fryer; Air Fryer Burgers with Thai Peanut Sauce; Homemade Pizza with homemade crust; Better Than Sex Cake; Pork in Plum Sauce; Shrimp, Brussels, and Polenta in the Air Fryer; Lamb Ragu; Red Lentil Soup with Lemon; Thai Drumsticks in the Air Fryer; Mojo-Marinated Pork; Chicken Cordon Bleu in the air fryer; Chicken Burgers with Spicy Peanut Sauce; Sweet Hot Baked Chicken Breast; “Best Damn Pork Tenderloin” in the Air Fryer; Chinese Pork Medallions with Ginger Lemon Sauce; Fig and Ginger Upside-Down Cake; Pork Tenderloin in Chimichurri; Teriyaki Chicken and Bok Choy; Thai-Style Stir-fried Ground Pork with Basil (Pad Ka Prao); Huli Huli Chicken with Macaroni Salad with Lemon and Herbs; Grilled Okra, Corn, and Tomato Salad; Vietnamese Lemongrass Pork; Chicken and Leek Stew; Ham Hock and Lentil Soup; Air Fryer Chili Lime Chicken Thighs; Limoncello Mojito; Middle Eastern Herb and Garlic Chicken; Soboro Donburi; Crunchy Baked Pesto Chicken Thighs; Garlic Chili Green Beans with Black Bean Chicken; Chef John’s Drunken Noodles; White Manhattan cocktail; White Lady cocktail; New York Sour cocktail

*******Dishes I made with my new year ham: Cubanos; Raspberry-Ham Sandwiches; Apple-Ham Quiche; Baked-Potato Soup; Ham Dinner; Andouille Mac and Cheese; Creamy Cauliflower, Potato, and White Bean Soup; Split Pea Soup; Spanish Tortilla with Ham; Curried Lentil Stew with Ham; Quiche; Ham Tetrazinni; Lentil Soup with Ham

********Podcasts: Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me; You’re Wrong About; Morning Edition; Reveal; Savage Lovecast; This American Life; Side Door; Radio Lab; On Our Watch; Dolly Parton’s America; The Experiment; Mississippi Goddamn; The Trojan Horse Affair; The War of the Roses; American History Tellers; We Were Three; Working it Out; LeVar Burton Reads; This Podcast Will Kill You

*********Magazines: The New Yorker; Asimov’s; Discover; Fantasy and Science-Fiction Magazine

**********Books: Contemporary Women’s Post-Apocalyptic Fiction by Susan Watkins; The Rivers of London Books 7 & 8 & 9, Tales from the Folly by Ben Aaronovitch; The President’s Brain is Missing by John Scalzi; Dearly by Margaret Atwood; Still Life by Sarah Winman; Meat Cute: The Hedgehog Incident by Gail Carriger; Delightfully Deadly trilogy by Gail Carriger; Inanna’s Tears by Rob Vollman & MPMANN; Cathedral by Raymond Carver; Jim Henson’s Labyrinth: Coronation volumes; Wolf Hall; D: A Tale of Two Worlds by Michel Faber; Monstress vol. 1 by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda; The Best of Me by David Sedaris; The Best American Comics 2018; A History of Wild Places by Shea Ernshaw; Ancient Egypt by Campbell Price; Little Weirds by Jenny Slate; Hamnet by Maggie O’ Farrell; The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi; Circus of Wonders by Elizabeth Macneal; Gallant by V.E. Schwab; Ink & Sigil 2 by Kevin Hearne; Ark by Veronica Roth; Randomize by Andy Weir; Emergency Skin by N.K. Jemisin; The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi; No Country for Old Gnomes by Kevin Hearne; How Quini the Squid Misplaced His Klobucar by Rich Larson; My Evil Mother by Margaret Atwood; Wolf of Wessex by Matthew Harffy; What Have You Changed Your Mind About? by John Brockman; Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel; Everything My Mother Taught Me by Alice Hoffman; Halfway to Free by Emma Donoghue; How the Multiverse Got Its Revenge by K. Eason; The Year of Lear by James S. Shapiro; Hurricane Girl by Marge Dermansky; Wild Country and Crowbones by Anne Bishop; The Rabbit Factor by Antti Tuomainen; Incryptid 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 by Seanan McGuire; The Magician’s Diary by C.J. Archer; A Shitload of Crazy Powers by Jackson Ford; Unforgettable by Eric James Stone; Paladin’s Grace & Paladin’s Strength by T. Kingfisher; Florida Woman by Deb Rogers; An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good by Helene Tursten; The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean; Where the Drowned Girls Go by Seanan McGuire; The Pirate Queen by Judith Cooke; Woman, Eating by Claire Kohda; Artifact Space by Miles Cameron; Clocktaur books by T. Kingfisher; We Are Bone and Earth by Esi Edugyan; Ash Wednesday by Paula McLain; The Near Witch by V.E. Schwab; Uncharted Waters by Sally Hepworth; You’re Invited by Amanda Jayatissa; One Way by SJ Morden; Themes and Variations by David Sedaris; Young, Damned, and Fair by Gareth Russell; That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon by Kimberly Lemming; The Dispatcher by John Scalzi; Keeper of Enchanted Rooms by Charlie N. Holmberg; The Book of the Unnamed Midwife by Meg Elison; That Leviathan, Whom Thou Hast Made by Eric James Stone; A Psalm for the Wild-Built: 1 by Beck Chambers; The Princess Beard by Kevin Hearne and Delilah S. Dawson; The School Mistress by Tess Thompson; The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty; Glass and Steele 4, 5, & 6 by C.J. Arthur; The Changeling by Victor LaValle; The Man Who Died by Antti Tuomainen; A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine; Palm Beach, Finland by Antti Tuomainen; Magic Bitter, Magic Sweet by Charlie N. Holmberg; The Fortunes of Jaded Women by Carolyn Huynh; The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal; Letter to My Younger Self, edited by Jane Graham; Maniac of New York series of comics; ExtraOrdinary series of comics; The Maid by Nita Prose; The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue

***********Plays: Pass Over; Death and Harry Houdini; Lifespan of a Fact; Smart People; Sanctuary City; The Last Return; Vanishing Grace; Lost Hearts; The Best Man; The Whiskey Wars; Solar Bones; Potted Potter; If These Wigs Could Talk; Haunted; Sky Falls; The Weir; An Lan; Afterplay; Tootsie

Days in the British Isles: 77

(the days in Scotland have their own blog)

Whiskeys, few of which I’d had before (details below): 63

Gins (details below): 11

People who came to visit me: 5

Trips to Murphy’s ice cream: 7

Flavors of Murphy’s tried: 8

Trips to Galway: 1

Times a woman had spread out her whole life on my reserved train seat and seemed genuinely surprised when I asked her to move: 1

Times when Denise had an Irish man fall hard for her in a pub: 1

Times it got awkward when he pushed me through the hostel door and then physically tried to stop her from also coming inside and then sent her rambling phone messages for weeks: 1

Favorite restaurants (details below): 14

Favorite dessert, besides Murphy’s: Lemon Pie from Padoca’s

Servings of Fish and Chips: 12

Servings of Lamb: 10

Servings of Duck: 9

Trips to Krewe: 9

Trips to Toscana: 9

Trips to Nando’s: 13!

Problems getting a taxi during the world cup: so many!

Italian Thanksgiving dinners with my coworkers and students: 1

Pickpocketings: 1

Lasagna pizzas: 1

Times I didn’t like lasagna pizza, which I should have anticipated, since it was exactly as advertised: 1

Trips to the Blarney Stone cancelled due to back problems: 1

Times I did stand-up comedy: 3

Times I got a whole beer spilled on me right before I went on stage: 1

Pubs visited: 23

Favorite pubs: 4 (Bankers & Lincoln’s Inn & Palace Bar & Dingle Whiskey Bar)

Wine Tastings at a Rioja even: 26

Riojas loved: 3

Guys who tried to steal my bag when I first got to Dublin: 1

Boats coming off trailers on I-80, on the way from my house to SFO: 1

Students with Covid: 1

Times my direct loans disappeared from the DOE site: 1

Times my credit score went up: 2

Calls and emails to try to figure out if my direct loans had been forgiven via the TEPSLF program: 8

Times DOE told me to talk to Mohela and vice versa: 8

Clarity about my loan situation: 0

Hangers for my clothes, in the same narrow cupboard as the broom: 5

Drawers for my clothes: 0

Times a guy chased me down to let me into a museum, when I found it locked: 1

Hats purchased: 3

Hats I owned / wore before that: 1

Times I had homemade food: 4

Fancy sweaters purchased: 2

Waistcoats purchased: 1

Museums and Galleries (details below): 26

Times foreigners stopped me on the street to ask for directions: 6

Canes forgotten by the door of my CA apartment: 1

Replacement canes purchased: 1

Cane umbrellas purchased: 1

Times cane needed: 0

Wonderful students: 11

Fantastic co-workers: 4

Times my co-workers admitted they were worried that I was going to be “an asshole” and that they were relieved I turned out to be “a ray of sunshine.”

Times in a grocery store with Viking ruins on display: 1

Days without shaving my legs: 74

Live Plays attended: 13

Movies in the theatre, not counting short films: 14

Books read: 23

Mummies seen: 8

Engagements: 1

Rings exchanged: 2

Times I walked by Glen Hansard’s house: 1

Short Films (as part of a festival): 36.

Favorites: Sheeps of Fury; La Madeleine

Episodes of Law & Order I watched in my little room while grading and prepping, since two television stations were dedicated to that show in the afternoons: not sure

Episodes of Law & Order with Ann Dowd in them: 2

Trips to Glendalough & Bray: 1

Trips to Belfast: 2

Times I was horrified by the past and present state of Belfast: 2

Times Irish Republic people told me I wouldn’t be able to understand Northern Irish people: 9

Times I wasn’t able to understand Northern Irish people: 0

Liberties Distillery Private Tour: 1

Live Stand-Up Shows attended: 8, including Hannah Gadsby and Jim Gaffigan

Hints given about the Guinness Quiz while on a trip to Belfast: 2

Guinness Quizzes won: 1

Whiskeys:

Meh: Jameson; Nikka Day; Paddy; Kilbeggan; Teachers (peaty); Bushmills; West Cork Bourbon Cask; Teeling Pot Still, Single Grain, Single Malt; Powers Single Pot Still; Sailor’s Home Single Pot Still; Fercullen Falls Small Batch; Hanson; Slane Triple Casked; Silkie; Mad March Hare Irish Poitin.

MMM: Redbreast 12, 15, 21; Jameson Black Barrel; Green Spot; Writer’s Tears Copper Pot; Fercullen 8; Method and Madness; Teeling Small Batch; West Cork Calvados Cask Finished (a little fruity); West Cork Glengarriff Series (lightly peated); Red Spot; Liberties 3 year, 5 year, 13 year; Writers Tears Single Pot Still; Bowmore Single Malt Scotch; Fercullen James Fox exclusive; DWD; Clonakilty; Connemara Peated Single Malt; West Cork Black Cask; Writer’s Tears Cask Strength 2022; Auchentoshan American Oak; Dingle Single Pot Still; Dingle Samhain; Dingle Fourth Pot Still Release; two more at Dingle Bar I can’t remember.

Woohoo: Redbreast Lustau, 27, and Single Pot Still; Midleton Very Rare; Glendalough Double Barrel; Roe & Co; Blue Spot; Gold Spot; Clonakilty Single Grain; Tullamore Dew Carribean Rum Cask Finish, Black 43, 13 Single Malt; Limavaldy Single Malt; Fercullen 14; Drumshambo Pot Still; Midleton Barry Crockett; Glendalough Single Malt 7

Gins: Skye Gin; The Secret Island; W.N. Rhubarb; Dingle; Gunpowder; Bertha’s Revenge; Glendalough; HaPenny Rhubarb (too sweet!); Dublin City; M&S Rhubarb Gin; Audemus Pink Pepper Gin

Fav Restaurants: Nandos; Beshoff’s; Coffee Bean on Mary Street; M&L; Pi Pizza; Ard Bia in Galway; Krewe; Toscana; Bullet and Duck; Cedar Tree Lebanese; Queen of Tarts; Red Moon Thai; Saba Thai; Kopitiam Malaysian

Museums and Galleries: Trinity (Book of Kells; Long Room) (X 2); Newgrange; Jeannie Johnson; Christ Church (X 2); National Museum of Archaeology (X 3); National Gallery; Hugh Lane Gallery (X 2); St. Patrick’s Cathedral; Marsh’s Library; St. Michan’s; St. Audoen’s; Oscar Wilde House; National Library; Dublinia; Leprechaun Museum Night Tour; Joyce Tower; Sweny’s Pharmacy; Chester Beatty; EPIC Immigration Museum; Guiness Storehouse; The Giant’s Causeway; Dunlace Castle; Murals in Belfast / Peace Wall (X 2); Barracks Museum (Art and Design); Walking Tour (2); Glasnevin Cemetery

Hours in Scotland: 101

Great Meals at Rishi Indian Aroma: 2

Indian meals total: 3

Lamb servings: 3

Great meals at Antlers in Portree: 2

Times discovering Drambuie is an Isle of Skye liquor: 1

Times trying Drambuie: 1

Times discovering I much prefer Scotch to Drambuie: 1

Salmon servings: 3

Great salmon servings: 1

Haddock servings: 2

Gins at Gin 71, including a Finnish one: 4

Amazing Sea Bass at Gin 71: 1

Bites of haggis: 1

Bites of local bleu cheese: 1

Times I discovered I like haggis more than bleu cheese: 1

Rainbows: 4

Times I thought about climbing up to Ewan’s castle: 1

Times I passed a woman who broke her ankle trying to climb to Ewan’s castle: 1

Times I slipped in the mud around Ewan’s castle: so many

Times I got most of the way to Ewan’s castle and then a couple coming down warned me about how steep and slippery it was, so I finally listened to the universe and stopped climbing: 1

Glasses of Wee Angus Merlot, from Australia, chosen because I have two great great . . . s from Scotland named Angus: 1

Tours of the Isle of Skye: 1

Sightings of Nessie at her Loch: 0

Other tourists on the bus tour: 3

People on the bus (out of 5) who had been extras on Outlander: 2

Rocks picked up to take home: 5

Times I heard the fairy pipes at Kilt Rock: 1

Whiskeys tried*: 20

Times the guy at The Whiskey Shop totally remembered me from all those mini whiskeys I bought the last time I was in: 1

*Woohoo: Glen Allachie 8; Talisker 8 2020 (new favorite!)

MMMM: Glengoyne 18; Tobermory 12; Bunnahabhain 12; Talisker 10; Talisker Distiller’s Editon; Talkisker Distillery Exclusive; Glenfiddich; Glenmorangie; Arran 10; Dalwhinnie 12; Lomand Signature Blend

Meh: Caledonian Bay Blended; Glen Scotia Double Cask; Talisker Port Ruighe; Talisker Skye; Balvenie; the other Talisker 8

Not sure, cause it was in ice cream: Blair Athol

(101 hours / 20 whiskies=one new whiskey every 5 hours)