Number of resolutions made last year: 5
(rest more, try at least 52 new recipes, see a movie in the theatre each week; learn to make 12 new cocktails)
Number of resolutions kept: 2
Days in hammock: 0
New Recipes Tried: 59
(Best new recipe: Spicy Thai Eggplant with Ground Pork and Tofu)
New Cocktails Made: 17
Podcasts I’ve tried to keep up with: 23
Magazine subscriptions I tried to keep up with: 6
Times Karen drove down from Santa Rosa to see me: 2
Movies watched: 69
(including 6 at the Sacramento French Film Festival)
Oscar-Nominated Movies last year: 9 + 15 this year = 24
Oscar-Nominated Shorts: 11
Drunk women encountered at the airport who could not believe she had to change terminals to get to Omaha: 1
Times Jeff accidentally told the Omaha woman to get off the tram at the wrong stop: 1
Times I overheard Italians saying “Mamma Mia” in a completely natural way, which I didn’t believe they did: 6 (three just at the airport when dealing with tourists)
Times my house was completely clean: 0
Times in Ireland that I went to find a King crest souvenir because a paternal ancestor migrated from Derry to PA in the 1700s, and a Conroy crest souvenir because my maternal cousins’ paternal ancestor migrated from Derry to PA in the 1800s, and I learned that some Conroys anglicized their names to King, so maybe my cousins and I are related in another way way back: 1
Painful two-part dental procedures: 1
Places visited: 9
(Chicago, Indianapolis, Milan, London, Guatemala, Northern Ireland, Malta, Anaheim, Verona)
Weeks away from home: 8
Full days home between Milan and Ireland: 5
New nieces: 1
Bad mental health months: 2
New combination air fryers / toaster ovens, which resulted in the net loss of one kitchen tool: 1
Visits to the airport Pappadeux: 2
Derry Girl sets sat upon: 2
Museums & Galleries: 25
Times Jeff and I went back to the same favorite restaurant in Malta: 5
Fancy multi-course dinners in Malta: 1
Times I could get a taxi easily in Derry: 1
Times I could NOT get a taxi easily in Derry: 3
Times I could NOT get a taxi at all in Derry: 3
Times I set up a taxi and waited for it on the street at 5 a.m. and it didn’t come and didn’t come and finally they sent another taxi because the first one had a flat and the driver told me to relax because we had plenty of time, but then I got to the airport (the airport with *1* terminal) and they had stopped check in and the lady who worked there started to lecture me about getting to the airport on time and I started to cry and she let me check in, so I did get to join the 11 other people getting on the plane a while later: 1
Students who got into Prized Writing: 2
Conferences: 7
New summer abroad classes developed: 1
Film Festivals: 2
Indian fairs: 1
Trying fry bread for the first time: 1
A dinner ruined by nearby conservative Americans in Milan: 1
Times I wanted a gazpacho (with egg topping), but misread the menu and somehow ended up paying 16 euros for *a* poached egg with gazpacho drizzle: 1
Poached eggs enjoyed: 0
London Arboretums: 1
New lovely scarves: 3
Times I got Covid: 1
Days picking up wine with my man: 1
Times a pharmacist in Milan was rude when I needed help for my IBS: 1 (“No. We don’t have it! Goodbye!!!”)
Nando’s meals: 6
Atwood talks given: 1
Times I got a flat tire on the way to my Atwood talk and abandoned my car on the side of the road to make it on time: 1
Meals at my favorite Milan restaurant (Mappamando): 5
Comedy Specials Watched: 21
Live Comedy Shows: 3 (Keith Lowell Jensen; Judah Friedlander; Hannah Einbinder)
Other Live Shows: 3 (Nina Totenberg; Meow Meow; The Labricks)
Times Meow Meow had Jeff come up on stage as part of her act: 1
New tires required: 2
Front end work required: 1
Times Dante got a flat while my car was in the shop: 1
Days just in December when I couldn’t walk: 3
Days in December when I could just shuffle: 5
Classes taught: 12
(full time is 7)
New ornaments for the tree: 11
Time I tried Malort: 1
Times I enjoyed Malort: 0
Times I finished 25 years of teaching and threw myself a party: 1
Times I got closure or clarity on my student loans: 0
Times I had to start repayments on my student loans: 0
(Have they been forgiven? Who knows. Probably?)
Live Plays: 16
Hours spent researching my family tree: not enough + too much. This next year, I’ll keep track of how many people I add.
Ear Surgeries: 1
Worsening health conditions, including my clumsiness (I have broken three wine glasses while doing dishes this week): all – 1 (my ears)
TV Shows: 84
Arts and crafts projects: 1
New roombas: 1
Lower bite guards that don’t stop me from grinding at all: 1
Books Completed: 84
New jewelry organizers: 1
Stand-up performances with my students: 4
Completely dreadful scamming Airbnb hosts: 1
Times I read through this list and realized why I might be ending the year exhausted beyond measure: 1
Perfect weddings in Guatemala: 1
Wedding ceremonies in Woodland to make it legal here too: 1
The Details:
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; Laap Pla Duk (Thai Catfish Salad); Chicken Soup with Chilis, Coconut Milk & Lime; Corned Beef; Meyer Lemon Olive Oil Cake; Garlic Red Pepper Chicken; Peanut Noodle Salad with Cucumber and Roast Pork; Pastrami Carbonara; TikTok Baked Spaghetti with Bison; Creamy, Lemon Pasta (from NYT); Best Damn Air Fryer Chicken Legs; Spiced Pork Chops with Peas, Radishes, and Mint; Spicy Thai Eggplant, Pork, and Tofu*; Crock Pot Pork from AllRecipes, with Air Fryer Green Beans from The New York Times; French Sloppy Joes; Lamb Burgers; Chicken Stroganoff; Rosemary, Honey, and Fig Cake; Egg and Potato Chip Tortilla; Slow Cooker Massaman Curry; Murgh Kari (Indian Chicken Curry); Skillet Tortellini with Corn and Rosemary; Catalan Tomato Bread; Slow Cooker Ethiopian-Spiced Chicken and Black Lentil Stew; Fig Sour Cream Cake with Caramel Cream Sauce; Laab; Air Fryer Ranch Pork Chops; Crunchy Baked Pesto Chicken Thighs; Slow Cooker Sweet and Sour Chicken Thighs; Cumin Lamb Noodles with Eggplant; Soy-Butter Corn Ramen; Air Fryer Sesame Chicken Breast; Blueberry No-Churn Ice Cream; Sheet-Pan Chicken Thighs with Spicy Corn; Air Fryer Chicken Wellington; Slow-cooker Spanish Chicken; Coconut Curry Salmon; Pizza Chicken; Cannelloni*; Slow Cooker Coconut Pork Curry; Air Fryer Cod; Grilled Tandoori Chicken Sandwiches; Chicken Pesto Pasta Bake; Pork au Poivre; Dutch Baby (Ham and Cheese); Fettuccini with Ham and Zucchini; Curried Lentils with Ham; Summer Rolls; Salmon with Lemon-Ginger Butter; No Bake Eggnog Pie; Grandma’s Casserole, but with Elk!
New Cocktails: Moonpool; Lemon Basil Martini; Death in the Afternoon; Corpse Reviver 2; Lemon Lavender Sour*; Blood Orange Irish Mule; Brainstorm; Emerald; Southside*; Tom Collins with Wild Pink Icelandic Gin; Monte Carlo; Lemon Lavender Old Fashioned; Blackthorn; French Absinthe; New York Sour*; El Diablo; Hot Buttered Rum
Podcasts: RadioLab; This American Life; Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me; History of Egypt; Morning Edition; All Things Considered; American History Tellers; Sidedoor; LeVar Burton Reads; Savage Lovecast; Will Be Wild; Working It Out; More Perfect; Fresh Air with Terry Gross; You’re Wrong About; The Retrievals; Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend; 1865; Over My Dead Body; Beef and Dairy Network Podcast; Wiser than Me; This is History with Dan Jones; American Scandal; RadioLab
Magazines: The New Yorker; Discover; Smithsonian; Fantasy and Science Fiction; Asimov’s; National Geographic
Movies: Good Luck to You, Leo Grande; Weird; The Mitchells Vs. The Machines; Lover Come Back; The Muppets; The Muppets Most Wanted; Star Wars IV, V, VI; Star Trek 2009; Guardians of the Galaxy; You Hurt My Feelings; Love Sarah; Ticket to Paradise; Brian and Charles; The Lion in Winter; Luther: The Fallen Sun; Indiana Jones 1, 2. Spiderverse 2; The Night of the 12th; Everybody Loves Jeanne; Little Ones; The (In)Famous Youssef Salem; Labyrinth; Past Lives; Indiana Jones V; Dungeons and Dragons; Emily the Criminal; Shaun the Sheep; Blue Beetle; Austenland; Linoleum; A Man Called Otto; Barbie (twice); Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings; Bob and Marge Go Large; Hunt for the Wilderpeople; Crazy Rich Asians; The Nannies; The Man Who Came to Dinner; Bridget Jones’s Diary; Paddington 2; Toni; Catherine Called Birdie; Clueless; The Boy and the Heron; Trains, Planes, and Automobiles; Chicken Run 2; Poor Things; Persuasion; Elvis, Everything, Everywhere, All At Once; The Fabelmans; Tar; Triangle of Sadness; Women Talking; Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio; Puss in Boots: The Last Wish; The Sea Beast; The Whale; Blonde; To Leslie; Empire of Light; Babylon; Saltburn; Renfield
Comedy Specials: Wanda Sykes: I’m an Entertainer; Nate Bargatze: Hello, World; Jim Gaffigan: Quality Time; Kathleen Madigan: Hunting Bigfoot; Russell Howard: Lubricant (2); Mike Birbiglia: What I Should Have Said Was Nothing; Birbiglia: My Girlfriend’s Boyfriend; Neal Brennan: Blocks; Leanne Morgan: I’m Every Woman; Randy Feltface: Smug Druggles; Randy Feltface: The Book of Randicus; Zainab Johnson: Hijabs Off; Sarah Silverman: Someone You Love; Birbiglia: The Old Man and the Pool; Pete Holmes: I Am Not for Everyone; Leo Reich: Literally Who Cares?!; Maria Bamford: Local Act; Trever Noah: Where Was I?; Eliza Shlesinger: Unveiled; Ari Eldjárn: Pardon My Icelandic; John Leguizamo: Latin History for Morons
Live Plays: The Hombres; Book of Mormon; The Predictor; Accidental Death of an Anarchist; Tambo and Bones; Strange Loop; Dr. Semmelweis; The Play That Goes Wrong; Clyde’s; Ragtime; Harry Clarke; The Anarchists; POTUS; Christmas at Pemberly 3; To Kill a Mockingbird; Hadestown
New Shows: Andor; Kindred; His Dark Materials; The Last of Us; Moon Knight; Queen Charlotte; American Born Chinese; Poker Face; Shrinking; The Bear; Blindspotting; Ahsoka; Hijak; Life on Our Planet; White House Plumbers; Over the Garden Walls; Colin from Accounts; The Diplomat; Obama’s Working series
Mostly Kept Up With: Call the Midwife; Foundation; Outlander; Futurama; Star Trek: Strange New Worlds; Harley Quinn; The After Party; Foundation; Picard; Schmigadoon; Loki; Upload; Lower Decks; Breeders; Disenchantment; Lupin; Our Flag Means Death; Vienna Blood; Doctor Who; For All Mankind; Bob’s Burgers; SNL; The Simpsons; Fargo; Gilded Age; Reservation Dogs; The Crown; Abbot Elementary; Barry; The Great; Marvel’s What If; Good Omens; All Creatures Great and Small; Vikings: Valhalla; Last Week Tonight with John Oliver; Seth Meyers; Colbert; Daily Show; Resident Alien; Ted Lasso; Marvelous Mrs. Maisel; Barry; Miracle Workers
Shows Jeff and I binged that I had seen before: The Americans; Counterpart; Acapulco; Brooklyn 99; Killing Eve; For All Mankind; The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt; The After Party; Schmigadoon; Only Murders in the Building; Ted Lasso
Other binges: Kim’s Convenience; The Spanish Queen; Julia; Scrubs; Archer; The White Princess; The White Queen; This is Going to Hurt; The Witcher (S1); I Love That For You; Vikings
