Everything else 2021

I just want to make sure I cover EVERYTHING okay?

In between and alongside periods of scary COVID spread, the following things happened in my life in 2021.

Milestones:

• 5 years at my job and a promotion to Associate Director
• 8 years in my apartment, and nearly 3 on the co-op board (why do I do this to myself)
• 10 consecutive years on the board of NYMAAC (local alumni chapter of Phi Sigma Pi)
• 16 years in the band, 12 in the orchestra
• 16 years living in NYC
• 41 years on planet Earth
• My cats turned 9 (each), but they'll be 10 by the time you finish reading this post (possibly 11)
• Reconnected with an ex (after 12 years)
• Saw Claire & Chris, and Antonya, for the first time in many years
• We got a bunch more CitiBike docks in Sunset Park, and that amped up my ridership (33 rides this year out of 47 total). I've ridden a total of 139 miles and visited 48 docking stations over the course of my membership (or, something-else-ship, since I'm not a member).
• Joined Home Chef and cooked approximately 150 meals (I'm not going to go back and count, but it was 52 weeks at 3 meals a week with the occasional week off)
• Fed many mourning doves after installing my first bird feeder (inspired by the Uttechs)
• 92 consecutive weeks of what I used to call my Quarantine Diary, now "Weekly Shmeekly"
• Several friends' pets died, including Penny

COVID-related milestones

• 3 COVID vaccine shots
• QUO, symphonic band, and marching band in-person rehearsals resumed
• Started going back into the office 1-2 times a week (to make it easier to get to rehearsals)
• NYMAAC resumed in-person events (we're doing both in-person and remote events now)
• Saw my aunt, uncle, and cousins for the first time since pandemic at Thanksgiving

Trips:

• 2 visits to the Uttechs in Marathon: 1 for the Bears' wedding in nearby Cortland and another just for Labor Day weekend.
• 2 visits to my sister in Colorado: 1 in July with my parents and 1 in December with the whole family
• 1 trip to the Catskills (Prattsville) for my parents' 46th anniversary
• 1 drive to the Poconos for Cassie and Josh's wedding
• 1 journey up to North Haven, CT to visit the Bennetts and help staff Sara's Strange Charm Glassworks booth
• Several trips to Rahway for swimming and hanging out with the Beckers, including my birthday party
• Several trips to Pelham and Commack for various occasions, including a surprise 40th birthday party for Alex

Live shows:

• The Merry Wives of Windsor at Shakespeare in the Park with Álvaro, Jess, and Kyle, and babka from Breads Bakery.
• Cullud Wattah at the Public with Kathryn
• Slave Play at the August Wilson Theater with Kathryn
• Caroline or Change at Studio 54 with Kathryn
• Company at the Jacobs Theater with NYMAAC (and yes, Kathryn)
• Brandi Carlile at the Forest Hills Stadium with mom & Tracee
• Sō Percussion at Caramoor with Cricket, Mark, and the Neumanns
• Loser's Lounge: Talking Heads at City Winery with Mike B @ family
• Squeaky Bike's Real Guts, Virtual Glory
• Saw a few shows at Wild Birds and Barbes in Brooklyn
• Performed in 2 QUO concerts (and a third was canceled due to Omicron)
• Performed in 2 LGBAC symphonic band concerts
• Performed in 9 LGBAC marching band performances including an AIDS Walk thing, an impromptu performance at the AIDS Memorial in the Village, the Dyke March, the Heritage of Pride March (such as it was), a weird Mermaid Parade-inspired thing in the Hamptons, 2 Halloween Parades, the NYC Marathon, and a gig in Herald Square (no, not the Thanksgiving Parade, that's next year!)

Other stuff:

• Went to an anti-Trump vigil
• Many Zoom calls with home friends
• Many neighbor hangs at Judy's inside and outside
• 4 dates, 3 with the same guy
• Attended the virtual Phi Sigma Pi National Convention and represented NYMAAC as delegate
• Recorded 3 tracks for a LGBAC symphonic band virtual performance
• Helped record an audition video for Patrick & Jonah which by the way got them on TV in Baking It
• Helped Jess & Kyle move
• 1 last party at airbmb
• Visits from Allison, Julie, Mark, and Charlin & Seth
• Voted in the NYC mayoral (and other offices) primary and general elections
• Got my passport renewed
• Saw my first moose
• Finally went to Hops Scotch, my parents favorite hangout with their friends Kate & Richie
• 1 trip to the beach (Jacob Riis)
• Interviewed and accepted a new co-op member
• Painted a mural in Kate's apartment
• Fed at least three neighbors' cats and watered one neighbor's plants
• Made and sent a lot of cards
• Received original art by Sara and Laura to adorn my home:

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2021 Puzzles & Podcasts

Puzzles and podcasts are perfect complements. I can't just sit and listen to a podcast without doing something else, and that something else needs to leave me the brain space to enjoy and understand the podcast. Puzzling is just that thing. And puzzling in silence is sometimes nice, but why not multitask?

Here are the podcasts I listened to in 2021.

Weekly listening (or as often as they come out):

• You're Wrong About: A biweekly (or as often as they feel like it) podcast in which they reexamine moral panics and news stories of the past, and debunk misconceptions and misrepresentations. Toward the end of the year, Michael Hobbes announced that he was leaving the show. I miss the banter between him and remaining host Sarah Marshall, but Sarah's great on her own, too.
• Maintenance Phase: This is the podcast Michael Hobbes kept. He and Aubrey Gordon debunk myths and cover the rise and fall of health and wellness-related fads and schemes. Comes out biweekly, except when it doesn't.
• You Are Good: Formerly "Why Are Dads?", You Are Good is described by its hosts (Alex Steed and, surprise! Sarah Marshall) as a "feelings podcast about movies." It comes out reliably every week, but I only listen when it's a movie I've watched or know enough about through the zeitgeist.
• The Greatest Generation: "A Star Trek podcast by two guys who are a little bit embarrassed to have a Star Trek podcast" pretty much sums it up. I spent pretty much all of 2020 catching up, so 2021 was weekly listening for me. They finished Deep Space Nine at the beginning of the year and picked right up with Voyager, so I've had to keep my Star Trek viewing to just one episode a week to stay in sync with them.
• Judge John Hodgman: I'm sorry to say I've fallen out of the habit of listening to this podcast, which is Hodgman, Jesse Thorn, and other guests and regulars discussing disputes sent in by listeners. I'd been listening to it weekly as it came out, and also working my way backwards through the archive. I guess My Favorite Murder replaced it.

At my own pace:

• My Favorite Murder: In May, a neighbor recommended this to me and I've been listening to it ever since. Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark tell each other murder stories and occasionally read letters from listeners about murders and other weird things. Laugh-out-loud funny, even while horrifying. I decided to listen to it in order from the beginning, so it's not weekly listening for me yet because I haven't caught up to the new episodes. I'm skipping the live episodes (which a friend tells me are worth listening to, so I may go back and listen to those later). This is basically what fills my listening time once I'm through with the new stuff on my other podcasts.
• The Greatest Discovery: Another podcast by the guys from The Greatest Generation, covering the new Star Trek stuff as it comes out, and other related things. I only listen to it as often as I watch something they've covered (Discovery, Picard, Lower Decks, etc).
• This American Life, 99% Invisible: There for me when I can't think of anything else to listen to.
• Sandra (Gimlet Media): Fictional podcast miniseries about a woman who works as the human question-answerer behind a "Siri"-like interface. 
• I Am All In: A Gilmore Girls podcast hosted by former cast member Scott Patterson ("Luke"). I listened to a few episodes and I enjoyed them, particularly the interviews with other cast and crew members. I guess I stopped because it sounds VERY produced. You can tell from listening to it that this is something iHeartMedia is spending money on. I like listening to podcasts that sound off the cuff, that are hosted by the people who came up with the idea for the podcast in the first place. Also, I didn't want to work in a Gilmore Girls rewatch into my TV viewing. Maybe I'll come back to it.
• This Podcast Will Kill You: Good for a car ride (which is where I listened to I think the chickenpox/shingles episode). Didn't make its way into my pool of regular listening.
• Slow Burn: A podcast where they take a deep dive into one major news story/scandal per season. I've listened to seasons 1-3 so far (Watergate, Clinton impeachment, Tupac & Biggie) and I'm currently listening to season 4 (David Duke).

One-offs

• The West Wing Weekly: A Special Benefit for When We All Vote: Hrishi and Josh came back to record an episode about the special benefit West Wing episode aired on HBO Max.

Puzzles:

Here are glimpses from 9 of the 32 puzzles I did this year.

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Clockwise from top left:

• Obergefell v Hodges, 500 pieces by Litographs, gift from mom & dad
• New York, 1000 pieces by Dowdle Folk Art, surprise in the mail from Beth
• Convergence by Jackson Pollack, 320 pieces by Springbok (and billed as the world's most difficult puzzle), from a neighbor
• Beachcomber Collection, 1000 pieces by New York Puzzle Company, gift from mom & dad
• The Ultimate Double-Sided Per Person Puzzle (dog side), 500 pieces by Ben Lenovitz, gift from mom & dad
• Full Bloom, 1000 piece by Galison, surprise in the mail from Justine
• Vikram Madan Social Distancing Double-Sided (rhino side), 228 pieces by Artifact puzzles, gift from Patty
• Crystal Snowflake, 1000 pieces by Bgraamiens, gift from Justine
• And in the middle: Graffiti City, 1000 pieces by "Fred", loaner from Lauren (while visiting her in Colorado)

The rest were also great. Take a scroll through my Instagram if you'd like to see them.

By piece count:

• 228: 1 (Social Distancing)
• 320: 1 (Convergence)
• 450: 1 (Swim Club)
• 500: 9
• 550: 1 (Paris)
• 750: 2 (Vatican and Thatched Cottage)
• 1000: 16
• 1500: 1 (Pizza Arcade)

I tend to stick to 1000 pieces or less so they'll fit on my table. The 1500-piece "Pizza Arcade" required a surface extension:

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By brand:

• New York Puzzle Company: 4 (Night at the Opera, Leaf Peepers, Beachcomber, Mushrooms)
• Galison: 3 (Graymalin, Full Bloom, Spring on Park Avenue)
• Dowdle Folk Art: 2 (New York, Times Square)
• Mudpuppy: 2 (Birds A-Z, Bookish Cats)
• Buffalo: 2 (Cinque Terre, Pizza Arcade)
• Sure-Lox: 2 (Vatican, Thatched Cottage)

And one puzzle each by Litographs, Bgraamiens, Jiggy, Springbok, Pomegranate, Funwares, TDC, Ceaco, Fred, Ben Lenovitz, Eurographics, Artifact, and Ravensburger.

By subject matter:

• Cityscapes/buildings: 9 (New York, Night at the Opera, Cinque Terre, Times Square, Paris, Graffiti City, Vatican, Thatched Cottage, Spring on Park Avenue)
• Animals: 8 (Animals Planet, Birds A-Z, F is for Feline: 2 puzzles, Bookish Cats, 2-sided Pet Person, Social Distancing)
• Outdoor scene: 5 (Graymalin 2 -sided, Swim Club, Leaf Peepers, Seasine Beauty)
• Art/Abstract: 3 (Crystal Snowflake, Convergence, Diego Rivera)
• Collected objects on display: 2 (Beachcomber, Mushrooms)
• Map/diagram: 2 (Full Bloom, Tree of Life)
• Nostalgia: 1 (Pizza Arcade)
• Words: 1 (Obergefell v Hodges)
• Wine: 1 (Wine Time)

Where they came from:

• Gifts: 15 (5 from mom & dad, 2 from Jan, 2 from Justine, 2 from Jamie, and 1 each from Beth, Kathleen, dyAnne, and Patty)
• Neighbor swaps: 7
• Vacation puzzles: 3
• Friend swaps: 2 with Bjorn & Todd
• Found on the street: 2 (via Cricket and Kathryn)

I still have most of them in my apartment if you'd like to do a swap!

Success rate: 

• I finished all the puzzles I started this year.
• Some were pissing a piece or two, but I have confirmed I did not lose any pieces. :)

2021 Viewing

Hello! This was very much a year of the new, in terms of TV viewing at least. New stuff outnumbered continuations and rewatches of old series by a factor of 3 or so in my 2021 viewing. Listening to the My Favorite Murder podcast seems to have had an effect on my TV consumption which includes a lot more true crime than in past years (but it's not all murder! There is some art theft!). 

It was thrilling to get to see people I know on TV this year! Ry Russo-Young's HBO Max documentary Nuclear Family was very engrossing, and featured my friends Max and Cade and their little one Sy. And my buddies Patrick and Jonah were one of eight competing pairs on Baking It (and I helped film their audition video!), which was an adorable show.

Other highlights of the year include Better Call Saul, which I am anxious to finish once more of it appears on Netflix, Anne With an E which was very sweet, Fleabag which was genius, laughing my ass off at Star Trek: Lower Decks, a very engaging adaptation of The Wheel of Time which has further strengthened my resolve not to read the books (sorry, friends), The Serpent which was chilling and also a fun trip to Asia, Mare of Easttown which was amazing, the hilarious Q Force, the equally hilarious Schmigadoon which I got to watch with friends, and the deeply depressing but well acted and constructed Dopesick. 

Here are the series I started and miniseries I watched in 2021:

• Better Call Saul: seasons 1-4
• Anne With an E: seasons 1-3 (all)
• The Sinner: seasons 1-2, and some of season 3
• Fleabag: seasons 1-2 (all)
• Feel Good: season 1 and part of 2
• Bridgerton: season 1
• Star Trek: Lower Decks: season 1 (along with the Greatest Discovery podcast)
• Call My Agent! (Dix pour cent): season 1
• Manifest: season 1
• The Wheel of Time: season 1
• Hacks: season 1
• High Score: all
• History of Swear Words: all
• Pretend It's a City: all
• Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel: all
• Murder Among the Mormons: all
• The One: all
• Collateral: all
• This is a Robbery: all
• The Serpent: all
• Life in Colour with David Attenborough: all
• The Sons of Sam: Descent Into Darkness: all
• Mare of Easttown: all
• The White Lotus: all
• Q Force: all
• Schmigadoon: all (with friends)
• Nuclear Family: all
• Nova: The Planets: all
• Dopesick: all
• Baking It: all
• Home Economics: some
• Animaniacs reboot: some
• Nine Perfect Strangers: some
• The Chair: some
• Only Murders in the Building: some
• The Other Two: some
• Ted Lasso: some (I would've watched it all but I don't have Apple+ yet)
• And Just Like That: some
• Mad About You: watched a few episodes of the revival
• Bare Feet: a few episodes since it was on at Cricket's parents' house
• Fuller House: a few episodes since it was on TV on vacation
• Somebody Feed Phil: a few episodes since it was on TV on vacation

Of the series I continued this year, Schitt's Creek was of course a standout. Impeachment was also good group watch material. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and now Voyager have been weekly viewing for me as I listen along with the Greatest Generation podcast.

Old series continued or rewatched in 2021:

• Call the Midwife: 2020 Christmas Special (season 10)
• Friends: watched the reunion show and then rewatched seasons 1-7 and part of 8
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: rewatched season 7 (along with the Greatest Generation podcast)
• Schitt's Creek: seasons 4-6 and the farewell feature
• Fargo: finished season 4
• The Handmaid's Tale: season 4
• Castlevania: season 4
• Star Trek: Discovery: season 3 (along with the Greatest Discovery podcast)
• Sex Education: season 3
• American Crime Story: Impeachment: season 3 (with neighbors)
• Star Trek: Voyager: rewatched seasons 1-2 and part of 3 (along with the Greatest Generation podcast)
• The Great: some of season 2
• Angels in America: rewatch, all
• The Simpsons: a few episodes since it was on TV on vacation

I love a movie musical, and this year gave us In the Heights and Tick Tick Boom which were great, and I couldn't help but go back and rewatch Sweeney Todd with NPH. Perhaps not technically a musical but an adaptation of a play with a bunch of music in it, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom was also brilliant, and also musical theater-adjacent and lovely was Florence Foster Jenkins. Books made me watch a few of the below movies, and I finally went ahead and watched Remains of the Day, which I read eight years ago.

Movies streamed (except where noted):

• Sweeney Todd Live From Lincoln Center: rewatch
• Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
• The Trial of the Chicago 7
• Motherless Brooklyn: with the Page & Popcorn book & movie club (remotely)
• I Care a Lot
• Betty White: First Lady of TV
• New York Times Presents: Framing Britney Spears
• The Last Blockbuster: once alone and once with Cricket & Mark
• Moxie
• Operation Varsity Blues
• Seaspiracy
• The Dig
• Remains of the Day
• Made You Look
• The Lorax: with NYMAAC (remotely)
• Okja: with Cricket and Mark
• Florence Foster Jenkins
• In the Heights: with the Uttechs
• The Birdcage: rewatch, on a plane
• Nomadland: on a plane
• Blithe Spirit: on a plane
• 500 Days of Summer: rewatch, on a plane
• Tig Notaro: Drawn
• Bo Burnham: Inside
• The White Tiger: with the Page & Popcorn book & movie club (remotely)
• The Royal Tenenbaums: with neighbor Maya who insisted I watch more Wes Anderson movies
• Dune: the 1984 version with the Page & Popcorn book & movie club (remotely) and with Maya (in person) and with necessary substances
• Dune: the 2021 with the Page & Popcorn book & movie club (in the theater)
• Mayor Pete
• Tick Tick Boom
• Don't Look Up

Other stuff:

• WNYC's Get Lit With All of It book club: Jonathan Lethem's Motherless Brooklyn
• Dar Williams: We Can Get Through February!

Guess I'll go finish The Great now. Oh, and the Harry Potter reunion! Bye!

The Big Book Post 2021

Welcome to the only time of year I post in this blog: recap time!

Somebody stop me, this is probably the most long-winded one yet.

Jan: Dreyer's English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style by Benjamin Dreyer

Feb: Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem

Mar: The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

Apr: Days of Distraction by Alexandra Chang

May: The Godspell Experience: Inside a Transformative Musical by Carol de Giere

Jun: A Favourite of the Gods by Sybille Bedford

Jul: The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

Aug-Sep: Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

Oct: Dune by Frank Herbert

Nov: ¡Hola Papi!: How to Come Out in a Walmart Parking Lot and Other Life Lessons by John Paul Brammer

Dec: The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

Dec: Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri

I finished 11 books this year, beating last year's total by 1 and falling short of this year's goal by the same number. I read about 1/4 of Dune before giving up on it, making Dune this year's Outlander (maybe I should stop trying to read 800-page genre fiction?). 

The first book I read this year was probably my favorite: Dreyer's (which Goodreads also tells me was the most highly rated of all the books I finished this year). I also gave high marks (4 stars) to Cloud and Distraction. My only 2-star review was Midnight, which I know is a popular book (the most shelved book of the ones I read this year, according to Goodreads), but I had problems with it (see my Goodreads review, linked above).

More Goodreads nonsense:

• Shortest book I read this year: Ocean (181 pages), but that honor would have gone to Passing if I'd finished it (and I will)
• Longest book I finished this year: Cloud (509 pages), and it took me a good long time, too
• Least popular book I read this year: Godspell (79 people shelved it to Midnight's 1.8 million, but I know one of them! Hi Rebecca if you're reading this.)

And by the way, I think I'm in good book-nerd company on Goodreads this New Year's Day as the site is super slow.

By the authors

I finished 6 books by male authors and 5 by female authors (Passing by Nella Larsen would have evened the score). Bedford is the oldest author I read this year, Dreyer the oldest living author (unless de Giere, whose age I could not find, is older). I could not find the birth years of Chang or Brammer, but I suspect the latter is the youngest author I read this year. Morgenstern, 43, is the youngest author I read this year whose age I could track down. This year I read mostly American authors, with the exception of 4 English authors (Bedford, Haig, Mitchell, Gaiman) and possibly de Giere who may be Canadian (and let's give her the benefit of the doubt). Bedford was born in Germany but is considered English. Lahiri was born in England but identifies as American. I didn't dig too deep into this, but I read at least 2 LGBTQ+ authors (Dreyer, Brammer), and three authors in particular shared their ethnic heritage in their books (Chang, Brammer, Lahiri). Most of the authors were new to me, but this year I read my second book of Morgenstern's, Bedford's, and Lahiri's, and my sixth by Gaiman.

By publication date

The only book I finished this year published before 1999 was Favourite (1963). Passing, published in 1929, would have been the oldest. Many of my reading years feature a return to the books that were on the best sellers list when I was working at Borders in 2002, and this year's selection from that pool are Interpreter (1999) and Motherless (1999). The only book I read that was published in 2021 was Papi, but Distraction and Midnight were from 2020 and Dreyer's and Starless were 2019.

By setting

Most of the books I read this year take place in the present day (for the book). Godspell reaches back into the seventies to tell the beginning of that story. Favourite is mostly set in and around WWI. Cloud covers the widest time period, from the mid-19th century to unfathomably in the future. Five books take place partially or entirely in NYC (Dreyer's, Motherless, Starless, Godspell, Papi) and Distraction takes place mostly in New York state. The books by the UK authors take place mostly in the UK (Favourite, Midnight, Ocean) except Cloud, which is mostly in and around the Pacific Ocean. Interpreter takes us to Boston and India.

By genre

Fiction: 8

• Fantasy: 3 (Midnight, Starless, Ocean)
• Historical: 2 (Favourite, Cloud)
• Sci-fi: 1 (Cloud)
• Short stories: 1 (Interpreter)
• Other: 2 (Distraction, Motherless)

Non-fiction: 3

• Language/Writing: 1 (Dreyer's)
• Arts & Entertainment: 1 (Godspell)
• Memoir: 1 (Papi)

Awards

• Motherless won the 1999 National Books Critics Circle Award for fiction
• Interpreter won the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
• Cloud won the 2005 British Book Award for literary fiction and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize
• Ocean was the 2013 British Book Awards Book of the Year, and is the only book I read this year that was a #1 on the NYT best seller list

Movies and book clubs

• I read Motherless with the Page & Popcorn (P&P) Book & Movie Club, and we watched the 2019 film together (remotely). Motherless was also a selection in WNYC's Get Lit with All of It book club, and I watched Alison Stewart's interview with Jonathan Lethem. 
• Passing, which I am reading now, is also a P&P selection. I also watched The White Tiger and the 1984 and 2021 Dune adaptations with P&P but did not read the former and did not finish the latter.
• I haven't yet but plan to watch the 2012 film adaptation of Cloud, despite reports that it is bad and/or weird.
• I watched the 1993 film of Remains of the Day, which I read 8 years ago.
• I watched season 4 of Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale, which has by now gone way beyond the book, which I read in 2005 with the CHA book club. I also watched all of Anne With an "E" and The Wheel of Time, but have not read either of those book series.

How the books came to me

• Interpreter and Ocean were loaned to me by Holly and Garrett (respectively) when I arrived at their home having finished Papi on the train ride there. Distraction was a loaner from a coworker and Cloud was loaned to me by a neighbor, despite that I have a copy of it on my shelf loaned to me by a former roommate (Sharon, if you're reading this, do you want that back?).
• Godspell was mailed to me by a friend whose job I guess is to get rid of books? I saw Godspell and an Ursula K. Le Guin compilation and claimed them both, and Aubrey Gordon's book What We Don't Talk About When We Talk About Fat is also on its way to me thanks to him.
• Dreyer's and Starless were both holiday or birthday gifts from my parents, and Papi was a birthday gift from Álvaro
• I found Midnight on the bargain table at Powerhouse in Industry City (it was damaged). Motherless must have been either a Housing Works or roadside giveaway find because it is ravaged. Favourite has been on my shelf for a few years, but I think it originally came from McNally Jackson.

Goals

• Starless, Favourite, Dreyer's, and Motherless were goals from last year that I successfully completed, yay. I didn't make it to The Testaments by Margaret Atwood, so that will come with me into the new year
• I've just been handed a pile of loaners from Kathryn which I will prioritize, including Solutions and Other Problems by Allie Brosh, and the first three books in Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea series. I also have When Brooklyn Was Queer by Hugh Ryan on my shelf, a gift from Kathryn.
• And speaking of gifts, I am now the proud owner of the following pile of books gifted from my parents which I should get on: 12 Bytes by Jeanette Winterson, Circe by Madeline Miller, and Stay Sexy & Don't Get Murdered by the My Favorite Murder ladies. I also got A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles from an office gift exchange, as well as the aforementioned Passing which I'm already half-way through.
• As if the above weren't enough for one year, I'm also hoping to get through some of these which have been on the top of my pile for a while but keep getting bypassed: The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson, The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco, and Goodbye to Berlin by Christopher Isherwood.
• Do I dare to want more books after accumulating so many (the above being the tip of the iceberg)? Yes. This year I would like to acquire and read Fuzz by Mary Roach and Early Riser and The Constant Rabbit by Jasper Fforde.

And lastly

In 2018, I made a post listing my most-read authors. Since then, my top three have not changed (Jasper Fforde with 9 books, David Sedaris with 8, J.K. Rowling with 7), but three authors have ascended into what is now a five-way tie for fourth place, I/me having read six of their books each. Joining Sarah Vowell and Margaret Atwood in this category are: 

• Neil Gaiman after I read Ocean last year
• Gregory Maguire after I read Hiddensee and Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister in 2019 and 2020 respectively
• Mary Roach after I read Gulp in 2019

And these authors have moved into the category of authors I've read more than once:

• Donna Tartt after I read The Goldfinch in 2019
• John Hodgman after I read Medallion Status in 2020
• Erin Morgenstern, Sybille Bedford, and Jhumpa Lahiri having read their books in 2021
• Ursula K. Le Guin, having read her for the first time in 2019 (The Lathe of Heaven) and again in 2020 (The Left Hand of Darkness)

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OK that's (more than) enough. See you in my next recap post!

Podcasts and the rest of 2020

Podcasts 2020

Podcasts took on a new role in my life this year. More time in the kitchen and more time puzzling at home meant a more frequent need for audio entertainment. I started the year by finishing The West Wing Weekly podcast (and on clicking that link I see that they made a new episode to discuss the recent special to benefit When We All Vote, which I'm now excited to listen to). Between finishing that and discovering my new obsession, You're Wrong About, I dabbled in Ologies, This Podcast Will Kill You, After All: A Mary Tyler Moore Podcast, but none of them stuck.

A neighbor turned me on to You're Wrong About in May, and in under two months I'd devoured all the episodes that had yet come out. I now listen to it every Monday, except on the Mondays where they fail to publish one, which takes me about a week to get over.

Fortunately I have two other podcasts to fill my ears between episodes of You're Wrong About:

• The Greatest Generation which is about Star Trek, not your grandparents
• The Judge John Hodgman podcast

I was a listener of both of these podcasts 5ish years ago when I was working at Yeshiva University doing mindless work that left my ears available to receive podcasts. I fell out of the habit of listening to them when I became a copy-editor, and stopped being able to listen to podcasts during the workday. Fortunately they both thrived in my absence and were there waiting for me to pick back up.

When I first started listening to The Greatest Generation, it was a brand new podcast recapping and lambasting the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation. I listened to a few episodes, but did not watch the corresponding episodes of the TV series because the first season of TNG is terrible. They were also a little bit bro-ey, so it was easy to stop listening to it. I picked it back up at the beginning of season three, by which point both the podcast and the TV series had figured themselves out. The hosts were practiced in the art of podcasting and were more complex and interesting than the bros I remembered, and Beverley was back so all was well on the Starship Enterprise. 

I listened to each episode of The Greatest Generation in chronological order, sometimes watching the corresponding TV episode and sometimes not (if I remembered it well enough, or I remembered not liking it, although I did eventually go back and watch all of them). The hosts, Adam and Ben, discuss their lives in addition to Star Trek, and occasionally current events slip in. At the point where I picked it back up, Trump was just gaining steam in the 2016 election, and Trump is a hilarious figure so they'd do impressions of him a lot. After Trump won the election and he became something more to be reviled than laughed at, Adam and Ben stopped doing impressions of him. 

After they finished TNG, they continued with the next series in the canon, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Since I was slightly less familiar with DS9 (although not so unfamiliar as to not have already seen the whole thing, as early posts in this blog record), I have been in the habit watching episodes of the TV series along with the podcast, sometimes watching before listening and sometimes the other way around. The only TV episode I skipped was the series premiere, which I remember really hating. It was really interesting listening as they went through the beginning of the pandemic and reliving that through them (a process I went through in the opposite direction with Judge John Hodgman). By the end of 2020, I'd finished season 6. I am currently three months behind podcast (I'm about to listen to the episode they published on October 5, 2020), and expect to be caught up with them by the time they start Star Trek: Voyager (which they have promised to do, because this podcast is their lives now).

Since I had no idea where I left off with Judge John Hodgman, I decided to start from the most recent episode and work my way backwards, listening to new episodes as they popped up. I remembered listening to an episode of Judge John Hodgman years ago in which Hodgman (or maybe it was bailiff Jesse Thorn) announced that this was the preferred way to listen to a non-serial podcast, as that way you are in the know with the current goings-on of the podcast and the hosts, and can be subject to their pledge drives. At some point in a recent episode they revisited this and disavowed it, but it's too late now as I am stuck in this retrograde listening orbit. As I mentioned above, I got to listen as the pandemic and lockdown became less and less familiar to them until suddenly it was a brand new thing, and then the next episode, completely gone and life was normal again. I also got to hear Hodgman's urging that we get out the vote become less and less urgent and the election vanished completely.

Not podcasts 2020

In addition to the list at the bottom of this post, I also:

• spent outdoor holiday celebrations with my family at my sister's in Pelham (some birthdays, the High Holy Days, and Chanukah), my parents' in Commack (Thanksgiving), and Mohonk Mountain House (my parents' anniversary)
• got in some pool time and pre- and post-rehearsal social time at Lindsay & Leslie's in Rahway, NJ
• oh and by the way MARCHED IN THE MACY'S THANKSGIVING DAY PARADE with The Lesbian & Gay Big Apple Corps, which involved weekly rehearsals on Saturday mornings in Harrison, NJ and a COVID test and tech rehearsal in Manhattan. Chalk that up to one of the coolest things I've ever done, and perhaps you saw me on TV?
• after a grueling two-week brand launch at work, which involved consecutive 12-hour days including weekends, was treated to a weekend in the country (how delightfully droll) at Cricket's parents' cabin in the Finger Lakes, which included much campfire cookery and a hike past a waterfall (because Ithaca)
• got to go to the beach (Robert Moses ::tui tui::) a few times with my parents
• celebrated 7 years of living in Brooklyn
• went on countless long walks and bike rides, the longest being a bike ride from Sunset Park to Astoria which involved three separate CitiBike rentals, and in general broadened my notion of what is an acceptable distance to walk and what is acceptable weather for walking
• attended copious Zoom and Google Meet calls, at which JackBox games was a frequent and welcome diversion
• did much outdoor drinking with neighbors in our backyard and at the sidewalk cafe that Judy's has become 
• voted
• got a flue shot
• got three COVID tests
• learned to play the ukulele with Holly (well, really watched Holly learn to play the ukulele and answered her questions about music notation and theory)

2020 Viewing

I covered the first half of the year in my mid-year post, copy/pasted below. Second half of the year has been added in blue.

Series continued:

• Call the Midwife: seasons 8 & 9
• Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: season 7 (ongoing), continued until I lost HBO in August
• The Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj: volume 6
• Steven Universe: season 5, movie, and follow-up series Steven Universe Future
• Black Mirror: season 5
• The Good Place: season 4
• The Crown: season 4
• Fargo: season 4 (did not finish in 2020)
• The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel: season 3
• Star Trek: Discovery: season 2
• The Politician: season 2
• Sex Education: season 2
• Dead to Me: season 2
• The Mary Tyler Moore Show: rewatched seasons 4-7
• Star Trek: The Next Generation: various episodes here and there, full rewatch of seasons 3-7 along with The Greatest Generation podcast, with the occasional Netflix Party w/Lindsay, Leslie, Jess, and Kyle
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: rewatched seasons 1-6
• American Crime Story: The People vs. O.J. Simpson: all (rewatch inspired by You're Wrong About)

Series started and miniseries:

• Breaking Bad: seasons 1-4 (with Cricket and Mark in person), finished the series
• Schitt's Creek: seasons 1-3
• Killing Eve: season 1, and then seasons 2 & 3
• Big Little Lies: season 1
• The Good Fight: all (4 seasons)
• Castlevania: all (3 seasons)
• Unbelievable: all
• The Stranger: all
• Hollywood: all
• Mrs. America: all (while texting Cricket as we watched simultaneously in our homes)
• Star Trek: Picard: all
• Star Trek: Short Treks: all
• Fosse/Verdon: all
• Belgravia: all
• The Great: all
• Upload: all
• Outlander: part of season 1 after reading part of the book
• I May Destroy You: a few episodes before I lost HBO
• Bridgerton: season 1 (did not finish in 2020)
• Unorthodox: all
• Self-Made: all
• Challenger: The Final Flight: all
• The Queen's Gambit: all

Movies (streamed unless otherwise noted):

• The Laundromat
• Late Night
• Bombshell
• Bad Education
• Whitney Cummings: I'm Your Girlfriend
• Ilana Glazer: The Planet Is on Fire
• One Child Nation
• Ever After (rewatch)
• Parks & Recreation special
• Downton Abbey movie (on a plane)
• Crazy Rich Asians (on a plane)
• Hannah Gadsby: Douglas (1 and a half times)
• Star Wars IX: The Rise of Skywalker (in the theater w/Kathryn)
• Little Women (in the theater w/Page & Popcorn)
• Ant-Man and the Wasp (Netflix Party w/NYMAAC)
• The 13th (Netflix Party w/NYMAAC)
• Just Mercy (Netflix Party w/NYMAAC)
• Where'd You Go, Bernadette? (via Kast w/Page & Popcorn)
• West Side Story (via Kast w/NYMAAC)
• Becoming
• The Queen (rewatch)
• Clue (rewatch with friends via Netflix Party)
• Hello Again (rewatch)
• Overboard (rewatched simultaneously with Cricket and her parents while we texted)
• The Hate U Give (via Kast w/Page & Popcorn)
• The Social Dilemma
• Enola Holmes
• Boys in the Band (2020)
• My Octopus Teacher
• What the Constitution Means to Me
• Judy
• A Life on Our Planet (w/my Parents)
• The Witches (1990 & 2020 w/Page & Popcorn via Netflix Party and Kast)
• Coastal Elites
• Class Action Park
• A West Wing Special (via Kast w/Kathryn)
• Sleepless in Seattle (rewatch)
• What We Left Behind: Looking Back at Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
• Uncle Frank
• Prom
• Bel Canto (Amazon Prime watch party w/Sue Ha)

Other things streamed:

• Jagged Little Pill (via Facebook watch party)
• Puffs: 3 consecutive Fridays in April of virtual staged readings from the Puffs! canon
• LGBAC "Home Together" and "Marching With the Band" series, and Yuletide by the Fireside
• Saturday Night Seder
• Dar Williams on Susie on Sundays
• Judy's Live on Instagram
• @Laurateachesyoga live on Instagram
• Return to Mostly Sondheim
• My niece's piano recital
• Clue live script reading
• Two episodes of At Home With Rhinestone Gorilla + an online watch party
• Holidays at Hendricks
• One Night Only: The Best of Broadway

Live theater:

• Hamilton on Broadway (2nd time, with family)

Puzzles 2020

This is my first end-of-the-year puzzle recap since it's the first year of my voracious at-home puzzle habit. For years we've had puzzles going at work for people to enjoy between projects. When the work-from-home order came down, I was able to resume the hobby at home thanks to a few puzzles a neighbor left in the lobby.

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Above are the highlights. Below is the full list in chronological order, along with some nerdy analysis. Pictures of all the puzzles, including the completed puzzles, in-progress shots, and photos in which my cats have claimed the puzzles for their own, can be seen on my Instagram.

In order

APRIL

• Eight Arms for You, 1000 pieces, New York Puzzle Co
• Mammals With Mohawks, 500 pieces, Mudpuppy

MAY

• Potato Chips, 506 pieces, Bepuzzled (pictured above: right column, center row)
• Dog Gallery, 1000 pieces, Cobble Hill
• Légumes, 1000 pieces, New York Puzzle Co (pictured above: center column, bottom row)

JUNE

• Snowy Owl With Pentagram, 500 pieces, Educa Puzzles
• NPR Podcasts, 1000 pieces, New York Puzzle Co
• The New Yorker: View of the World from 9th Avenue, 1000 pieces, New York Puzzle Co (pictured above: left column, center row)
• NPR Sound Community, 1000 pieces, New York Puzzle Co
• Brooklyn Magnetic City Puzzle, 100 pieces, GeoToys

JULY

• Zodiac, 500 pieces (and circular!), Moruska
• Stag, 1000 pieces, High Quality Wood Products

AUGUST

• Vintage Cereal Boxes, 1000 pieces, White Mountain Puzzles
• National Parks, 1000 pieces, Ravensburger (pictured above: right column, bottom row)
• Disney/Pixar, 1000 pieces, Ravensburger

SEPTEMBER

• Rainbow, 1000 pieces, Cobble Hill (pictured above: center)
• Lightning Striking Tree, 1000 pieces, Eurographics (pictured above: left column, bottom row)

OCTOBER

• National Parks Vintage Puzzle, 1000 pieces, Cavallini & Co
• Gustav Klimt's "The Kiss," 1000 pieces, Piatnik
• Icing on the Cake, 1000 pieces, Springbok

NOVEMBER

• Bibliophile: Book Club Darlings, 1000 pieces, Galison
• I Had One of Those!, 1000 pieces, White Mountain Puzzles

DECEMBER

• Phish "Rift" Album Cover Art, 550 pieces, Banana Road (?)
• The New Yorker: Liberty, 500 pieces, New York Puzzle Co
• The World of Frida Kahlo, 1000 pieces, Laurence King Publishing (pictured above: right column, top row)
• The New Yorker: Yellow Brick Roadblock, 1000 pieces, New York Puzzle Co
• Butterflies of North America, 500 pieces, Mudpuppy (pictured above: center column, top row)
• Maps, 500 pieces, Rifle Paper Co
• Summer at the Amusement Park, 500 pieces, Mudpuppy
• Cat Library, 1000 pieces, Cobble Hill
• Pop Culture, 1000 pieces, White Mountain Puzzles
• Star Trek: The Next Generation, 500 pieces, iseeme.com (pictured above: left column, top row)

By piece count

1000 pieces: 19

~500 pieces: 12 (this includes two oddballs of 506 and 550 pieces)

100 pieces: 1 (the magnetic puzzle)

The reason I don't go larger than 1000 is my puzzle table (also known as the kitchen table) is 35" in diameter, which limits the size of the puzzle it can hold. For three puzzles (Cake and two of the White Mountain puzzles), I had to place a 36" x 24" poster frame on the table and work on that.

By brand

New York Puzzle Company created seven of the puzzles I worked on this year, including all of the New Yorker magazine covers, the two NPR puzzles, the Légumes, and the first one I did this year: "Eight Arms for You." I did three each from Mudpuppy (Mammals with Mohawks, Butterflies of North America, Summer at the Amusement Park), White Mountain Puzzles (the three nostalgia ones), and Cobble Hill (Dog Gallery, Cat Library, and Rainbow). The two Ravensburgers (National Parks and Disney/Pixar) were from a neighbor. All the rest were one-offs, including Piatnik and Springbok which I know from office puzzling.

By subject matter

• Animals: 8 (Eight Arms, Mammals, Dog Gallery, Snowy Owl, Zodiac, Stag, Butterflies, Cat Library)
• New York: 7 (the 3 New Yorker covers, the 2 NPR puzzles, Brooklyn, Amusement Park)
• Entertainment: 5 (Star Trek, Disney/Pixar, The Rift, Cat Library, Book Club Darlings)
• Maps: 4 (Brooklyn, New Yorker's View, National Parks, Maps)
• Food: 4 (Potato Chips, Légumes, Cereal, Cake)
• Nature: 3 (Lightning, the 2 National Parks puzzles)
• Toys: 3 (I Had One of Those, Pop Culture, Disney/Pixar)
• Fine Art: 2 (The Kiss, Frida Kahlo)
• Rainbows: 1 (Rainbow)

How'd I do?

I only gave up on two of them: Snowy Owl and Book Club Darlings, both of which were the type of puzzle where every shape is identical (why). In the former, I ended up with 12 pieces that wouldn't fit anywhere (so, clearly not identical enough), and in the latter, I ended up with 70 pieces that were all solid white, and I just decided I wasn't going to put myself through that. 

I cheated to get through the Stag puzzle, another one with identically shaped pieces that was going to be a slog to the end. Fortunately, the pieces were such a tight fit that I could pick the puzzle up and flip it over, where there was a letter pattern that helped me find the spots for the last few pieces.

I finished all the rest without cheating, and in most cases without looking at the image on the box (after the initial look to decide which puzzle to do). The third puzzle I worked on was the potato chip puzzle, which didn't have an image to work off of, so I guess that broke me of the habit early. Potato Chips, Lightning Striking Tree, and The Kiss were probably the hardest ones I finished this year (except the Stag). I suppose you could say I didn't "finish" The Kiss or Butterflies since they came to me with pieces missing, but I got as far as I could. Zodiac I finished despite an extra challenge they threw in the box: two decoy pieces!

Where did all these puzzles come from?

Puzzle swaps: 

• My friend Holly loaned me Cereal, Lightning, and Cake. 
• I got the two Ravensburgers (National Parks and Disney/Pixar) from a neighbor, two of the New Yorker covers (Liberty and Roadblock) from another neighbor, and the Frida Kahlo one from a third neighbor. 
• Eight Arms and Mammals presumably also came from a neighbor but I don't know who since they were anonymously left in the lobby. I swapped those two away to a stranger (friend of a friend) who gave me Dog Gallery and Snowy Owl, both of which have been sent off to friends. The friend I sent the Owl to sent me The Kiss and Book Club Darlings in return. 
• My friend Marissa sent me Pop Culture in exchange for one of the NPR ones. 
• I took The Rift from my parents' house, but we think it was originally my sister's, so that wasn't a swap but it's back with her now anyway.

Gifts (I am very lucky to have such generous parents and friends): 

• Kathleen gave me Rainbow, and got one for herself so we could puzzle together. 
• Justine gave me the Stag, Zodiac, and a third one that I'm saving for the winter because it looks hard. 
• Hillary was my secret gift giver in a holiday gift exchange and sent me Cat Library. 
• Kathryn, Courtney, Jess, and Kyle got together and gifted me the New Yorker's View puzzle and the magnetic Brooklyn map for my birthday. 
• Cricket and Mark gave me the Vintage National Parks puzzle which came in an attractive cylinder box. 
• I Had One of Those was a kind thank you gift from Jason for working on the band's Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade appearance press release. 
• Lindsay & Leslie gave me the Star Trek one as a holiday gift. 
• Finally, an embarrassment of puzzle riches came from my parents for my birthday, Chanukah, and just because: Potato Chips (many years ago), the two NPRs, Légumes, Maps, two of the Mudpuppys (Butterflies and Amusement Park), and another hard one that I'm saving for later.

And where did they go?

• The swaps were all returned to their owners except for The Kiss and Pop Culture which I was told I could keep, and Book Club Darlings which is a swap-in-progress (the owner is still working on Rainbow). NPR Sound Community and Légumes are still out on loan.
• Zodiac and View are on loan to my sister for her to do with her kids; the former will be a special challenge for them since that's the one with the decoy pieces.
• Stag and Potato Chips are pinned to walls in my apartment because they stay together without the use of glue or tape. Brooklyn is still magneted to the magnet board I assembled it on (currently covered with holiday cards).
• The rest are all still here and most are candidates for swapping if you're interested!