My husband has what he describes as “man feet.” Last Friday, I went to a very overdue pedicure & insisted he go with me. When I told him he would get to sit in a massage chair, he agreed.

He proudly announced it was his first time, and the ladies who worked there made a big deal about him–telling him he was lucky to have a wife who cared about his feet, etc. They clapped when they learned he’s an AEMT.

He was enjoying his pedicure so much that he let them upsell him to a manicure. He didn’t go for any polish, but he got the works, including paraffin.

I let him pick out my toe color.

Today, he went back to buy the bottle, so I can do my hands to match. On the way, he picked up some thank you flowers for the women–one of his toes, which had chronic pain, no longer hurts.

They gave him the nail polish for free.

When sick in Oxford on a rainy day, what’s an American to do but cuddle up with a cuppa and read a book set in Oxford?

I started The Moving Toyshop, by Edmund Crispin (1946). The series features an Oxford literature professor as the detective and lines like the ones below, so I thought I would love it:

“I am getting old and stale. I act with calculation. I take heed for the morrow. This morning I caught myself paying a bill as soon as it came in. This must all be stopped. In another age I should have devoured the living hearts of children to bring back my lost youth. As it is . . . I shall go to Oxford.”

“Oxford is the one place in Europe where a man can do anything, however eccentric, and arouse no interest or emotion at all.”

But then there was the first look at the murder victim:

“There was no ring on her left hand, and the flatness of her breasts had already suggested that she was unmarried.”

Later, we’re told that a picture of the victim is surprising: “it was not the face of an ineffectual spinster.”

In these instances, my brain threw up defenses: “hey, we’re not all . . .”

What’s weird here isn’t so much that a 1946 novel written by a man was sexist.

I’ve been married and divorced, and I’m married now. I’ve been a mother every single second I’ve been an adult.

What’s weird is that I’m not a spinster, but my brain decidedly thinks I am. It’s always had a “we” response to statements about us . . . I mean, them . . . ever since I was a little girl.

I guess I was always a black sheep enough to know that I was destined to be the maiden aunt, well, not the maiden aunt, but the eccentric aunt who was a “bad” influence on the children.

Wallie William Waltonen married Winca Jewreen Graves. They went on to raise four children (Kativa, Monty Ree, Marty Dee, and Mindy Lee) and a trouble-making granddaughter, Karma Jewreen.

This week, I got the Atwood journal out, after finally getting a missing piece. It was important to me to do that before doing the all-day upper division comp exam scoring yesterday.

Since then:

There weren’t enough scorers, so I have to find time this weekend to score a bunch more essays.

Came home to a dead water heater.

Thoth brought in a rat and put it in the food bowl, like “I made dinner!”

I spent most of the night sick in the bathroom.

Just got an email that the last piece of the journal has a mistake they didn’t catch, so it’s technically not done.

I’m tired.

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

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.

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

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