Movies*: 134

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

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

Number of the 53 Oscar nominated films seen: 48

of the Oscar shorts nominated:

4 of the documentary shorts

4 of the live action shorts

4 of the animated shorts

Short film festivals attended: 2

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

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

Short films watched in total, though: 103

abdominal migraines: 2

Shows rewatched in their entirety**: 14

(Got to Season 28 in The Simpsons rewatch)

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

Headlining stand-up performances: 1

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

New obsessive hobbies: 1 (genealogy)

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

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

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

Times I found Daniel Boone in the tree: 1

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

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

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

Incredible heat waves in Spain: 1

Trips to foreign ERs: 1

New tv shows watched****: 35

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

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

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

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

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

Trips to Chicago: 2

Museums, galleries, heritage sites, etc: 58

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

Months still waiting for a dermatology appointment: 4

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

Average number of healthcare appointments, weekly: 3

Dear Friends Lost: 2

Weird Al shows missed cause I was in Dublin: 1

Trips to Nando’s: 14

Performing Stand-Up, here and abroad: 7

Senior stand-up shows: 3

Sold out stand-up class shows: 1

Times swimming: 3

Breweries in Napa: 1

Wineries in Napa: 1

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

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

Atwood journals out: 1

Atwood journal pages: 405

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

New breweries: 6 (3 in Indianapolis)

Servings of lamb: 20

Servings of the best fries in Indy: 2

Bourbons tried in Indy: 6

Atwood Newsletters produced: 3

Letters of Rec written: 12

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

New shitty used cars: 1

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

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

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

New Recipes Tried******: 61

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

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

White Elephant Parties with my new in-laws: 1

Quarters off for medical leave: 1

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

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

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

Actual concrete plans to tie the knot made: 0

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

New, mysterious body problems: 4

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

Courses taught: 9

Terms abroad that almost didn’t happen: 1

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

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

Applications for relief of my direct loans through TEPSLF: 1

Clarity about whether it’s been granted: 0

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

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

Conferences attended: 3

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

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

Tours of the Isle of Sky: 1

Rioja festivals: 1

Days overseas: 92

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

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

Covid Boosters: 1

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

Yay for vaccines!!!!!!

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

Anubis ER visits: 1

Anubis surgeries: 1

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

Dates with said fiancé: 11

Shortest number of days each date consisted of: 3

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

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

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

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

Talks attended: 1 (Kendi)

Perfect engagement days: 1

The details:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Days in the British Isles: 77

(the days in Scotland have their own blog)

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

Gins (details below): 11

People who came to visit me: 5

Trips to Murphy’s ice cream: 7

Flavors of Murphy’s tried: 8

Trips to Galway: 1

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

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

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

Favorite restaurants (details below): 14

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

Servings of Fish and Chips: 12

Servings of Lamb: 10

Servings of Duck: 9

Trips to Krewe: 9

Trips to Toscana: 9

Trips to Nando’s: 13!

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

Italian Thanksgiving dinners with my coworkers and students: 1

Pickpocketings: 1

Lasagna pizzas: 1

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

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

Times I did stand-up comedy: 3

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

Pubs visited: 23

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

Wine Tastings at a Rioja even: 26

Riojas loved: 3

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

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

Students with Covid: 1

Times my direct loans disappeared from the DOE site: 1

Times my credit score went up: 2

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

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

Clarity about my loan situation: 0

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

Drawers for my clothes: 0

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

Hats purchased: 3

Hats I owned / wore before that: 1

Times I had homemade food: 4

Fancy sweaters purchased: 2

Waistcoats purchased: 1

Museums and Galleries (details below): 26

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

Canes forgotten by the door of my CA apartment: 1

Replacement canes purchased: 1

Cane umbrellas purchased: 1

Times cane needed: 0

Wonderful students: 11

Fantastic co-workers: 4

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

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

Days without shaving my legs: 74

Live Plays attended: 13

Movies in the theatre, not counting short films: 14

Books read: 23

Mummies seen: 8

Engagements: 1

Rings exchanged: 2

Times I walked by Glen Hansard’s house: 1

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

Favorites: Sheeps of Fury; La Madeleine

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

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

Trips to Glendalough & Bray: 1

Trips to Belfast: 2

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

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

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

Liberties Distillery Private Tour: 1

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

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

Guinness Quizzes won: 1

Whiskeys:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hours in Scotland: 101

Great Meals at Rishi Indian Aroma: 2

Indian meals total: 3

Lamb servings: 3

Great meals at Antlers in Portree: 2

Times discovering Drambuie is an Isle of Skye liquor: 1

Times trying Drambuie: 1

Times discovering I much prefer Scotch to Drambuie: 1

Salmon servings: 3

Great salmon servings: 1

Haddock servings: 2

Gins at Gin 71, including a Finnish one: 4

Amazing Sea Bass at Gin 71: 1

Bites of haggis: 1

Bites of local bleu cheese: 1

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

Rainbows: 4

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

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

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

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

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

Tours of the Isle of Skye: 1

Sightings of Nessie at her Loch: 0

Other tourists on the bus tour: 3

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

Rocks picked up to take home: 5

Times I heard the fairy pipes at Kilt Rock: 1

Whiskeys tried*: 20

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

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

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

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

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

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

******SPOILERS BELOW********

I honestly don’t know how I feel about She-Hulk Attorney At Law. I’ve been ambivalent through the entire season.

On the one hand, I love the actors.

But I don’t love how all of them were used. Tatiana Maslany is capable of so much more than they’re giving her to do. And I love Jameela Jamil, but her role in the show is confusing. There’s no backstory or reason to care about the relationship between our hero and one of our villains.

Speaking of villains, I wanted something more than an “influencer” and a group of incel trolls.

On the other hand, when I thought about it, an evil influencer fits the comedy aspect of the show.

And I shouldn’t discount the terror of male trolls. In our world, they are mass shooters; they are white supremacists trying to end our democracy.

Why do I want an alien or supervillain threat instead?

Maybe because I like it when my sci-fi / fantasy gives me at least the veneer of allegories of evil instead of the real evil that upsets my stomach every day?

Most people have been enjoying the 4th-wall breaking, I just think about how Deadpool does it so much better.

But then again, they wouldn’t have been able to do the meta ending without that 4th-wall breakage.

I’ll watch Season 2, but I want something more.

There’s a long history to this story. You can read the start of it here. I’ve included a shortened version below, though.*

Mohela, which was my original loan servicer, has taken over managing PSLF for the government. Since I (re)filed for TEPSLF in April, I have been waiting for the DOE to transfer my loans and the application to Mohela, which will go over my payment history and decide if my loans can be forgiven.

I messaged Mohela before I came to Dublin, because the deadline for the TEPSLF application is the end of this month. While I have applied, I am paranoid that the application won’t transfer correctly. I need the agencies to be clear that I am asking for my original Direct Loans, the ones I’ve been paying back since 2007, be considered for forgiveness.

Mohela said they would get back to me with a tally of where I was on the PSLF payment calendar.

Yesterday, I woke up to a message that I had only made 14 qualifying payments on my small parent plus loan. In other words, Mohela still doesn’t have the loan information from DOE about the direct loans and that application.

So I logged in to DOE.

And it only said I owed my small parent plus loan.

This is either excessively good news OR excessively bad news.

Let’s take the good news first:

It could mean that my PSLF application has been approved and my direct loans have been forgiven. Under Biden’s new, small forgiveness plan, my parent loan would also be forgiven. I would be free, after paying back almost 68% of my original loan amount.

Here’s why I don’t think this is good news:

Mohela, the agency handling PSLF, never received that information, so how could my loans be forgiven.

Since I have paid more than 10 years, technically, the DOE owes me money for what I’ve overpaid. They’re supposed to tell me if that happened, but I have not heard anything from them in months (the last communication was basically “we got your PSLF application”).

The confusing loan history on the DOE site says my direct loans were zeroed out due to “consolidation.” If that’s what they think happened, then we’ve gone back to where I was last summer, owing the “new” consolidation loan: I’m worried that they aren’t acknowledging the de-consolidation.

And that’s why this could be exceptionally bad news.

If I’m starting over with a big consolidated loan, I could end up paying a quarter of a million dollars on that original 132,000 loan. I will never be free.

I’m also worried because Biden’s new, small forgiveness program is about to go through when I have no idea what my direct loan status is. If it’s in some weird limbo, if the DOE can’t see it for some reason, then I would miss out on the $20,000 in forgiveness I’m eligible for. (I would get the 3,000 parent loan forgiven, but miss out on the remaining 17,000 that could be applied to my direct loans, which, while I small drop in a large bucket, is still something.)

Here’s what I’m afraid of:

A giant consolidated loan will reappear after the TEPSLF deadline passes and after the new Biden forgiveness passes. The fact that my loans were de-consolidated will be lost, and I’ll be screwed.

Even though the DOE has been making my stomach hurt for years, there is a small ray of hope: if DOE thinks my loans are consolidated again, then my small parent loan shouldn’t be a separate thing I can see . . .

*In short, I paid back almost $90,000 of a $132,000 loan. For the first ten years, I was on the “wrong” kind of plan to get Public Loan Service Forgiveness (PSLF). So I switched plans. And then, the government temporarily expanded (TE) PSLF, so that earlier payments could count.**

Last summer, now owing $154,000 due to interest (yup–you read that right: after paying back about 90,000, I owe MORE than when I started). The form and someone I spoke to at DOE said to consolidate my small parent loan with my direct loans. I did. Then, I discovered that doing so made my loan brand-new, meaning the government would not count any of the 15 years of payments. I was starting from zero on the PSLF clock.

There was crying and vomiting and not sleeping.

I finally got the loans de-consolidated, which is a miracle, since that apparently never happens. Then, for several months, the DOE listed me as owing double–the original loans AND the consolidated loan amount.

When that got fixed, in April, I re-filed for TEPSLF. I’m waiting for an answer.

**Under the Trump administration, fewer than 1% of PSLF applications were approved. Those who were denied were not told how the decisions were made.

Or: "Fáilte go hÉirinn"

I got to Dublin almost a week ago, to start my almost three months here. 
My first challenge was confronting my weird little room. I'm in StayCity, which bills itself as a cross between a hotel and an apartment. In terms of size, it's a hotel room, but it has a range, a microwave with delusions of grandeur, a tiny and somehow messy sink (the water splashes everywhere), a kettle, and a dishwasher.
I'm on the first floor, so I feel weird opening the curtains. While few people use the alley behind the hotel, I don't necessarily want to be seen in  my jammies (or my nothing).
The weirdest thing about my room, though, is that I don't know what to do with my clothes. There are places to hang my coats and umbrellas, but there are only five hangers sharing a narrow space with an ironing board. There are no drawers, however. I've folded my sweaters, pjs, and trousers: my suitcase has to live on the floor as a makeshift drawer. My undies and socks are in a grocery bag.
I'm not sure how the designers of this building expected us to store our clothes, but the staff assures me drawers are definitely not provided.
Still, the location is great. It's central to everything, in a vibrant immigrant neighborhood; there are stores around me specializing in foreign food, including Spanish and Moldovan.
I do hours of work every day on my head, as is typical of hotel living. It's probably not the best for my neck. As the boy and I used to do when traveling, I find Law & Order to have on in the background (it's on all afternoon). Sometimes it's MASH instead--they show it without the laugh track, which is wonderful.
The staff at CEA, our partnership organization, are wonderful and welcoming. Our orientation included a walking tour, which luckily included the grocery store with viking settlement remains below it, and a look at Bram Stoker's office window and the view from it.
My students are a joy. I'm hoping we'll be able to stay in person the whole term, but my first student tested positive at the end of the first class. We've all been in close quarters, and it's likely that we'll get it. That said, I would rather it run through us at the beginning of the course than at the end.
Denise is coming to visit this Thursday, though, so I hope I can fight it off long enough to enjoy our time together instead of having to quarantine.
I've eaten at Nandos three times so far. My grocery store tv dinners have been saving me money at night, but none have been appetizing. One was so tasteless I thought I might have Covid. 
The one thing I forgot at home was my cane, which I will inevitably need at some point (cobblestones and overflexible ankles don't mix well). I got an umbrella cane, but it's not sturdy enough if I really hurt myself. I'm going to have to shop where the discerning gentlemen do.
I didn't bring my favorite hat: my bowler. I wanted to get something new. A morning of looking yielded two: a fedora and a paddy cap.
Last Friday's was Ireland's annual culture night, featuring free events everywhere. I went to a comedy club a few minutes from my place. Two of the comics were great (one was a California transplant, like me). Only one bombed, but the audience was still nice. Since my mom doesn't want me to get up on stage while I'm here, I'm looking for a way to get up ASAP.

I leave for Dublin on Tuesday.

Not surprisingly, I’m losing my mind.

In the past, when I’ve gone abroad for a while, I’ve packed just one big suitcase to check & then end up having to buy another bag to come back with me. This year, I’m skipping that step. My checked luggage will include a big suitcase and a duffle (how else could I actually pack warm clothes?), but I will have some room for what I buy there, after taking all the supplements and eating all the grits that are coming with me.

In the midst of all the panicking and packing, I’ve been googling my future neighborhood. There’s a Nandos just a five-minute walk away, so I may not be able to lose weight this Winter.

My greatest challenge right now is that my insurance told the pharmacy that I couldn’t have a 90-day supply of my medications. I spent several hours on the phone the other day, resulting in a request for an emergency authorization. We’ll know tomorrow how that went.

If they don’t approve it, I will have to pay out of pocket for two months and then fight them for reimbursement when I get back. Without insurance, it will be over 700$ to take the meds I need.

This has been your reminder that American healthcare is mean and dumb.

The recent news about Biden’s plans have a lot of friends contacting me. They’re familiar enough with my saga to hope I will finally be free.

A lot of them are hoping this new TEPSLF thing will work, so they suggest I apply.

Y’all, that was the program I applied for last summer, the one that advised me to consolidate, which screwed everything up!

I did, however, get the loans de-consolidated, which was a miracle. How do I know? Because every servicer I talk to doesn’t even believe that it happened.

For many moons, the DOE information wasn’t updated properly, so it said I owed the de-consolidated amount and the consolidated amount: double, in other words.

When only the de-consolidated loans appeared again, I filed for TEPSLF again. (UCD has to fill out part of the information–in pen–and everything has to be mailed in.)

In the months since then, I have received a letter from DOE saying I “may” have loan payments that qualify.

Since the TEPSLF final application deadline is next month, I’ve recently emailed my servicer to see if the application is at least logged on their end.

Will it work? Who knows.

I AM eligible for the 20,000 dollars off, though the total I owe will still be higher than what I initially borrowed, despite always making my payments on time. The form for that money isn’t up yet.

I’ve heard that the Biden plan is supposed to stop what happened to me: that if a borrower is making payments, their total owed shouldn’t go up. I haven’t seen verification of this, but that alone would save many future borrowers from suffering the way so many of us have.

I’m starting to go a little bit insane. It’s occurring to me that I leave for Dublin in exactly four weeks–and I’ll be gone for almost twelve weeks!

There’s so much to do, including the last half of my fast-paced summer pre-med writing class & and WorldCon in Chicago (I’ll be there for a week).

I know, intellectually, that I will get enough done to make it to Dublin. I always manage to.

But that doesn’t mean my mind isn’t spinning. It wakes me up in the middle of the night to remind me that I have to get some paperwork from my allergy doc to try to get my xolair injections while I’m away–and that I don’t really have warm socks. And I don’t know how to buy warm socks, since I’m mildly allergic to wool and I honestly don’t know what other fabric is warm, since I live in California and, and, and, and . . .

I have also decided to shift from trying a couple of new recipes each week to making all the summer recipes I most love. And in between all that cooking, I want to see some of you, too.

At some point, I’ll finally write about the last of my Spain trip.

And I should also note that I’m really broken up about two very special women dying.

For now, send me wishes for endurance and a good night’s sleep.