(And possibly the whole month.)
“Everything is Peaceful Love” Bon Iver
(New single from their upcoming album.) That pick up on “And, damn…” Oh My.
SWOOOOOOOOONtastic, people. Just listen to this. Just do it. Then tell me how your heart feels.
(And possibly the whole month.)
“Everything is Peaceful Love” Bon Iver
(New single from their upcoming album.) That pick up on “And, damn…” Oh My.
SWOOOOOOOOONtastic, people. Just listen to this. Just do it. Then tell me how your heart feels.
Things:
Reasons:
What’s something you wanna tell me? My emails are open. As are the comments. Heh.
1. My first, and each subsequent, iPod.
2. The Moo cards I just got that are three years of photos of my nephew, with some of me & him thrown in and a few just of me making goofy faces to make him laugh. They are SOOOO AWESOME.
3. Fresh’s Milk Chocolate lotion (now discontinued! waaah!).
4. The chai tea from the machine in the cafeteria at work when we worked in World Financial 3 (pre-9/11 and our office getting destroyed).
5. My “grown up” bedroom furniture (post-move to Chicago).
6. My new (at the time) living room couch (post-move to Chicago). The most comfortable couch ever to walk the earth. So to speak.
7. My Daisy Rock guitar. It’s pink. And comes with butterfly and flower stickers. Girlie! 🙂 [ETA: I gave it away. I play ukulele now, maybe you’ve heard…]
8. My first, and each subsequent pair of, prescription sunglasses. Totally necessary. Don’t want to ever have to live without them again!
[update]9. Toaster Strudel. Takes poptarts to a whole new level. A level called Fucking Awesome.
[update]10. My cleaning lady. ‘Nuff said.
…updated periodically when memory lapses clear…
1. Canada.
-Winnipeg: too many times to count.
-Toronto: only the airport.
2. England. Three months (all summer) in 1988. 18 days in 2000. Assorted other mini trips in 2003/04/05. A week in January 2007.
-London.
-Cornwall: Falmouth, Truro, Constantine.
-Assorted other towns in the Southern tip.
3. France. 2004
-Paris.
-Montpellier/Montbazin.
4. Australia. 2006.
-Sydney.
-Melbourne.
-Uluru.
-Cairns.
-Darwin.
5. Belgium. 2007.
-Brussels
-Ghent
-Bruges
6. Japan. 2008.
-Kyoto
-Nara
-Himeji
-Tokyo
7. Ireland. 2009.
-Dublin
8. Puerto Rico. 2024.
-San Juan
-Manati
-Arecibo
-Rio Grande (El Yunque)
Guess what? I continue to buy music…and barely listen to it! Throwing more money down the drain in 2023. Of course, I listened to *some* of it, but my bark is always bigger than my bite when it comes to consuming pop culture (of all types. obvi.). That said, I only bought albums during six months of the year (January 13, March 4, April 6, July 2, September 4, October 1). So, perhaps I was more controlled than it feels like now reviewing my iTunes. (Yes, I still use iTunes, and an iPod, and shut up, get off my lawn.)
Favorite Singles:
I made three mixes in 2023. I know I sent a bunch out early in the year. Email me if ya want a copy. 1: Ease on in. 2: Church. 3: Sing Me to Sleep.
Favorite Albums: Basically in the order they came out, with maybe a little slippage on that from The National.
Albums I really liked when I listened, but just didn’t keep hanging with much beyond their purchase:
Albums I’m enjoying on my 2023 review that I don’t even remember from actually during 2023:
Another list I forgot to keep. Oops. 2023 was a shitshow. This is all I remember…
Oh nooooooo I never kept my list! What happened in 2023?!? Here’s what I can remember off the top of my increasingly forgetful head…
On the big screen, in general:
At home, but came out in 2023:
At the Chicago International Film Festival: Yes, I finally made it back to the CIFF! After maybe a decade? I was soooo happy, but one movie every single day for 11 days was a LOT during the teaching year, heh.
OK, I paged through the first 100 on IMDB’s list of movies that came out in 2024, and didn’t notice any others that I saw. So… maybe? that’s it. Sigh. Not a great year for Duff at the Movies.
Watching: I am in season 4 of Yellowstone and… I love it and hate it to equal degrees. I think Taylor Sheridan is an amazing writer…but I hate his acting on the show (thankfully he’s a minor character). It’s hard to find anyone to root for here–every character you like turns out to also be a murderer or worse. Beth Dutton is possibly the world’s worst person, but she’s so amazeballoons, it’s just awe-inspiring to watch. It’s SO violent, I’ve actually had to cover my eyes for some scenes. But the dialogue is just aces. So. Kindof a toss-up, heh. I am also eagerly anticipating Mayor of Kingstown season 2 (another Sheridan show, I watched season 1 all the way through twice this summer).
Reading: I just finished a reread of The Barren Grounds by David A. Robertson in preparation for reading the sequels which I finally bought over the summer (so so good, just touches your heart) and No Gods, No Monsters by Cadwell Turnbull, who I found out about from this short story collection (and its two sequels. So many good stories in that trilogy!!). It was a wild ride (and I should have done a character map as every new-seeming person seems to be connected to numerous previous characters in many ways) but very good. I am terrible at updating this blog (doh) but if you follow me on either Goodreads or Instagram, I do update my reading on those sites in a pretty timely manner.
Listening to: All about the new Lizzo. I also looove the new Maggie Rogers. And my friend Becki turned me on to Gang of Youths new album, which the more I listen to it, the more I realize it’s this summer’s substitute for a new National album, heh.
Writing: This is a repost from last September, and it’s STILL TRUE. Lesson plans. Wasting time spelling out the 97 steps I already know how to do to teach what I need to teach. What a waste of veteran teacher time. I will admit, I think they should be required of new teachers. Lesson plans were very helpful to me the first few years, especially if I needed ideas to fill extra time (paralyzing!), or really know what I was going to teach. And if you had a mentor teacher, they gave you a base to start from. You could use them for reflection: what worked, what didn’t, Now I already know how to do all of that and it’s so stupid to have to write them out, especially when it’s become very clear that NO ONE is actually reading them.etc.
Cooking / Eating: Due to ridiculous stomach issues, especially during school, I am back to PB&J for lunch every single day. Yup. Current non-lunchtime food obsession is this summer sweet corn and cucumber salad. SO GOOD.
Drinking: Trying to decrease my soda consumption (why? I’m going to die anyway), I am obsessively drinking the orange and lime Sunkist Singles to Go. I pour all the packets out into a Tupperware because I only use half a packet at once. I use a tiny bit less than 1/2 a teaspoon with 8 oz water (turns out I have NO glasses that can hold 16 oz!) and this thingie to mix it up.
Sewing: I made two new dresses the week before school… but never got to the one I cut out months ago. Hopefully in a week or two I’ll feel less overwhelmed by the school day and be able to get back to some crafts at home.
Quilting: Thinking about it, but not doing it.
Knitting: I’m a one-project, only-on-facetime-Saturday-nights knitter right now. I’m making a scarf from some red and orange Lobster Pot Yarns cashmere I bought a bajillion years ago at a yarn store in South Street Seaport (back in my NYC days). (Ooooooo look at this pretty skein.)
What’re YOU up to? 🙂