2021 - Year in Review
Jan. 10th, 2022 11:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fauxklore2021 year in review
The pandemic put a damper on the year, again, though I did manage a little bit of domestic travel. Breaking a rib in August also put a damper on things, but I recovered in a reasonable amount of time.My real life may have been constrained, but my virtual life was pretty busy.
Books:I read 37 books, 24 of which were fiction. Favorites for the year were The Great Alone by Kristen Hannah, Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky, One Day by Gene Weingarten, and several books by Alexander McCall Smith. My favorite books of the year were The Bees by Laline Paull and Strength in What Remains by Tracy Kidder. Books I disliked were The Pigskin Rabbi by Willard Manus, The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides, and Normal People by Sally Rooney.
I got rid of 28 books. I have plenty more ready to go. Maybe I will even manage a used bookstore run this week.
I also went to two virtual presentations that were part of the National Book Festival - one on book structures and one on crossword puzzles. And I toured the New York Society Library (in person) in November.
Volksmarch: No and I really have no excuse. I have done plenty of shorter (1-3 mile) walks around my neighborhood, however.
Ghoul Pool: I finished 9th, which is solidly middle of the pack with 128 points. The people I scored on were Prince Philip. Beverly Cleary, Renee Simonot, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Gilbert Seltzer, Neal Edward Smith, DMX, and Bob Dole.
Travel: No international travel, alas. But I did manage some domestic travel. In June, I went to Philadelphia to see the Soutine exhibit at the Barnes Foundation and go to the Flower Show, to Boston to get together with a few friends and go to a WooSox game, and to Portland, Oregon for a little bit of the Art and Soul Retreat. In August I did a driving trip around south central Pennsylvania and flew to Chicago to get together with friends, go to a Cubs game, and take a day trip to Indiana Dunes National Park. I had another day trip to Gettysburg in late October. In November, I went to Mystic, Connecticut and to New York City for friend-visiting, the Jasper Johns exhibit at the Whitney, and theatre binging. That adds up to 7 trips, which isn’t too shabby under the circumstances, but is still less than I would have liked.
I am not sure how to count these , but I went to some on-line travel presentations, including a few virtual tours from the New York Adventure Club and talks about various destinations from the Travelers’ Century Club. We had an actual in-person TCC meeting, too, which was wonderful.
Puzzles: I did the MIT Mystery Hunt for the second time. Which was virtual (as will this year’s be). I didn’t feel completely useless. The bigger event was the National Puzzlers’ League convention which happened live and in person, right here in Washington, D.C. It was smaller than usual, but was still a lot of fun. And I enjoyed being able to provide some local expertise. I did not do any crossword tournaments because I just don’t enjoy doing them virtually. Hopefully things can happen in person again this year.
Genealogy: I went to the (virtual) International Association of Jewish Genealogy Societies (IAJGS) conference in August and particularly enjoyed mentoring a few people on Lithuanian research. I also listened to a (very) few presentations from Roots Tech. I also went to a few other on-line talks, primarily with Jewish Genealogy Society of Greater Washington. I did not, alas, manage to do much research and/or organizing.
Baseball: As mentioned above, I went to check out the new AAA Red Sox affiliate in Worcester (known as the WooSox) in June and to a Cubs game at Wrigley Field in August. I also went to two Nationals games. The BoSox provided their usual mix of elation and stress.
Culture: I saw 2 plays and 4 musicals in person. I particularly enjoyed Remember This: The Jan Karski Story at the Shakespeare Theatre Company, Having Our Say at Creative Cauldron, and Baby at Out of the Box Theatre in New York. I only went to one in-person concert, which was a very enjoyable cabaret show by Alan Cumming and Ari Shapiro. The other in-person event I went to was the Maryland Renaissance Festival. On-line concerts included Carole King, John McCutcheon, and Christine Lavin. There were also a couple of Sondheim related on-line events, including a retrospective about Assassins. I went to a couple of virtual talks about musicals. And I saw one opera on-line.
I saw 10 movies, including 2 in theaters. My favorites of the year were West Side Story, Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day, and When Tango Meets Klezmer.
As for storytelling, I told stories at various virtual events, including a Valentine’s Day show for a friend’s church, a midsummer show by Voices in the Glen, the National Storytelling Network Conference, and the New Year’s Eve Storytelling Blow-out. More excitingly, I performed at two in-person Better Said Than Done shows. (There is nothing like a live audience.) I attended the Women’s Storytelling Festival (which I also worked at, including emceeing the story swap) and the National Storytelling Festival (both on-line) as well as at least 8 on-line shows and one on-line workshop. I also went to over a dozen story swaps, including several non-local ones, which is the saving grace of zoom events.
I need to add a category for art. In addition to the Soutine and Johns exhibits mentioned above (and the Art and Soul retreat), I went to a couple of exhibits of light sculptures, an art fair in Alexandria, and a reception for a Rockwell painting at the Women’s Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery. I also went to an exhibit at the Renwick and toured Glenstone with my alumni club. Then there was the Immersive Van Gogh event. And I did an Ugly Architecture tour in Chicago. More significantly, I finished the Smithsonian certificate program in World Art History. Someday I might even write about that.
Other stuff:
Goals:
So how did I do on my goals from last year? I had 8 goals. I hoped to get 200 books out of my house, but only managed to get 28 out. So that goal got 14%. I did enter the Style Invitational 6 times, so got 100% there. I finished the Smithsonian certificate program in World Art History so got another 100%. I didn’t get things out of my storage locker because: a) I need to clear a place to put them and b) I have no idea where I put the key to the storage locker, so get a 0% there. I had no progress (so also 0%) on goals to organize my genealogy files and my craft supplies. I’d hoped to read 52 books, but only read 37, so get a 71% there. I did get 4 new stories into tellable form, so get 100% on that goal. That gives me a little over 48% on the year, which is, alas, about typical for how I do on these things.
Which brings me to goals for 2022:
The pandemic put a damper on the year, again, though I did manage a little bit of domestic travel. Breaking a rib in August also put a damper on things, but I recovered in a reasonable amount of time.My real life may have been constrained, but my virtual life was pretty busy.
Books:I read 37 books, 24 of which were fiction. Favorites for the year were The Great Alone by Kristen Hannah, Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky, One Day by Gene Weingarten, and several books by Alexander McCall Smith. My favorite books of the year were The Bees by Laline Paull and Strength in What Remains by Tracy Kidder. Books I disliked were The Pigskin Rabbi by Willard Manus, The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides, and Normal People by Sally Rooney.
I got rid of 28 books. I have plenty more ready to go. Maybe I will even manage a used bookstore run this week.
I also went to two virtual presentations that were part of the National Book Festival - one on book structures and one on crossword puzzles. And I toured the New York Society Library (in person) in November.
Volksmarch: No and I really have no excuse. I have done plenty of shorter (1-3 mile) walks around my neighborhood, however.
Ghoul Pool: I finished 9th, which is solidly middle of the pack with 128 points. The people I scored on were Prince Philip. Beverly Cleary, Renee Simonot, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Gilbert Seltzer, Neal Edward Smith, DMX, and Bob Dole.
Travel: No international travel, alas. But I did manage some domestic travel. In June, I went to Philadelphia to see the Soutine exhibit at the Barnes Foundation and go to the Flower Show, to Boston to get together with a few friends and go to a WooSox game, and to Portland, Oregon for a little bit of the Art and Soul Retreat. In August I did a driving trip around south central Pennsylvania and flew to Chicago to get together with friends, go to a Cubs game, and take a day trip to Indiana Dunes National Park. I had another day trip to Gettysburg in late October. In November, I went to Mystic, Connecticut and to New York City for friend-visiting, the Jasper Johns exhibit at the Whitney, and theatre binging. That adds up to 7 trips, which isn’t too shabby under the circumstances, but is still less than I would have liked.
I am not sure how to count these , but I went to some on-line travel presentations, including a few virtual tours from the New York Adventure Club and talks about various destinations from the Travelers’ Century Club. We had an actual in-person TCC meeting, too, which was wonderful.
Puzzles: I did the MIT Mystery Hunt for the second time. Which was virtual (as will this year’s be). I didn’t feel completely useless. The bigger event was the National Puzzlers’ League convention which happened live and in person, right here in Washington, D.C. It was smaller than usual, but was still a lot of fun. And I enjoyed being able to provide some local expertise. I did not do any crossword tournaments because I just don’t enjoy doing them virtually. Hopefully things can happen in person again this year.
Genealogy: I went to the (virtual) International Association of Jewish Genealogy Societies (IAJGS) conference in August and particularly enjoyed mentoring a few people on Lithuanian research. I also listened to a (very) few presentations from Roots Tech. I also went to a few other on-line talks, primarily with Jewish Genealogy Society of Greater Washington. I did not, alas, manage to do much research and/or organizing.
Baseball: As mentioned above, I went to check out the new AAA Red Sox affiliate in Worcester (known as the WooSox) in June and to a Cubs game at Wrigley Field in August. I also went to two Nationals games. The BoSox provided their usual mix of elation and stress.
Culture: I saw 2 plays and 4 musicals in person. I particularly enjoyed Remember This: The Jan Karski Story at the Shakespeare Theatre Company, Having Our Say at Creative Cauldron, and Baby at Out of the Box Theatre in New York. I only went to one in-person concert, which was a very enjoyable cabaret show by Alan Cumming and Ari Shapiro. The other in-person event I went to was the Maryland Renaissance Festival. On-line concerts included Carole King, John McCutcheon, and Christine Lavin. There were also a couple of Sondheim related on-line events, including a retrospective about Assassins. I went to a couple of virtual talks about musicals. And I saw one opera on-line.
I saw 10 movies, including 2 in theaters. My favorites of the year were West Side Story, Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day, and When Tango Meets Klezmer.
As for storytelling, I told stories at various virtual events, including a Valentine’s Day show for a friend’s church, a midsummer show by Voices in the Glen, the National Storytelling Network Conference, and the New Year’s Eve Storytelling Blow-out. More excitingly, I performed at two in-person Better Said Than Done shows. (There is nothing like a live audience.) I attended the Women’s Storytelling Festival (which I also worked at, including emceeing the story swap) and the National Storytelling Festival (both on-line) as well as at least 8 on-line shows and one on-line workshop. I also went to over a dozen story swaps, including several non-local ones, which is the saving grace of zoom events.
I need to add a category for art. In addition to the Soutine and Johns exhibits mentioned above (and the Art and Soul retreat), I went to a couple of exhibits of light sculptures, an art fair in Alexandria, and a reception for a Rockwell painting at the Women’s Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery. I also went to an exhibit at the Renwick and toured Glenstone with my alumni club. Then there was the Immersive Van Gogh event. And I did an Ugly Architecture tour in Chicago. More significantly, I finished the Smithsonian certificate program in World Art History. Someday I might even write about that.
Other stuff:
- I went to various on-line talks on subjects ranging from vampires in Jewish mysticism to the history of chocolate.
- I’ve been going to an on-line needles and crafts group run by the library a friend works at. This has enabled me to get more than halfway through a cross stitch piece I bought in Bangkok in 2008.
- I went to a few talks at (virtual) Balticon.
- I got interviewed for 2 podcast episodes and 1 radio show.
- I played a huge number of games of Code Names (and a lot fewer other board games) on-line with a group of friends.
- I got one more honorable mention in the Style Invitational.
- I went to Yiddish New York (virtually), which I also still need to write about.
Goals:
So how did I do on my goals from last year? I had 8 goals. I hoped to get 200 books out of my house, but only managed to get 28 out. So that goal got 14%. I did enter the Style Invitational 6 times, so got 100% there. I finished the Smithsonian certificate program in World Art History so got another 100%. I didn’t get things out of my storage locker because: a) I need to clear a place to put them and b) I have no idea where I put the key to the storage locker, so get a 0% there. I had no progress (so also 0%) on goals to organize my genealogy files and my craft supplies. I’d hoped to read 52 books, but only read 37, so get a 71% there. I did get 4 new stories into tellable form, so get 100% on that goal. That gives me a little over 48% on the year, which is, alas, about typical for how I do on these things.
Which brings me to goals for 2022:
- Take at least 10 trips.
- Finish at least 2 embroidery or needlepoint projects.
- Finish knitting or crocheting at least 2 afghans.
- Organize all the photographs on my computer.
- Finish going through all the magazines I have lying around.
- Create at least 1 new personal story and learn at least 3 new to me folktales.
- Organize my yarn stash.
- Read at least 75 books.
- Spend at least 2 hours a week on language study.
