fauxklore

I am fairly sure this is the latest I have ever done a year in review. Let’s just say that I’ve been crazy busy. Anyway, here we go in the same format I’ve used for several years now.

The worst thing that happened in 2024 was the whole fiasco with the HVAC leak in late June / early July. Which turned out to be due to a blockage from a line in a unit above mine, so didn’t involve as much money as it might have, but it was still very stressful.

Beyond that, there was also some medical stuff. Having cataract surgery was actually a really good thing. It was quite miraculous the morning after the first eye was done when I could read titles of books across the bedroom without putting on my glasses. (The second eye also went well, but that was a less dramatic change.) The knee issues that I had later in the year were also a big deal. Let’s just say I have good days and I have bad days. Getting old sucks.


Books: I read only 36 books in 2024, which is pathetically few for me. That was 14 non-fiction books and 22 fiction books. Favorites were Sleeping With the Fishes by Mary Janice Davidson, Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus, Sounds Like Titanic by Jessica Chiccehotto Hindman, Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt, and a couple of Dick Francis mysteries. The worst book I read during the year was The Naked Face by Sidney Sheldon, a suspense novel full of racism and homophobia.

I didn’t manage any used bookstore runs over the year, though I did give away 4 books. I have at least 60 waiting to go out.

I belonged to three book clubs, one of which has disbanded.

As for book-related events, I went to the Moby Dick Marathon in San Francisco in October and even read one chapter (Chapter 8, The Pulpit).

Ghoul Pool: I finished 6th out of 14 players with a final score of 117 points. People I scored on were Jimmy Carter, Daniel J. Evans (unique), Shannon Doherty, Janis Paige, Jean Malaurie (unique), Bud Harrelson (unique), and Faith Ringgold (unique).

Travel: My only international trip of the year was to Portugal (Porto and Lisbon) and the Azores in May / June. But I had plenty of domestic travel. I went to New York City in late January / early February. Then to Salt Lake City in late February / early March for Roots Tech. The total solar eclipse took me to Bruceville, Texas (near Dallas) in April, including an Israeli dance camp. Also in April, I had an overnight trip to Richmond for the Virginia Storytelling Alliance gathering. In May I went to Colorado for RhinoStock (a memorial for a friend) and also had a quick trip to Indianapolis to go to a baseball game, which unfortunately got rained out. I flew back to Dallas in July for the National Puzzlers League con, adding on a train trip to Oklahoma City to go to a baseball game. In August, I went to a Jewish genealogy convention in Philadelphia, and added in a couple of days in New York City for Lollapuzzoola (and theatre going, of course). And in October, I made a quick trip to San Francisco for their Moby Dick Marathon.

Genealogy: I’ve continued mentoring members of my local Jewish genealogy society on Lithuanian Jewish genealogy. As I’ve probably mentioned before, when I was starting to do genealogy research, other people helped me, so I feel happy to be able to help other people.

In February, I went to Roots Tech, which is a large genealogy conference held annually in Salt Lake City. The most interesting thing there was the presentation on using DNA from an old envelope - amazing, but not ready for the general public yet. I also went to the IAJGS convention in Philadelphia in August, at which I finally got to meet a cousin in person, as well as doing some volunteering.

Baseball: As I mentioned above, I had a failed attempt to go to a minor league game in Indianapolis (damn rain!) but a more successful game experience in Oklahoma City in July.

Culture: I went to 10 musicals and one non-musical play. My favorites for the year were Tick … Tick .. Boom at the Kennedy Center, Harmony on Broadway, Soft Power at Signature Theatre, and Suffs on Broadway.

I saw 7 movies in theaters and two on airplanes. Favorites were Next Goal Wins, Shari and Lamb Chop, and My Penguin Friend.

Storytelling: I performed in a Better Said Than Done show in February and emceed at the Women’s Storytelling Festival in March. I told a story at the Artists Standing Strong Together New Year’s Eve storytelling show. I went to several local story swaps (some in person, some over zoom), as well as zoom story swaps in Los Angeles and in Ottawa, Canada. I saw a friend’s storytelling show as part of Artomatic. And I participated in several discussions of Grimm fairy tales.

Museums and Art: I went to an exhibit of Dorothea Lange’s photos at the National Gallery of Art with a friend (and looked at some other art in the museum afterwards). I saw a Judy Chicago retrospective at the New Museum in New York City. I went to much of Artomatic. And I went to the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza in Dallas and the American Banjo Museum in Oklahoma City.

During my trip to Portugal, I went to a stained glass museum in Porto, the Museo Nacional de Azulejo (National Tile Museum) and Oceanario (aquarium) in Lisbon, and the Museum of Myths and Legends in Sintra.

Other Stuff:

I participated in Lollapuzzoola (a crossword contest) in August. I played board games, sometimes with the National Puzzlers’ League, sometimes with people I know from the loser community. I also went to other loser events, including a few parties and a couple of brunches.

I went to Kochavim, an Israeli folk dance weekend (in association with the eclipse).

I did a tour of M&S Schmalburg’s fabric flower factory (via the New York Adventure Club).

I attended a few lectures in the Leading Jewish Minds at MIT series (over zoom). And I went to a reception for MIT president Sally Kornbluth.

I’ve probably forgotten something or other among this, but it was a weird and stressful year. And I think that compared to normal people, I still did a lot of things.

Goals: So how did I do on my 2024 goals? Frankly, not very well. I did not circumnavigate the globe going westward, though I did map out about half of a general plan for doing it, so I’ll give myself a 5% on that goal. I didn’t make it to any national parks. I also did nothing about cleaning out my saved files of genealogy emails. I read 37 books out of my goal of 80, so I get only 45% there. I did make some progress on organizing my bedroom, but I don’t have a good metric for that. I’ll estimate that I accomplished about 50%. I finished just about 2/3 of one afghan (out of a goal to finish 3 afghans) so I’ll give myself 22% on that goal. I still haven’t found my parents’ slides. I made it to one AAA ballpark (Oklahoma City), and had an attempt at going to a game in Indianapolis, which got rained out. So I’lll get 25% on my goal of 4 AAA ballparks. I did fairly well on exercise the first part of the year, but my knee injury meant that I did very little from August on, so I’ll give myself a 60%.

So, overall, I’ll give myself a rather pathetic 23% for the year.

Which brings me to goals for 2025:

• Circumnavigate the globe going westward. I think I have a plan for somewhere in the October / November time frame.
  
  
• Go to at least 4 minor league baseball games.
  
  
• Finish 4 crafts projects.
  
  
• Read 80 books, with a stretch goal of 100.
  
  
• Finish going through my parents’ photographs and slides.
  
  
• Revisit / update my life list.
  
  
• Organize genealogy files.
  
  
• Go to at least 3 national parks.
  
  
• Learn to read Hangul (Korean writing system).
  
  
• Sort through cassette tapes.
  
  

Books: I only made it through 9 books this quarter. Sigh.

1. Delia Owens, Where the Crawdads Sing. I had seen the movie, but hadn’t read the book before. The story has to do with a girl who is basically left on her own to grow up in a shack deep in a North Carolina marsh and spends her time exploring the marsh animals and plants. She meets a boy who teaches her to read and, after their relationship falls apart when he goes to college, gets involved with another local boy, who is a rich socially connected type. When he is found dead, she’s the chief suspect and much of the book concerns her trial for his murder. I thought the book was interesting and raised interesting questions about the divisions between the local people. But it was hard to like a lot of the characters.
   
   
2. Jessica Chiccehitto Hindman, Sounds Like Titanic. This is a memoir about the author’s time as a fake violinist, playing to a dead mike while CDs of the composer’s music play in the background. There’s a lot of humor, though the effect of the deception on her mental health also plays a significant role. Can you suffer from imposter syndrome when you’re making good money being an imposter? Recommended.
   
   
3. Susan Branch, Girlfriends Forever. For those who are not familiar with her, Branch writes silly books that are little more than the sort of tripe women’s magazines publish, full of “oh, how wonderful my girlfriends are” and “here are recipes for healthy meals mixed with ooey gooey desserts.” What’s even worse is that she uses fonts that are supposed to look like handwriting, making it hard to read. Don’t waste your time.
   
   
4. Andrew D. Blechman, Leisureville. What is life like in senior communities like The Villages in Florida and the Del Webb communities in Arizona? Apparently, there’s lots of golf, lots of sex (The Villages has the highest rate of STDs in the U.S.), and an insular group of residents who don’t care that the communities are completely under the control of the owners. Overall, interesting, but depressing.
   
   
5. Michelle Zauner, Crying in H-Mart. Zauner uses food (primarily Korean food) to structure her memoir about her mother’s death from cancer - and, of course, what life with her parents was like before that. The challenges of being a mixed-race girl in Oregon, combined with regular trips to Korea, were interesting. It wasn’t entirely relatable for me, since my mother would have been content to eat bland boiled chicken every day of her life. But I did relate to the intergenerational cultural struggle. I thought this was worth reading - and following with an excursion to my local H-Mart.
   
   
6. Alfred Lansing,Endurance. I’d read this book about Ernest Shackleton’s Endurance expedition at least twice before and it’s still just as good a read the third time around. The crew’s struggle to survive is terrifying and inspiring. Not everyone is cooperative all the time and Shackleton’s leadership skills are tested throughout the ordeal. And, while “the boss” gets a lot of the credit, I’m also thoroughly impressed with Frank Worsley. If you have any interest in exploration / adventure, this is a must read.
   
   
7. Shelby Van Pelt, Remarkably Bright Creatures. This is a thoroughly charming novel about the relationship between an elderly woman and the octopus at the aquarium where she works. The chapters told by the octopus are particularly entertaining. The backstory is that Tova lost her son when he was 18 years old. After her husband died of cancer, she is somewhat at loose ends. There’s also a young man searching for his father and a complicated series of events that lead to him finding connections, including one with Tova. It’s pretty implausible and the ending felt sudden, but it was enjoyable enough for me to overlook those flaws. Recommended.
   
   
8. Tim Butcher, Blood River: A Journey Into Africa’s Broken Heart. Butcher set out to recreate H.M. Stanley’s journey down the Congo River, starting in 2004. He gets motorcycle rides (and, later on, boat rides) from aid workers, U.N. staff, and missionaries. Somehow, he manages not to get killed along the way. He does, however, end up sick - probably with malaria. So he “cheats” a bit with a helicopter ride for one leg. Usually travel books make me want to go to a place, but not this one. An interesting read, yes, but beyond anything I’d want to risk.
   
   
9. Matthew Desmond, Evicted. My primary book club had selected this book, but the two leaders decided it was too hard to read and abandoned it. That’s really a pity because I found it pretty interesting. Desmond looks not only at the people living in low-income housing (and being forced out of it) but also the landlords and the people working for them. Joblessness, drug use, and single parenthood all play roles, but Desmond also addresses policy issues that exacerbate the instability of the lives of his subjects and suggests solutions. His research was primarily in Milwaukee, by the way, though he does give examples from other cities. There were some times I’d have liked more back story about some of the people. At any rate, I found it an interesting read, probably because my father worked on development for the New York City Housing Authority.
   

Movies: I saw two movies as part of the Washington Jewish Film Festival and two on an airplanes.

1. Next Goal Wins. I watched this on a plane because of my boundless love for Taika Waititi. It had gotten mediocre reviews, but I liked it quite a lot. The story (based on actual events) has to do with the American Samoa football (i.e. soccer) team, which had suffered a particularly embarrassing defeat against Australia ten years earlier. Thomas Rongen is the American coach who is hired to turn things around and he immediately gets into a conflict with Jaliyah, a transgender player. I was intrigued by the acceptance of a third gender (fa’afafine) in Samoan culture, something I was only vaguely aware of before seeing this. We also eventually see Rogen’s transformation - and get a satisfying ending, which goes beyond the sports aspect. Recommended.
   
   
2. The Catskills: This documentary was really sweet. There were segments about some of the more famous Catskill resorts, e.g. Grossinger’s, but also about the bungalow colonies. And let’s not forget the food! And the entertainment! (We had a neighbor who was a comedian on the Borscht Belt circuit. It was a great thrill to see his show, though I can’t remember if we saw him at the Homowack or the Concord or the Nevele.) My favorite parts of the (relatively few) weekends we spent at those hotels were rowing on the lake at the Homowack and playing miniature golf and pinball with the other kids my age, and those parts didn’t really get talked about. Basically, if you liked movies like Dirty Dancing or Sweet Lorraine, you’ll like this.
   
   
3. Shari and Lamb Chop: I had a Lamb Chop puppet when I was little, though I never really mastered ventriloquism. I have a running joke about my annual Shari Lewis Memorial Lamb Chop dinner for National Ventriloquism Week. (Scheduled for July 17th this year, by the way.) I’m sure Charlie Horse and other puppets had their fans, but Lamb Chop was the best. And this film was a lovely tribute to her and her puppeteer. I also learned lots of things about Shari Lewis that I’d never known, e.g. that her father was the official magician of New York City, using the name Peter Pan the Magic Man. And did you know that Lamb Chop is an honorary three-star general in the Marines? Anyone in my age group is sure to laugh and cry throughout this thoroughly charming movie.
   
   
4. Oppenheimer: The flight from Lisbon to Washington, D.C. is the perfect length for watching a long movie and still being able to get in a nap. While it was an interesting movie, I found it somewhat hard to keep track of all the characters. I also found the nonlinear chronology hard to follow at times. I suspect that was because an airplane was actually not the ideal place to watch a movie like this. Overall, it was interesting enough, but I’d liked Barbie better.
   
   

Goals: Sometimes the only way I know that I am making progress is that I know I’m not going backwards.

• I have a tentative plan for a westward circumnavigation, though I haven’t booked anything yet. I’m looking at Novemberish.
  
  
• I haven’t been to any new national parks yet this year.
  
  
• I haven’t made any progress on going through genealogy-related email.
  
  
• I’ve read 24 books, out of my goal of 80. I need to read shorter books.
  
  
• I’ve gotten a little further on organizing my bedroom, but still have a long ways to go.
  
  
• I’ve made a little more progress on one afghan.
  
  
• I still haven’t found my parents’ slides.
  
  
• I’d attempted to go to one AAA game, but it got rained out. I have another coming up and am hoping for the weather to cooperate. And I have an idea for a trip to go to 2 more.
  
  
• It’s been too miserable out to exercise.
  
  

We’ve gotten through the first three months of the year, so it’s time for a quarterly update.

Books: I got through 15 books in January through March.

1. Nell Painter, Old in Art School. I don’t remember who recommended this to me, but I talked one of my book clubs into it. The idea of a woman retiring from a prestigious academic career (as a historian) and enrolling in art school was interesting. She wrestled with how the art world saw age, femaleness, and blackness. She also has to deal with aging parents and a history book she was writing. She claimed she was doing this for fun, but it didn’t seem very enjoyable.
   
   
2. Dick Francis, 10 Lb. Penalty. This novel is about a young man whose father has him leave horse racing to help with a political campaign that turns dangerously violent. The father wins his campaign and the son goes off to university and a career on the business side of horse racing. There’s an evil man trying to manipulate a lot of politicians and a sleazy reporter who stirs up dirt. Overall, this is a typical Dick Francis novel - violent, but absorbing.
   
   
3. Len Kruger, Bad Questions. I probably wouldn’t have read this tween boy coming of age novel if Len weren’t a friend of mine. The plot involves a boy whose father dies by suicide, resulting in his mother relocating them to another neighborhood. A former teacher offers to help him put a hex on some people. Then two of those people on the hex list die in a car crash … Overall, reasonably good reading.
   
   
4. Richard Russo, Straight Man. This novel, set in a small college in rural Pennsylvania, is mildly humorous. The funniest bit involves the chairman of the English department threatening to kill a duck every day until his budget demands are met. Unfortunately, he’s such an asshole that I found this book irritating and was ready to throw it into the Potomac.
   
   
5. Craig Rice and Ed McBain, The April Robin Murder. McBain is, of course, best known for writing the 87th Precinct police procedurals. Craig Rice wrote screwball comedic mysteries. This book from 1958 leans towards the latter as two young men show up in Hollywood planning to make it rich in the film industry. They get scammed right off and then a murder occurs in the house they may or may not actually own. This isn’t at all plausible but it is amusing and very entertaining. It also has this wonderful zeugma: “She was blond and slender and delicate-looking and extremely gorgeous and she didn’t look a day over thirty-two. The pearl -handled revolver in the fist of the gentleman with her didn’t look a caliber over .32.”
   
   
6. Bob Payne, Escape Clauses. This is a collection of travel stories, mostly focused on islands. The destinations include the Maldives, Bora Bora, Robinson Crusoe Island, Martinique, both the Arctic and Antarctic, Greece, and others. Many of these trips were paid for by Conde Nast Travel, where he was a contributing editor. I generally prefer more focused narratives, but this was entertaining enough.
   
   
7. Mary Janice Davidson, Sleeping With the Fishes. Fred is a mermaid. But she’s allergic to seafood and gets seasick on boats. When the High Prince of the Black Sea shows up, she’s torn between him and a marine biologist she works with at the New England Aquarium. They set out to investigate contamination in Boston Harbor. There’s also a very steamy side plot involving her boss and her best friend. Trashy in the very best way.
   
   
8. Bonnie Garmus, Lessons in Chemistry. Wow! I loved this book about a woman dealing with sexism in science in the 1950’s and 1960’s. She gets involved with another chemist and they adopt the greatest dog ever. He dies and she discovers she is pregnant, which leads to her getting fired. Eventually, she finds a new career hosting a cooking show and using that to teach chemistry lessons. I admit some of it is implausible, but I loved the characters (for the most part) and I highly recommend this book.
   
   
9. Dick Frances, Wild Horses. Thomas Lyon is directing a film, based on a real life death twenty odd years earlier. What does this have to do with a deathbed confession by a family friend? And who has attacked the movie’s star and tried for Thomas with unusual swords? As usual, there is lots of action (some of it horse-related) and lots of violence. Also, since this is a Dick Frances novel, it’s a good read. I’d gladly go to see the finished movie if it existed.
   
   
10. Isaac Asimov, Murder at the ABA. This was a surprisingly dull mystery, set at a booksellers’ convention. Asimov himself plays a role but the actual fictional detective is another writer as his stand-in. The murder doesn’t happen until 80 or so pages in and the motive is unconvincing. And I really did not care at all about the detective’s opinions of every woman he meets along the way. Don’t bother slogging through this.
    
    
11. Osa Johnson, I Married Adventure. Osa was a teenager when she married Martin Johnson and it wasn’t long before they set off to the South Pacific to photograph “cannibals” and, later on, exotic animals. They made films of African animals (with the help of large numbers of porters), which brought them some success, but not much money. This was an interesting read and reiterated my desire to visit the Osa and Martin Johnson Safari Museum in Kansas.
    
    
12. Susan Vreeland, Clara and Mr. Tiffany. This is a novel based on the life (and letters) of Clara Driscoll, who played a critical role in the design of the famous Tiffany glass lamps. Having seen several of the lamps at the New York Historical Society, I was intrigued by the back story, including Mr. Tiffany’s refusal to employ married women. The book also touched on questions about the lives of immigrant women and on the labor movement. I enjoyed the insight into the lives of late 19th / early 20th century women in New York. Recommended.
    
    
13. Laura Lippman, AnotherThing to Fall. Laura Lippman’s mysteries have a strong sense of place, with that place being Baltimore. In this one, she also uses her knowledge of television production (via her husband) as Tess Monaghan is hired as a bodyguard / babysitter for a young actress. When a young woman on the production team is murdered, Tess uncovers a complex (albeit implausible) story. A good read.
    
    
14. Rory Stewart, The Places In Between. Stewart walked across Afghanistan (from Herat to Kabul) in 2002. This was a physically challenging and dangerous journey, in which he was dependent on a number of contacts to help him. He acquired a dog along the way, which didn’t make the trip any easier. Nor did the limits of his language skills. In general, this was interesting and scary and definitely not a trip anyone would want to copy. There are some interesting places and people along the way, but interesting isn’t always a good thing.
    
    
15. Mary Janice Davidson, A Wolf After My Own Heart Lila Kai has bought a house in an odd community - but how was she to know that her neighbors were shifters? Some of the characters work for the Interspecies Placement Agency, charged with protecting orphaned or displaced shifter children, including a particularly adorable werebear who insists her father could not have been killed in a plane crash because he has called her. There’s also a romance story, with just about the right level of steaminess to it. Overall, this is fun, despite some darker back stories.
    
    

Movies: Only one movie this quarter.

1. You Can Call Me Bill. This is a pretty weird movie, essentially an extended interview with William Shatner. It’s pretty much a stream of consciousness monologue about Shatner’s attempts to balance the jobs he needs to survive financially against his more serious ambitions. His philosophic musings, including a long section on his desire to become a tree after he dies, are more unexpected. I was surprised about how little he said about his personal life. And I don’t think his ability to make fun of himself came through. (If you’ve never seen it, I particularly recommend the movie Free Enterprise.) Still, there was a good mix of film clips along with the monologue and I think most fans of Star Trek (and his other work) will want to see this.
   

Goals:

I haven’t made any specific plans for circumventing the globe going westward, but I have ideas. Probably around late October.

I’ve got a tentative plan for one national park and ideas about others.

I’ve made no progress on genealogy email archives.

I’ve read 15 books, so I am behind the curve on getting to at least 80.

Hmm, re: my bedroom, does glaring at the clutter count?

I’m between 1/2 and 2/3 done with one afghan. This is not as minimal an amount of progress as it might seem, because I have other afghans in various states of progress.

I have not yet located my parents’ slides.

I have a reasonably good plan for one AAA ballpark and reasonable tentative plans for two others.

I have not been very regular about getting much exercise, sigh.

It would probably help if I looked at my goals more than every three months.

I think this will get me caught up on everything up until this month.

I’ve been using the same format for my year in review entries for several years now. It seems to work. Note that I took off the Volksmarch category this time since it’s been a couple of years since I managed to actually do anything there.

2023 started out stressful with mail being stolen, including a check which was washed and used fraudulently and a credit card which had to be replaced. It all got resolved, but I could have lived without the stress. There was a lot of stress later in the year, with the incompetence of the person at the local Social Security office who sat on my Medicare application for over two months without doing anything. That took way too many phone calls to get resolved. And, of course, there was the whole Middle East situation to make 2023 the Age of Anxiety.

Fortunately, things were otherwise good during the year.

Books: I read 53 books over the year. 39 of those were fiction, 3 were poetry, and the rest were nonfiction. Only 3 were rereads.

Favorites included Our Ancestors Did Not Breathe This Air (a poetry collection by Muslim women at MIT), Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozu Adichie, The Ghostwriter by Alessandra Torre, and The Caxton Private Lending Library and Book Depository by John Connolly. I also read 6 novels by Dick Francis, whose books provide a reliable antidote to ones in which not enough happens to keep me satisfied. Favorite non-fiction was The Best Strangers in the World by Ari Shapiro. Least favorite book was Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen.

I got rid of 39 books and have at least another 33 ready to go out.

In addition to my longstanding book club (called READ for Read, Enjoy, And Discuss), I joined another book club, Crones and Tomes, which was started by a friend from the puzzle world.

Other book events included the Moby Dick Marathon in New Bedford, Massachusetts, which was an amazing experience, and a talk by Ari Shapiro at Sixth and I.

Ghoul Pool: I finished 4th out of 14 players, with 220 points. People I scored on were Naomi Replanski, Steve Harrell, Bob Barker, Tony Bennett, Al Jaffee, John Goodenough, Robert Solow, Daniel Ellsberg, Sandra Day O’Connor, James L. Buckley, W. Nicholas Hitchon, and David Oreck.

Travel: In January, I went to New Bedford, Massachusetts for the Moby Dick Marathon. In February, I went to Tucson, which included going to Saguaro National Park and Biosphere 2, as well as winning some money at a casino. March included a trip to New York City to go to the symphony and the theatre and visit with a high school friend. April’s travel was to Connecticut for the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament.

In May I took a river cruise, which included going to the Kentucky Derby. The Derby arrangements were kind of a fiasco, but the stops at various small towns were a lot more interesting than I expected.

June took me to Svalbard, which featured amazing scenery, though the wildlife (or, more accurately, lack thereof) was disappointing. This was somewhere I’d wanted to go to forever, so I am glad to have had the opportunity.

In July, I went to Montreal for the NPL con. That also included eating a lot of Montreal Jewish food and following in the footsteps of Leonard Cohen. Later in the month, I leveraged off a genealogy conference in London to take a trip to Ireland (including a day trip to Belfast) and the Isle of Man. That included fulfilling a life list item by having a beer at the South Pole Inn in Anascaul. After the conference, I did a few more things in London, including side trips to Canterbury and to Ipswich and Sutton Hoo. Soon after I got back, I took a quick trip to New York City for Lollapuzzoola and theatre going.

LoserFest was in Philadelphia in September. Highlights included the Masonic Temple and the Magic Gardens.

In October, I took a quick trip to San Antonio for the annular solar eclipse, which was awesome. While I was there, I also did a day trip to the Hill Country, where I saw several sites associated with Lyndon B. Johnson, as well as visiting the town of Fredericksburg. Later in the month I went to Boston, mostly to go to a concert by Jonathan Richman.

I’m not sure if taking a day trip to Harrisonburg, Virginia in November counts as travel. But my trip to French Polynesia (Austral Islands and Aranui cruise to the Marquesas) definitely does.

Virtual travel talks I went to included one on Jewish Barbados and a few Travelers’ Century Club zoom sessions. There were also a few in-person TCC meetings.

Puzzles: I participated once again in the MIT Mystery Hunt as part of Halibut That Bass. I think the team worked particularly well together, but we had some issues with the way the hunt was structured, which resulted in our seeing only about half of the puzzles.

I was disappointed in my performance in the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament. I finished solidly in the middle of the pack and I wasn’t surprised to have trouble with Puzzle 5, but I left a blank square in Puzzle 3, which was sheer carelessness. I did worse at Lollapuzzoola 16 in August, because I failed to completely read parts of some clues in Puzzle 5 there. I blame jet lag from my trip just before that event.

As I mentioned above, I went to the National Puzzlers’ League Con in Montreal. Highlights included a couple of games by Cute Mage, as well as Rasa’s over the weekend cryptic.


Genealogy: I continued to volunteer as the Subject Matter Expert for a Jewish Genealogy Society of Greater Washington Litvak Special Interest Group. I also went to several JGSGW virtual meetings. And, of course, I went to the IAJGS conference in London at the end of July / beginning of August. Aside from several interesting talks, the highlight of that was meeting a distant cousin.

Baseball: I went to a little bit of a Nationals game in May, but it got rained out. In September I went to the new Texas Rangers stadium (Globe Life Field), putting me back at having been to a game at every Major League Ballpark. I also went to two minor league ballparks to see the Aberdeen Ironbirds and the Fredericksburg Nationals.

Culture: I’m not a big television watcher but I kept Apple TV+ long enough to watch Schmigadoon and Schmicago, both of which were tremendous fun for musical theatre geeks like me.

In terms of movies, I saw 18 overall, 4 of which were in theaters, with the rest on airplanes. Favorites were A Man Called Otto, In the Heights, Blackberry, Cocaine Bear, Searching for Sugar Man, Barbie, and Remembering Gene Wilder. Most disappointing was Weird: The Al Yancovic Story.

I went to 5 Gilbert and Sullivan operettas at the G&S International Festival in England, with the best production being of Ruddigore. I went to two other operas, both by Jeanine Tesori (Blue and Grounded). I also saw two ballets and one modern dance performance, with the ballet of The Crucible being the most satisfying. As far as classical music goes, I saw the National Symphony Orchestra twice and was privileged to see Michael Tilson Thomas conduct the New York Philharmonic. The only popular music concert I went to was one by Jonathan Richman, who is always wonderful.

I saw 14 plays and 9 musicals, assuming I counted correctly. Favorite plays were All Things Equal (about Ruth Bader Ginsburg), The Lifespan of a Fact at Keegan Theatre, Selling Kabul at Signature Theatre, and The Pillowman, which is a Martin McDonagh play I saw in London. I also loved The Enigmatist, which is a mixture of comedy. magic, and puzzles and, hence, I consider sui generis. Top musicals were In the Heights at Next Stop Theatre Company, Signature Theatre’s production of Pacific Overtures. and Shucked and Kimberly Akimbo on Broadway.

Storytelling: I went to several storytelling shows, including one by my Grimmkeepers group. I performed in two shows for Artists Standing Strong Together, and also told at the C&O Canal Visitor Center with Voices in the Glen, at the Washington Folk Festival, and in a Better Said Than Done show at the Stagecoach Theatre. Some other shows I particularly enjoyed were Ingrid Nixon’s show about Shackleton and several of the performances at the National Storytelling Festival. And, of course, the Women’s Storytelling Festival (which I also emceed at) os always a highlight of the year.

On a rather different note, the Grimmkeepers discussions about the Grimm fairy tales continue to be enlightening and enriching.

Museums and Art: I went to 32 museums over the year. Highlights included the New Bedford Glass Museum, the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, two exhibitions of miniatures (the Mini Time Machine Museum in Tucson and the Small is Beautiful exhibit in New York), the MIT Museum, the Virginia Quilt Museum, and the Museum of Failure. I also really enjoyed seeing the Book of Kells, the Manx Museum, and Sutton Hoo during my travels in July. My absolute favorite for the year was the Museum of Broadway.


Other Stuff: On New Year’s Day, my friend, Cindy, and I went to the Winter Lantern Festival at Tyson’s, which was impressive.

I went to various Loser events, including the post-Post Loser Party, the Flushes, LoserFest. I should probably count Poetry and Punchlines (a poetry reading associated with Light, which is a magazine of light verse) as a Loser event, too.

My crafting group changed to meeting on-line every other Thursday and in person at one members house on the weeks in between. I make it when I can. Similarly, I occasionally managed to get to my other (mostly) knitting group, which meets at the police station twice a month.

I went to a virtual organizing conference in September, which was moderately useful.

I played board games a few times a week, when I was home. Yes, sometimes I was home.

Goals: So how did I do on my 2023 goals? I went through maybe 10% of the photos from my parents and realized I have no idea where I put the slides, so I’ll give myself a 10% there. I did go to some sort of lecture or other formal educational event, either in person or on-line, every month, so I get 100% there. I get full credit (i.e. 100%) for taking 4 international trips. I finished only 1 craft project, so only get 33% there, though I did make progress on two others. I read 53 books, out of a goal of 75, so get 71% there. I get 100% credit for going to three new (to me) ballparks. I made it to at least one museum each month so get 100% on that goal. I only went to one national park, so get 33% on that goal. And I averaged significantly less than a half hour every day on housework, so I’ll give myself 10% there. Averaging things out, I’ll give myself a 62% on the year, which is not great but not terrible either.

Which brings me to goals for 2024:

• Circumnavigate the globe going westward. The backstory is that way back in 2000, I did an eastward circumnavigation, from Los Angeles to Russia via Germany by plane, overland through Siberia to Mongolia and to China, and back to Los Angeles by plane. I’ve got ideas for how I want to do the westward circle.
  
  
• Go to at least 3 national parks.
  
  
• Clean out my saved files of genealogy related emails.
  
  
• Read 80 books with a stretch goal of 125.
  
  
• Finish organizing my bedroom.
  
  
• Finish 3 afghans.
  
  
• Find and sort through my parents’ slides.
  
  
• Go to games at at least 4 AAA ballparks.
  
  
• Exercise for at least 20 minutes at least 3 times a week, with a stretch goal of at least 30 minutes at least 4 times a week.
  
  

Let’s see what the past three months brought.

Books:

Eleven books this quarter.

1. Donald E. Westlake and Brian Garfield, Gangway!. This is a caper novel about a New York gangster who is sent to San Francisco after upsetting his boss. He meets various colorful characters and devises a plan to rob the mint. It’s mildly diverting, but not nearly as funny, as I think it was meant to be.
   
   
2. Dick Francis, Dead Cert. This was the first novel Dick Francis wrote, or at least, the first published and was included in a three-in-one volume. Even back in 1962 he was writing exciting (but violent) novels. In this case, the death of a steeplechase jockey leads another jockey to investigate - and get caught in a similar “accident,” as well as a beating. There’s a romantic subplot, but the gist is about a corrupt taxi company manipulating races for money. If you like books with lots of plot, you really can’t go wrong with Dick Francis.
   
   
3. Dick Francis, Nerve. This book starts off with a bang - literally, in the form of a very public suicide by a jockey. This leads another jockey to try to find out what happened to him and to other jockeys who lost their jobs or saw troubling rumors spread about them. Of course, his questions prompt the same treatment to be tried on him. If you can handle a sinister and frightening story, with a mixture of violence ad psychology, I highly recommend this novel.
   
   
4. Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. I read this for my Crones and Tomes book club. This is a memoir of Angelou’s early years, split between rural Mississippi, Saint Louis, and California. The most memorable incident involves her rape, at the age of eight. The bigger takeaway is that none of the adults in her life seem to know what to do with her and her brother. There really isn’t much in the story that suggests that she’ll grow up to be the famous poet and writer that she became. Presumably, that is covered in her other memoirs, but I wasn’t really left with a desire to read them.
   
   
5. Paul Harding, Tinkers. I read this for my longstanding book club (which is called READ for Read, Enjoy, and Discuss.) George Washington Crosby is dying and he reflects on his life, his father, and watch making. The father, Howard, is the most interesting part of this. He’s an epileptic who runs away from his family to avoid them putting him in a mental hospital. There’s an interesting episode involving his repeated encounters with a hermit who may have known Nathaniel Hawthorne. But, for the most part, nothing much happens and I found this a slog. (I also ended up missing the book club meeting, because I was in England and couldn’t handle the time zone difference.)
   
   
6. Carolyn Hart, From the Queen. The Mysterious Bookshop in New York publishes a series of novellas by various well-known authors. This one features Annie Darling and the Death on Demand bookshop. A thrift store owner has inherited a first edition of an Agatha Christie novel inscribed to the queen. When it’s stolen, Annie investigates. One of the hallmarks of the Death on Demand series is name dropping of mystery authors, which I find annoying, and it’s just as annoying in this shorter form. In addition, I didn’t find the solution particularly satisfying. Disappointing.
   
   
7. Dick Francis, Odds Against. Remember what I said about Dick Francis as a palate refresher? It was a relief to read a book with lots of action. This is actually a slightly unusual novel for him, in that the hero gets shot and doesn’t recover nearly instantaneously. And there’s a satisfying subplot involving a woman who was badly deformed by a fireworks accident in her youth. Of course, there are horses, too, as the plot involves the efforts to put a racetrack out of business in order to acquire its land for a housing development. As always, a good read.
   
   
8. Elizabeth Wurtzel, Prozac Nation. This was another Crones and Tomes selection. I’d expected an analysis of the popularity of antidepressants, but what I got instead was a whiny memoir about her life with depression and how nobody could do anything to help her. Along the way, she self-medicates with cocaine, ends up in the emergency room, and screws guys who are just as fucked up as she is. Astonishingly, she still has friends and manages to get through Harvard. There are some moments of humor, but I can’t really recommend this to anyone over, say, 21. As for the prozac connection, it is what finally helps her, but then she rails against how many other people use it.
   
   
9. Shauna J. Edwards and Alyson Richman, The Thread Collectors. And this was a selection for the RnEAD book club. The story involves a Jewish soldier from New York and a runaway slave from New Orleans, both fighting for the Union Army during the Civil War. They’re both talented musicians and bond over both music and being outsiders. The thread reference involves the women in their lives. The black man's common law wife embroiders maps to help other slaves escape. When the Jewish soldier doesn’t write to his wife for a long time, she sets out to find him. I thought this was a pretty interesting book, but it does require a lot of suspension of disbelief.
   
   
10. C. J. Conner, Board to Death. A mystery set in a board game store? Sounds right up my alley. A friend bought this, read it quickly, and, while he liked the characters, thought it worked better as a (gay) love story than as a mystery. He passed it on to me and I pretty much agree with his opinion. The plotting was somewhat weak. And there was one paragraph that could have been an entry in the Buller-Lytton contest. A character in a book should never reflect on what they would do if they were a character in a book.
    
    
11. Dick Francis, Enquiry. Yes, I needed a palate refresher. Dick Francis always excelled at bringing readers into his world, with plenty of action. In this case, a jockey and trainer are warned off, i.e. forbidden from being anywhere near race tracks after being accused of cheating. The jockey is not taking this lying down. His investigation uncovers sexual scandal, business revenge, and mental illness. Recommended.
    
    

Movies:

No, I never managed to make it to either Oppenheimer or Barbie. But I did see 5 movies.

1. Cocaine Bear: This is exactly the right sort of movie to watch on an airplane. It doesn’t take much (if any) thinking but there was enough happening to keep me awake. Admittedly, it’s pretty gory, but it’s just outlandish enough for that not to bother me. I was actually disappointed to learn that the real cocaine bear died of an overdose, rather than still being out there roaming the forest.
   
   
2. Searching for Sugar Man: Sixto Rodriguez died just a few days before my flight home from London, so I couldn’t resist watching this documentary about two South African men who set out to discover what had become of him. They found a story worth telling, both for the music and the man. There’s a reason this movie won a lot of awards, including a Best Documentary Oscar. Highly recommended.
   
   
3. The Whale: I watched this largely because it was so controversial. The basic plot is that an obese and depressed gay man tries to reconnect with his daughter, who is, frankly, an evil psychopath. Yes, Brendan Fraser did his best with what he was given, but self-loathing doesn’t make for an interesting movie. I’m reminded of Tom Lehrer’s line that people who can’t relate should just shut up. In case you can’t tell, I hated this movie.
   
   
4. Golda: I went to see this because a friend wanted to take advantage of $4 movie day. The movie is somewhat mistitled, as it is really limited to the Yom Kippur war, while I expected somewhat more background about Golda Meir’s life. In particular, I thought her relationship with her assistant, Lou Kaddar, came across as strange. Still, Helen Mirren is a great actress and I found the movie interesting, though hard to watch.
   
   
5. El Método Tangalanga: American Airlines had a selection of movies in Spanish for Hispanic Heritage Month. My Spanish is not yet up to watching them on their own, but subtitles let me enjoy this Argentinian film. The basic plot involves a painfully shy man who is transformed by hypnosis, turning him into a different personality when he gets on the telephone. He makes a series of prank phone calls that cheer up his dying friend - and gets famous for them under the name “Doctor Tangalanga.” The outcome is somewhat predictable, but I still found this entertaining. What I didn’t know is that Doctor Tangalanga was a real Argentinian comedian (real name Julio Victorio De Rissio), who released over 40 albums of prank calls starting in the late 1980’s. This isn’t exactly a great movie, but it was diverting enough for a couple of hours.
   
   

Goals:

• Believe it or not, I actually started going through my parents photos. I tossed a lot of my mother’s travel photos, because I really don’t need pictures of places (most of which I’ve been to and have my own pictures of) or of people I don’t know eating dinner on cruise ships and the like.
  
  
• I’m going to count the IAJGS (Jewish genealogy) conference as my formal educational activity for both July and August. And the Get Organized conference counts for September. I’ve also continued studying Spanish with Duolingo and am now at a 336 day streak.
  
  
• I’ve taken 3 international trips. In June, I went to Svalbard. In July, I had a trip to Montreal, Canada. Then in July and August, I was in Ireland, Northern Ireland, Isle of Man, and England. I have plans for a major trip in December.
  
  
• I’ve finished one crafts project. I am not sure whether or not I will finish the afghan I’m working on. I need to find something small that I can do in a couple of days.
  
  
• I’ve only read 36 books so far this year. So reaching 75 is likely to be challenging.
  
  
• I did go to 3 new ballparks this year. I went to Leidos Field at Ripken Stadium (Aberdeen Ironbirds, High-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles) in May. This quarter, I added Virginia Credit Union Stadium (Fredericksburg Nationals, Single-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals), and Globe Life Field (Texas Rangers, MLB).
  
  
• As for museum exhibitions, I went to the museums in Longyearben and Ny Alesund on my Svalbard cruise in June. In July, I went to the see the Book of Kells and went to the Chester Beatty in Dublin, the Titanic Museum in Belfast, and the Manx Museum in Douglas, Isle of Man. In August, I went to the Tate Modern, the British Library, and the V&A in London and the Small is Beautiful exhibit in New York. In September, I went to the Eastern State Penitentiary, the Mutter Museum, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art on my trip to Philadelphia.
  
  
• I didn’t add any national parks this quarter, so I still stand at one for the year.
  
  
• As for spending half an hour a day on housecleaning, ha ha ha!
  
  

On a related note, I checked off a life list item by having a beer at the South Pole Inn in Anascaul, Ireland.

This has been a quieter week. I played board games three nights, which is something I enjoy but don’t do if I’m going out a lot. And I went to Needles and Crafts on Thursday, as usual. I’ve also been spending a lot of time on things related to travel planning.

BlackBerry: I managed to go to a movie on Wednesday morning. Choosing which movie to see was difficult as there were a few I was interested in. In the end, I went with BlackBerry, which is a fictionalized account of the history of Research in Motion. I’m glad I chose it as I thought it was excellent, with a good mix of humor and suspense. You do have to be able to tolerate near constant use of the f-word, however. (I’m the sort of person who doesn’t cuss much because I want people to know I really mean it when I use that sort of language. But I’ve worked with people who weren’t quite so restrained.)

The Crucible: On Thursday, I went to the Kennedy Center to see the Scottish Ballet production of The Crucible. I was amused to see that the composer of the music was named Peter Salem. Anyway, it was based on Arthur Miller's play, which I read in high school but barely remember. The synopsis was helpful. I enjoyed the ballet quite a bit, especially the courtroom scenes with the girls shrieking and fainting.

Great Falls Storytelling: The Great Falls Tavern has a Saturday “Arts in the Park” program. This week that involved having five members of Voices in the Glen telling folktales. They specifically didn’t want anything having to do with the Civil War, battles, or scary stories. (I had told there once previously, as part of a Halloween program.) We went with a broad theme of helping others and sharing. Anyway, we had a very good and responsive audience. I told three stories. “The Clever Daughter” is a traditional Jewish story, involving a few riddles. “The Three Peas” is a rather strange Slovenian folk tale. (Actually, most Slovenian folk tales I’ve run across are somewhat strange to me.) And “The Lion Who Couldn’t Read” is a humorous story from Afghanistan. There was a similarly wide mix of other stories, including a few interactive ones and a few with music. Overall, it was a very pleasant couple of hours.

Aberdeen Ironbirds: On Sunday I drove up to Aberdeen, Maryland to go to a minor league baseball game. The Aberdeen Ironbirds were playing the Jersey Shore Blue Claws. Leidos Field at Cal Ripken Stadium, to give the ballpark its official name, is a lovely ballpark. Their concessions, however, leave a lot to be desired, with almost no vegetarian options. (They do have Ledo’s Pizza and there were junk foods like nachos and ice cream.) As for the game, this was High-A baseball. The Blue Claws had some surprisingly good fielding, with a couple of very nice catches and won the game 3 to 1. I have probably mentioned before that I like going to games where I don’t care about either team because that lets me focus on the quality of the game. I also appreciated that the parking is free and they let you bring in a normal pocketbook, instead of a minuscule plastic one. By the way, while I remain anti-mascot, I did think that Ferrous (their bird mascot) was cute and he was joined by a sort of cheerleader called The Iron Maiden, which amused me. Anyway, I had a good time and it was worth the hour and a half drive each way.

Another busy year, with more in-person activities. The low point of the year came in late June when I got COVID and had to get my air conditioning system replaced. But most of the year was pretty good.

Books: I read 47 books this year, 27 of which were fiction. Seven were rereads.

Favorites included Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, Last Summer at the Golden Hotel by Elizabeth Friesland, The Midnight Library by Matt Haig, and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon. My overall favorite for the year was In Xanadu by William Dalrymple. Least favorites were House of Joy by Joanne Winters and Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid, as well as various pop psych books that were part of a box I’d gotten years ago from a neighbor of my mother’s.

I got rid of at least 133 books. I have several more set to go out. I may do a used bookstore run next week.

Also, I went to see Randy Rainbow on his book tour. I listened to an on-line talk by Liana Frick about her new graphic novel. And I volunteered at the National Book Festival.


Volksmarch: Nothing and I am disappointed in myself over that. I have bought new walking shoes, which should help motivate me some.


Ghoul Pool: I finished fourth (out of 16 players) with 250 points. People I scored on were Queen Elizabeth II, Anne Heche, Pele, Carmen Herrera, Anne Hutchinson Guest, Ned Rorem, Marsha Hunt, Lily Renee, James Lovelock, Roger Angell, and Deborah James.


Travel: I went to New York (to go to an opera and to see an exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum) and Philadelphia (for the Jasper Johns retrospective) in February. In March, I went to Boston mostly for a combination of a concert, museum going, and friend visiting. I spent a few days in New York in April (on my way home from the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament in Connecticut) for cabaret and theatre going and museum going. I took another trip to New York in May / June for museum going, baseball, and theatre going. In June I went to Alaska, where I went to both Kenai Fjords National Park and Denali National Park - and, alas, caught COVID. In July, I went to Nashville for the National Puzzlers’ League Convention and then to Niagara Falls for Loserfest. I had another trip to New York in August for Lollapuzzola and theatre-going. In September, I went to Cumberland, Maryland and Romney, West Virginia to take the Potomac Eagle train. In November, I went to the Shenandoah Valley for a storytelling event and some tourism, including Shenandoah National Park, as well as to a knitting retreat in Ocean City, Maryland. November / December included a Road Scholar trip to Costa Rica.

I also went to a few Travelers’ Century Club events, a happy hour with the Circumnavigator’s Club, and a few on-line talks about travel.

Puzzles: I did the MIT Mystery Hunt again (virtually), which was a bit overwhelming even the third time around. The National Puzzlers’ League Convention in Nashville was also tremendous fun. Since things have started to come back to happening in person, I went to both the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament and Lollapuzzola. I was disappointed in how I did on the former. but was happy to solve cleanly at the latter.

And, of course, I have a long list of puzzles I do every day.

Genealogy: I didn’t have any huge research breakthroughs this year, but I did learn about several resources I need to spend time with. I made it to several talks and, in particular, participated in the IAJGS conference. But the biggest thing I did this year was mentoring members of my local Jewish genealogy society on Lithuanian research.


Baseball: I went to two major league games - one at home (Mets at Nationals) and one in New York (Phillies at Mets), I also went to games at four minor league ballparks. Those were Staten Island Ferry Hawks, Buffalo Bisons, Rochester Red Wings, and Syracuse Mets.


Culture: I went to 15 plays, 15 musicals, and 3 operas. A few of these were on-line but most were in person. A few favorites were We Now Declare You To Be a Terrorist at Roundhouse Theatre, Catch Me If You Can at Arena Stage, Once on This Island at Constellation Theatre, She Loves Me at Signature Theatre, and Guys and Dolls at the Kennedy Center. I also saw Come From Away again in New York and it was just as wonderful as before.

I went to 9 concerts. My favorites of those were Michael Tilson Thomas conducting the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center, Jonathan Richman at the Lincoln Theatre, and Ari Shapiro’s cabaret show at 54 Below in New York. I also enjoyed the DC Cabaret Network show in the Capital Fringe Festival.


I saw 10 movies, all but two in theaters. Favorites were The Automat, Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song, The Banshees of Inisherin, and The Menu.

As for storytelling, I performed in the Women’s Storytelling Festival, the Washington Folk Festival, Beyond Barbarella: The Future is Female, and an ASST Intergenerational Storytelling evening. I also went to a lot of story swaps, including those from our local group, Voices in the Glen, and swaps put on by Community Storytellers in Los Angeles and San Diego Storytellers. (That is one positive of zoom - I can see old friends.) I went to a couple of in-person Better Said Than Done shows, including one by Andy Offutt Irwin. I watched several shows on-line, e.g. Elizabeth Ellis at The Grapevine. And I went to a couple of workshops on-line. And, oh, yeah, let’s not forget the Allegheny Highlands Storytelling Festival. I also wet to several meetings of a Kamishibai (Japanese paper theatre) special interest group.

Museums and Art:

I went to 14 museums and exhibits over the past year. Some of the things I particularly liked were Fragile Ecosystems by Mulyana at the Sapar Contemporary Gallery in Tribeca (in New York City), the second half of the Jasper Johns retrospective at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (note that I’d seen the other half of it at the Whitney in New York in 2021), The Great Animal Orchestra at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, Pixelbloom at Artechouse, the Faith Ringgold retrospective at the New Museum in New York, and the Strong Museum of Play in Rochester, New York.

I was very disappointed in the touring Sistine Chapel exhibition. And, while I liked the Yayoi Kunama exhibit at the Hirshorn Museum, it was pretty small and only took a half hour to go through.


Other Stuff:

• I got one ink blot in the Style Invitational.
  
  
• I went to several lectures on Jewish topics, including some in the Leading Jewish Minds at MIT series, a talk on Jewish magic, a talk on Jewish mustard, a talk on Jews and baseball, and Yiddish New York.
  
  
• My friend, Frances, and I went to the Fall Festival at Cox Farms.
  
  
• I went to miscellaneous other lectures, including one on the Paradox of Choice, an interview with Fran Lebowitz at the Kennedy Center, and the Faraday Prize lecture on-line.
  
  
• I went to a chocolate tasting with my friend, Cindy. I also went out to dinner with various friends several times.
  
  
• I participated in the Jewish Rally for Abortion Rights.
  
  
• I did the open house tour at the Mormon Temple.
  
  
• I went (virtually) to the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s annual mock trial.
  
  
• Played board games (either with people I know from the Loser community or with NPL folks) frequently.
  
  

Goals:

So how did I do on my 2022 goals? I took 12 trips, while my goal had been 10, so I scored 100%. I only finished a bit over 5/6 of one embroidery project (versus my goal of finishing 2), so I get 42% there. I didn’t finish any afghans (though I did do a little work on a couple of them), so score 0% on that goal. I also didn’t do anything about organizing photos on my computer. I went through all of the non-crafts magazines around the house, so I’ll give myself 100%. I learned 3 new folktales (though I doubt I will tell one of them again) but I didn’t create a new personal story. However, I did create a science fiction story for a show. So I’m going to give myself an 85% on that goal. I didn’t really organize my yarn stash, though I did get rid of a few things I decided I wouldn’t use. I’ll give myself just 5% there. I read 47 books out of my goal of 75, so score 63%. And I didn’t start language study until November, but I did an average of about 10 hours a week. So if I figure on that being 80 hours and compare it to my goal of 2 hours per week, I’ll count that as 77%,

Adding all of that up, I’ll give myself a 41% on the year. That’s rather meh, but better than nothing.


Which brings me to goals for 2023:

• Go through all of the photos and slides from my parents. I hope to be able to get rid of about 3/4 of them.
  
  
• Do some formal educational every month. Things that count towards this are taking actual classes (e.g. there is an interesting adult education program in Arlington) or going to lectures (e.g. those put on by Profs and Pints). Both in-person and virtual activities count, but reading does not.
  
  
• Take at least 4 international trips.
  
  
• Finish at least three crafts projects.
  
  
• Read at least 75 books, with a stretch goal of 100.
  
  
• Go to at least three new ballparks.
  
  
• Go to at least one museum exhibition each month.
  
  
• Go to at least 3 national parks.
  
  
• Spend at least a half hour every day on housework.
  
  

Last week, one of my friends commented that I was the busiest retired person he knew. I do a lot of things, but I also waste a lot of time and am kind of annoyed with myself over how much stuff I have not been getting done. I definitely need to spend more time on housework. And I need to cook real food and get more exercise. Sitting down to write this catch-up is at least something I can check off my to-do list, which is back up around CVS-receipt length.

Celebrity Death Watch: David Foreman was an environmental extremist who co-founded Earth First! Hilary Mantel wrote historical fiction about Oliver Cromwell, including Wolf Hall. Louise Fletcher was an actress who was most famous for playing Nurse Ratched in the movie One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Rita Gardner was an actress who originated the role of Luisa in The Fantasticks. Pharaoh Sanders was a jazz saxophonist. James Florio was the governor of New Jersey in the early 1990’s (and in the U.S. House of Representatives before that). Coolio was a rapper. Stephanie Dabney was a ballerina with the Dance Theatre of Harlem and was particularly famous for performing the role of The Firebird. Jim Lisbet wrote mysteries and poetry. Bill PLante was a long time senior White House correspondent for CBS News. Sachsen Littlefeather rejected an Oscar on behalf of Marlon Brando. Audrey Evans cofounded the Ronald McDonald House Charities. Hector Lopez played baseball and went on to become the first black manager of a AAA minor league team. Al Primo created Eyewitness News. Tiffany Jackson was a basketball player whose career included three WNBA teams and 7 years with Maccabi Ashdod in Israel. Charles Fuller was a playwright, best known for A Soldier’s Play. Peter Robinson wrote detective novels. Lenny Lipton wrote the lyrics to “Puff, the Magic Dragon.” Judy Tenuta was a comedian. Jody Miller was a country singer whose signature song was “Queen of the House,” the comeback to Roger Miller’s “King of the Road.” Ivy Jo Hunter was a Motown songwriter, notable for cowriting “Dancing in the Streets” with Marvin Gaye and Mickey Stevenson. Robert I. Toll cofounded the housing developers Toll Brothers. Grace Gluck was an arts journalist.


Kevin Locke was a Lakota storyteller, flautist, and hoop dancer. He received a number of awards (primarily for music) and was a significant keeper of traditional culture.

Loretta Lynn was a country singer-songwriter and the subject of the movie Coal MIner’s Daughter. She won three Grammy awards.


LJ/DW Death Watch: I learned the other day that Howard Stateman, known on LiveJournal and Dreamwidth as howeird, died last week. He’d had numerous health issues recently and had had surgery in September, so it is not entirely surprising. I assume his sisters will be sorting out his estate. I hope his cat, Spook, and his aquarium fish are being well cared for.

Baseball: While I am on the subject of death, the New York Mets had been my one bright spot in a bleak baseball year. I will spend the post-season cheering for my second favorite team, namely whoever is playing the Yankees. (At the moment, that is the Guardians, who also have the plus of being managed by Terry “Tito” Francona, who led my BoSox to their 2004 and 2007 World Series titles.)

Yom Kippur: Yom Kippur was Wednesday. I did zoom services again, which is not really satisfying. But it did let me sleep later. I did fast, but, overall, I was not very into it this year.

Spaghetti and Matzoh Balls: This is a short film by Rena Strober, which I saw via an on-line screening from the Union for Reform Judaism, with a talk-back afterwards. The short version of the story is that she used to sing at a restaurant in New York called Rao’s. It was a mob hangout and one night one guy objected to her singing and someone else shot and killed him. This ended up in her reconnecting to some aspects of her Jewish upbringing. She wrote and performed a one-person show about this. The movie is based on but not identical to this. It’s an interesting story, with a lot of warmth and a surprising amount of humor, and I’m glad I saw it.

Thursday: Thursday was a completely insane day for me. I had my Global Entry renewal interview in the morning. It took me 45 minutes or so each way on the Metro to get downtown to the Reagan Building, but the actual interview took about 5 minutes. Anyway, I got the acceptance email less than an hour after I got home, even though they told me it would take up to 72 hours. I should get the new card in the mail within a week or two.

My Grimm discussion group is normally on Wednesdays, but moved to Thursday because of Yom Kippur. This session was about the Gold Children, which is an amalgamation of various folk tale tropes. We had an interesting discussion, particularly regarding the ability of children made completely out of gold to move around perfectly normally. As I pointed out, gold is pretty malleable.

That was followed immediately by another zoom meeting. That one was training for the Capital Jewish Food Festival, where I was volunteering on Sunday.

And, then, in the evening I went with my friend Cindy to see Ichabod at Creative Cauldron. We had dinner beforehand at Pizzeria Orso, which is right up the street. The mushroom and olive pizza was good. Their pizza crust is excellent. I also had tiramisu gelato for dessert.

Ichabod: This was a new musical, obviously based on The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Matthew Conner had a previous attempt at musicalizing this story, but The Hollow, which I saw at Signature Theatre in 2011 was a failure. This reworking (with book by Stephen Gregory Smith) was better, but I still didn’t care much for most of the music. It stuck fairly closely to what I remember of the story, but the music was meh. I might have liked the opening number (“Invocation”) but neither of us could understand the lyrics. I did like two songs - “Clippety, Cloppety” (in which Bram Bones tells the story of the headless horseman) and “Midnight Ride” (which tells the part where Ichabod Crane disappears). But I didn’t think the more romantic pieces worked particularly well. The performers were fine - especially Colum Goelbacker as Ichabod and Bobby Libby as Brom, but the whole thing just didn’t work well for me. I’d have more to say, but they don’t have printed programs and I accidentally deleted the electronic one. I tried to find a link to it on their website but failed. Grr.

Guys and Dolls: As you may have heard me say before, I consider Guys and Dolls to be the best musical of all time. It’s got a witty book, great music, and lively choreography. There was a production of it at the Kennedy Center, as part of the Broadway Center Stage series, which I saw on Friday night. While this was a scaled down production, the cast was, decidedly not scaled down. James Monroe Iglehardt, who played Nathan Detroit, has made numerous Broadway appearances, including winning a Tony for playing the Genie in Aladdin. Jessie Mueller, who played Miss Adelaide, won a Tony for playing Carole King in Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, as well as originating the role of Jenna in Waitress (among other Broadway roles). Sky Masterson was played by Steven Pasquale who was in the recent CSC production of Assassins. And Sarah Brown was played by Philip Soo, who is most famous for playing Eliza Schuyler in Hamilton. By the way, Pasquale and Soo are married in real life, so it’s particularly nice seeing the chemistry between them. The most unconventional bit of casting was Rachel Dratch (of SNL fame and who I recently saw in POTUS) as Big Jule. I want to note the choreography for “Luck Be a Lady Tonight,” in particular, which was exciting and impressive. Anyway, it was an extremely enjoyable evening. And, by the way, the Kennedy Center has actual printed programs available. This is a very limited run (10 performances only), so if you want to see it, get your tickets now for this coming weekend.

By the way, I had dinner before the show at Bandoola Bowl, a new Burmese place in Western Market (a food hall in Foggy Bottom). I got a ginger salad with tofu and lemon dressing, which was absolutely delicious. I will definitely eat there again. Also, the weather was particularly nice, making for an especially enjoyable walk over to the KenCen.

Capital Jewish Food Festival: As I mentioned above, I volunteered at this festival on Sunday. It was the first time they were doing it and things were a bit chaotic. I was assigned to check IDs and give out wristbands (green for over 21, blue otherwise). I was on the first shift (10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.) and we pretty much ran out of green wristbands. In retrospect, it would have made sense to have wristbands only for people who were over 21. Volunteers got t-shirts and 3 tasting tickets. By the time my shift finished, several of the vendors had run out of the tasting samples, though there was still plenty of food for sale at most of the vendors. I did get samples of things like bagel chips with lox spread (and a salmon salad from another vendor. I’ve forgotten what my third sample was.) And I bought a turkey sandwich with cole slaw from Corned Beef King for lunch. Anyway, it was definitely crossed so I’d say the event was a success. Also, Michael Twitty gave an interesting talk. One disappointment was that there were only a few kosher-certified vendors.

Murder Mystery Weekend: No, I haven’t gone to one, but I’ve sort of decided I’d like to. I see a few companies that run them but, if anyone I know has done one, I’d love recommendations. Ideally, the venue should be either academic or country house / hotel (not urban). It should be friendly for a single attendee, since none of my friends are likely to want to go along for this. I’m looking for a weekend (Friday night through Sunday brunch looks typical). And I’d like it to be in (in order of preference) Ireland, the UK, or southern U.S.

Any suggestions?

Books: I read remarkably little the past three months, partly because of trying to clear out piles of old magazines. Still, there are a few, only one of which I could wholeheartedly recommend, alas.

1. Fran Leibowitz, Metropolitan Life. This was a reread. The essays in this collection are somewhat dated, but many of them are still amusing. Nobody cares about conceptual art any more and only right wing extremists mock gay people. It also annoys me when a woman disparages math and science. Unfortunately, the times and values Leibowitz wrote about in these pieces are on their way back.
   
   
2. Elin Hildebrand, 28 Summers. The idea of this novel (which I read for my book club) is based on the movie Same Time, Next Year in which a couple has a one weekend a year affair. This is pretty much the epitome of a beach book - light but diverting. I couldn’t buy the coincidences that kept her son out of the picture on the annual weekend. And, really, she conceived that son as a result of a hook-up at her brother’s wedding. Slip a condom in your purse, girl.
   
   
3. Simon Brett, Bibliotecha Classica. This is another in the novella series published by Mysterious Press. A snobbish academic receives a copy of Bibliotecha Classica (a.k.a. Lempriere’ Dictionary) and his wife helps him research who bowdlerized that copy. He decides to write an article about this, but his wife has met an amateur researcher who has already novelized the situation. Overall, it’s pretty much an anti-academic screed, but it is always good to see a snob getting his comeuppance.
   
   
4. Randy Rainbow, Playing With Myself. I got this signed copy for going to Randy Rainbow’s book talk. I love his videos but his memoir has a bit too much name dropping and gushing over celebrities to be completely satisfying. It wasn’t a complete waste of time as he wrote about cats and told the story of his name (which is, indeed, his real name), but I passed the book along to a friend.
   
   
5. Fran Leibowitz. Social Studies. More of the same - avoiding writing, enjoying smoking, kvetching about New York apartments, general curmudgeonliness. Much of what she wrote here (except on the subject of fashion) is still relevant 40 years later, which is a plus.
   
   
6. Taylor Jenkins Reid, Daisy Jones and the Six. This is the literary equivalent of a mockumentary and is a complete and total slog. It consists of a series of interviews with members of a fictional rock band (based on Fleetwood Mac) and is a mix of infighting, ego wars, and drugs. I read this for my book club and the group was sharply divided on it, so maybe there are some people out there who could bring themselves to care about the characters. Not I.
   
   
7. Gaston LeRoux, The Phantom of the Opera. Surprisingly, I had not read this before. I knew the basic story, of course, from movies and two musical theatre versions. (For the record, Maury Yeston’s is much much much much much much better than Andrew Lloyd Webber’s.) The adaptations are truer to the novel than I expected. Anyway, there is plenty of suspense and, however implausible Erik’s abilities are, Le Roux does play fair. Overall, a good read.
   
   

Movies: I saw two movies at the theatre and one on an airplane.

1. The Automat: This documentary is exactly the sort of movie I enjoy. I only remember eating at an automat once and I was about 9 years old at the time, so I have only a vague memory of it, but it was delightful to hear the reminiscences of many famous people talking about the automat (and the Philadelphia version, known as Horn and Hardart’s). Sweet nostalgia, which had everyone in the theatre (okay, there were just 3 of us) talking about it afterwards. Highly recommended.
   
   
2. The Duke: Based on a true story, this tells the story about the heist of a painting. The perpetrator is trying to bring attention to his campaign to provide free television licenses for old age pensioners. Or is that what really happened? This was less humorous than I expected from the trailer, but still reasonably enjoyable.
   
   
   
3. The Big Lebowski: I watched this on a flight from Seattle to Anchorage. It’s a bit surprising I’d never seen it before since I like many of the Coen brothers’ movies and Lubowsky (note difference in spelling) is one of my family names. But I hadn’t and I did and I mostly liked it. My favorite part has to do with Walter being shomer Shabbat (i.e. he doesn’t roll on Saturday). Lots of absurdity, which is about what I expected.
   
   

Goals:

• I took two trips to New York and one to Alaska, so I am up to 6 for the year so far (out of a goal of 10). And I have 2 more coming up this month.
  
  
• I am more than 2/3 through my current cross-stitch project, so being able to finish two this year seems feasible.
  
  
• I've done nothing about knitting or crocheting afghans.
  
  
• Nor have I done anything about organizing photos. Sigh.
  
  
• I have gotten rid of a lot of magazines, and I have only a few non-crafts magazines to go.
  
  
• I’ve learned two folktales, but I am not sure whether I like one of them enough to tell it more than once. I have an exciting storytelling show next week, though, with a new story that’s a real stretch from what I usually do.
  
  
• Organizing my yarn stash? Ha ha ha!
  
  
• I’m only up to 23 books out of my yearly goal of 75, so I have some ways to go. I am somewhat back on pace so far this month, so I think that goal is still achievable.
  
  
• I am still vacillating about what language(s) to study.
  
  

Books: Only 7 this quarter, bringing me to 37 for the year, short of my goal of 52.

1. Alexander McCall Smith, A Promise of Ankles. I always enjoy spending time at 44 Scotland Street. In this installment, Cyril has uncovered what may be a Neanderthal skull in a local park. Stuart’s incipient romance falls apart when Katie falls for Bruce of all people. Pat is going off to Paris. Mathew and James rescue the Duke of Johannesburg from a Gaelic immersion imprisonment. And Bertie and Ranald Braveheart McPherson go on an exchange program to Glasgow. It’s all just as charming as ever and a cozy way to spend a few hours.
   
   
2. Connie Willis, Fire Watch. This is a collection of short stories with the author’s brief commentary on them. The title story involves history students being sent back in time without any real guidance on what they are supposed to do. In “Samaritan,” Willis takes the Biblical description of Esau as “red and hairy” to imagine him as an orangutan. “Mail Order Clone” is an amusing twist on a confessional story, of the sort my mother used to read in cheap magazines. My absolute favorite was “And Come From Miles Around” about aliens coming to earth to see a total solar eclipse. Given some of the unlikely places that umbraphilia has taken me, I completely related to this. All in all, it’s a fun collection.
   
   
3. Audrey Niffenegger,Her Fearful Symmetry. This was for book club. The story involves a pair of twins who have inherited a flat in London from their aunt. The other residents of the house are her aunt’s much younger lover and a crossword constructor with crippling OCD. Well, that’s the other living residents. The aunt’s ghost slowly makes her presence known and begins to manipulate things. There are some interesting questions about identity and the influence of place, but I didn’t like the direction that the answers to those questions took. And I hated the ending.
   
   
4. Tracy Kidder, Strength in What Remains. This was also for book club. It’s a remarkable book, telling the (true) story of a young man who escaped the genocide in Burundi, made his way to New York, lived in Central Park, and, via an encounter with an ex-nun he met while delivering groceries, met a couple who took him in and helped him resume his education. He was obviously smart and went to Columbia University, then to Harvard’s School of Public Health and entered Dartmouth Medical School, before leaving to start clinics back in Burundi. Kidder accompanied him to Burundi (and Rwanda) and was able to hear more of the horrific details of what he endured. This was thoroughly absorbing (albeit disturbing) reading and Dio’s story is truly inspiring. Highly recommended.
   
   
5. Bill Simmons, Now I Can Die in Peace. I wouldn’t have thought it was possible to write a dull book about the 2004 Red Sox, but I was wrong. This was a total slog, which took me ages o get through. While there were some amusing bits here and there, there are too many digressions full of sexism, beer, movie analogies, and inside jokes. Terrible.
   
   
6. Mary Janice Davidson, Unwed and Unreturnable. Vampire Queen Betsy Taylor is planning her wedding, but Eric Sinclair is less than cooperative. There are also issues with her step-mother and her half-sister (who is, as you may recall, the daughter of the devil). On the plus side, the fiend in the basement has improved his skill at crocheting. And then there’s the serial killer out there and the ghost of one of his victims, who expects Betsy to help her. In other words, this is light and silly and a perfect antidote to the gloom of winter.
   
   
7. Edward E. Fry and Miranda McClintic, David Smith: Painter, Sculptor, Draftsman. I guess my parents (or at least my father) had gone to an exhibit of Smith’s work at the Hirshorn in 1982 and liked his work enough to buy this book. It has plenty of plates and I do like some of the sculptures. More significantly, it has a lot of background on Smith’s evolution as an artist, his influences, and his work beyond the sculptures he is primarily known for.
   

Movies: 7 this quarter, largely because I saw 4 of them as part of Yiddish New York.

1. Fauci: National Geographic had a free screening (on-line) of this documentary about Anthony Fauci. I thought it did a good job of explaining his background, including controversies about his work, starting with his interaction with AIDS activists. It also didn’t paint him as a saint, with his own admission that he neglected his family for the sake of his work. I found it absorbing and well worth watching.
   
   
2. Belfast: AARP had a free on-line screening of Kenneth Branagh’s movie about his childhood experiences in Belfast during The Troubles. Nine-year-old Buddy doesn’t really understand the turmoil. His father, who works in England, is being pressured to join in the riots, but he is staunch in his refusal. He wants to leave Belfast, but Buddy’s mother and grandparents (and Buddy himself) want to stay, providing the fundamental conflict. There are less grim moments, like an excursion for the family to watch Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. It’s a good history lesson mixed with a believable family drama. Recommended.
   
   
3. West Side Story: Stephen Spielberg did a good job with this reworking of one of the greatest musicals of all time (and a fairly good earlier musical version). Tony Kushner’s screenplay provides somewhat more depth for the characters. In particular, both Riff and Bernardo are humanized. The added character of Valentina, played by Rita Moreno, was particularly notable. My one quibble is that I thought that most of the characters seemed older than I usually think of them. If Maria is supposed to be 18 and one of the youngest characters, why are they all going to a high school dance? Also - bring lots of tissues.
   
   
4. Solomon and Gaenor: This was part of the Yiddish New York film festival. The story is set in early 20th century Wales where Solomon, a young Jewish man, is a “pack man,” i.e. door-to-door peddler of fabric. He meets Gaenor, a Welsh girl whose family is a member of a strict Christian fellowship. They fall in love and, before long, she is pregnant. The catch is that he hasn’t told her he’s Jewish. And, oh yeah, her brother is fiercely anti-Semitic. There’s a powerful portrayal of life in a rural coal mining community of the time. There’s a lot of brutality, but it feels realistic. But, mostly, what makes it work is the fine acting of Nia Roberts as Gaenor and Ioan Grufford as Solomon. (And, as a bonus, he is yummy.)
   
   
5. Brussels Transit: This is the story of the director/writer’s parents (or, possibly, grandparents - I got confused on that) who fled Poland after World War II and ended up in Brussels. They struggled to adapt, having trouble learning French, failing to get their situation legalized, etc., but eventually have a successful clothing business. Frankly, I didn’t find this particularly interesting, though there was one powerful scene where the mother goes from bakery to bakery trying to find one that will let her use their oven to bake her pastries and, when failing, throws the whole baking pan into the river. But, overall, I thought there was too much left out of the story to make us care about these particular people.
   
   
6. Five Brides: This is a bit of Soviet agitprop from 1929. Members of a Ukrainian nationalist detachment terrorize the Jews in a small village, killing an old woman who smiles at them and demanding 5 brides in exchange for not slaughtering the whole village. The last reel is missing, but we learn enough to tell that the Red Army is going to defeat them and rescue the girls. I found this hard to follow, probably because I don’t know a lot about the specific history involved.
   
   
7. When Tango Meets Klezmer: This short documentary discusses the life and work of Ernesto Honigsberg, a composer and orchestra leader from Romania. He survived World War II by living on trains in the Soviet Union, where he entertained Russian soldiers. That’s also where he met his wife, Rosa, who was a Polish singer also working on the trains. After the war, they emigrated to South America, ending up in Brazil and continuing to perform. The music is wonderful and I thoroughly enjoyed this movie.
   
   

Goals: I’ll tackle that in my year-end wrap-up, coming soon(ish).