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Gosh, it's been a while since I've done one of these. Let's see if I remember how to do all these little tags...
Fannish
The Big Fandom of the year for me was the Locked Tomb, the series by Tamsyn Muir that starts with Gideon the Ninth. I read and re-read the two books (so far) several times, and while right at this moment the fannishness is lying dormant, it is coiled in my soul, ready to strike again at any moment.
Otherwise, I ended up doing a lot of reading and watching. I revisited a bunch of Star Trek, which was and remains delightful. I wrote some Han/Leia fic, which is always fun, especially since the people who enjoy Han/Leia are lovely and discerning!
Video Games
My big game of the year is Crypt of the Necrodancer, which is a fun little dungeon game where you have to move with the beat. I beat the Necrodancer once and now I gotta do it again, except harder and I haven't figured out the trick yet.
Books
Other than Gideon the Ninth (and Harrow the Ninth), I enjoyed many, many books. According to Goodreads, I read 64 books. That does not include the many re-reads of various books. If I had to pick five of my favorites (again, besides the obvious), they would be:
Or What You Will, by Jo Walton. Jo Walton is one of my favorite authors, someone who manages to combine fantasy with philosophy speculation in a way that makes me think, and although this book took a while to grab me, when I did I was all in.
A Memory Called Empire, by Arkady Martine. I adore fish out of water stories, and this one had a lot of strangeness and cultural misunderstandings and Honorable People and political intrigue.
This is How you Lose the Time War, by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone. This book is SO GORGEOUS. It's very descriptive and dramatic and hints at the world(s) involved rather than giving you a concrete setting, and I adored it. Maybe my actual favorite book of this year.
A Gentleman in Moscow, by Amor Towles. This book was a book club book that I would and could recommend to just about anyone. We ended up reading it just as the social distancing measures really took hold here, which was sort of ironic timing, but it was such a good, hopeful book that it went straight to the top of my list.
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, by Olga Tocarczuk. I haven't yet managed to get anyone to read this book--I tried to get my book club to read it, but they passed on it, probably because of the title. I really loved the main character and the setting. It ended up feeling very down-to-earth and practical in a way I find really satisfying.
In other book news, I finally started legitimately keeping track of and writing little "reviews" on Goodreads. So… you know, if that's your thing, come find me. I cannot guarantee I say anything about books worth saying, but I'm trying to let go of my need to be perceived as intelligent about my book choices and enjoyment.
Fun
Well. Fun was certainly fraught in 2020. I didn't have anything too big or adventurous planned in the Before Times, and then the Current Times meant that the most adventuring I did was two quiet weekends to the beach, visiting my aunt. Those trips were very wonderful and healing, and I only regret that I wasn't able to spend more time with her and her partner in the past.
I'm very grateful about how my friend group(s) have really tried to move online. One of my gaming groups moved to Zoom and Roll20 right away, and I think maybe we missed like… one week while we figured it all out. Another group has gotten going since then and I'm having fun with that, too. I had an outdoor social group during the spring and summer that is having to move more virtual now that the weather is colder again. My book club has transitioned to virtual meetings pretty well, too, and I have a small intergenerational discussion group through my Friends Meeting that has become a lovely, stable place for me.
Writing
This is mostly meh, but I have started to write a little bit here and there more recently, especially with the Discord Writing Group I'm participating in now. May that trend continue.
Music
I have kept up playing piano (probably even more because of social distancing and being home more than I would have otherwise). It is a very centering place for me. I also managed to get a few recordings of myself playing Christmas tunes so I could send them to my mom, and that felt like a real accomplishment.
Physical Activity
I walked quite a bit in spring and summer, and even fall wasn't too sedentary, but uh… winter started off rough. This last week, my grandma (who broke her LEG a few weeks ago) and I made a deal that we would both take a walk on days it wasn't raining. So far, that's meant EVERY DAY and I have stuck to it (I know she will have!).
2021
Okay, so I don't make resolutions. I don't. But I do think of goals that I want to accomplish and write them down, so it's understandable that some people might think they are resolutions.
Books and Other Media
I want to start reading more non-fiction, so I've identified 6 non-fiction books to read in 2021. (I'm starting off with a small goal.)
I also have 2.5-3 small shelves with books I have not yet read, and I have about 9 books on hold from the library. I'd like to go through the books on hold and the to-read shelves, even if that just means deciding I'm not going to read the book on the shelf that's been sitting there for years after all.
I also have a list of movies to watch, so I'm going to try to watch one of them from that list each month. I'm definitely not holding myself to that very strictly, especially since the books thing is already going to be more of a project, but there are plenty of just plain fun movies on that list that I sort of forget are out there when I'm choosing what to watch.
I also really, really, really want to do a Farscape Rewatch. It's been ages since I've seen the show, and it's time!
Learning, Practicing, and Doing
For piano, I really want to re-start practicing how to play from chord notation. This is something that I wish I'd learned how to do a long time ago.
I want to re-start my ASL learning as well. I have a plan in place for it, and just hope I can actually do it.
I have a couple of sewing projects I'd like to work on, but I won't feel any guilt if I don't get to them.
I'm considering how best to make an impact on areas of social justice that resonate with me, and I have the theory that it might be more effective to focus on ONE area and not fracture myself into a million pieces trying to fix EVERYTHING. This is less of a goal than it is a consideration, so it needs some work to turn into a plan.
Fannish
The Big Fandom of the year for me was the Locked Tomb, the series by Tamsyn Muir that starts with Gideon the Ninth. I read and re-read the two books (so far) several times, and while right at this moment the fannishness is lying dormant, it is coiled in my soul, ready to strike again at any moment.
Otherwise, I ended up doing a lot of reading and watching. I revisited a bunch of Star Trek, which was and remains delightful. I wrote some Han/Leia fic, which is always fun, especially since the people who enjoy Han/Leia are lovely and discerning!
Video Games
My big game of the year is Crypt of the Necrodancer, which is a fun little dungeon game where you have to move with the beat. I beat the Necrodancer once and now I gotta do it again, except harder and I haven't figured out the trick yet.
Books
Other than Gideon the Ninth (and Harrow the Ninth), I enjoyed many, many books. According to Goodreads, I read 64 books. That does not include the many re-reads of various books. If I had to pick five of my favorites (again, besides the obvious), they would be:
Or What You Will, by Jo Walton. Jo Walton is one of my favorite authors, someone who manages to combine fantasy with philosophy speculation in a way that makes me think, and although this book took a while to grab me, when I did I was all in.
A Memory Called Empire, by Arkady Martine. I adore fish out of water stories, and this one had a lot of strangeness and cultural misunderstandings and Honorable People and political intrigue.
This is How you Lose the Time War, by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone. This book is SO GORGEOUS. It's very descriptive and dramatic and hints at the world(s) involved rather than giving you a concrete setting, and I adored it. Maybe my actual favorite book of this year.
A Gentleman in Moscow, by Amor Towles. This book was a book club book that I would and could recommend to just about anyone. We ended up reading it just as the social distancing measures really took hold here, which was sort of ironic timing, but it was such a good, hopeful book that it went straight to the top of my list.
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, by Olga Tocarczuk. I haven't yet managed to get anyone to read this book--I tried to get my book club to read it, but they passed on it, probably because of the title. I really loved the main character and the setting. It ended up feeling very down-to-earth and practical in a way I find really satisfying.
In other book news, I finally started legitimately keeping track of and writing little "reviews" on Goodreads. So… you know, if that's your thing, come find me. I cannot guarantee I say anything about books worth saying, but I'm trying to let go of my need to be perceived as intelligent about my book choices and enjoyment.
Fun
Well. Fun was certainly fraught in 2020. I didn't have anything too big or adventurous planned in the Before Times, and then the Current Times meant that the most adventuring I did was two quiet weekends to the beach, visiting my aunt. Those trips were very wonderful and healing, and I only regret that I wasn't able to spend more time with her and her partner in the past.
I'm very grateful about how my friend group(s) have really tried to move online. One of my gaming groups moved to Zoom and Roll20 right away, and I think maybe we missed like… one week while we figured it all out. Another group has gotten going since then and I'm having fun with that, too. I had an outdoor social group during the spring and summer that is having to move more virtual now that the weather is colder again. My book club has transitioned to virtual meetings pretty well, too, and I have a small intergenerational discussion group through my Friends Meeting that has become a lovely, stable place for me.
Writing
This is mostly meh, but I have started to write a little bit here and there more recently, especially with the Discord Writing Group I'm participating in now. May that trend continue.
Music
I have kept up playing piano (probably even more because of social distancing and being home more than I would have otherwise). It is a very centering place for me. I also managed to get a few recordings of myself playing Christmas tunes so I could send them to my mom, and that felt like a real accomplishment.
Physical Activity
I walked quite a bit in spring and summer, and even fall wasn't too sedentary, but uh… winter started off rough. This last week, my grandma (who broke her LEG a few weeks ago) and I made a deal that we would both take a walk on days it wasn't raining. So far, that's meant EVERY DAY and I have stuck to it (I know she will have!).
2021
Okay, so I don't make resolutions. I don't. But I do think of goals that I want to accomplish and write them down, so it's understandable that some people might think they are resolutions.
Books and Other Media
I want to start reading more non-fiction, so I've identified 6 non-fiction books to read in 2021. (I'm starting off with a small goal.)
I also have 2.5-3 small shelves with books I have not yet read, and I have about 9 books on hold from the library. I'd like to go through the books on hold and the to-read shelves, even if that just means deciding I'm not going to read the book on the shelf that's been sitting there for years after all.
I also have a list of movies to watch, so I'm going to try to watch one of them from that list each month. I'm definitely not holding myself to that very strictly, especially since the books thing is already going to be more of a project, but there are plenty of just plain fun movies on that list that I sort of forget are out there when I'm choosing what to watch.
I also really, really, really want to do a Farscape Rewatch. It's been ages since I've seen the show, and it's time!
Learning, Practicing, and Doing
For piano, I really want to re-start practicing how to play from chord notation. This is something that I wish I'd learned how to do a long time ago.
I want to re-start my ASL learning as well. I have a plan in place for it, and just hope I can actually do it.
I have a couple of sewing projects I'd like to work on, but I won't feel any guilt if I don't get to them.
I'm considering how best to make an impact on areas of social justice that resonate with me, and I have the theory that it might be more effective to focus on ONE area and not fracture myself into a million pieces trying to fix EVERYTHING. This is less of a goal than it is a consideration, so it needs some work to turn into a plan.
no subject
Date: 2021-01-01 01:56 pm (UTC)From:But mostly: Happy New Year!
no subject
Date: 2021-01-01 10:56 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2021-01-02 03:05 am (UTC)From:And I have been meaning to do a Farscape re-watch forever. Could be fun to coordinate, old fandom style?
no subject
Date: 2021-01-02 05:39 pm (UTC)From:I think it would be super fun to coordinate a re-watch! I... have no idea what kind of timeframe people would appreciate. One episode a week seems slow, and too many would seem fast... but then with many folks still social distancing right now, faster might be better?