#170 - Things I'm Glad I Did In 2024

Uh oh, am I too early for the end-of-year wrap up/look back essays? Or is that an imaginary rule I made up?

Well, either way: we're doing it! I know this year is NOT over and there's plenty of time left to idk go shopping or whatever (but also if you're ordering stuff for people mmmmm todays a good day to do that the USPS is overwhelmed and still headed by DeJoy for some fucking reason aahhh) but I have 13 essays left to publish this year in order to hit my goal and I don't miss deadlines so HERE WE GO end of year essay streak starts now!

Has this year been all good? No, nope, not even a little bit. I spent much of it in distress and wallowing, but that's been documented already, so, instead: relentless positivity and seeing the joy and pausing for appreciation at all the really great neat fucking things this year also held. Because life is about duality and we must balance the terrible with the great.

Joy in times of strife is rebellion!

My goal for this list was to focus on actions > purchases but also nothing in life is free anymore so a lot of these things did require purchases but we all live in end-stage capitalism so I'm not explaining anything new. Also, most of the things are: art! And I'm always down to pay for art and support artists always because that's how we keep art alive during capitalism and it IS what heals us okay 4real here's the list:

Going to [da movies]

I think I forgot just how much I love movies.

Love going to movie theatres, love eating popcorn, looooove acquiring a massive Diet Coke (which is why, despite having a great Cinema Experience I dislike Regal – they're sponsored by pepsi, ew, gross), love love love to be with an audience of people all participating in viewing something that we're all going to get something different out of!

I've gone to see Wicked 5 times since it came out (3 standard, 1 screenx, 1 4-D exp I'll literally never repeat again), but my favorite Experience recently was seeing Conclave, a movie I absolutely would have checked my phone during had I watched it at home because it's slowwww but it's deliberate and wonderful and I loved all the performances AND I loved the two older dudes (likes in their 60s maybe 70s) who let their thoughts be known throughout the film. Movie theater norms aren't just for the youths to break!

The things about movies is that even if I don't actually LIKE the movie, I LOVE having thoughts about what worked/didn't work/what I wanted more of.

I saw The Apprentice and while I don't think I'll ever watch it again – I was shocked that my #1 takeaway was the shots of 80s NYC that set the tone and place throughout the movie. I loved discussing the directors choices with my friend after and the things we disagreed on were FUN to DISAGREE about because there's no harm in people not having an aligned opinion about a work of art! That's actually the beauty of it!!!! And someone should team up with Sebastian Stan for Actors On Actors because he and Jeremy Strong were soSOso good and I'd like to hear them both discuss it! Specially 'ol Jerebear because he causally uses words like "dramaturgy" and makes the internet erupt for weeks at a time about actors who dare to be pretentious. As if that's not what's great about actors!

Movie theatres rock, love to gobble down popcorn in the dark (the only acceptable environment in which to consume popcorn), love to get a little stoned around the corner before and get BonBon whenever I'm going to the Williamsburg Cinemas because while I still buy the popcorn it is quite literally always stale.

Movies rule!

My favorite movies I saw in theatres this year are:

1. Wicked*
2. Conclave
3. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
4. Goodrich
5. Anora

*I don't know if Wicked pt.1 should be considered a movie because it is half of a story and ends in the middle of every narrative arc BUT I have literally seen it five times so what do I care I'm having FUN I love musicals and it's one of my favorites and I can literally now watch it whenever I want and I hate the dancing (where's the ELEGANCE and BEAUTY why does everyone move their legs so unappealingly??) but I won't let that or the bad CGI ruin it for me (why do the flowers and frogs look Like That during The Wizard And I) because uhhhh it's a delight and Ari deserves every award and Bowen Yang is the people's princess every single line of his has gotten big laughs at every screening. I usually leave after One Short Day because they marred Defying Gravity. ANYWAY!!!

Going to [comedy shows]

The alt-Brooklyn scene remains strong despite a lot of my #alltimefaves moving to LA.

(There is no city I'm more prepared to talk shit about than Los Angeles but I'll refrain because that's not the point and I've had a great time at a lot of shows this year!)

Do The Bell House and Union Hall still have the worst chairs (metal, folding)? Yes! Do we still have to get there 40 minutes before the show starts in order to guarantee one? You bet! Do our asses go numb about an hour into the show? Mhmm yeah for sure. They also now make you use the LiveNation app for tickets and I literally had the urge to speak to a manager about it #bringbackeventbright.

But comedy is so good. It's so good that it's shocking when it's bad. But that's even then, that's it's own kind of fun! I love dissecting what happened, I love autopsying a set and finding out what jokes hit and were memorable and following the new comics on their social media so I can stay up on their shows later. And honestly, if you're a comic who I like and you're on a show in new york and I don't know about it, you are not promoting yourself well enough! I check that shit regularly so why am I always finding out AFTER a set?

Anyway, comedy rules, check your local shows, support open mic nights, and get some laughs in!

I went to one of the BEST of the year last night and got to witness Caleb Hearon sharing all of his thoughts and reactions about Luigi like – spectacular. I also took a really good picture of Julio Torres which is shocking because usually the photos I take at comedy shows are hilariously blurry and out of focus and mostly taken for me to remember how many shows we went to because nowhere gives PHYSICAL TICKETS out anymore, a small but impactful tragedy!

Maggie Winters! Demi Adejuyigbe! Josh Gondelman! Marie Faustin! Sydnee Washington! Sabrina Wu! Jake Cornell! Maeve Higgins! Mohanad Elshieky!

Check 'em out!

Going to [Broadway Shows]

Again, just the act of getting out of my house and enjoying theatre has been such a gift. I'm so lucky to live in New York and access to some of the greatest productions is a huge part of that, something I had been sorely missing in my life and started to indulge in again this year.

Shoutout to Cole Escola for Oh, Mary! being my top theatre experience this year and getting me to see a play three (3) times. (I also made a card based on the playbill for a friend and it's one of my favorite cards I've ever made!) Loved it during previews, loved it both times on Bway, congratulations to Cole & co for an in-cred-ible accomplishment. Can't wait to see them sweep the Tony's!

(Since originally writing this I have since bought a pair of tickets to see it a fourth time now that Betty Gilpin is going to be playing the role of Mary – and also this presents me with a chance to share me and Marel's list of people we could see playing Mary!)

Merrily We Roll Along granted me the opportunity to finally see Jonathan Groff on stage (I did cry a little bit when he came on stage because Spring Awakening has an outsized impact on me due to the age at which it premiered!) and fall in love with Lindsay Mendez (the loudest laugh of the night was her declaring "I'm off book." during the Broadway Equity Fights AIDS speech at the end) and Daniel Radcliffe's rendition of Franklin Shepard, Inc. made me levitate out of my seat and the soundtrack does NO justice to it so here's a link to a ~slime tutorial clip instead:

Sondheim is a genius and his musicals are so full of humanity and and and it was SO GOOD and I had only seen the documentary about the failed production before so my expectations were all over the place but it was a big 'ol home run derby on stage! Hit after hit! Still think about the staging of The Blob on a regular basis! Can't WAIT for the pro-shot!

I left Moulin Rouge early.

#155 - You can do whatever you want, forever

or: okay cool, imma head out

Smoke ShowClaire B

I think jukebox musicals are tired and the updated pop songs were bad and the show was weirdly anti sex-worker and they are weird about taking photos before the show because you can't do it once the actors start to mingle out there but they don't make an announcement about it (because I'm sure that would break the immersion or something) but that results in ushers yelling at individuals, which is uhhhh worse! Aaron Tviet can sing the shit out of some bad songs though. Paid way too much money for the worst Diet Coke I've ever had.

Recently though I saw Gypsy with Audra McDonald and loooooved it, totally reinvigorated the show and it's such a unique performance of a coveted role! Also the Death Becomes Her musical might be the...most fun I've had in a theatre in quite some time?

Megan Hilty knocked it so far out of the park that I could see her facial expressions in the second to last row of the mezzanine. I don't love the movie it's based on and was shockshockshocked at how well they were able to translate a movie that was mostly made as an excuse for the director to test out all of his fun new Visual Effects into a lively stage production with one of the best breakdown/come-up songs that was sung by the DAD FROM THE MARY-KATE AND ASHLEY SHOW, TWO OF A KIND.

Michelle Williams was PERFECT and her voice was incredible I was literally at the back back of the theatre and the gags got me if you're looking for a guaranteed Good Time at a musical, it's the newest ticket I'd recommend! (If you have the opportunity and haven't seen Oh, Mary! yet like...sprint???? Don't walk??? Climb the one million tiny staircases to the steepest mezz I've EVER sat in and immediately lose yourself in the giggles???)

Lightscaping the shit out of my apartment

I mean, what's a quicker way to my stage manager heart than a good lighting rig?

I indulged, I bought Phillips Vue and like I can't compare it to other systems but I...love it. They updated the app recently and now I can play with candle and fireplace effects with all my bulbs oooooo it's so fun! There are preset lights but you can customize each one to such a degree that it's easy to get obsessed.

Love automation, love creating really specific moods and ambiances, love when I'm playing Zelda and I turn on my lights to Zelda mode and my entire living room is flush with lush greens and blues.

Did I think that the smart bulbs would be able to connect to my TV without realizing they're like exclusively only able to do that with Samsung Frames? Yeah, mhhmm, probably would have made some different choices if I did it again but overall: a rave!

It adds so much beauty to everything, I use 0.00 overhead lights anymore, and that all makes up for the fact that I'm now committed to using my phone as a light switch. Ambience! MOOD!

Acquiring an Eames (knockoff) chair

AptDeco has been a really wonderful resource for furnishing my apartment, which is an ongoing four year project that will never come to an end because life requires golf-like hobbies (unwinnable games that you can only tweak your way closer to perfection over time doing) and interior decorating is mine!

I saw the chair and instantly knew I was buying it, regardless of the fact that my living room is laid out around it because with the ottoman it really is quite massive.

Comfy! Cozy! I read more now because I bought a chair for reading in! Chairs should not cost 10k! This thing was like $300 and they delivered it within a week because living in NYC is magical babeeeey and sometimes your delivery guys are really attractive which is fun – but also sometimes they're so hot that it's awkward to point out that they definitely just broke the couch they brought in and you realize the couch is super uncomfortable anyway and are now waiting on the couch you ordered to replace it to be delivered sometime within the next six weeks after ordering it over six months ago!

The Shag Haircut

Did I end up hating this haircut and resenting how round my face has looked for half the year because of it? Yes, yep, mmhmm that is accurate.

Still glad I did it though! I had been thinking about getting it for years and the experience of the cut itself was great and got rid of tons of dead ends.

But yeah I'm growing this shit out and never ever EVER cutting it like that again omg I didn't make the shave-undercut mistake of my fellow millenials in college and I feel this was my "oh this is weird and awkward to grow out" haircut. The top layer was framed in such a way that I often resembled a cocker spaniel it was–

Anyway, it's almost grown out and I love my hair color so much now with the little greys I'm getting sprinkled in (they really just look like highlights) and while I miss the red I don't miss the constant upkeep!

Re-reading 1984

Oh man I mean, it's thee classic and I read it by myself in high school because I didn't get assigned it in English class and never really discussed it and like, it's great that I've already read so many classics because we really did have a robust and well curated curriculum at my high school BUT re-reading those classics as an adult has totally transformed them and the experience they provide.

Reading something the first time is really like traveling to a new destination. It's so unfamiliar that you're not going to pick up on the nuances because you're focused on the road signs (and keeping track of what you've already passed).

I don't know if y'all know this, George Orwell was like, a really good writer.

So efficient with words! Such lovely prose used to describe such harrowing events! FUNNY! Oh my god he's a scream 1984 is actually a comedy.

I read most of it out loud to my friend, which was also a really unique way to engage in a book. I really enjoyed the act of doing it because I read it twice (once through silently by myself so I wouldn't stumble over the trickier passages and tongue twisters) and got to really hear it.

But also the jokes are so much funnier when you're reading aloud!

Anyway, has calling my time spent on Twitter, my own Two Minutes Hate stopped me from going on the platform? Nah, but it has added a level of scrutiny to my media intake that feels really intentional.

Looking around and wanting to call everything Orwellian is not a unique reaction to the most beloved book about Totalitarianism, but holy shit it's so relevant it's painful and Winston isn't a hero or a villain he's just Some Guy and are we Party Members or Proles and how does staffing work at the Ministry Of Love and–

The book is about so many things at the same time (because it's a LAYERED MASTERPIECE and rightfully acknowledged as such) (it was also his sixth and final novel, he died at the age of 46 only one year after it was published, I can't imagine what would have come next but I'm so grateful for all he did leave us during his very short career) but one of them is writing. And the importance of writing and documenting the truth and being unflinching in our desires as humans to make things matter by records. (They wouldn't need so much propaganda if they were right, and if the countenances weren't working so well.)

This process of continuous alteration was applied not only to newspapers, but to books, periodicals, pamphlets, posters, leaflets, films, sound tracks, cartoons, photographs—to every kind of literature or documentation which might conceivably hold any political or ideological significance. Day by day and almost minute by minute the past was brought up to date. In this way, every prediction made by the Party could be shown by documentary evidence to have been correct; nor was any item of news, or any expression of opinions, which conflicted with the needs of the moment, ever allowed to remain on record. All history was a palimpsest, scraped clean and reinscribed exactly as often as was necessary.”

But actually, he thought as he readjusted the Ministry of Plenty’s figures, it was not even forgery. It was merely the substitution of one piece of nonsense for another. Most of the material that you were dealing with had no connection with anything in the real world, not even the kind of connection that is contained in a direct lie.

Arm workouts

On NPR (okay okay, on Wait Wait Don't Tell Me) they reported that doing even one bicep curl a year has measureable impact on our muscles.

Just one! Single! Not one every day! One (1) time!

Isn't that wild doesn't that totally make everything you've ever done worth it?

Anyway, cardio is fine but I don't always want to get That Sweaty and sometimes I do just want a 10 minute workout so I bought some dumbbells last year and it's been great. And when I started using them I was really surprised at how much I liked them and liked doing 10, 15, 20 minute workouts with them.

Then I started doing core stuff and working on my balance again and that really opened up new muscle groups which has been so much fun to discover! I got a kettlebell recently and ruined my thighs for like a week it was aweseome.

Creating a neutral-to-positive relationship with working out has been a longtime coming and this year I really made big ol' strides and I'm really excited to keep trying new forms of engaging with my body and muscles because being in shape is so much more fun than feeling out of it. I love feeling strong! I love not making every workout about calorie burning and/or fat loss! I love getting stronger and understanding my body and literally feeling improvement and finally understanding what people mean when they say things like "knit your ribs together" because like it's still creepy but I finally get the sensation I'm supposed to be reaching for. Also my butt muscles make me laugh laugh laugh when they get twitchy the next day.

Making Rings

For my friends birthday we went to make rings through a class at Brooklyn Metal Works and we had so much fun and I never knew that smelt was like a physical thing that you melted I thought metal was just melted together and while my hands are far too shaky to hold a blowtorch with confidence, I had a great time! Love hammering silver what a rush what a thrill!

Workshops are so fun and being a participant is a hoot after spending a lot of time planning for facilitators and making things with my hands always provides an outsized reward to the amount of effort required!

Seven Days of Effort

When I'm feeling down about myself, I sometimes recover by going Full Virgo and making myself do something wildly productive just to prove I can. This year I did two writing streaks where I published seven essays in a row and nicknamed it Seven Days of Effort.

Because it's a week but also because it's more than five but less intimidating than 10. And I did it both times and had a great time and really liked what came out of it because I allowed myself to take off all the (imaginary) pressure I often heap onto myself because my hardest pattern to break is being mean to myself. I'm so good at it and I've allowed it to swallow me in the past but I also must remember that I got out of that whale's belly over and over again (hence why I'm so available to get eaten the next time) and I can do literally anything I want when I set my mind to it. Especially if I give myself an arbitrary numbered goal to hit!

And with that, I begin my final Effort Streak in order to hit my arbitrary essay amount because oftentimes we don't know what we've got until we look back at it and prejudgement just means things don't get made not that Only Good Things get made.

Wheeeee! Habits! Fun things! Going outside and meeting people and yapping about David Fincher for like two hours at a Friendsgiving and feeling so alive you forget about the blisters on the bottom of your feet that definitely are going to render you couchbound for a minimum of two days!

Life is for living!!!!! Lindy effect babeeey! 2k24 almost done and like idk the future seems uhhhhhhhhhhh indetermined but at LEAST it won't be an election year so everyone will have way less economic anxiety yaaaay!