This was a hard year after a series of hard years. Not everything sucked, though.

Sometime in October, I had a sudden craving for a kind of “risotto” that used to be one of the few vegetarian items on the menu in dirty, old Czech pubs. I even had this at a few restaurants trying to do a modern, gastro-pub take on Czech food. Anyway, my craving and excitement at remembering this staple of my first years in Prague convinced Tom to make this for me. It was glorious and everything I remembered and hoped for. That was my favourite meal that Tom made the whole year.

In November, it was finally not-hot enough to wear this outfit that I had been dreaming of since September 1st. When I get dressed, even if I’m just staying home, even when I am doing boring yoga, I layer. Without at least two layers of clothing I feel exposed. Incomplete. This summer was so unbearably hot all I could do was dream of cooler autumn temperatures. And then keep dreaming that dream for two months. Until I would wear my age-appropriate knee-high socks, with a pleated burgundy wool skirt, a men’s black cotton t-shirt, and men’s yellow plaid button-up. I felt just as amazing as I had dreamed. It was my favourite outfit of the year.

After we moved to Spain, I decided to just let myself buy the book. Any book that I came across that I wanted to read, old or new. That is part of what inspired the reading journal series I’m slowly working at. My favourite fiction read of the year was Lapovna. As previously discussed in the previously mentioned reading journal, I am a big Ottessa Moshfegh fan. I read half of a sentence review of Lapovna before buying the book and deciding to never read its reviews. People simply cannot handle when women write ugly stories about ugly people. Lapovna is on my reading journal to-write list, so subscribe if you don’t want to miss it!

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My favourite non-fiction book was Tacky, by Rax King. I’ll let her speak for herself in this section where she explains me to me:

“As far as I’m concerned, tackiness is joyfulness. To be proudly tacky, your aperture for all the too-much feelings — angst, desire, joy — must be all the way open. You’ve got to be so much more ready to feel everything than anyone probably wants to be. It’s a brutal way to live.”

My sister got married this year! At 2:30 am in my time zone! It was the first wedding I attended virtually, although our family’s first virtual wedding was mine back in 2014 and instead of Zoom we used Skype. We’re professionals in holding events and traditions over wifi. My favourite day in 2021 was when I went wedding dress shopping with my sister and our mom. It was so much more emotional that I ever expected. And I was so happy to see her so beautiful and happy in the dress on the day. Her husband is cool, too.

And last, my favourite day of the entire year was one day in June when Tom and I went down into the oldest parts of Barcelona to do some traditional touristing. I spent a few days researching the top sites I wanted to see, learning about their history, and picking out coffee shops and restaurants for refreshments. Tom let me give my little amateur tour guide facts about what we were seeing and was truly entertained or feigned it well. Our little adventure day was the best. (A close second was the day we went to the beach and I realised that the number of people who’s dead bodies ended up in the Mediterranean throughout history really freaks me out.)

In 2023 I hope to have more good health days than bad. I hope to have my poems and fiction published in literary magazines. I hope to read more writing that makes me feel less alone. And I hope more people will read and subscribe to this newsletter!

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hot mushrooms

a description of things that were good this…