Hello, people-I-swear-to-write-but-never-do, relatives, and/or those who have filled me with a sense of obligation by mailing me something first! Greetings of a seasonal variety to you! May your Christmas season be full of love, hope, peace, and other fruits of the Spirit.
What follows is my attempt to sum up my year, despite the fact that you probably have learned most of this information via Facebook and, moreover, don’t expect changes of any great magnitude, because there weren’t any. Unless you count starting on an antidepressant, in which case: there was one change of some magnitude in the past few months, and it is somewhat obvious if I forget it. …pardon me a moment, I just realized I forgot something…
Right, so. Life! And the aspects thereof. Well. First off, there’s my…
Job: Yeaaah, I’m still at the law office. I’ve now spent half a year as secretary for two attorneys, without more salary to show for it. Awesome. Also awesome: doing anything with the court of appeals for the first time; we are all of us flailing about and consulting the court rules every 5 minutes.
Housing: You may recall me living in a rental house with 3 other ladies. As one of my erstwhile roommates got married and remained with her spouse in the house, Cecilia and I moved a whopping .8 miles north and east across Washtenaw. This is close enough to walk between them, but far enough that anything you sent to my old address will miss me. Except that I eventually put my mail on forward. I meant to send you a tidy little handwritten note with my new address, but that just didn’t happen. Sorry.
Romantic Relationships: Hahahaha, psych! There’s been nothing of the sort for the last eight years at least. This year, I went on 3 mediocre dates and 1 decent one, followed by some uninspired texts and no calls. Friends have suggested I broaden my field of search to include more states, or at least the Fort Wayne seminary. I may yet do so.
But! I am not without commitments: I have bought two new bookshelves this year and, by virtue of having a roommate who did the actual acquisition, acquired two kittens. I’ve also become an official member of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, having decided after 1.5 years in their choir that I wouldn’t just run off somewhere else. Except for the weekends when I’m off attending weddings, when I will run most anywhere given sufficient notice. There were three such weddings this year – those of my erstwhile housemate Hannah G. W., my other erstwhile housemate Liz C. N., and my concert-going, somewhat-indie music-supplying, lemon-jousting drinking buddy Hannah M. K., whose Astoria wedding was a delight to witness and stand up in. I also attended my friend Zach’s ordination to the Roman Catholic priesthood, which is basically like a wedding, except without a 300% markup on the celebratory cake.
There is now another wedding on the horizon, as my brother Paul is engaged to one of my dearest friends, Michelle; I am quite pleased for them (mostly because I am not the one currently dealing with obscene markups for nuptial celebration paraphernalia)(but also because I love them both dearly and, you know, hope they will carry on in delight together &c)(that said, Paul could be a bit less nauseating in his effusions of loving feeling)(someone get me a bucket).
I’m not even an engineer. Just label me “Exhausted.”
Other celebrations: 12th Night (complete with Shakespeare, almond cake, and crowns); my first Feuerzangenbowle (complete with fiery sugar and carol-singing); Michaelmas (complete with more Milton than I’ve ever read in one sitting before); St. Crispin‘s Day (complete with yelling the Henry V speech to passersby on Mackinac Island); and birthday celebrations of several people, including me (complete with playing two games of Boggle at once! Or eating Moroccan food/bowling/drinking Greek wine/reading Evelyn Waugh/however we celebrated birthdays).
I also basked in the reflected glory of my brother John competing on Jeopardy! in January, and his return for the Tournament of Champions in November. My own knowledge of trivia has not been sufficient to get me past the online Jeopardy! test, but it HAS won me a few rounds on LearnedLeague.com. Aw yiss. So much less of a timesink than either TriviaCrack or JetPunk, addictions which I have overcome! …Sadly I have not overcome my addiction to Sherlock fanfiction; please pray for my soul and/or recommend a support group.
No one can tell this deer is wearing jeans anyway.
On the bright side, I have profited greatly from reading both The Joy of Less and unfuckyourhabitat.tumblr.com, not that you can necessarily tell by looking at my work desk or my bedroom. But I’ve managed to dispose of some papers that had lingered for the last year or six, and got rid of some brown pants just in time to miss them at Halloween.
Other consumables: Continuing my tradition of checking things out of the library for as long as possible, I’ve had a couple books by Milosz out for 2 years now. It’s like grad school library privileges without needing to be in grad school. Books I actually read include some volumes on orthography, a couple intriguing books by Neil Postman, and I, Robot; generally my reading material has been more poetic, word-loving, critical, depressed, and mildly feminist.
Viewing-wise, this has been the year of my finally watching Die Hard, The Room (via RiffTrax Live), Zoolander, and White Christmas for the very first time. National Theatre Live brought Coriolanus and Hamlet within my purview, for which I both bless and curse them. 2015 also involved an Iron Man marathon (which, lest you be deceived, involves no physical activity) and more watching of The Decoy Bride / Not Another Happy Ending than is strictly advisable. Not to mention The Mindy Project, Inspector Lewis, and odds and ends from Parks and Rec.
I remain a member of the UMS Choral Union, which performed Mendelssohn’s Elijah and Handel’s Messiah; as mentioned above, I’m part of my church choir as well. Occasionally I pinch-hit as an alto because we are as poor in altos as we are rich in sopranos. Shocking, I know.
This year’s culinary adventuring included the eating of Moroccan bistilla (would recommend) and the cooking of meringues, gluten-free pizza, and gluten-free fried chicken. There were also a fair allotment of cocktails: lots of G&Ts and a fair sampling of Drinking with the Saints.
Also wik: I read with some alacrity the epic saga of Brother Orange; I learned more of the geography of John and Elizabeth’s neighborhood whilst dogsitting, when I accidentally walked their dog Hektor 5 miles longer than necessary; and I did the most Pinterest-y project of my life, namely, using twine and clothespins to hang a bunch of stuff, mostly calligraphy, on my bedroom wall.
There you have it: a far longer summary of a year than you might want or need. Merry freaking Christmas, y’all. See you all in 2016, unless I don’t actually.
Much love,
(really, I promise)
Joy
Onward, majestic Frog Steed! Onward to 2016!