Last one of the year :')
Hi again!!!
You know that distinctly 2021 feeling where you’re working at one of Sean Penn’s vaccination sites during a global pandemic and the patient sitting down at your table looks like a guy you kissed in 2018 and when he hands you his driver’s license you realize it is that guy you kissed in 2018 which is confusing because he lives in New York and you’re in LA and it’s a global pandemic AND THEN you’re like “should I… say something? He clearly hasn’t recognized me (masks, etc.) but he could at any moment… and it’ll be weird if I haven’t said anything since I obviously know it’s him from his ID…” so you say “[Redacted], it’s me, David” and he’s like “???!!!” and you’re like “???!!!” and you’re both like
So then you’re filling out his vaccine card and making small talk and your hands are shaking from adrenaline which is embarrassing but whatever, WHATEVER, and then the nurse vaccinates him and as he’s leaving he’s like “we should hang out while I’m in LA!” and you’re like lolololol because you know he is not going to follow up on that, but that’s fully fine because you are in a relationship and wow aren’t you glad to be dating who you’re dating instead of this guy who treated you kind of shittily and probably doesn’t even realize that, and isn’t it nice to not have to deal with guys like that anymore, especially during a global pandemic, AND THEN he’s gone and the nurse turns to you and is like “so… what was that?” And then you vaccinate 400 more people that day? You know that feeling? That distinctly 2021 feeling? Yeah me too. :)
This year I realized I only want to watch movies that are FUN – not necessarily lighthearted or funny, but fun. I had this epiphany watching Titane, a movie that made me miserable from the first to last frame. No more! Never again! From here on out it’s fun or none.
FAVORITE FIRST WATCHES (ranked order) (all fun)
The Matrix (1999)
Titanic (1997)
Clockwatchers (1997)
The French Dispatch (2021)
Election (1999)
The Matrix Reloaded (2003)
Jennifer’s Body (2009)
Cruella (2021)
And trailer of the year goes to:
FAVORITE FIRST READS (alphabetical by author)
The Unspeakable by Meghan Daum
No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
100 Essays I Don’t Have Time to Write by Sarah Ruhl
The Faraway Nearby by Rebecca Solnit
Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson
Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner
OTHER FIRST READS (alphabetical by author)
The Mothers by Brit Bennett
The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron
Coventry by Rachel Cusk
Love and Other Poems by Alex Dimitrov
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
You’ll Grow Out of It by Jessi Klein
Luster by Raven Leilani
Dream Work by Mary Oliver
Peaces by Helen Oyeyemi
Minor Feelings by Cathy Park Hong
Nobody Ever Asked Me about the Girls by Lisa Robinson
When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris
The Wreckage of My Presence by Casey Wilson
RE-READS (alphabetical by author)
Half Magic by Edward Eager
Knight’s Castle by Edward Eager
Magic by the Lake by Edward Eager
300 Arguments by Sarah Manguso
How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell
Intimacy Idiot by Isaac Oliver
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling
Theft by Finding by David Sedaris
Trick Mirror by Jia Tolentino
Sour Heart by Jenny Zhang
My reading goal for 2021 was to get back into re-reading. I’m trying to stamp down the bitchy kick I get when I read what I consider to be “a lot” of books in one year. What’s that accomplishment really worth if I can’t remember any of the books’ plots three years later? Re-reading was my favorite childhood sport (second place was reading, third was picking scabs), so naturally I cracked some kid lit spines as I got back in the game.
I DID NOT SEE ANY THEATRE THIS YEAR (SAD) BUT I DID LOOOVE THE FOLLOWING MUSICAL THEATRE EXPERIENCES
Come From Away filmed for Apple TV+
Wicked movie casting news
The bizarre virtual 2021 Jimmy Awards
Videos of audiences losing their shit at Broadway re-openings
When Stephen Sondheim passed, my friend Emily found a silver lining: the promise of a barn-burning Sondheim tribute at the 2022 Jimmy’s
Actually I just remembered that I saw Shakespeare in the Park with my mom while I was in New York this summer!
FAVORITE SHOWS I WATCHED THIS YEAR (alphabetical order)
Gilmore Girls
Girls5eva
Hacks
I Think You Should Leave
Mare of Easttown
Pretend It’s a City
Sex and the City
Survivor
The Morning Show
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills
The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City
WandaVision
Y: The Last Man
FAVORITE ALBUMS (ranked order)
“Exile in Guyville” by Liz Phair (1993)
“Girls5eva (Music From The Peacock Original Series)” by Girls5eva
“Heaux Tales” by Jazmine Sullivan
Some goals I checked off this year: get a job, go the whole year without weighing myself, fly out of the Burbank airport, audition for Survivor again
Some goals I did not check off this year: finish a new knitting project, swim in a gorgeous lake, bring clothes to a tailor, nice arms
Some goals I have for next year: pay off my student loans, get a manager, find a new hobby, land on a signature scent
Happy New Year! The other day I listened to “Jesus, Take the Wheel” by Carrie Underwood fifteen times in a row because the lyric “it’d been a long hard year” hit me right between the eyes. 2021 was tough – here’s hoping 2022 is softer. I’ll leave you with two inspirational quote crafts:
Hi David! Love the call-out but I did not make this card 😞