Musicals/plays/opera seen:

• Kimberly Akimbo – sweet story, the main actor was so good, forgettable music
• Hamilton – there’s nothing like seeing it live – I still can’t get over the choreography.
• Life of Pi – so glad this wasn’t a musical – the puppetry was amazing
• MJ The Musical – meh. The actor playing Michael Jackson had an incredible voice, the audience was electric, but there was absolutely not grappling with who Michael has turned out to be and it was boring with a lot of MJ songs.
• & Juliet – my favorite of the year. It was beautiful and fun and electrifying, and the songs worked so well with the story.
• Some Like It Hot- I’ve never seen the movie?? It was fun.
• Shucked – someone described it as the HeeHaw Show on steroids. They weren’t wrong. I had people absolutely cackling around me, and the couple next to me left at half time. I was close to leaving, but some of the songs were lovely…
• La Boheme – absolutely GORGEOUS production at the Portland opera with such a stunning set and costumes.

I did not go to NYC to see a bunch of musicals like I wanted to. 🙁

TV shows watched:

• Only Murders in the Building (season 4) – four seasons in and still a delight. And I love Jane Lynch in it.
• The Residence – so much fun. What an utter disappointment that it was canceled
• Andor (season 2) – I wish we could have had another season, but I thoroughly loved what we got. So much complex story telling and character development.
• Doctor Odyssey – I will miss seeing Joshua Jackson’s abs and they were cowards for not giving into the throuple, but man that was painful from a medical perspective.
• Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (season 3) – so many complex and mixed emotions about this one. On the one hand, I love every single character and want to squeeze every one of them. On the other hand, I could have done without the pseudoscience and “destiny” – at times, it felt very much like it was pandering to the anti-woke crowd.
• Poker Face (season 1) – fun weekly murder mystery show. I’ve enjoyed the cameos a lot.
• Galavant – always worth a rewatch. And always angry that it was cancelled. My residents/fellows have never heard of it, which is a crying shame.
• Heated Rivalry – it sounded like a show that I would like. I was not prepared for the obsession or the flood of emotions with every episode. It’s perfection.

Movies watched:

• Star Trek: Section 31 – what a disappointment and an under-utilization of the magnificent Michelle Yeoh)
• Thunderbolts – aww, thoroughly loved this one and the found family/friendship. I could watch all of the Yelena shows
• Superman – again, was not prepared for David Corenswet’s blue eyes and dimples
• Star Wars: Rogue One – it was so fascinating watching it again after Andor, although I had obviously forgotten a lot. I thought for sure that Luthen’s character was from the movie.
• Merrily We Roll Along – I mean, I can see why it was one of Stephen Sondheim’s least popular musicals. But GroffSauce was adorable, DanRad was fantastic, and give Lindsay a medal for making so much out of her very limited role.
• Wicked: For Good. The new songs were forgettable; it probably could have been 1 movie, but I cried as always as for good, and Jonathan Bailey was absolutely delicious.

Travel: Montreal and Ottawa where I got to see some favorite friends, Michel and Claire and their beautiful family.

Puzzles: 4 – the 2000 piece Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers, a 500 piece puzzle of San Francisco, and then a 1000 piece puzzle of Multnomah Falls that was very hard.

National Parks visited: slow year for national parks. Zions National Park, Organ Pipe National Monument.

Other travel: Northern Utah and my grandparents’ old place and Arizona a few times

House updates: new roof and new solar powered blinds for the skylights (boo. The blinds are nice though); new curtains in the bedrooms that my mom and sister sewed, new blinds in the living rooms.

Yarn stashed: Joann’s and Craft Warehouse went out of business, so… And there was a fiber festival at the Multnomah Arts Center… Plus I had to buy yarn when I was up in Montreal too… And then my mommy got me yarn in Argentina…

Favorite new hangout: Lucky Lab Pub on Thursday evenings with the Northwest Wool Circle where we eat pizza and knit or crochet.

Visits to the beach: 1

Auroras/Northern Lights seen: 0. Nada. Zip. Stupid clouds.