Happy 2025!
Everyone say happy birthday to Ethan *<|:-)
Welcome to the new year! The newsletter is well over a year old and I hope you enjoyed receiving monthly updates from me in 2024. I definitely plan to continue it in 2025. This January, I plan on taking it easy, settling into a new movement routine centering on overall strength, continuing to work on dissertation, and working on some languishing craft projects. I don’t have too many thoughts to share at the moment so this should be short and sweet.
Week of December 1st
Went to the Shedd Aquarium with Adi. We wanted to look at the fish on their own terms. Adi saw her first 4D movie which was an exciting and surprising experience. It was especially cool to go at night and in the winter because it was overall less crowded and the atmosphere in the Shedd is a bit calmer. Enjoy this turtle video.
Week of December 8th
This week I flew to Allentown to visit my father. He said he had ‘absolutely nothing’ planned for us to do. In that case, I scheduled a personal training session for the two of us at a gym by his house. He was a good sport about it and it was nice to see him try something new! It was also my sister Morae’s birthday this week and we went out to lunch. Happy birthday to Morae! I also got to see other other sister Lisa when we all went out to hot pot. Trying to explain hot pot and Korean BBQ to 6 other people who have never been before was a challenge. My dad’s summary was that it was hot in the restaurant, a bit too much work, but you do get a lot of food and that he would do it again.
It’s always very quiet at his house and its a good time to catch up on movies. We watched, rather he slept through and I watched, The Wild Robot, Elemental, Inside Out 2 , and Injustice. I helped him prune/shape his dappled willow, put up a Christmas tree, and fixed a 45 year old crochet blanket that he got as a teenager. I hope I can go back in the spring to get him to go birdwatching during spring migration.
Week of December 15th
Came back from Allentown and hung out at home. Ethan and I started playing this cool detective game called The Curse of the Golden Idol. it is like you’re Sherlock Holmes and finding clues via point and click. You summarize what took place in each case using madlibs. It’s really fun and gets your brain working. It’s available on your phone too and also through Netflix for some reason. Would definitely recommend giving it a shot! Hung out with Rachel and Kavi and watched a not very good movie (The Quiet Ones) with a very good actor (Jared Harris).
Week of December 22nd
Andrew was out of town so I was entrusted with the care of Millie and Kiki. It was nice to see them even though it took them some time to warm up to me. It has been interesting to see their relationship dynamics change from being enemies to being tolerant of one another. I would not call them friends but they are definitely acquaintances. Christmas was chill, Ethan and I went to Evan’s friend’s house and watched some Christmas movies, ate dinner, and played codenames. Ethan’s mom gave me the best pajamas ever that have cardinals on them! I gave Ethan his knitted hat that I had to start over 3 times, and I’m happy to say it looks great!
Week of December 29th
Ethan and I resumed our New Year’s tradition of getting into the lake. This year I finally got all the way in except for the head and Ethan got up to his hips. Each year, he gains enough HP to go 6-10 inches deeper into the water. It’s fun and invigorating to do, and really you aren’t even cold for that long once you get back in the car and get into dry clothes. The logistics have gotten a little more complicated now that I no longer live in Evanston but driving to the lake was a breeze.
I set a goal to finally finish Ethan’s cardigan (…that I promised him 18 months ago) by his birthday on Jan 4th. And I did it! However, it doesn’t fit him…so I guess it’s mine now. I went through a period of anger/frustration after realizing that it wasn’t going to fit him. Now that it’s all finished, I’ve calmed down. The cardigan is unique, and it does fit me pretty well. I like knitting so it’s not so horrible that I will get to knit some more, but this time a well-fitting men’s sweater that will finally settle my debt to Ethan.
Sunset Club
Not related to the sunset, but I’ve seen two shooting stars in the past month which seems like a sign for 2025. Good or bad, who knows! I don’t remember getting too many sunset submissions (Thank you Kavi for the sole December submission), but will pad the gallery with some of my sky photos. My one wish for everyone in 2025 is to look at the sky more, you never know what you’ll see up there!
Happy happy happy new year 2025!
T.