Places: Goblin Valley and Disneyland. I love Goblin Valley and we ended up going there twice this year, and it was loads of fun to walk around and explore. But Disneyland is magical, even if it is this weirdly artificial sort of magic, and I’m glad we went.
Discovery: Laziness is okay. It’s okay to not get things done all the time or not to complete assignments when they aren’t really required or to clean your house when you feel like it. I still also value working hard and not squandering away my time, but I don’t always need to be working.
TV: Strange New Worlds. I’ve watched a lot of Star Trek, but Strange New Worlds was the most fun.
Song: Anna Lapwood’s adaptation of Test Drive from How to Train Your Dragon. Not only do I love to hear Anna Lapwood play this, but she published sheet music and I’m trying to learn it.
Movie: What’s Eating Gilbert Grape and Across the Spider-Verse.
Book Series: The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion by Beth Brower. I read all of the published books this year and look forward to reading them for years to come.
Fiction book: Left-Handed Booksellers of London by Garth Nix. This was very enjoyable and good fun. I enjoyed the sequel as well.
Self-help book: The Upside of Stress by Kelly McGonigal. Life needs to be a bit stressful. Did a video lecture on this for a teaching assistant assignment.
General nonfiction: Being Mortal by Atul Gawande and The In-Between by Hadley Vlahos These were great books to read together, both a combination of personal experiences and learning about the end of life.
Philosophy books: Choosing Well by Chrisoula Andreou and The Tyranny of Merit by Michael Sandel.
Functional purchase: My desk and office chair.
Most fun purchase: An incubator, since we got baby ducks out of it.
Surprising purchase: Running shoes. I didn’t think I ever would like running, but I ran a 5k and 10k this year.
Podcast: Lateral with Tom Scott. I don’t usually like podcasts, but I love this one.
Ideas/research: I really like learning about narrative economics, intrinsic motivation, self-sacrificing altruism, and self-interest.
YouTube channel: How to Cook That. Consistently great videos that I always look forward to.
Project: Finishing my home renovation.
Heather Hoyt 