It has been a while since I’ve done a monthly recap post. In fact, it’s been exactly four years! January 2019 was the last recap post I did. At that time, I was about to fly out to San Diego for grad school for my interviews. I’d say a lot has happened since then.
Moving on to what happened in January of 2023, here’s what’s been going on.
Trips and Activities
I started out the year back home in North Carolina. I visited my best friend from high school in Durham, NC. We went on a hike at Eno River State Park.
When I got back to San Diego, my boyfriend and I went on a weekend trip to Tucson, Arizona. We primarily went to visit Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument and Saguaro National Park. We really enjoyed the town of Tucson. Some highlights were seeing a concert (because that weekend happened to be the Tucson Jazz Festival) and going to see Biosphere 2.
For my boyfriend’s birthday, we went to get Ethiopian food at Muzita with a bunch of friends. Then we got ice cream at Stella Jean down the street. One of their dairy free flavors that day was strawberry oat crumble, which was SO good.
My boyfriend and I also went to a concert of Joe Hisaishi (Studio Ghibli soundtrack) music performed by a string quartet. It was at the National History Museum, so we also got to walk around at night after hours, which was really fun.
Media
Some of the media I enjoyed last month:
At the beginning of the month, I binged White Lotus. I watched Season 2 first and LOVED it. I thought Season 1 was less engaging, but still good. It’s a very interesting format for a murder mystery.
We watched Dark Winds, which is a murder/detective show set in the Navajo Nation in the 1970s. It’s one of the best shows I’ve seen that it seems like no one knows about.
In terms of books, I read 2 related books: How to Be Anti-Capitalist in the 21st Century and “Resist Amazon” (which is actually a zine). I was hoping both would be more in-depth or practical, but I did find both helpful for helping me think about my actions and how they align with my political/social values.
In terms of music, I was listening to a lot of Phoebe Bridgers last month. I think my favorite song of hers is Graceland Too.
Makes
I have several projects going right now, but I didn’t finish any of them. I will post some progress/hint photos. I’m making a pair of socks, a sweater, and a dress.
We also made pizzas. I was proud of how it came out. We bought the dough and vegan cheese, but made the sauce from scratch and added roasted eggplant, artichoke hearts, and pesto. It was so good!
Work and Life
The biggest thing that has been going on is that I have been writing my dissertation proposal. It has been taking a lot of my time and energy. I’m excited for it to be over soon!
