positivity journal 2021:2

a lot of najah and maggie rose, which are not surprising, and work, that is, but just kinda

 

feb 1: it is the second anniversary of the first installment of this list. so this is the first post of what will be episode 26 by the time you read it. i'm surprised too 

feb 2: decided to skip dinner because i didn’t feel like cooking when i realized i had everything in the fridge for a couple of decent tacos that could be done in 10 minutes

feb 3: brought nocino to spike hot chocolate at a meet-up in a park. it was so sketchy
feb 4: wondered if maggie rose would see i mentioned her in a story. then my phone pinged that she followed me on twitter. took that as a yes. then her mom emailed me. i haven’t heard from jakob dylan tho
feb 5: dave grohl: "if it gets any better, it's gonna get worse." h/t geoff edgers

 

feb 6: went for a walk after midnight. when i woke up, most of my exercise numbers for the day were already met

feb 7: it’s nice to see akbar & jeff are getting cameo appearances on disenchantment 

feb 8: turning leftovers into reubens

feb 9: “everybody wants to be a cat, because a cat's the only cat, that knoooowws where it's at”
feb 10: was downtown early, so stopped in at bakery near office to buy something in hopes of bakery still being near office when we go back to office. it was delicious

 

feb 11: my boss thanked me for requesting time off. this is among the reasons i work where i work

feb 12: “if i know you at all, i know you’ve gone too far”

feb 13: proud to know tara salmieri and see updates on her great projects and wish i was in position to help more
feb 14: watching maggie rose show streaming from nashville made me hopeful that going to concerts is something that will happen again
feb 15: opened a writing vein

feb 16: i love it when a tiny dog aggressively loses its mind at a giant dog and the giant dog doesn’t even seem to notice. this might be a metaphor. but also literally 

feb 17: managed to avoid commenting on many dumb posts, crossing the political spectrum 

feb 18: watched a scripted, fictional tv show that namechecked dan lebatard

feb 19: najah has been sleeping on my hip on fridays lately. how does she know it’s friday? i barely know it’s friday 
feb 20: a friend called me to help him solve a writing problem and i knew how because i JUST had the same problem and solved it

feb 21: it was cold out, so when i took a walk i wore a double layer of fleece gym shorts 

feb 22: listened to motley crue all day and appreciated their nuance

feb 23: 2,000 words
feb 24: omg sushi
feb 25: i had a little sore throat and voice was raspy, but then a don henley song came on and i sang along and NAILED IT 

feb 26: i got to work at the washington post for the entirety of marty baron’s tenure as editor in chief. an honor

feb 27: stopped for chicken wings at zaxby while driving through north carolina. there are several keywords there that could sparks notifications in various text groups i’m in, but i didn’t say anything. i mean, til now

feb 28: got home and najah watched to see when i was going to sit down, and as soon as she saw me heading to the chair, she followed me and fell asleep on my lap

positivity journal 2021:1

not gonna lie: this was the month it almost didn't happen, and i think it shows. what a seething hellscape.

anyway! onward!

 

jan 1: najah @ 20

jan 2: spotify shuffled three straight clare dunn songs and that feels right 

jan 3: i sorta burned some pumpkin seeds and they kinda taste like unpopped popcorn kernels, which are my favorite, and now i will only sorta burn pumpkin seeds

jan 4: watched video for billy joel's angry young man for the first time in years. i still can't believe how fast his hands move

jan 5: petsmart clerk told me to say hi to my cats, plural, based on how much cat food i bought. i didn’t tell him there’s just one. i know this one is a repeat. it happens every time

 

 

jan 6: the good bourbon. lots and lots of bourbon. and cherries. also the good ones. also lots. 

jan 7: calmed down before going to bed by queuing up three deliciously sedate sara bareilles songs: gravity, st honesty and orpheus. it worked 

jan 8: i love watching the charter buses leave town

jan 9: walked the mall from the capitol to lincoln memorial to reclaim it

jan 10: while walking, woman asked me about ucf shirt. said she graduated in 2012. which means she was probably not born when i graduated 

jan 11: bill ... bellchick? wait, really? (checks notes). yeah, bill belichick. huh. weird. who woulda guessed

jan 12: i burped out loud while waiting at a crosswalk because i forgot about being around other people 
jan 13: had potato chips and onion dip for lunch, then tortilla chips with bean dip for dinner. no matter how you look at it, that’s 4 servings of vegetables 

jan 14: started planning the fruit tart i hope to make tom rhodes for his birthday next year
jan 15: while walking, i met a 3-month-old pupper named rocco and the best way i could describe his general shape would be spherical

jan 16: stuffed crust pizza

jan 17: i did regular grocery shopping at publix in richmond just because i could and so i could write here that i did
jan 18: helped make 800 sandwiches

jan 19: helped make 1,100 sandwiches
jan 20: super quiet day. didn't see that coming

jan 21: learned that sirius xm has a channel of cover songs

jan 22: it was 30 degrees, so wayne and i were able to leisurely eat our ice cream outdoors without fear of it melting

jan 23: listened to tom rhodes' "around the world" while cleaning the apartment. putting the ha-ha in housework

jan 24: the round trip to the krispy kreme shop is about 9,000 steps
jan 25: did not love the premiere of the second season of zoey's extraordinary playlist, but it reminded my how much i love the song "carry on" by fun. 

jan 26: drove three hours to sit in a restaurant. there was no food, but good, masked, distant conversation. baby steps

jan 27: accidentally got two story ideas in one conversation
jan 28: quality writing time

jan 29: it was a long day at work in which i barely left desk for almost 11 hours, but it eventually ended, and felt productive
jan 30: had probably best gyoza since i moved to DC. i made them (it was a recipe test, but still)

jan 31: watching snow out the window

positivity journal 2020:12

year 2 of this list closes heavy on weird dairy references and a perhaps surprising amount of pork products

dec 1: went on a weird online shopping binge for my vacation. not sorry

dec 2: clerk at wawa called me sweetheart, which was nice, but it struck me that she seemed far too young to be calling random people sweetheart, then i wondered if it’s just that at some point i got too old

dec 3: delivered a whole lechon belly and omg my car smells good

dec 4: watched the live action “mulan” and it was great but could’ve used a wisecracking mini dragon played by eddie murphy

dec 5: got a new knife (see dec. 1) and it’s amazing. h/t quintin middleton

 

dec 6: finally got kitchen mostly clean from thanksgiving

dec 7: first day back from vacation is when i learn how smoothly things go without me and it’s liberating

dec 8: today is the first day i got an inquiry as to whether i expect to have leftovers of christmas dinner

dec 9: "i don't know why I go walking at night / but now i'm tired and i don't want to walk anymore / i hope it doesn't take the rest of my life / until i find what it is that i've been looking for"

dec 10: heard that najah sat on my hip at some predawn hour waiting for ... something. this makes me happy and sad, actually

 

dec 11: feed the good wolf

dec 12: went to whole foods and they had everything i needed

dec 13: it was sunday, and i drove on pleasant valley rd

dec 14: i’m not all that into beef anymore (if i ever was), but jeremy gave me a chunk of brisket he made and it’s kinda great

dec 15: christmas card included 40-year-old photos i’d been missing. h/t linda fruecht

dec 16: when i text jay wang and look at the top of the screen and it says “jw” i always think i accidentally texted myself

dec 17: watched the losing my religion episode of song exploder and mentally made a list of about 100 songs that i’d love to see that thoughtful of a deep dive into the creation of

dec 18: made cookies

dec 19: i went to a new butcher shop and we hit it off well and the butcher gave me his cell number and that seems normal

dec 20: swapped cookies

dec 21: whenever i say the words creme fraiche, out loud or in my head, it's in the south park guy's voice

dec 22: mcrib

dec 23: i al
ways forget how much better homemade pasta is until i make pasta again

dec 24: 9 am text: “we got too many truffles. want some?”

dec 25: found a way to feed friends again

dec 26: i apparently thought allison brie and brie larson were the same person. turns out they are not. and that i like brie more than i thought i did

dec 27: was in wawa and trying to figure out what song was playing. thought it might be a matchbox 20 song i didn’t know. realized it was actually john legend. but the very next song was real world, which is a matchbox 20 song i totally know, and i think i just heard it before it started playing

dec 28: leftover porchetta sliders

dec 29: i ate a whole pint of ice cream because i didn't feel like getting up to put it back in the freezer

dec 30: rib wich

dec 31: this is my 731st post in this series. wow

positivity journal 2020:11

the mostly turkey edition

 

nov. 1: i watched steelers play, and enjoyed it, but even when i thought they were going to lose, i was ok with it

nov. 2: “remember that tough times don’t last; tough people do.”

nov. 3: watched jeremy bowers be an electoral college weatherman on the internet

nov. 4: while my colleagues spent the day holding a lantern for democracy, i spent the day editing thanksgiving pie recipes. we’re all our own kind of hero

nov. 5: i put nocino in my ovaltine for my best, most immature cocktail yet

nov. 6: dude walking with dog, off leash. dog sees me, loses mind, starts running at me barking. dude loses his mind, screaming at dog to stop. dog runs at me, i sti“remember that tough times don’t last; tough people do.ck out my hand. she rubs her nose all over my hand then lays down at my feet. dude looks at me. “i can't believe you stuck out your hand for a dog that was running at you barking.” i knew how the story ends

nov. 7: had a really bad dream, but looks like it ended

nov. 8: worked on a sunday for like the third time in 8 years, but it was totally worth it

nov. 9: sleepy najah started slipping out of my lap, caught herself, stood up, resituated, fell back to sleep, slipped, caught herself, etc, etc, for like 2 hours

nov. 10: was editing a story when i suddenly realized i was quoted in the story. which is rare

nov. 11: “all of your life you’ve been missing the answer. it should be easy to tell”

nov. 12: delivered cookies to wayne lockwood in a late-night transaction in a park that probably looked weird if you didn't know everyone involved

nov. 13: twitter updates on sourdough laura michalski is making for me to use in thanksgiving stuffing

nov. 14: “the greatest work that kindness does to others is it makes them kind themselves”

nov. 15: started cooking thanksgiving

 

nov. 16: i had been sitting for several minutes when my watch informed me i had met my goal for standing

nov. 17: melanie starkey dropped a remarkable homage to the origin story

nov. 18: on anniversary of seeing sara barelleis in concert, spotify randomly dropped “orpheus” on me and i could not be more pleased

nov. 19: orchestrated the purchase of alcohol from 600 miles away

nov. 20: got shoes i bought on the internet and they fit. i did not see that coming

nov. 21: a microplane is a more efficient way to zest citrus, but i love using a zester and watching the oils expel as you pull it across

nov. 22: when nora simon and i exchange texts, it is almost exclusively “i made some (thing), do you want any,” followed by “yes.” either of us can initiate this exchange

nov. 23: i can butcher a turkey in 12 minutes

nov. 24: gravy

nov. 25: the guy at my seafood store is named gator

nov. 26: i try to just be thankful for something every day, but it’s nice there’s a day for it

nov. 27: started the day with an email that made it clear all the effort was worth it, but spent the day wrapping my head around it

nov. 28: gargantuan hot turkey wings

nov. 29: wayne lockwood gave me pink gin, which makes it easier to make pink drinks at home

nov. 30: “you’ll have bad times, but it’ll always wake you up to the good stuff you weren’t paying attention to”

positivity journal 2020:10

 

i'm not excited about this week, but here is last month

oct 1: bittersweet: last day working at the stadium. it was a great ride, though
oct 2: “optimism is the greatest form of rebellion”
oct 3: i have open group text threads in which the only topics are, separately, chicken wings, fried chicken and tacos
oct 4: wasn’t sure if maggie bowers would remember me. i assure you, she did
oct 5: walnut tacos

oct 6: a walk in the park on the chesapeake bay
oct 7: spent the day listening to van halen
oct 8: thousand island dressing is clearly the very best dressing
oct 9: sometimes survival is a victory 
oct 10: eating the first of a batch of bagels hot out of the oven

oct 11: just watched football all day. never left the house. not terrible 
oct 12: i kept a mistake out of the paper because of something i learned in sunday school like 40 years ago. that’s the first time that particular thing has happened 
oct 13: when i listen to billy joel, i never imagine the music video
oct 14: “we can wake up every morning/we can set ourselves on fire/we can do it all again”
oct 15: closed the "move" ring on my watch at 11:58 p.m.

oct 16: was out walking and a guy asked me what gang i was in. as i weighed the potential consequences of a funny answer, he laughed and said he was kidding 
oct 17: Sterling: "what are amphetamines?" Blair: "drugs that can go on land and water."
oct 18: made french toast with bread i made from my grandmother's dinner roll recipe
oct 19: haven’t used my ice cream maker in awhile, but someone asked to borrow it, so glad it got its reps in
oct 20: i saw a tv commercial in which they properly pronounced the word nausea. it was a moment 

 

 

 

oct 21: my vision in my left eye has improved by a half a diopter, whatever that means. so all that hard work is paying off
oct 22: voted in favor of the mushroom proposition. i will never not be in favor of mushrooms
oct 23: margo price and lukas nelson covering stop dragging my heart around for tom petty birthday bash
oct 24: grits for breakfast 
oct 25: went to supermarket and only bought things on my list

oct 26: wondered if it would open some weird time-space portal if i told alexa to play downeaster alexa
oct 27: walked past favorite ice cream place without buying ice cream. i DO have willpower 
oct 28: i think i am inadvertently, de facto, low-key life coaching a couple of friends and my god i hope it all works out
oct 29: woke up to the sound of rain
oct 30: saw a fed ex guy put his packages down on the ground so he could pet a very tiny puppy who very wanted petted. this account is now a fed ex guy stan

oct 31: i got a caramel apple without going trick or treating

positivity journal 2020:9

there's a lot of billy joel this month, and all the billy joel moments aren't even in here. same with najah

 

sep 1: i was thinking about lady gaga’s “you and i” and it came on. you might be surprised how often that kind of thing happens. i know i am

sep 2: i broke nail clippers trimming nail on my big toe. so my toenail is stronger than steel. yes, this list is weird
sep 3: after picking up food in drive thru, popeye's employee said "see you tomorrow." which, i mean, is not a bad idea

sep 4: for second week in a row, slack conversation with daniela galarza leads to weekend cooking project. this week: frangipane 

sep 5: late-night cherry frangipane tart delivery

sep 6: made old boca news salsa recipe (as best i remember it, but we actually have a copy of the recipe somewhere) with the tomatoes i canned, used it in breakfast burritos 

sep 7: was worried when parking lot at gettysburg was full, then happy when trails were empty 
sep 8: when billy joel’s for the longest time came on, guy next to me in assembly line started singing along. in spanish 

sep 9: learned there’s a zaxby’s within driving range

sept 10: meat loaf day is pretty easy

sep 11: the humidity disappeared 

sep 12: ikigai: the two most important days of your life are the day you were born and the day you figure out why
sep 13: eve evans randomly sent me a beloved family recipe, so i made it

sep 14: combination leftovers for dinner means i cleared 3 containers from freezer 

sep 15: 57 degrees when i got to the stadium 

sep 16: i think najah’s vet legit loves her

sep 17: “you want to have dinner in a tent on the sidewalk in the rain?”
sep 18: fried chicken friday

sep 19: walked past supreme court. so did a lot of other people 

sept 20: a week after i was supposed to watch brandi carlile at red rocks, i watched a stream of brandi carlile at red rocks from 2015

via GIPHY

sep 21: “you’re not the only one that’s made mistakes but they’re the only thing that you can truly call your own”

sep 22: reading rachel anderson's positivity journal posts
sep 23: i might've given up on the show "the boys" by now, but they keep dropping hilarious billy joel references. oh, and they added aya cash as one of the super-antiheroes

sep 24: there is a new puppy in our building. a tiny bulldog. her name is hoppy, and that is the correct name for her

sep 25: as soon as i finished work, najah jumped in my lap and stayed there for more than 2 hours

sep 26: walked around dupont circle and kalorama for 2.5 hours with chris white listening to him tell us about where various presidential dalliances took place

sep 27: replied to a tweet about a wine because it sounded interesting. jeremy bowers almost immediately responded to tell me we had it with dinner ... 12 years ago
sep 28: i don’t love red wine, but i always seem to like really, really, really expensive red wine (not related to sep 27, as it happens)

sep 29: walked 2 miles along the anacostia after plating 2,000 meals, all before lunch

sept 30: since deleting facebook app from my phone, my blood pressure has dropped

 

positivity journal 2020:8

not gonna lie. in a year of months that suck, august did its best to stand out as super suck, made worse by the fact that the next couple months will be a literal virtual cesspool of suck. 

 but, i mean, you can read about that in the post above this one, and the 15 below, which i get to on or around the 22nd. 

aug 1: i think i might be in the background of some lady’s cheesy congressional candidate ad. i do not endorse her, as far as i know

aug 2: almond extract 

aug 3: grace potter singing “stars” from the bridge of the starship enterprise 

aug 4: "oh, i know who you are"

aug 5: i feel that, ironically, there are a lot of answers in the song “don’t ask me why”

aug 6: bought horchata so i could put rum in it. the reverse will probably happen some day in future

aug 7: slack recognizes "guesstimate" as an actual word. it can't be, can it? 

aug 8: my watch sent me a message that said “it looks like you’re working out” and that’s the nicest thing anyone has said to me in a long time 

aug 9: so many tomatoes

aug 10: got some cheese, crackers and salami and called it lunch. which i would not have done if at office. on day 152, i have found first net positive of this fiasco

aug 11: we were short at the stadium, and i worked a 5-person line with 2 other people, and it was seamless, like a dance

←aug 12: pam is rewatching ER. whenever i hear dr morganstern in a scene, what i really hear is frank gallagher. and it makes the show way more interesting 

aug 13: dropped everything to drive to falls church to get jars to can more tomatoes, which i picked up on the way home 

↓aug 14: “i’ve been counting up my karma and i think it’s time to cash it in”

aug 15: my watch says i got 1 minute of exercise today. i have no idea when that could’ve happened 

 

 

aug 16: lasagna sunday omg

aug 17: had to choose between watching maggie rose and maggie rogers. because of technology, actually watched both maggies

aug 18: broke out single malt scotch, because i knew anne ferguson-rohrer liked it. as always, i gasped as it vaporized my alimentary canal, which i also think she would find amusing 

aug 19: “it’s not our circumstance that create gratitude, but rather our perception of our circumstances”

aug 20: went to schedule next month's payment on credit card, found out my balance was $0. that was easy

aug 21: capn crunch is a nutritious part of a healthy dinner

aug 22: deleted facebook app from my phone in an act of self preservation 

aug 23: drove on carroll street to deliver tomatoes to my friend carol

aug 24: i’ve always liked birch beer, and always thought the flavor was familiar but i couldn’t figure out why. then it hit me. pepto bismol. i stand by all parts of this statement

aug 25: someone accidentally bumped into me. it’s been months since that happened and it was kind of great

aug 26: after doing some research, i think i like boulevardiers better than negronis. tho that is only effective for today

aug 27: i play a dumb game on my phone and am a member of a team, on which i have a teammate whose screenname is "huskymom," and i wonder if that's because of the mascot of the school where her kids go, or ... i mean, what else could it be i guess

aug 28: done with work at 8 pm on a friday. i'll take it

aug 29: “Once cheese starts to escape and ooze out and it looks nice and golden brown, it is done.”

aug 30: went in to start writing something. found i already had

aug 31: gave myself a break