Good riddance to 2020 and Hello 2021

Well, what is there to say about 2020 that hasn't been said before!!??

Not a lot!

Shitshow and unprecedented seem to be popular words, I prefer Susan Orlean's "Circumstances of the moment".

2020 showed us the Earth and our surrounds are really fragile. I guess we knew that, or should have known that but maybe took it for granted. But it also showed us how resilient we actually are. And whilst COVID was truly awful, soooo many deaths, I do hope it made us look at ourselves and our lives, and see what we can do better. I think we did brilliant to get through such a rough year!

The extreme weather at the beginning of 2020 left me terrified then and more for our future. And I was really not effected badly at all. 

I took COVID very seriously from the get go, I cut my holidays short to get home and self isolated before isolating became a 'thing'. I was horrified by the dimwits that did not take it seriously...I still am. Working during COVID was challenging, especially with those that refused to do the right thing, but it was mostly wonderful with people being truly grateful for the service. Let's face it reading and books were quite the winner this year...once we got our reading mojo sorted.

Like most, I suffered from lost reading mojo on and off during the year. It was painful and annoying, but when it came back I was on fire!

I know people really suffered great losses this year and I send each and every one of them love. I was one of the lucky ones. My only major worry was my sister stuck in lockdown in her home in St Kilda, Melbourne. She did it rough and we worried we wouldn't see her for Christmas. But due to the brilliant job done by Dan Andrews we did, although it was cut short by NSW not learning the lesson well enough. 

2020 did continue to be stressful for me, not due to COVID, but due to continued work restructures and some minor health issues. COVID, of course, enhanced all of that. My anxiety was not great this year. But support from those that really love me helped me through these times and I cannot be thankful enough to be surrounded by beautiful, kind, and generous people.

And despite all of that, there was a lot to be thankful for.

Here are some of my highlights.

WOMAD and my trip to Adelaide - what a great time I had. Two weeks in Adelaide and 4 days soaking up World Music, Arts, and Culture at WOMAD. I was in heaven.

Despite a LOT of cancelled cultural plans, I did manage some: Fleabag the play, Chats 10, Looks 3 Live including meeting Annabel and Leigh, Yes Commissioner, Gin High Tea at Babylon, Daniel Champagne at Lizottes, Fishfry and Pow Wow, Friday on Mind launch with JPY, visits to local art galleries, and a mini holiday to Forster.

I also managed a couple of movies, dinners out, and some picnics at King Edward Park.

And then there was online!

My bookclub moved online and possibly worked better than in person! NWF was online, Trent Dalton and Richard Fidler book launches, Jimmy Barnes at Lizottes online, and I completed 2 art courses via the NGV. But like everyone, I missed live experiences, regular eating out, and travel.

Other online excitement were the Twins reaction videos, Sam Neill, Annie Lennox, Tim Rogers, Jimmy Barnes, The Bull Sister's Sunday Sessions. Nat's What I Reckon, Robbie Williams' Coronaoke, and much more. I found all this additional entertainment wonderful yet overwhelming. Sooo much!

I got new ducted air at Club Cathy which was a relief. I finished another round of decluttering. My bank account was healthier due to not going out as much!

I also started as the stand-in for Rosemarie Milson on 1233 ABC radio on Saturdays doing book reviews with Craig Hamilton, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

I finally finished cataloguing all my vinyl, which was quite the undertaking. My vinyl and my music - as always - saved me. 

And as always the markets were always there, and my reviews of Books, movies, television, podcasts, and music. My Lists of favourites for the year can be found here.

I also enjoyed slowing down. Due to the continued stress of work and health during the past 3 years I have been slowing down anyway. So COVID was business as usual for this introvert. I have always enjoyed being still and contemplating 'stuff' and I continued to hone these skills during 2020. This helped me get through the tougher periods of the year. 

And in the last few weeks of the year things started to turn around! I kept full time work and was transferred to our Belmont Branch. I am still not a Librarian, but I am very grateful for continued employment in a job I love during these challenging times economically. 

But my highlight of the year is easily dating and love!

What, I hear you say!!??

I dated through COVID, this was interesting and challenging but mostly fun. But when things got messy (health and work) in the later part of the year I decided to give dating a miss, despite 50 looming. I had no patience for online dating when other things were taking up my headspace. 

However, I had swiped on someone interesting prior to all this and he swiped on me after my decision to temporarily give up, and an unexpected match was made. It has been 3 months and I deleted my Tinder app yesterday. I have kept it all fairly close and quiet as my track record isn't great. But I have lucked out with A, he is lovely and kind and fun. He also is a huge music fan and a High School History and Geography teacher, so super intelligent, and we have much to chat about and connect over. I knew he was the one almost immediately. The night we talked on the phone about The Beatles (he loves them too, phew!) for over 2 hours, I had a shower and cried tears of joy. I have been seemingly waiting half my life for someone like him. The connection we have is very different to anything else I have experienced, and I feel so very much at home in his presence. We feel really lucky our paths have crossed, and I am very happy and very much in love.

So 2021!!!!

I do not think we are anywhere near over the COVID BS. I didn't think we were prior to the NSW clusterfuck, and I certainly don't think it now. It seems we still have much to learn from COVID. I do think things will improve, but I also think we will never really see the end of it or other strains similar to it. We've made a bit of a mess of our world and Mother Earth is understandably pissed off!

My hopes for 2021 is that we all learn how to appreciate what we have in our lives. We enjoy being still and taking in the nature around us. If you haven't read Phosphoresence by Julia Baird, you simply must, it will help you acclimatise to our new world. Despite being written and published prior to COVID, it is the book for our times, it is a beautiful book about enjoying nature and being yourself, and I found it a very peaceful and zen book to read, comforting too.

I am looking forward to a productive and fun year at work.

I am looking forward to my health continuing to improve.

I am really content with what I have in my life, the people I know, the things I like to do. So I want more of that, more of the good things that happened - due to COVID and staying put.

I finished 2020 turning 50! And the mess that was my life prior miraculously tidied itself up just in time. I had grand plans for a big party, but that was never going to happen under COVID. I celebrated with my nearest and dearest and I am hoping to continue celebrating through 2021 - my year of 50. If you want to celebrate with me, give me a call. 

And I commenced 2021 in the company of my lovely boyfriend. I feel blessed, happy, and confident that we will continue through this year with love and happiness. Because that will keep us moving through whatever 2021 will throw at us. Who knows what will happen this year, I think we need to be prepared for anything. But we got through 2020 and that means we can get through anything.

I wish all my friends and readers strength and resilience to get through whatever burdens you have or come across. Don't think about what you cannot do, but what you can do! May you be creative and free, enjoy the beautiful world around you, take time to smell the roses, watch the clouds and be still, dream big dreams, and embrace those that you love every day.

BEST OF LISTS FOR 2020

Greetings!!!

I love a best of list, I know some don't, but if that is you, you don't have to read them!

BOOKS and READING

My reading was hit and miss this year with big gaps of nothing at some points.  But I did have moments when I was on fire!

I read 106 books.

43 were male authors, 49 were female, and 14 had multiple authors.

I read 8 LGBTQIA, 15 POC, 11 Foreign (not UK or US), and 33 Australian authors.

I read 23 Fiction, 53 Non-Fiction, and 30 Biographies.

I have always preferred Non-Fiction to Fiction, and this year it really showed.

Here are the best of the 106!

Book of the year: Phosphoresence by Julia Baird

The book we all really needed this year, despite being published pre-COVID. The book comes from the stillness Julia had to learn while moving through 3 bouts of Cancer. Her descriptions of having cancer are the closest I have read to how I felt during my own Cancer experience. But this book is about appreciating what you have, and what you have around you that can make you feel better. Nature, stillness, meditation, friends, inner beauty, feminism, and so much more is covered in this book that simply made me feel calm and peaceful.

Fiction

1. All our Shimmering Skies - Trent Dalton  - Australian, Girl's journey in the outback whilst escaping the bombing of Darwin.

2. The Yield - Tara June Winch - Australian. Indigenous story of family, including history and language.

3. There was Still Love - Favel Parrett - Australian, love letter to grandparents, set in Prague and Melbourne in the 1980s. 

4. Rodham - Curtis Sittenfeld - American, what if Hillary never married Bill?

5. The Loudness of Things unsaid - Hilde Hinton -  Australian debut, female coming of age in Melbourne with a single father.

6. You think it, I'll say it - Curtis Sittenfeld - American, political and feminist short stories.

7. My year of rest and relaxation - Ottessa Moshfegh  - American, a young woman decides to reset her messy life by sleeping for a year.

8. The Friend - Sigrid Nunez - American, a older woman inherits her ex-lover's dog.

9. On earth we're briefly gorgeous - Ocean Vuong - Asian American, love letter to his dying mother about his life.

10. A Constant Hum - Alice Bishop - Australian, short stories about the aftermath of fire.

10. The Shepherd's Hut - Tim Winton  - Australian, young boy on the run in the outback.

Honorable Mention: On the road - Jack Kerouac -  American beat poet, his life story hidden in fiction, brilliant.

Non-Fiction

1. More than a Woman - Caitlin Moran - feminist essays on women and life.

2. Face it - Debbie Harry -  autobiography of Debbie Harry from Blondie.

3. Bill Bailey's remarkable guide to happiness - Bill Bailey - Essays on the things that make Bill happy and laugh.

4. The Erratics - Vicki Laveau-Harvie - memoir of Vicki's reunion with her very odd family.

5. Triumph: Jesse Owens and Hitler's Olympics - Jeremy Schaap - retelling of the Jesse Owens story and that particular Olympics.

6. Blowing the bloody doors off - Michael Caine - Life lessons Caine learnt from being an actor.

7. To hell and back - Niki Lauda - Autobiography of the F1 racing driver, and  airline magnet.

8. The Witches are Coming - Lindy West - feminist essays and follow up to Shrill.

9. Growing up Gay - edited by Benjamin Law-  collection of stories of gay Australians.

10. Greek to me - Mary Norris - New Yorker copy writer on her love of Greece and the Greek language.

11. Writer's Paris - Erix Maisel - a book about Paris, Writing, and Writing in Paris.

12. The Love that remains - Susan Francis - memoir about  a crazy period in Susan's life

13. The Durrells of Corfu by Michael Haag -  memoir of the fabulous Durrell family

14. Fake - Stephanie Wood - memoir of a man Stephanie met online who was not what he said he was.

15. Close to home - Alice Pung - Memoir of Alice's Asian family.

16. We are never meeting in real life - Samantha Irby - feminist essays, hilarious.

17. The Beautiful Ones - Prince - writings from Prince over the years with fabulous photos and memorabilia.

18. Wham: George Michael and Me - Andrew Ridgeley - lovely love letter from one friend to another.

19. Growing up African - edited by Maxine Beneba Clarke - collection of stories about African Australians.

20. She wants it - Jill Soloway - memoir of Jill's family that the series Transparent was based on.

Honorable Mention: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - Hunter S Thompson - always a great read, Hunter on his drug addled time in Vegas.

TELEVISION AND WATCHING

Television was my savoir this year and there was much to watch and much to catch up on. This was difficult with so much to choose from

Television of the year: Schitt's Creek

This was the little show that could. I had seen the dvds float in and out at work but not paid much attention to them. I know I tried to watch them but they kept getting reservations on them and I wasn't that fussed with what I saw. But later I gave them another go and they clicked and I binged the entire series back to back. The show was hilarious but also nice and kind. The characters - the Rose family, initially irritating, grew on me and I saw the character development and realised this was part of their intent. Who can forget Moira, her wigs, her clothes, her babees, and the crows!? David and his facial expressions, and his growing love that drove the entire show. Alexis, her fashion, her loves, her little bit Alexis, and her considerable growth as a human. And Johnny, so decent, so kind, so loving, holding the family together. Then there were the supporting cast, perfect, each and every one of them. The music, the town, and the inclusivity and non-judgement. It really was the perfect show for 2020

Fiction

1. I May Destroy You - outstanding drama about a year in the life of a woman who was raped.

2. Succession 1/2 - both seasons about an uber rich media family who may or may not be based on the Murdochs.

3. The New Pope - the follow up to The Young Pope with Jude Law and John Malkovich, funny and dramatic.

4. Staged -  hilarious comedy about David Tennant and Michael Sheen in lockdown.

5. Better Things S4 - Pamela Adlon's fictional take on her family. A mix of drama and comedy from a feminist point of view.

6. Insecure S4 - African American in LA, love, life, and work. Very funny and incredible clever.

7. Shrill 2 -   based on Lindy West's hilarious feminist essays.

8. Upright - Tim Minchin meets a young teen as he is hauling his upright piano across Australia. Comedy Drama.

9. Curb Your Enthusiasm S10 - Larry David's best series yet, comedy.

10. What We DO in the Shadows S2 -  vampires in a share house on Long Island, comedy.

11. Difficult People - 2 comedians trying to make it in NY, comedy.

12. High Fidelity - remake of the book and movie in TV format with some of the roles flipped.

13. Mrs Maisel S3 - Mrs Maisel on the road, glorious sets and costumes as usual.

14. The Crown S3 - Olivia Coleman takes over as The Queen.

15. Broad City S5 - final season for our gals, the usual crazy in NY.

16. Stateless - Australian drama about refugees kept in detention.

17. Akwafina is Nora from QUeens - comedy with Asian comedian Akwafina.

18. Outnumbered complete- english comedy about a fmaily with 3 outspoken kids.

19. Philharmonic - French drama about a possible murder in the Paris Philharmonic.

20. Everything's gonna be ok - Josh Thomas's follow up to Please Like Me, comedy.

Honorable Mentions: Devs, Run, Deadwater Fall, Perry Mason, The Undoing, Search Party 3 

Documentary

1. My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman - Letterman interviews big names.

2. Gogglebox -   Fabulous cross section of Australian society watching popular television.

3. Crikey It’s the Irwins -  behind the scenes at Australia Zoo with the Irwin family. Pure and utter joy.

4. Escape to the Chateau - following an English family who have brought an old Chateau in France.

5. I’ll be gone in the dark - series about Michelle McNamara's investigation into a serial killer/rapist.

6. Country Music- Ken Burns. History of Country Music in America.

7. PUNK - Iggy Pop's mini series on Punk Music.

8. Secrets of the Museum - looking at some of the items in the British Museum.

9. You Can’t Ask That - interview show with unusual subject matter.

10. Anh Do’s Brush with Fame - Anh Do interviews and paints heroic Australians.

Honorable Mention: Hillary, Zoo Quest

FILM AND WATCHING

I saw a few films at the movies this year and the rest were DVDs. Mostly Documentaries and a few older rewatches.

Film of the Year: Freeman - this was a stunning biographical documentary about Cathy Freeman's Olympics. 

Film

1. Marriage Story - American, Bambauch, the breakdown of a marriage.

2. The Gentlemen -  Action comedy with a bunch of crooks.

3. Jo Jo Rabbit -  war film about a young child finding his way during a difficult time.

4. The Truth - French drama about a doyene of film starring Catherine Deneuve.

5. Edmond - French comedy about the man who put Cyrano on the stage.

6. Trip to Greece -  Comedy with Steve Coogan and ROb Brydon playing themselves whilst travelling through Greece.

7. The Joker - Joker 'origin' story.

8. Ford Vs Ferrari -  based on a famous car race.

9. Emma - remake of Austen novel, period comedy.

10. 1917 - war film in real time.

Honorable mentions: Toni Erdman, Ride Like A Girl, Top End Wedding, Wonder Woman 1984

Also: Precious, Hairdresser's Husband, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Documentaries

1. Brillo Box - brilliant story of the history of a Warhol piece.

2. Vinyl Nationi -  vinyl collecting.

3. Bookseller - rare booksellers in NY.

4. Ali and Cavett: the tale of the tapes -  based on this famous part of ALi's life.

5. Suzi Q -  on the life of Suzie Quatro.

6. Leunig Fragments - memoir doco on Leunig.

7. Quilty: painting in the shadows - doco about the Austalian painter, Ben Quilty.

8. Brock: over the top - About racing car driver, Peter Brock.

9. 9/11: Inside Airforce one - fascinating insight into Airforce One and the president on 9/11.

10. Showbiz Kids - about kids in Showbusiness.

Honorable Mentions: I Am Patrick Swayze, Laurel Canyon, The Gospel according to Andre

MUSIC AND LISTENING

Album of the Year: Rough and Rowdy Ways - Bob Dylan - outstanding double album from the great Bob Dylan. Great tunes, great sounds, great stories.

Music

1. Child in reverse - Kate Miller-Heidke -  always fabulous, what a voice.

2. Icehouse plays Flowers live - Icehouse -  Live version of their seminal album

3. The Makarratta project - Midnight Oil -  first album in many years, brilliant.

4. Black Pumas - Black Pumas -  new discovery, blues and soul, great voice.

5. American Uptopia - David Byrne - live album from his stage show.

6. Respect all Lifeforms - Custard - first album in years, still great pop and irreverent humour.

7. Dangerous Age - Kate Ceberano, Steve Kilbey -  sublime collaboration.

8. Song Machine - Gorillaz -  fun album with guest soloists, including Robert Smith and Beck.

9. Valve bone Woe - Chrissie Hynde- Chrissie does Jazz and it works!

10. Don't waste your anger - Smith Street Band -  love these guys and their rock pop.

Honorable Mentions: Is Thomas Calloway - Cee Lo Green, Every night the same dream and the good mood - Ballpark Music, Alicia - Alicia Keys, Three Chords and the Truth - Van Morrison.

PODCASTS AND LISTENING

Podcast of the Year: Strong Songs -  this was quite the revelation this year. Host, Kirk Hamilton picks famous songs apart showing us how they are put together musically.

Podcasts

1. David Tennant Does a Podcast -  Tennant interviews really interesting people including Neil Gaiman, Dan Levy, Judi Dench and many more.

2. Televisionaries -  Australian tv reviewers on new and old tv.

3. Unspooled -  American reviewers count down the American Top 100 films.

4. Chats 10, Looks 3 - Annabel Crabb and Leigh Sales talk about their favourite films, tv, books, music etc.

5. WTF with Marc Maron - the original podcast Marc has had a crazy year with death and COVID, but he also interviews amazing people.

6. Marlon and Jake Read it Forward - Marlon James and his editor attack the cannon!

7. A podcast of One's Own - Julia Gillard interviews impressive women.

8. Jon Ronson's Butterfly Effect  - Jon Ronson and the porn industry.

9. The PLot Thickens: Peter Bogdanovich - the history of Bogdanovich and film.

10. Dolly Parton's America - all about Dolly.

Honorable Mentions: Michael Moore's Rumble, Smartless, Rob Brydon &.