each passing day

 A couple years ago, I ranked the numbers from 30-39. No reason (except it was on this day, the day before my birthday). 36 was my top pick.

And now, my time of being 36 is at an end.

I thought it'd be fun to follow in the footsteps of people who do "36 things" to mark the passing of the year. 36 Things I Did for the First Time.

It is extremely difficult to think of 36 things I did for the first time while I was 36, this late in the game. If I really wanted to do this, I should've been keeping a list all year and then pare it down. 

And you'd think this was a big year for me! but ...

1. Got married. No I was still 35 when that happened!

1. Started working for state government. My first day was on March 25, which, for those keeping track at home, was when I was still 35. So all the big life changes were still pre-36! But let's keep trying.

1. Completed a 12-month employment probation for the first time. (For those keeping track at home, this happened today, while I am still 36. No one at work is unaware of this, I have mentioned it like every day ever since the fed gov't fired its probationary employees)

2. I wasn't even sure I left the state this year, but then I remembered that we took a regular vehicle up some dirt ATV roads in Idaho and were never in any real danger of being stranded, but it was stressful for a bit. My parents are very capable though. So I almost died in Idaho for the first time? maybe?

3. I married a (wonderful) man who likes to go do stuff. So for the first time I went to places like: dragon boat festival,

4. Millcreek Arts Fest,

5. Taiwanese circus,

6. The gym at my condo complex,

7. The indoor pool at my condo complex,

8. Ren Fest.

9. This year also marked the first time I sent my husband on a weeks-long international trip alone, when we had been married for 2 weeks. I could cheat and talk about all the things I did "with my husband" as the first time I did them...but I shan't.

10. We did try a fair number of new restaurants/food trucks but I also feel like it's cheating to try to list them out as their own item.

11. Bought an e-bike.

12. Rode said e-bike to work. (once. but i'm going to try again now that it's spring)

13. Watched a k-drama that I got so obsessed with that I've watched it 2.5 times while being 36 and published fanfiction about it

14. Finished a knitting project and used it multiple times over the winter

15. Got a printer installed in my home for business purposes

16. Won an election with 100% of the vote (HOA board)

17. First hysteroscopic polypectomy.

18. Tried some new recipes for dinner and baked goods and I don't think it should count to list them out as separate lines, but some standouts are a delicious chocolate cream pie and Taiwanese shaved ice (which I did not have any part in making myself, but it was in my house).

19. First positive pregnancy test

20. First blighted ovum

21. Played the mobile group game Wavelength for the first time

22. while on games, I also joined my parents and nephews in becoming obsessed with what we call the Santa game.

23. First time taking the mife/miso medication combination since my body couldn't figure out on its own that it shouldn't be pregnant and I had to help it terminate

24. First time messing up at work so bad it affected 1K+ employees (and then doing it again...but probation is over now)

25. Didn't decorate for Christmas

26. This is the first year since I started getting Spotify Wrapped that Carly Rae Jepsen was not my top artist

27. Put all the fanfiction I read in 2024 in a spreadsheet so I could run analyses (pivot tables) on it. I don't know why I didn't do it before, it's fun as heck

28. Finished visiting all Salt Lake City library locations (the journey started a few years ago, but it was finished just last week)

29. Joined two new social media sites lol. Started using Bluesky

30. Finally gave in and got a Tumblr account of my own rather than continuing to stalk the people I'd "followed" for over a decade

31. oh also went to my first mid-autumn festival and potentially ate my first mooncake. Putting it with the other events at this point would mean renumbering all the way since 8 and that's not happening.

32. The car I own hit 150000 miles

33. Got uninvited from something I'd been attending for years just because I got married (not upset about it, it's just something that happened for the first time while 36. twice.)

34. First time becoming Singing Time leader, which means first time drawing a bunch of random stuff because I didn't have a printer for a long time (and it's for business purpose)

35. First wedding anniversary.

36. First time trying to make one of these birthday lists and IDK if this trend will continue next year. It's gonna be 37, my least favorite number in the 30's. sigh. However, I did just remember that means I'm in the prime of life again. yay?

trace all my books [2024]

 Hello.

Last year I just put stats on my instagram story and called it good but I still consider this a hobby of mine so we're back at it again.

In 2024 I read 72-ish books (way fewer than past years). Only 7 of them were rereads -- way fewer than past years (interestingly, both the first and last books were rereads). 5 of them were nonfiction -- way more than past years!

At the bottom of this post you can see all books I read this year. I make the following shout-outs: I will likely read and enjoy any book published by Kaitlynn Hill, Suzanne Park, Emma Lord, Katherine Center.

Special mention goes to The Plot Bandits series by Katherine Vick, because it is an indie series by an author I have long been a fan of, but I haven't spent enough money at Amazon so they won't let me review it. (Still working through those wedding gift cards and I'm so annoyed that this is the consequence)

Also in 2024 I read 16 million words of fanfiction in around 450 works.  I misspoke in the video -- 330 of the works I read were new. 70 of these new reads were novel-length (novel-length at LEAST -- one of them was 650,000 words on its own, not counting its sequels). I reread 25 other novel-lengths as well.

Sadly, in past years I have not cataloged my fic reads as granularly as I did this year (though I could go back and do it, I simply do not care enough). So I have to go on vibes when I say that the #1 fandom was Harry Potter, eking out Check Please as the usual winner. Star Trek was the "rising" fandom, as I read 9 new novel-lengths from there (with only 6 from CP).

Of the 45 or so HP novel-length fics, only one of them could even remotely be considered "canon". The rest are wild AUs (alternate universe).

I'm not recommending any of those, though. I read two fun shorter fics in December that I think have wider appeal (and since it was December, I remember them). (I read way more than just 2 btw. the stats have december and july tied for the most fics, and december has the highest word count read.)

Part of the Furniture (15K words, 7 chapters): Derkholm Series by Diana Wynne Jones. A sequel to Year of the Griffin (my FAVORITE book in college). When I said "wider appeal" I guess I still meant "according to my tastes" but this story was incredible. If you ever read and liked Year of the Griffin, this one is for you.

Wrong Train, Right Station (5k words, 1 chapter): Crash Landing On You. People like that show, right? Well, in this one, [spoiler] lives and dreams of other lives, other beginnings. I just liked this. 

Full book list:

trace all my books [2022]

 Well, we made it through another year of reading. I did join Storygraph and you can see more stats of the books I read here on my stats page.

For an in-depth list of all 118 books I read, you can click here: profile.

However, I will be showing a visual representation or two here on the blog, and there's always my video where I ramble about some stand-outs worth mentioning. 

Here is the video!

I read 118 books. 22 of them (not listed here, since I was using the app for the first time) were rereads. Here is the picture representation of all of those books. I am happy to answer questions about any of them if you don't want to click on my profile.

I forgot to mention this in my video but my reading goal for this year is to move this needle a little bit:

I bet I could read more than one nonfiction.

If I had to pick one book from the year that I really liked, it'd be Love from Scratch by Kaitlyn Hill.

If I had to pick two, the other one would be The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy by Megan Bannen.

If I had to pick a nonfiction, well, I only read one. But Proclaim Peace by Patrick Mason was really good actually.

I talked more about fanfiction in the video but I don't feel like writing it down here besides saying the total of novel-length works was 56, so here's another link to the video: you can just watch it at 2x speed

Here's to another great year of reading!

space to breathe

 I have two new-ish videos to share. I am a bit remiss at sharing one, but I have vowed never to view it myself so I forgot it existed.

The other one is more recent.

My voice recital August 2022

Halloween song

Honeydukes

trace all my books [2021]

 I feel like I'm reading all the time but don't feel like a reader anymore. It's all either fanfiction or fluffy romance books and that's life. 2021, babeyy!

Link to Video - Literary Nunnery Roundup 2021

Comforting Rereads mentioned in this video:

Sammy Keyes by Wendelin van Draanen

Chronicles of Elantra by Michelle Sagara

Sharon Shinn

Courtney Milan

Jasmine Guillory

Terry Pratchett (not mentioned)

Janette Rallison (also not mentioned)

Shannon Hale (not mentioned, to my shame)

New Romance Novels mentioned in this video:

If I Never Met You by Mhairi McFarlane

Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall

You Deserve Each Other by Sarah Hogle (forgot to mention, but pretty sure it was a double check-out as well)

Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake by Alexis Hall

Battle Royal by Lucy Parker

The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood

New (to me) YA Standout Novels that I said I'd put in the blog post, but I'm realizing there were enough "fine" ones that this list will be long

Better than the Movies by Lynn S Painter

Counting Down with You by Tashie Bhuiyan

Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia

You Have a Match by Emma Lord

Where the Rhythm Takes You by Sarah Dass (modern Persuasion retelling)

What's Not To Love by Emily Wibberley and the other guy

Fat Chance, Charlie Vega by Crystal Maldonado

10 Things I Hate About Pinky by Sandhya Menon

Between You, Me, and the Honeybees by Amelia Diane Coombs

More Than Just a Pretty Face by Syed Masood (this one stands out because it was the first modern arranged marriage YA I've read -- they're Muslim)

Sunny Song Will Never Be Famous by Suzanne Park

Instructions for Dancing by Nicola Yoon

Today Tonight Tomorrow by Rachel Solomon

How to Speak Boy by Tiana Smith 

10 Truths and a Dare by Ashley Elston (sequel to 10 Blind Dates, which I reread since it's a Christmas book)

Happily Ever Afters by Elise Bryant

A Cuban Girl's Guide to Tea and Tomorrow by Laura Taylor Namey (this one might be the favorite)

Fanfictions mentioned in the video...available on request.

Also, note! I joined Storygraph for 2022. I've never used a book thinger before (and I already burned out of reviewing the one book I've read so far this year) so who knows what will happen. But it could change this game a bit.

feel the echo

 I had a whole concert last month. I didn't do a great job recording but there is a recording. It was a fun time. The crowd was very rowdy.

Funky Friday

You can see the setlist in the video description on that link.

I also sang a solo in church last month. My sister Kyra Moon Music arranged the song on my request.

Come Unto Him

I think I'm ready for No-Performance November.

summer move forward and stitch

 I am remiss in publishing Windervision performances! So here's some of them.

In July I called the rain by performing Drought by Vienna Teng.

Drought

Did some other things too, including drums on Endless Love.

Endless Love

Then came another performance opportunity. I finally performed the song I'd been working on in voice lessons for a while, One Hundred Easy Ways to Lose a Man.

One Hundred Easy Ways

I also performed a BTS song, Dynamite. (Mashed up with another summer smash.) As I am always telling people, the lyrics are "a little funk and soul"

Dynamite

Oh also I have this very terrible quality recording of the other song I did with the band. You can probably get the gist.

Snow (Hey Oh)

fun times!

a part is to be

 Well hi hello. Turns out I have been remiss about putting some recent performances on the blog, despite having published them to YouTube a while ago.

Oh wait. I just remembered that I'm embarrassed by them.

Carrying on.

I did a couple of little ditties for an open mic last month, based on songs I was into in childhood. The first was "Since I was Two" which is from the computer game Math for the Real World, an educational game whose premise is that I'm a band manager and helping a band go on tour around the country, and using ~math for the real world~ by correctly counting out change and navigating pay phones and post offices. And you also perform the songs.

This particular song was a girl bragging about how good she is at math.

Next I sang one that regular readers of the blog may recognize from last year -- "One Little Star" from Follow That Bird. Once again not including the trio harmonies in the last verse even though it's my favorite part.

So here's those.

Since I Was Two / One Little Star

That's not all that happened at that open mic, actually. I also decided to hop on with City of Stars (that's a band) and give a little, uh, color to their performance of Total Eclipse of the Heart. Boy were there some mic issues though, right?

Total Eclipse

Speaking of City of Stars, I guess I'm kinda in it? Here's a link to a Latin Night concert we did a couple weeks later.

Noche Latino

Let's see what else the summer brings, shall we?

bright with stars

 Link to my newest video!

What Dreams Are Made Of

Short and sweet! If you've ever wondered what life is about, etc., you'd need to ask for it separately.

gotta let it all die, let me go

 Where has my old friend gone, lost in a February song?

Here's a song for February. It's not a love song, just a breakup one. I'm not happy with my performance but I do not care enough to improve it more.

Chosen because the original has ukulele chords and it has Carly Rae Jepsen in it. It also, of course, happens to parallel life things, but less than you might think.

ok on your own