now three

 Hello again!

 I began writing my list of "37 Things I Did for the First Time While 37" literally the day after I posted last year's post, but it was still a struggle to come up with a good list. It's not that I haven't done anything this year, but a lot of it was things I've been doing for a while. But I think I'm there -- let's find out! 

 

37 First-time Experiences while 37

1. Went inside a Rad Power Bikes store for the first time (didn't buy anything but did eat pizza and get some help with my bike seat. I am not 100% sure I have even ridden my bike since this happened)

2.  Graduated from mentoring! Rather, the student I'd been mentoring since her sophomore year graduated from high school and went to college. :') Overall mentoring through BBBSU was a positive experience, and I'm doing it again for another student. Obligatory pitch: There are more students that want mentors than we have mentors this year. It's really easy (if I can do it...) so if you've been thinking about a more one-on-one service model that only takes like 5 hours a month, reach out to me for more details!

3. Tried some new restaurants. Some of these I've even back to! Paris Baguette, Dave's Hot Chicken, Smoked Taco, Afghan Kitchen, Burgers Co., Encanto, Noodle Dumpling, Millcreek Cafe, Umi Hotpot, Fav Bistro

4. Also embarked on a goal to visit all the restaurants in Chinatown. I'd already been to some but the new ones we tried are: Mr. Rice, One More Noodle House, Mad for Chicken, Hero Hotpot, SweetnCool

5. Was in an actual pit for a musical. I've played for musicals before but this was my first time in a literal pit. The experience was a little more exciting than I was prepared for (more on that later), but it was overall fun and good, and I was kind of sad when the coordinator for the shows told me I'd better not plan on the October show (more on that later too).

6.  I also auditioned for a professional production as pianist. This was not as good an experience, but I did take heart that at least I did a better job than the person I could hear playing in the slot before mine. Overall the vibes were off though. I did not get the gig.

7. I was present for a 911 call! The conductor of my pit orchestra mentioned in #5 had a stroke before my very eyes, after the end of rehearsal. Luckily we were all still there including a retired physician, and someone was on top of things enough to call emergency services. Now I know what to do if it's ever me that has to call. Instead I just kept bugging the patient to unlock his phone so I could call his wife. (He's doing a lot better now.)

8. I was going to say "went to my first protest" but I did go to the Families Belong Together one several years ago. But this was my first No Kings Rally! It was crowded. (perfectly safe, also)

9.  Performed with Murray Symphony at Gallivan Center. I've performed with Murray Symphony before, of course, but this was my first time at Gallivan! (Almost my first time even at Gallivan, but I went to one food truck event there like 10 years ago.)

10. Became the wife of a member of the bishopric. I guess I was not sufficiently problematic, but I've assured my husband I will work on that so he's not in danger of any higher callings.

11. Attended a performance at CenterPoint Theatre. Somehow, I had never been there (and I've still never been to the main theater -- I went to Daddy Long-Legs so it was in the smaller, more intimate space). The live pianist did a great job.

12.  The check engine light came on in my beloved Silvey for the first time in my ownership of it (14 years!). It was a real thing that required a real repair, which was dumb but got resolved. After I drove to Logan and back with the light on.

13. Attended a live reading of Pride & Prejudice. It was quite enjoyable, and they let me be Mrs. Bennet for some of it.

14. Wrote more than 25,000 words on a single work. I even checked through all my childhood stories and even the one I completed (yes, the one) was only 22K words, so this truly was the most I had written, ever. Written and posted, since it's a fanfiction and I put the chapters online as soon as I finished them.

15. Was pretty sure I went to the Getty for the first time but I just asked my mom and she thinks I've been there. So I guess, first time I appreciated the Getty.

16. Tried a bunch of new restaurants in LA also: Laderach (not a restaurant), Nobibi, Tacos Los Cholos, Akasaka Sushi, Din Tai Fung, Lotteria (which was so exciting that T made sure I put it in the story mentioned in #14)

17. Went to a local candy-making store that just opened by our house. They make the chocolate right there, I watched them. (It's Sir Walter.)

18. Took a medication that is generally called letrozole and I call "the pill that gives you twins" (more on that later).

19. Played in a symphonic suite conducted by the composer! It's a great piece for sure, but I found it very stressful because my abilities were not up to what was written. (#handsizeproblems) But he was nice about it. It also had me playing two instruments during the same song (luckily not at once, but it was a close one)

 

20. Two gestational sacs.

21. Two long weeks later, two heartbeats.

22.  Trying to think of if there's anything noteworthy at work the past year, but pretty much everything was stuff I'd done before or just little things like "figured out a little coding trick". Or slowly expanding the circle of people that "know". Definitely never had to disclose info like that to a manager before.

23. Planted my own daffodils and tulips in my own garden. (As of this writing, many daffodils have appeared, and the tulips might bloom.)

24. Spreading these out because otherwise I will not make it to 37, but similarly to how we tried to hit all the SLC libraries, we've also been (slowly) going to all the SLCo libraries. This year for the first time we went to Taylorsville Library,

25. Hunter Library,

26. and Kearns Library. We thought about trying for the last couple on the list but honestly I think we forgot. And we were never going to make it to the Alta Reading Room before my birthday (I also don't think it's a real location that should count -- this is one of the 70% of things we disagree about).

27. I believe this is true: I think I saw my first Mission:Impossible movie from beginning to end. (Was I watching? not closely. Was I in the room facing the TV the whole time it was on? Yes. Was it the last one so I didn't really get what was happening? Also yes.)

28. This is a "new" restaurant but also not really because I've been to KFC before. But I had never been to Harman Cafe! The original location for Kentucky Fried Chicken. So that's worth mentioning.

29.  Experienced the Afternoon Tea at Auntie Rae's. Was toying with tea at Grand America, but decided to go for the closer and cheaper one first. It was good.

30. Hmm hmm hmm. Oh! I stopped paying for Spotify for the first time since I started paying for it.

31. I'd had a two-hour MRI before but never a two-hour ultrasound (where they turned me upside-down!). That's a long time.

32. There are, like, so many bones inside of me right now. Also (haven't done genetic testing so this may not be fully accurate but you get it) only X chromosomes.

33. I learned (but have not yet performed) an entire song cycle for solo soprano. Performing seems tough right now, I don't know how I ever did a recital in the first place. My voice has grown a lot since then but I guess it's just for me and the Primary kids.

34. I mean I guess I can count that I'm on an iron supplement now?

35. Also, when I was finished drinking the GlucoCrush (which I have never drunk before) I was like, "People struggle with this? Couldn't be me."

36. Wrote and posted 48,896 words about the same couple within this past year. I was working SO hard to get to 50K by my self-imposed deadline of 'before my birthday' but instead of just thinking of 1,000 words to write I am committed to a different story that is 6K words in and not done, and I simply couldn't make it in time. So it's only 48,896. Which is a pretty good writing year for me! I don't think I'll do better anytime soon. 

37. ?????? I mean, I've experienced other pregnancy stuff for the first time, but no one needs to hear about that (trust me). But working on this this year has really brought home to me that I just do what I like to do, and I should try to branch out. But I didn't come to that conclusion for the first time this year. So, oh well. this is the first time I've weighed this much. 

 

Maybe I will lower my standards for next year -- for many reasons. :)  Hope you enjoyed the pictures I bothered to add!

 

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.