Things to be thankful for in 2020
2020 as a year is an ongoing disaster; let's not minimize just how crazy, disruptive and for so many people deadly it has been. For me, personally, I've been blessed in many ways, living in a place with a supportive partner that allowed me to stay safe; having a job that was not massively impacted by the pandemic which allowed me to pay my bills without stress or worry; and by continuing to follow the science and not the rhetoric, being able to exit 2020 healthy and not physically impacted by Covid-19.
Mentally, however, 2020 was an incredible grind. I went through periods where focus and concentration were difficult; my productivity waned, my motivation waned. I played a lot more video games and read a lot less. Creativity itself was often fleeting and fickle. Pretty much everyone I know and work with seems to have hit that "pandemic ennui" cliff as well, and we all hit it at somewhat different times and took different paths to get past it and back to some semblance of normal.
2020 sucked. it really sucked.
But there were personal highlights, and there were things that helped keep me sane and entertained along the way that made traversing this dumpster fire of a year a bit less stressful. I thought I'd call out a few as a way to say "thank you" in public for helping make 2020 suck a bit less for me.
First and foremost, my partner Laurie, who tolerated me when needed and supported me as we worked our way together through this past year of crazy. Also my circle of friends (especially Landon) who were around to talk it through, listen to me rant, and generally be there with advice and feedback and evenings of "speaking to adults" to make the isolation a little less isolating.
I volunteer with a great group of people involved with the local Audubon chapter (https://www.scvas.org). As the pandemic hit, it threw all of the plans into total chaos, just as the organization was going into it's big fundraising season. It was a lot of work, but it was also great to watch that group figure it out and re-align the organization and find ways to support the members when so many of the traditional activities simply ceased to exist. The organization is now building virtual field trips and guided tours instead of leading groups, and that's creating a great resource towards how to bird the county that can and is a benefit to many more than the relatively few people the group outings can reach. I'm really proud of what they've accomplished and my relative small part in helping it happen -- that gave me a focus and reason to stay engaged, get outside and bird and explore safely -- and helped prevent me from going full hermit recluse during the year.
My birding gave me something to hook a lot of things on: it was a reason to get outside and get exercise (even during the lockdown, outside exercise was an acceptable activity and there were good places within the distance limits to visit); it gave me a thing to set goals on; it is a thing that gets me away from computers and desks for a while, never a bad thing, and it gave me a thing to set some goals to push myself. I've had my best birding year ever here in Santa Clara County, 151 species as of this writing, while adding four new species to the list in county and five to my global list thanks to a January trip I took before everything changed.
Sports (Hockey, then baseball, then soccer, then lots of stuff) has been a big part of our lives, and it went away. I found, a bit surprisingly, that I didn't miss it much -- until it came back. So a big thanks to the leagues that have figured out how to keep the teams and staff fairly safe along the way and make sure the games happen (most of the time). The NHL is now planning a return in mid-January; I'm unconvinced given the current surges that it will (or should) happen, but we'll see. I see a lot of brutal happening before we can get enough people vaccinated and get the rhetoric changed and hopefully return most people to following science-based advice.
And filling in the gaps.... If five years ago you would have told me I'd be spending 2-3 hours a day watching stuff on Youtube, and another hour or so listening to podcasts, I'd probably have called you crazy. But it's true. Here are a few of the things that have helped fill in those gaps and keep me informed and entertained:
Youtube
Adam Savage's Tested: I more or less left my cosplaying days behind me when I shifted away from fandom years ago, but I still find I have that itch, and as a huge fan of Mythbusters, the things that they do on the Tested channel are catnip, I love watching Adam in his shop, and it's influenced a number of things I've done in my small one this last year, and I love how he includes his mistakes in his builds, a great way to remind all of us that perfection is a myth (to be busted).
Ben Horne: it may seem strange to be following a film photographer like Ben, when I will never under any circumstances shoot film again (much as I loved my wet darkroom days, I don't miss them one bit) but Ben is a great teacher of composition in his videos, and they're always interesting to watch.
Binging with Babish: I do appreciate an entertaining cooking show, and BwB is a current favorite. It's been fun to watch this channel grow up and expand and every week is a fun and interesting diversion for a bit.
Expressive Photography (Alister Benn): I've been shifting away from the big, epic landscape for a few years, and Benn is one of the voices that has been a guide away from the kind of images that play well on The Social and the gear nerdery so prevalent online into understanding and embracing the smaller, intimate and more personal expression -- and defining your success by your own views and now how many like buttons get pressed.
Frank Howarth: while my woodworking days are more or less behind me (no time, higher priorities), I do allow myself to follow one woodworker, and Frank is it -- and I can't tell you how many times I've almost pulled the switch on buying a freaking lathe I have no room for in the garage and no time to spend getting good at it again (but maybe someday).
Peter McKinnon: I am not in general a fan of "Youtube Personality" channels -- but Peter's channel is an exception, because he is also a great educator about photography and videography along the way. This and Babish are probably the two channels I would point to and say "this is how a Youtube channel should work". It's a bit hard to describe exactly what is on this channel -- it's really about Peter, not about photography -- but in a way to also satisfy the imaging and video nerding out people as well.
Sean Tucker: tucker's channel is different than most photography channels. His focus is on the photographer and how they think more than what and how they do their thing. It's really an investigation into the mindset of being a photographer, and is effectively a regular sermon on how to be happy with yourself as much as how to be good with a camera.
Podcasts
A Beautiful Anarchy (David duChemin): If you follow my writing on 6FPS and here, you’ve heard the name David duChemin a fair bit. David’s a friend and a mentor in the photography piece of my life and this is his podcast. It is not a photography podcast, not exactly. David instead is talking about the concept, challenges and satisfactions of being a creator and a maker. A lot of what he talks about is how to get past the roadblocks to creativity, and the way we tend to sabotage our own work and self-confidence for the best of reasons — and how to stop it. It’s a short, weekly sermon on how to get your head straight so you can go out and make things you’re proud of, happily. Especially the happy part.
Christopher Kimball's Milk Street Radio: When Kimball left America’s Test Kitchen, he ended up founding Milk Street, which is now a TV show, an teaching school, and he brought along a new version of the podcast he used to do for ATK. It’s a one hour weekly NPR broadcast published also in podcast form, and includes interviews, recipes, discussions with regular contributors and User Q&A on the phone with listeners and co-host Sarah Moulton. I most look forward to the interviews, as Kimball is not just one of the best food interviewers out there, but one of the best interviewers on any topic I’ve heard in the last few years. They are invariably informed and interesting, with Kimball nudging this week’s interview into interesting side-topics around the main reason they’re here (usually a new cookbook or something similar). He really brings out the personality in the interviews.
Dithering: A new podcast this year from John Gruber of Daring Fireball and Ben Thompson of Stratechery, this is a 3 times a week, 15 minute podcast where the two hosts discuss current events and topics of interest. It is a paid podcast ($50/year), but I signed up immediately and I regret nothing.
The Incomparable: The flagship podcast from the Incomparable Network founded by Jason Snell, This is a weekly group conversation about books, movies, TV shows, and other items of interest in popular culture. it’s a good group of people with strong chemistry, and I always look forward to the next panel conversation. The Incomparable network is one of two podcast networks I have a paid membership for, and I consider it one of my favorite sources for entertainment content across any medium.
Nerd Therapy: A group of crazy people play D&D for our amusement. What could possibly go wrong? (hint: the answer is yes).
Total Party Kill: Another podcast from the Incomparable, this was the first D&D podcast I started listening to, and I look forward to each weekly episode. Nerd Therapy, in fact, started because they liked TPK so much they decided to do their own. And again, what could possibly go wrong?
Under the Radar: Marco Arment and “Underscore” David Smith, two high profile indie Apple developers, get together every two weeks to discuss an aspect of succeeding as an indie developer. It’s a fascinating look into how apps get built and why there’s often a good reason for that “why did he think this was a good idea” thing you’ve run into in that app you’re using.
Upgrade: When Jason Snell left Macworld to go out on his own, he founded Sixcolors.com and then sat down with Relay.FM founder Myke Hurley to start Upgrade, a weekly tech podcast about the Apple ecosystem. 330+ episodes later, this podcast and Jason’s site are my primarily tools for staying informed about what’s happening around Mama Fruit. it’s a great, weekly conversation to sit in on and learn from. Relay.FM, by the way, is the other podcast network I happily pay an annual membership to support.
Books
It has been a weird year for books; I've read a lot less than normal, partly because the pandmic made it harder to focus and enjoy books, and partly for other reasons. But there are some books from the year I can call out as really good ways to pass the year:
Babylon's Ashes, James S.A. Corey (The Expanse #6): loving the expanse series, not looking forward to running out of books.
The Last Emperox, John Scalzi (the Interdependency #3): Not his best work, but a really good work in an interesting universe full of fun science ideas.
What it's like to be a bird, David Allen Sibley: a really good book about birds aimed at a non-hard-core birding audience, but full of fun things to learn and study along the way
Sustenance, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro (Saint-Germain #27) - I've been a fan of Quinn Yarbro's books vampire books since the beginning, and they continue to be a fascinating at a complex person who just wants to exist within a culture that won't allow him to. Every book is set in a different historical time period (Sustenance is post-WW-II McCarthy era) and each is an exceptionally detailed and well-researched historical novel.
All of You
Last but far from least — all of you reading this. It’s been a bad year, and isolating year, a year where frankly there were times I needed something to focus on and forget all of that other stuff. Having this place (and 6FPS) to put my thoughts, and the feedback and conversations were an important part of helping me grind through the last 12 months. So to all of you who’ve read and enjoyed (and occasionally tolerated) my writing for the last year, thanks — and may your 2021 be better, safer, saner and may we all go find what our new normal is going to be together.
