Overall, 2022 was a pretty good year here at Chez
Hopper. First full one down in Texas. Positive growth in all members of the immediate
family. Little One firmly ensconced in college 45 minutes away. Patch
successfully navigating High School and fiercely feeding her entrepreneurial
spirit. The Mrs. mastering her Dallas Fort Worth territory. Me, I finally
figured out how to do my corporate cubical job with a minimum of stress.
Physically, I worked out something like 40 or 45 times (always in clusters,
never consistently throughout the year), lost some weight, gained some weight,
lost it again, and had a positive full body checkup. I read some quality stuff.
Played my acoustic and electric guitars a lot. And have something like a
hundred pages of notes for my magnum opus science fiction novel.
More on that latter piece next year.
My resolutions are twofold: to get healthy and to
write. Over the past week or two I’ve started a spreadsheet with these two
goals and listed the subgoals and tasks etc etc etc to get that done. It’s
something I enjoy doing when faced with the panorama of a new year. The trick
is to keep the fires burning past January, or, in some cases, past the first
week or even weekend in January. As always, we’ll see.
The Hoppers are staying home tonight and will watch a
movie yet-to-be-decided. Per tradition the Mrs. and I will watch some standup
comedy. The girls are old enough where they can partake in champagne with us at
midnight. Little One might sip a glass or two or three of red wine in the
evening. It’ll be fun and low key, just the way INFP me likes it.
The wife made plans for us to connect with her sister
and her family, and we’ll all do something together on Monday. I think we’re visiting
the Dallas Zoo as VIPs and having dinner, though don’t quote me on that. I’ll
have moved the iron twice and walked three miles by this point, as well as
chipped away at those hundred pages, Rodin-sculpting-the-Thinker-like, in search of the outline buried beneath. Wish me luck.
May everyone enjoy a healthy and prosperous New Year!
Yep. Time again. Another rotation ’round the Sun.
Three-hundred and sixty-five point two-four days, eighty-six thousand four
hundred seconds, each to contemplate and spend in enjoyment – or disenjoyment,
if I may be as bold to coin a somewhat unalluring yet workable phoneme
anathematic to Microsoft Word Spell Check – seventeen or eighteen daily hours
to wrestle Jacob-in-Genesis-like with great and sub-great works of literature,
screen both big and small, and music, sweet sweet music.
All this to say, “The following are the best and worst
Hopper has indulged in this year!”
And not just books, music, movies and TV. Experiences
and moments and phases are thrown in, too, on the off chance someone somewhere
unfortunate enough to read this may want to indulge in something similar.
Well, without further fanfare, here they are:
Best Fiction Read
(tie)
Voyage to
the City of the Dead (1984) by Alan Dean Foster, review here.
Pillars of
the Earth (1989) by Ken Follett, review here.
A mid-size
science fiction novel and a massive medieval epic tale – yet both were
fantastic! Both created lifelike worlds and characters, more real, as I am fond
to say, than the people who inhabit the cubicles surrounding you at work. The
conflict was palpable, the resolutions and revelations completely satisfactory.
I’d recommend both books heartily to any avid reader.
Best Nonfiction Read
With the
Old Breed (1981) by E. B. Sledge
Runner-up: Four
Days in November (2008) by Vincent Bugliosi
Both great
historical reads. Sledge’s book covers the WW II invasion of the Pacific islands
of Peleliu and Okinawa and is so packed with detail I felt I was wearing a
virtual reality headset reading through it. Bugliosi’s book examining the JFK
assassination minute-by-minute was also a detailed read, especially as he
pieces together Oswald’s interrogation from hundreds of sources and tracks the
assassin’s movements immediately before and after the three rifle shots.
Best Short Story
(three-way tie)
“The Bees of
Knowledge,” by Barrington J. Bayley
“Catch that
Zeppelin,” by Fritz Leiber
“The Storms
of Windhaven,” by George R. R. Martin
All from a
1976 SF short story omnibus, and all unique. I’ve blogged about those crazy
bees, here, and it’s a worthy read, as are the other pair. “Zeppelin” has a
great twist at the end involving perhaps the most notorious Austrian of all
time, and “Windhaven” is a rare George R. R. Martin tale where – spoilers! –
the good guys win at the end.
Worst Read
The Mirror
of Her Dreams (1990) by Steven R. Donaldson
(Dis) Honorable
Mention: Stone of Tears (1996) by Terry Goodkind
Ugh. Where to
start? I don’t want to bash the authors for their worthy accomplishments
compared to a rank amateur as myself. Yet I failed to enjoy either book. I
finished Mirror solely because it was a re-read from over 30 years ago,
but the incredibly bland and passive protagonist had me screaming at the page –
and at my family at dinnertime – for her to do something, anything, to save her
endangered self. Tears I could not finish. The second novel of a massive
worldbuilding series, I had to put it down at 200 pages as it devolved into a never-ending
vividly described sexual fetish I have no interest in. Ugh.
Best Movie
Whiplash (2014)
Runner-up: Fall
(2022)
How have I
never watched Whiplash before this year? What a superb movie!
Emotionally wrenching. The perfectionist in me was riveted with both Fletcher
and Neiman, filled with an odd combination of horror and admiration. You don’t
need to be a jazz fan to appreciate this. Most of the movie is the tension
between the two men. But after watching this I again felt that every-other-year
pang to do a deep dive into the music so antithetical to the Classical music
that older adult me loves. And best of all, the enigmatic ending – who won,
teacher or student?
I watched Fall
with Patch only two weeks ago, and never have I experienced a flick that
affected me so physically – sweaty palms, twitchy legs, nervousness and
anxiety, almost to the point of wanting to turn the movie off for a few
minutes. And I’m not normally scared of heights. Yes, upon reflection it’s
silly and filled with plot holes, but if you suspend your belief you’ll get
sucked in. Only twice before have I had such a visceral reaction to a movie – Aliens
in 1986 and War of the Worlds in 2005.
Worst Movie
None that I
can think of offhand. I did make my way halfway through a really bad Jet Li
dubbed movie a few weeks ago. Plus there are a score of half-watched (and
half-baked) documentaries on bigfoot I started, usually as visual fodder while
I ate my chicken wings on Saturday afternoon.
Best TV
Chernobyl
(2019 miniseries on HBO Max)
A couple
years late to the party as always, yes, but this was well-worth it.
Phenomenally good series I could not stop watching.
Worst TV
Sopranos
binge re-watch
Fifteen,
twenty years ago I watched this show somewhat enamored of Tony Soprano. You
know, the power, the confidence, the charisma. Now on a second viewing with the
Mrs. from July to October, I found him and his crew completely and disgustingly
repugnant and rooted for their demise. Not too surprising.
Best Music
Yes
Walking the
dog one hundred-and-seven-degree July day on a whim I selected Yes’s first album
(never ever having heard it) on the iPhone and was immediately hooked. I’ve
listened to all their 70s stuff and a good portion of their later work. I’ve
created a five-hour playlist. I’ve checked out Howe’s, Wakeman’s, and
Anderson’s solo albums. After years of not being musically moved by anything, I
appreciated this unexpected interest.
Song of the Year
“The Gates of Delirium” (1974) by Yes (particularly
the 12:45-15:00 section)
Best Moment of Creativity
Researching
my new manuscript … it’s been fun, as the research always is. Now to write it
in 2023 …
Bucket List Accomplishments
Read War
and Peace, cover-to-cover
Lincoln:
The War Years, by Carl Sandburg
Reclaiming
History – partial accomplishment, as Bugliosi’s Four Days in November is
basically just the first chapter of this mammoth work of debunkage.
Worst Family Moment
The theft of
the beloved 2021 CRV. Stolen August 24, 2022. Recovered September 16, 2022. But
it’s not the same car, and never will be [insert tearful emoji] …
Best Family Moment(s)
Little One’s
High School graduation and the weekend party that followed
Watching
Patch train for and work her first official job (refereeing soccer games)
Phases
Epic reads (War
and Peace, Ivanhoe, The Matarese Circle, The Pillars of
the Earth, Martin Chuzzlewit)
The Music of Yes
The Proust
Experiment
Record
Collecting
Little One in
College
Movie Night
with Patch
Binging The
Regular Show with Patch
Sudoku
Best Phase
This time,
NOT all of them. I definitely appreciate the time I spend with my littlest
not-so-little little one, especially since her big sister is away at college
the majority of the time.
Taking that
out, hands down I enjoyed Yes and the Record Collecting phases the most.
Now toss that dusty old progressive rock album on the
turntable and enjoy the end of 2022 and the birth of the new year!
Little One finished up her first semester at college
on the 14th. The Mrs. picked her up and she slept fourteen hours the next day.
Man, they must be working her hard over there at UD. Either that or she needed
to marshal her strength: for the next eight days she’d be wrapping gifts and
stocking displays at the local Macy’s. She made a pile of dough, but those
eight straight days of eight plus hours in the midst Christmas rush took a lot
out of her.
I took a PTO day on Friday so I ended up with a
four-day weekend. We all did some last minute shopping, decorating, and food
purchasing. I wrapped four gifts to each member of my immediate family. We
watched some holiday flicks at night and ate some delicious home cooking. It
was cozy, comfortable and warm.
I mention “warm” because Texas – as well as most of
the country – is in the midst of an arctic bomb or a polar vortex or whatever
they call a cold spell these days. Temps plummeted to the teens down here just
north of Dallas. Which is rare, though not unheard of. The biggest danger is a
burst pipe, as they’re not insulated as well as they’d be up north from what I
understand. So we let the faucets drip drip drip overnight and tried to stay
indoors as much as possible. When Patch walked the dog we had to dress him up
with the canine hoodie for him to stay insulated.
Since Little One is a night owl, Patch wakes up with
the dawn, and the Mrs. and I were completely and utterly exhausted from all the
last-minute running around, we weighed pros and cons and decided on Midnight
Mass this year. It was wonderful. We got to church early and managed to snag
aisle seats near the back and enjoyed a tasteful, reverent nativity mass. The
music was traditional and not overdone, the sermon short and on point, and we
got home and all in bed by 1:45 am.
Surprisingly, I woke first Christmas morning. Gone are
the days of toddlers and tweens waking us up at 6 am to open presents. Soon we
were all up and after a quick breakfast sat to dispense gifts to each other.
I have to pat myself on the back – this year was one
of my best in gift giving. See, I did this thing which I highly
recommend to you all. When an idea pops into your head for a gift for someone,
or when you notice something about someone and an idea clicks, type it into a
folder in your phone, and start doing this January 1. I did, and by summer’s
end I had the perfect present for each of my three girls. For the wife I bought
an authentic Aaron Judge jersey, New York Yankees #99, and sweated for a brief
couple of days a few weeks ago when the big guy was flirting with a trade to
San Francisco. Patch, well on her way to morphing into a gym rat, received a set
of kettlebells – 5 lb, 10 lb, and 15 lb. And Little One, my CSI SVU Dateline
junkie, received a very funny Keith Morrison mug and coffee thermos.
They enjoyed them all. Better than last minute gift
cards.
What did your blog host get, you ask?
Well, as always, I received more than I should and
more than I deserved. I can’t rank the presents my girls gave me because I
loved them all. In no particular order –
Two records –
one of Mozart chorales, one of violin concertos by Tchaikovsky and Mendelssohn
An AC/DC
t-shirt
A Civil War
card game
A new pair of
gray Allbirds, my favorite wheels
Ear buds, a
stress puzzle, fuzzy socks
And two
tickets to see the Dallas Stars (20-9-6 in first place in the NHL Central
Division at the time of this posting) play the Anaheim Ducks (record basically
inverted compared to the Stars) in February
Oh, and two
gift cards to be used to purchased books
All in all, not a bad haul. To top it off, I finished Martin
Chuzzlewit last night and then the four of us watched Christmas Vacation.
On a side note, my boss gave us all the next two weeks
to work from home. So no battling rush hour commuting. That was a nice, unexpected
treat.
But the reason of the season, er, the Reason for the
Season, is not lost on me. I have some big plans upcoming regarding that, which
I may or may not post here. Perhaps in a couple of weeks. I have been thinking
about doing a two regular once-a-week postings, one on music and the other on
religion, in 2023. It’s something I’d like to do since I don’t have the time
anymore to fatten up this blog with daily posts. We’ll see. I’m still pondering
that.
