My Favorite Things of 2018

A couple of weeks ago, I Facetimed with my friend Tyler. We discussed what we viewed as the hits and misses of 2018 and some of our favorite things of the year. He asked that I write a post about my favorite things of 2018. He also requested that I name-drop him on this blog more frequently. This year seemed to be a long one. Did you remember that we had an Olympics this year? In some ways, this list was difficult for me to come up with because many things I enjoyed were not new to 2018. For example, I still continue to listen to old podcast favorites and continue to watch the same TV shows. I didn't watch that many movies.  The media I took the most enjoyment from this year was books, so I have many of my favorites below. Many of my favorites are old favorites. Nevertheless, here are some of my favorites and things that brought me joy this year.

Diverse voices

This year saw a lot of projects with diverse voices be successful, from Black Panther to Crazy Rich Asians to Dumplin'. More, please!

John Green

John Green is most well-known for his YA books. However, I appreciate him more for the other content he creates. This year I started watching his Vlogbrothers videos he creates with his brother Hank. They make videos to send back and forth to each other about a range of topics. They also have two podcasts, Dear John and Hank and the Anthropocene Reviewed.  I will also occasionally listen to their podcast Dear Hank and John, where people just ask them random questions and they give dubious advice. John also has his own podcast called the Anthropocene Reviewed, where in each episode he reviews two things about the human experience from the Taco Bell breakfast menu to Teddy bears. 

Snipping Tool

The computers at are school are a little older. One day I watched our grade level leader use the snipping tool on her computer. I don't know why I didn't know about it sooner, but it is like magic.

New Place visited: Mexico City

Sometimes when traveling with others you go to places and do things that wouldn't normally be on your radar. This is how Mexico City was for me. I went over Thanksgiving with my friends Leah, Michelle, and Baylee. Lately, when traveling to cities, big cities have felt like generic big cities. Mexico City has its own feel to it. It is also one of the cities you can walk and find a ton to do. There are ruins mixed with colonial architecture mixed with modern. Also, my cool friend Jacob from Taiwan went there before me. He also asked that I name-drop more on this blog too.

Purchase under $40: Clothes from Old Navy Mexico City

When living abroad, there is a certain appeal to go to things that are familiar. That is why my friends Tyler, Josilin, and I went to an American diner for breakfast in Hong Kong. It is why we wandering into an Old Navy in Mexico City. Is it uniquely Mexican? No, but we can't go to Old Navy in El Salvador. I hadn't slept very well in Mexico City, because it got cold at night and I didn't have warm enough clothes. I ended up buying flannel pajama pants, fuzzy socks, and a sweater at Old Navy to wear at night. I slept so very after that. It was one of the best purchases I made all year. Not even mad about it.

Purchase under $2

There's an anchor chart floating around the internet for teachers that shows students when it is okay to interrupt a teacher's teaching. I designed a poster for my classroom that said it was okay to interrupt me if Lin-Manuel Miranda entered our classroom. It cost less than $2 to have it printed. I tweeted a picture of it and tagged Lin. I was at a restaurant celebrated a friend's birthday when a friend messaged me to say that she saw my tweet and said I must be so excited. Notifications were not showing up on my phone for Twitter. I left the restaurant with my friends Vanessa, Jared, and Elise. I told them why I was scrolling through Twitter. They too started searching for what this message meant. We were about to give up when Vanessa found it. Lin had retweeted me and the tweet had thousands of likes. There was a lot of giggling and jumping followed by me collapsing on Jared and Elise's couch not sure where to go next with my life. 

"This is America" music video

I am always amazed at the diverse talent of Donald Glover aka Childish Gambino. The video to the song "This is America" was very well-done. It endures rewatchings to catch all of the little details and symbolism in the video.

Dirty Computer by Janelle Monae

This was my favorite album of this year. She had me hooked with her music videos for "Make Me Feel" and "Pynk." I love the aethetic for both videos. "Make Me Feel" is so Prince-y. "Pynk" has some great visuals, including vulva pants. This was actually one of the only albums I played this year on repeat. I also saw her in concert this summer and it was awesome.

Queer Eye

My friend Sarah flew in for the weekend to see me when I was back in Minnesota this summer. We stayed at the apartment she would soon move into in Saint Paul. We spent the weekend hanging out, walking around her neighborhood, and trying different restaurants. She also introduced me to Queer Eye and my fav of the Fab 5, Jonathan. I've learned a lot from watching the show. I also love introducing others to the show and watching it with them for the first time.

Things out of context

Leah introduced me to the Twitter handle Queer Eye Out of Context. It is exactly what it sounds like. They take screenshots of the Fab 5 saying things out of context. Similarly, my favorite song of all time is "A Better Son/Daughter" by Rilo Kiley. I enjoy following the Rilo Kiley bot on Twitter, which just tweets random Rilo Kiley lyrics.

Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nosrat

This is a "cookbook," but I use that term very loosely. It has recipes, but they are at the end of the book and serve more as exercises to learn a skill rather than cooking the actual recipe. The author straight up says that following a recipe doesn't teach you how to cook. Instead, she teaches you the science behind what she considers the four elements of cooking--salt, fat, acid, and heat--and how to use each of them to make your food taste better. It's changed the way I cook. If I want to make food taste better, I know can think to myself which element it needs more of and what form of that element I could add.

The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang

In this romance, Stella is on the spectrum and hires an escort to teach her about physical intimacy. It features diverse leads and is really steamy and real cute simultaneously.

Let's Talk About Love by Claire Kann

This YA book is adorable and also features diverse leads. Alice is asexual and falls for a fellow library employee. "She has to decide if she's willing to risk her friendship for a love that might not be reciprocated or understood." I enjoyed reading about an asexual protagonist because it is not one that is seen very often.

Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward

This was the first book I read in 2018 and after reading it I knew it was going to be a good reading year. This book won the National Book Award for 2017 and topped a lot of best books lists of 2017. It is very well-deserved. This book is beautifully crafted. The sentences are gorgeous. I tried to get everyone to read it all year.

Tell Me How It Ends by Valeria Luiselli

It was important for me to learn more about how immigration worked in the United States, especially this year. The author worked as a translator at the border to process entries. The book is formatted around the forty questions that people are asked at the border. At times I wish this dug a little bit deeper, but it served as a good primer for me especially on immigration in Central America.

Lizzo

The singer Lizzo has continued to be a favorite of mine. As Tina Fey said this year, "How did Lizzo not even get a nomination for best female artist? She plays the flute while she twerks." She is also the body positivity icon we deserve.

Ariana Grande

I enjoyed following Ariana Grande's year from her album release to her relationship to Pete Davidson to the music video for "Thank U, Next." The one taught me love, one taught me patience, one taught me pain was probably my favorite meme of the year.

Jonathan van Ness

My second favorite person I've never met of 2018 is Jonathan. He is my favorite of the Fab 5. I enjoy using his catchphrases. He also has a podcast. He's the gift that keeps on giving. Who gave him permission?

Two Goats in a Boat

Leah showed me this video and it brings me so much joy everytime I watch it.

Newsletters

I subscribe to probably too many newsletters. Two that I really enjoy are the Ann Friedman Weekly from Ann of Call Your Girlfriend and Laura Olin's newsletter. Both link to different articles that they found meaningful in the week. 

Vegas Golden Knights

While I enjoy watching sports in person, I've never really been one to watch televised sports. I started watching hockey games with my friend Jacob. It started out as a I-don't-know-if-I-will-enjoy-watching-this, but I-will-enjoy-watching-you-watch-this-thing/social thing. The Golden Knights made it to the Stanley Cup Finals last year as a first year team. It continues to be a social activity, but I actually really enjoy watching the Golden Knights play hockey now.

Undersummers

They were a sponsor of the podcast She's All Fat for a couple of episodes. I thought I would give them a try. They sell shortlettes to wear underneath dresses and skirts to prevent chafing. I bought two pairs and found them really comfortable.

Reunions

While my 10-year high school reunion fell through, I was fortunate enough to have many unofficial reunions. This started when I Rio-nited with my friends Tyler and Jacob from Taiwan in Brazil. I wrote a whole blog post about it! This summer I got to go to Washington/Oregon to visit my extended family for the first time in several years. In the summer my friend Josilin came to visit me in Minnesota. I met up with some friends in El Salvador with the #MichelleTakestheMidwest tour. I also got to spend a week with my friends Jess and Kristen in Pennsylvania for Kristen's wedding. 

Deeper getting to know you questions

Last year when  I was visiting my Guatemala with some friends, my friend Jacob told us about the New York Times' 36 Questions. We took turns asking each other these questions. It helped break the ice and get to know each other. This year, these questions got brought out again a couple of times. It helps to talk about something other than school/work and goes deeper than small talk. Here's a list that I used: https://conversationstartersworld.com/questions-to-get-to-know-someone/

Going to the Lake

Even though I grew up in Minnesota, I spent more time at the ocean than at the lake. I went to Lake Coatepeque in El Salvador and it helped me reappreciate lakes. I just enjoy being around water. Lakes in some ways are more peaceful than oceans. There's just something about jumping off a dock and swimming to a floating platform. 

Love, Simon

This movie was just 😍😍😍. After Leah, Michelle, and I saw this movie we wanted to keep the good mood going, so we went to Chili's and got tableside guac. 

Lin-Manuel Miranda

For the third year in a row, Lin is my favorite person I've never met. What a year Lin had! He got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He was in Mary Poppins Returns. He also retweeted one of my tweets causing it to go viral. I'll be kicking off 2019 by going to see Lin in Hamilton in Puerto Rico. 

I'll be posting my things I'm looking forward to in 2019 post soon.
Have a happy New Year!