A Life Of Cyn

Nobody Likes You When You're 2023

We are well into 2023, but I haven’t had the time nor motivation to write up a Year In Review (or write anything, for that matter). I did make progress on last year’s goals and I do have thoughts on the year ahead, but overall, I haven't felt very creative lately.

Part of it might be due to work. I am really excited about my new role at the gym and have been pouring a lot of energy into it (i.e. creating training plans for my kiddos and watching every YouTube video that Lattice Climbing and Hooper’s Beta have ever made), so I think it’s leaving me with less energy to pursue other activities–like writing (or podcasting or making music). So it goes. 

We’ve also had a pretty busy holiday season (not complaining, just saying). For Christmas, I hosted a pizza party (where I learned that eggs are a highly underutilized pizza topping), and rang in the New Year in Red Rock, Las Vegas (which, in spite of rain and Covid and a wildly under-furnished AirBnB, was a fantastic trip (for most of us, at least (sorry Jamie))). 

Somebody photoshop Nikhil's face into this picture, please

The Year of the Rabbit came to pass with my most auspicious dumpling-making party to-date. We made 150 dumplings and 40 bbq seitan buns for Lunar New Year, so I think we’ve secured health and good fortune for the year to come. Dragon-Horse mental clarity to you and yours. 

In any case, I’m hoping the writer’s block is just a phase, as The Blog has become very valuable to me as a means of record keeping and maintaining a landline with my favorite people (that’s you). 

While it’s taken me a little longer to put this post together than usual, better late than never, as they say!

CLIMBING

2022: Send (multiple?) V5 and 5.12a – ACHIEVED (JUST BARELY)

Despite a hamstring sprain, multiple family visits, an unseasonably wet summer, AND COVID, I was able to check these goals just under the wire! Most notably, our recent visit to Red Rock with The Gang saw sends of two V5’s (Oompa Loompa (the most bouldery of boulders in all of boulderland) and Southeast Face SDS (which really could use a more inspiring name but whatever)), as well as my first ever outdoor V6 (Good Times, indeed)! I also came within ONE MOVE of my multi-year project, Monkey Bar Traverse V6/7, which is the closest I’ve ever come to sending. 

2023: Try hard and don’t get injured

Per my last post, I am now a frail old woman, so I think if I can climb for a whole year without sustaining a major injury, I will consider it a win. This isn’t to say that I’m done with training plans or climbing hard (I’m doing pull ups as we speak), but my attention will be less focused on the  grades I’m climbing and more focused on developing strength and mobility in my feeble joints (which will hopefully translate to harder climbing anyway). 

Part of what this looks like for us is that we decided to get rid of all the chairs in our apartment, to encourage floor-sitting/stretching/rolling/moving/etc etc. We gave away the last of our chairs just last week, and it’s already making me a little less sedentary–I’ve done morning yoga like 4 days in a row now! I have realized that we now need to invest in a step stool, but overall I’m excited to see where this all goes. 

SO MUCH ROOM for activities!

COOKING

2022: Go through The Professional Chef – ACHIEVED

Congratulations, self, for reading your very first textbook in its entirety (despite YEARS of reading textbooks in school). What a fun, inspiring, and delicious way to hone my craft. Post on Season 4 coming soon!

Sneak peak!

2023: Find another cookbook to work through

We’re currently working through some new dietary changes (fish are friends and food??) and there’s a possibility that Jamie might be beantolerant (intolerant of beans), so all my thoughts around meal planning have gone totally off the rails. I haven’t had a chance to decide what route I want to pursue with cooking this year yet, but some worthy contenders are Six Seasons by Joshua McFadden, The Korean Vegan by Joanna Lee Molinaro (thank you, Isa), and Ratio by Michael Ruhlman. Update to follow. 

You gotta try scarmbled eggs and potatoes on a pizza.

READING

2022: Read 35 books – ACHIEVED

Not to toot my own horn, but I really blew this one out of the water with a grand total of 44 books read in 2022 (toot toot). With only 10 for the category, I missed my sub-goal of reading 12 books on economics, politics, and history. Even so, I am still really happy for having exposed myself to so many new ideas and perspectives on the subject. Superlatives for the year include:

2022: Read 52 books

Shoot for the moon, am I right? Sub-goal of reading 20 nonfiction books. I won’t narrow the nonfiction down as far as last year, but I do want to spend a good amount of time learning new things. My current kick is human biology. Open to recommendations! 

SKILL BUILDING

2022: Still Korean – GOOD TRY

I diligently and consistently used a Korean learning app for the first six months of 2022, but I got a little frustrated because Korean grammar is kind of hard and LingoDeer wasn’t providing the explanations I wanted/needed (and also I’m lazy). 

2023: Korean forever

I’m going to look into more interactive ways to learn Korean this year, like taking a class at my Community Center or local college or something. I’m hoping that incorporating a real-live teacher into my learning will be more effective and engaging in the long term. Third time’s the charm!?

I'm now realizing most of my goals for this year are still TBD... still more thinking to do I suppose.

Here’s to another year–full of adventure, growth, good eats, and pain-free joints. 

XOXO