10 things that I'm happy about from 2021.

I’m following Kottke’s lead and creating my own kind of list for 2021.

1. Formula 1.
   Holy crap. It started with the Netflix series and it ended with me and my daughter getting up at 5:00am to watch the last race live. I’m sooooo into it I can hardly believe how into it I am. Has it surpassed the NFL for me? Yes. It has. And that’s crazy.

2. Plants
   My daughter has been begging us for years and we’re finally all in. Full plant based diet - the whole family. It’s been a slow progression from not eating pork in restaurants, to not really eating meat in restaurants, to not really eating meat at home, to trying to eat less meat at home than plants to just all in. I can thank The Game Changers for being the final straw but it’s been a long time coming and the environmental and animal care/meat industry are still what drive me - though health is pretty great too. (For me personally plant-based means 90% plant consumption - or higher. There are lots of definitions but that is my personal one.)

3. All Those Marvel Shows
   Wandavision, Loki, Winter Solider and Hawkeye. Some are better than others but the fact that my kids are so into Marvel has made them all that much more fun. When we can watch them together, we do, when we can’t, we talk about them.

4. Alone
   Another show. Is it just tv that keeps me going? God, I hope not but there are some good ones. Season 8 was absolutely bonkers. Again, the entire family was obsessed but, more than that, it’s so encouraging all incredibly adaptive, strong, resilient, and all around bad ass the human body is and what it can do when the mind is willing.

5. Pfizer and Moderna vaccines
   It’s crazy that last year ended with the entire family getting over COVID (b/c we watch all that tv together) and it’s ending with me having had 3 shots of a vaccine that is saving lives and a modern miracle in its time to develop and efficacy. Despite all the news about it not working, it and Moderna and all the others do, and it’s amazing.

6. Hawaii
   The whole family snuck in a trip to Kaui. Good god, how is Hawaii so insanely magical in what it does? We surfed, we hiked, we marveled in the views and wondered why and how it just never gets old but actually better in each time.

7. Books
   I love reading and I love a good book. I found a lot this year including Dirty Work (which will help you stop eating meat and talks about some of the other hidden dark spaces in the American work force), The Molecule of More (dopamine - wow!) The Book of Eels (a magic book about a magic animal) 1491 (what the Americas were before the Europeans - yes, I want to live there) and Facing the Mountain (wow did I not know about the Japanese Americans of WWII and what they did - and went through). More books are here.

8. In and Of Itself
   Damn. If I could have done this, I would have. It’s everything I love about a live performance, smart, magical, meaningful, and so so so creative. Please watch it if you haven't already. I so wish I could have seen it live. Even better, someday I hope I can perform something like this live.

9. The White Lotus
   Okay, some people hated this show. My wife and I were obsessed. We watched it twice, almost back to back. With our daughter the second time. I don’t know what it is that I love about it but the writing is spot on, it’s in Hawaii, and there’s some kind of way it points out faults that I love. Beautifully done.

10. Those Kids
    My son is teaching High School math in Seattle and my daughter is a pediatric oncology Nurse at Seattle Children’s. As I’ve already said, my youngest is an environmental care wizard and using her power everywhere. I’m not bragging at all. I’m only saying it’s a marvel to watch a human go from birth to impacting the world and that’s part of the beauty of parenting. I look forward to continuing to watch and learn from them.

Here’s to 2022. May it rock!