9 Things That Made My Life Better At the End of Last Year (Oct. – Dec. 2023)

The astute observers among you may have noticed that it is, in fact, no longer 2023, and, moreover, it hasn’t been for over a month. You are correct. However, for all of that time, I’ve either been heavily pregnant or had a newborn to take care of. (Hooray! We’re all doing just fine, don’t worry!) So if this post is slightly belated, well, such is #parenthood. Or so I’m told.

Anyway, here are a few small things that made my life better in the long-ago final quarter of yesteryear.

Google Maps correction

For a while, Google Maps refused to include a local highway overpass in its walking directions. This meant that it would route a 30-40-minute detour on smaller roads instead of the 10-ish minute walk directly across the bridge, which absolutely does have generous pedestrian sidewalks. Finally, I submitted a suggestion/correction to Google Maps following this procedure. I don’t know how many others submitted one as well, but I received a notice a few days later saying my suggestion was accepted. Now the app generates accurate walking times (and transit options that include walking to the station) again. Hooray!

calzones

When I teach a 12-3pm class, I find I need to eat lunch at some point during that span, which means I need something portable that doesn’t make a big mess or require reheating. And because of my pregnancy this Fall semester, I also needed something that didn’t include foods I was supposed to avoid, like cold cuts. Fortunately, homemade calzones met all my key criteria: they’re yummy hot or cold, I can put whatever I want in them, and they’re easy to throw in my bag. Most often, I made vegetarian-pepperoni with green peppers and mushrooms, or chicken with white sauce, garlic, artichokes, and roasted tomatoes. And if I chose to use store-bought pizza dough, the whole process became even faster and simpler.

Snack Attack, illustrated by Nho Huy Le (jigsaw puzzle, Odd Pieces)

Odd Pieces publishes jigsaw puzzles where the picture on the box shows what’s happening about 10 minutes before the scenes the puzzle itself depicts. I wasn’t too fond of the other puzzles in this series, but this one felt great to put together. Part of that might be the art style, which I liked a lot, and the other part might be the semi-familiar setting: a high school full of kids and anthropomorphic dog teachers. It felt a lot easier to predict what might be going on “after” based on the “before” scene, with just enough uncertainty to make putting the puzzle together interesting. It also helped that the picture is divided into visually distinct sections, which helped me to figure out which pieces might go where.

Robotcalypse (escape room, Omescape Markham)

I enjoyed this charming and narratively immersive escape room, in which my friends and I played the part of a spaceship crew helping to free a planetary society of robots from an evil robot usurper. The game design emphasized cooperation and observation, and the puzzles were just the right level where the most important part was figuring out what to do, and, afterward, logic/strategy would help, but trial-and-error could also fill in the gaps. Only one or two of the many technological parts were finicky, though the quality of the recorded robot dialogue sometimes made understanding difficult, and some elements of the room weren’t colour-blind friendly. It’s a shame that the whole game isn’t universally accessible, but, if it is to you, then I do recommend the experience.

Books 4 and 5 of The Ascendance Series  by Jennifer Nielsen (YA/MG series, 2012-2021)

When I first read this series about the… well… um… hmmm. Even a cursory summary of the books and their main characters could spoil you. It’s set in an imaginary kingdom where people fight with swords and occasionally devices that use gunpowder, there’s some turmoil over who gets to inherit the throne, and our viewpoint protagonist is a clever, charming, and sly teen boy caught up in all the political machinations.

Anyway, when I first read this series, it was a trilogy. I was wary when I found out that these two sequels had joined the canon after several years’ hiatus, but, upon reading, I found those worries to be unfounded. The protagonist’s voice is still as fresh and engaging as ever, there are still plenty of edge-of-your-seat twists, and there’s lots of character growth. Just make sure not to blink, or you might miss the detail that makes you smack your forehead several chapters down the road and groan, “How didn’t I see that coming??!”

Doc Martens boots

After I rolled my ankle during my second trimester, these workhorses were the only things I owned that were both comfortable enough to wear on my swollen, pregnant feet and supportive of my injury. I’ve had my pair for almost fifteen years now, and they’re still going strong. I could use them with or without my ankle brace and wear them during most non-sheer-ice weather conditions.

System Collapse (Murderbot Diaries 7… or 8, according to tordotcom’s page and nowhere else?) by Martha Wells (SFF novella, 2023)

I mean, it’s Murderbot. Murderbot is great. In this one, it and its allies, both organic and non, attempt to save a bunch of colonists from a corrupt corporation. And also cope with Murderbot’s bot equivalent of PTSD. Come for the snarky voice and sci-fi adventure, stay for the catharsis of the cynical protagonist learning to ask for and trust the mental-health supports it needs.

oilcloth tablecloth

So I went through a little… phase of coping with anxiety by buying holiday and hosting décor like table runners and so forth. I got a few oilcloth tablecloths from this Etsy store, and then started to doubt they’d be worth the effort, especially when UPS messed up the delivery and we had to do a 45-minute roundtrip to pick them up from the depot.

But they. Are. Awesome. They hang perfectly, have lovely texture, wipe off easily, and look fantastic! I got a snowflake pattern for our various winter gatherings, a colourful pattern for the “kids'” table, and a strawberry pattern for our small folding table just ’cause.

EXIT: The Hunt for the Golden Book Advent Calendar

Husband and I haven’t got more than halfway through this even now (see: above re: having a newborn), but so far it’s even better than last year’s (well, than 2020’s, which we did last year… we take these slow, OK?). The puzzles are still varied and clever and just the right amount of challenging. We haven’t yet encountered a dud. At least one puzzle referred to Christmas carols you’re more likely to know if you live in the UK/Europe than in North America like us, but we were able to solve it without that knowledge. And there’s always YouTube if you decide to do your own holiday-tune research.

Honourable mention: Netflix’s live-action adaptation of One Piece. Honestly, I’ve kind of lost track of everything going on in the manga (if I ever had track of it in the first place), but I love the performances; the aptly chosen cast; and the way the showrunners have been faithful to the spirit of the original without being overly faithful to the details. Like, Sanji is still a skirt-chaser, but he isn’t a pervy creep.