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electric_ranger t1_j2rxl05 wrote

  1. Penn State won the Rose Bowl, so I'm filled with cheer and goodwill to all.
  2. A week after Christmas, my house looks like a Toys-R-Us exploded and we are living amongst the debris. We did manage to purge a lot of old toys via donation and hand-me-downs.
  3. New Year, Same old me: Dropped alcohol and caffeine for at least January. I HATE HOW MUCH BETTER I FEEL WHEN I DON'T DRINK, ugh.
  4. Read 77 books in 2022! My goal was 52. If you like books and artificial pressure on yourself, check out /r/52book. Despite the name, people have all sorts of goals (12, 100, etc) and it's a really nice community. I love "What are you reading Sunday" This week I started the year with Liberation Day by George Saunders and it was bleak. Probably not the best book to start my 2023, so I'm following up with Mark Twain's Innocents Abroad, which is already better than his other travelogue, Roughin' It.
  5. I am back on Duolingo, took off the month of december and let that streak die. 2 days strong, vamos!
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typeytypetype t1_j2rzbly wrote

#3 speaks to my soul.

I also just got back on duolingo and am on a 22 day streak, see if I can keep it going all year. Vamos!

Edit - forgot that the pound sign makes text big and bold. Whatever, leaving it. I probably need to yell at myself about the drinking anyway.

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courageous_liquid t1_j2s13zs wrote

oh god there's an asshole on my morning subway that does duolingo without headphones in (like a psychopath) and the dinging noise when you get one right is so fucking annoying in the AM

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typeytypetype t1_j2s27si wrote

Honestly any phone activity in public with the sound on is a total asshole move. One of my coworkers plays candy crush in the break room with the sound on. Kill me.

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familyofgeniuses t1_j2s4ro6 wrote

hahaha. I hate the sound effects even as a user. Have you picked up any of the language at least?

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courageous_liquid t1_j2s5uv7 wrote

Yeah, it's helped me somewhat with Russian (primary reason I use it), though it's incredibly frustrating because it's wrong like 10% of the time when it comes to syntax (i.e. I send screenshots to my in-laws and they're like yeah the way you said it is fine even though it got marked wrong).

Definitely has helped with my Italian, though.

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familyofgeniuses t1_j2sui14 wrote

I find Duo mind numbingly boring, but I'll admit the repetition helps me internalize conjugation and grammatical structures without ever studying a chart.

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courageous_liquid t1_j2svdlr wrote

I actually prefer the mechanics-heavy charted version of language learning but it's not conducive to short bursts of self-initiated learning, so duolingo is what I'm stuck with.

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GreatWhiteRapper t1_j2ryjua wrote

>Read 77 books in 2022! My goal was 52.

well well well, look at mr "has his life all put-together".

Seriously though, that's cool as heck. Which was your favorite book and your least favorite? Any that stood out as must re-reads?

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electric_ranger t1_j2s0jw7 wrote

​

Why I'm glad you asked! I made a whole infographic to talk about it.

My top 5 were:

  1. Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Bouey - a YA mystery thriller about a girl trying to crack a meth ring in her hometown. It's really good, and Netflix is making a miniseries out of it. I loved this book, but I struggle with telling people about the plot because it's, y'know, a thriller. I don't want to spoil it, but she really pays off all the subtle hints and threads well.
  2. Meet Me in the Bathroom by Lizzy Goldman - an oral history of the early aughts NYC rock scene - the yeah yeah yeahs, LCD soundsystem, interpol, the strokes, etc. This was my music and it was fun to go back and relive it. There's also a fantastic spotify playlist.
  3. Canyon Dreams by Michael Powell - one season with a HS basketball team on the Navajo nation. Love a good sports "biography" especially the kind that focus on a single season or a unique team.
  4. Shadow Divers by Robert Kurson - two amateur divers discovered an unknown U-Boat off the coast of Cape May. This book was also really, really good - although it made me decide never to go into water deeper than my head lol.
  5. Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe- A book about the Sackler dynasty and the opiod crisis. if there was any justice in the world, every last Sackler would be in jail for what they did.
  6. Honorable Mentions: Eager: The Secret History of Beavers by Ben Goldfarb, Football for a Buck by Jeff Pearlman, Fevered Star by Rebecca Roanhorse

My least favorites were

  1. Under the Black Flag by Chris Cordingly - not sure how you can make pirates boring, but he did it. 2.
  2. Why Fish Don't Exist by Lulu Miller - The title caught my eye and I was hooked (pun intended), but the story kind of fizzles and the final third is really more about the author herself, which I was less interested.
  3. Year Book by Seth Rogen - just wasn't that funny, and was pretty short.
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GreatWhiteRapper t1_j2s1ct5 wrote

Oh now you're just showing off! ha.

I liked Why Fish Don't Exist. I went into it blind, not knowing who David Starr Jordon was. Seemed like a decent fella so I was a bit blindsided by the twist of >!surprise! it's eugenics!!<. But I vaguely remember when it got a little too author-y so I agree with you there.

Shadow Divers sounds interesting and I've heard great (terrible, awful) things about Empire of Pain. I would say I'll pick them up, but I have so many books on my TBR that I'm all booked up (hahaha) this year, literally.

I really want to read American Prometheus. I'm just throwing that out there.

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electric_ranger t1_j2s2ha7 wrote

>American Prometheus

I'll check it out! From my library! or Libby!

Seriously, I only bought like.. less than 10 books this year! The rest were all library books.

Or the other David Starr Jordan twist of >!murder! !<I was like "whoa, WAIT. that's WAY more interesting than the other stuff."

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familyofgeniuses t1_j2s08i4 wrote

I'm not doing dry January, but I'm trying to save alcohol for special occasions. I've given a few Athletic NA beers a try and they're actually pretty good! I've heard Lagunitas has a good NA as well.

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electric_ranger t1_j2s11m9 wrote

Saving alcohol for special occasions is probably a more sustainable path in the future. It's funny - I managed to not drink up until I met up with some old HS friends last week, and even then it was like "i'm gonna do 1..." and then the next day I said to my wife "I wasn't expecting to go 4 pitchers deep," and she was like "Well it was six, so..."

We'll see how it goes. I don't have any big "drinking" functions until February.

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familyofgeniuses t1_j2s34qb wrote

You can do it. I haven't binge drunk for years because I get terrible hangovers, but I've still drunk too much (small amounts consistently) for a long time. I'd resolve to stop the frequent drinking all the time and never followed through with it.

But this time around I'm feeling hopeful. I had a few drinks on Christmas and New Years eve, but have been mostly dry besides that for a few weeks. I think the difference this time around is the aforementioned NA beer, because I really do like to crack open a cold one in the evening. And going to the gym. I know it's cliche but working up a sweat really does quiet my constant anxiety that I try to soothe with a drink.

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sandwichpepe t1_j2rzxyk wrote

oooooooo i’m def checking out that sub!!!!!! i want to get back into reading

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helium_hydrogen t1_j2s70b2 wrote

I read a whole 5 books last year, so 77 is a mind-boggling number. Any particular highlights?

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electric_ranger t1_j2s9unv wrote

I replied below with an exhaustive list, but if I had to recommend one book it would be Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Bouey. It's a really good thriller.

My average book length was like 340 pages, so that would be like 4-5 days of reading 30 mins before bed. Part of my routine is no phone before I go to sleep, so I spend my last hour before bed reading and journaling.

I also listen to loads of audiobooks when I'm walking or riding or driving.

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zempf t1_j2sbx1e wrote

I'm doing dry January too, mostly because I want to lose some pounds and the easiest way to cut a thousand+ calories a week out of my diet is to stop drinking a few beers on the weekend, plus it's always accompanied by a sandwich and fries and whatnot, which isn't helping. Good luck!

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PhillyPanda t1_j2sg84k wrote

I do sober January every year and I never lose anything. It’s one of life’s greatest mysteries given the alcohol calories missing, eating out less, eating healthier in general, filling my time with the gym and sleeping better.

At the end of it I always feel mentally better but so confused.

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familyofgeniuses t1_j2suc1r wrote

Sometimes when I'm not drinking I'll do the "I'll have a lil bowl of ice cream to make up for it" thing, lol.

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