Sara writes from Wallace, Idaho, where the town highlights the work done in the old brothels as well as the work done in the mines.
Not learned via this postcard, but learned via text: Lana Turner was born and raised in Wallace, Idaho, at least until her family relocated to Hollywood where Turner was discovered. That was news to this Idaho native.
Getting things done didn’t come as naturally to me in 2024 (and 2023, (and 2022, and 2021, if we are being honest)) as it had before. Early in 2024, I made two sheets of basic stuff, one for my stuff, and one to stay on top of my aunt’s finances.
The sheets took probably 10 minutes to make, and they worked very well. You will notice the additions that appeared as the year went on. The delimitation for books and movies was particularly important. It’s really hard to catch those up in one session at the end of the month so switching up the goal to the 15th and the last day helped.
With my aunt’s stuff, it was nice to cross things off as I canceled things no longer needed.
You will notice that I gave myself the last week in December off. A just reward after a year of good work.
I’ve drafted new sheets for 2025. Let’s see if they work as well as these did.
Letterboxd is like Goodreads for movies, but not owned by Amazon. If you like to keep track of movies you watch, and see your friends’ reviews, check out Letterboxd.
I’m a paying member (It’s like $20/year), so I get stuff, one of which is an expanded year in review.
Here are screenshots from mine:
While I logged 209 films, some of those are short films. I’ve tallied the feature-length films watched in 2024 and the number is 190. As you will see below, July was the biggest month with 25 films (thanks, Covid) and October was the lowest month, with 8 (thanks 50th birthday party).
You can see the influence of both the Hollywood Movie Musical project where I attempted to watch as many movie musicals during my unemployment, starting with the Jazz Singer. That’s how I got five Janette McDonald features. William Wyler being the most-seen director is due to the Filmspotting marathon in the first half of the year.
My biggest week was the week in July I had Covid, when I watched 15 movies. (15!) The movie musicals project really took a great leap forward then. Those high numbers in early February are the Oscar-nominated shorts program, which always throw off the count early in the year. There was only one week I didn’t watch a film, and that (ironically) was the week of my birthday, when I was neck deep in party prep.
I’m glad that my first and last movies of 2024 were both directed by women. I kept track of women-directed films watched, and the total was 57. I’m glad my past goal to watch 52 movies by women in a year has become routine enough that this year I just tracked movies directed by women, rather than written by or directed by women. I think this reflects a slight upswing in directing jobs for women, but probably more my habits and my ability to find movies directed by women.
The Diary Milestones section was interesting, including one movie I watched and had no idea it was a rewatch (Gurnesy), a movie I remembered too late that I barely tolerated one of the actors (Babes), one of my favorite films (Good One) and one of my favorite theater experiences (Outliers and Outlaws).
The other fun thing in this screenshot is the most watched theme: Moving relationship stories (yep, 37 films including Challengers, Nowhere Special, A Real Pain, and Take This Waltz) and the nanogenre weird, dream, journey. That one I had too look up, but yep. Things like Barbie, Turtles All the Way Down, and Nightbitch.
This is always the fun quiz part. Can I remember the films I saw these actors in? We’ve covered Janette MacDonald, but Mr. Chalamet? A Complete Unknown. And what else? Did I watch Call Me By Your Name again?
[Checks]. Ah. I rewatched Lady Bird, plus rewatched Dune, in preparation for Dune: Part Two. So four. No rewatch of Call Me By Your Name.
I am not very good at this game.
I know Catherine O’Hara was in both Beetlejuices, but what about the other two films I saw her in? Apparently she did voice work in Elemental and the Wild Robot. Interestingly, my Zendaya streak is also due to the Dunes, plus Challengers.
Of this list, I think it’s fun that Luca Guadagnino had both one of my favorite films this year (Challengers) and one film that I really did not like (Queer).
Also included in this stat: Longest: Ben Hur (222 minutes, and I watched it over two days). Shortest: I’m Hip (4 minutes, which was an add-on to the Oscar Nominated Short Films Animated Program.
For posterity, here is an alphabetical list of the movies I rated five stars (as of 1/20/25):
And here are the films I rated four stars (as of 1/20/25)
As always, I look at those lists and think, eh, some of those can be adjusted. My Old Ass? Probably should be in the 5-star crowd. Mean Girls? Maybe actually a four-star movie that I watched very early in the year. But the adjusting can go on forever. I really liked all of these movies.
Thad passed along this unique puzzle, and Matt puzzled away, completing it in a short amount of time. (Some evening game time was sacrificed. And perhaps some normal bedtimes.)
The puzzle mechanism has a surprise, which has not been photographed so the vast readers of this blog don’t have the surprise spoiled. But I was glad I got to see it.
Sara writes from the ski lodge that she had planned to do work while others skied, but the noise and the lack of easy wifi access had her turning in other directions.
This postcard is from a new set of women artists.
Matt came home from Christmas in Michigan with puzzles, and I learned that Matt gets super obsessed with puzzles.
It’s not like I had ever seen him gravitate toward a puzzle when they came into his orbit. But I hadn’t seen puzzles in the Orange Door, and I think that was the difference.
This puzzle was two-sided. He did the first side in Michigan, and came home and puzzled together the other side.
He’s got mad puzzle skills though. Very impressive.
Methinks someone is making fun a bit of our reward culture….
Why yes! It’s 2025! That means it’s time for a new five-year standard diary.
Look how shiny it is!
This brings my time using the standard diary total to 20 full years.
Usually my favorite part about the five-year diary is reading back through the entries of the previous years as I complete each day’s entry. But 2020 through 2024 were rough, and I didn’t often read back as I filled in the 2024 days.
Here’s hoping 2025-2029 will bring smoother sailing.
* Book Group Selection | Bolded Means Favorite
Slow month! It’s partially because as the end of the year approaches, I tend to not finish books. I think I was reading five on 12/31? Then I finished four of them on 1/1. Logging things on Goodreads caused this situation. I like to have credit for reading the books in the same year I read the books.
*The Bletchley Riddle by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin
The Meadowbrook Murders by Jessica Goodman
Shadow Child by Rahna Reiko Rizzuto
North Woods by Daniel Mason
*Homebody by Theo Parish
Green Money: How to Reduce Waste, Build Wealth, and Create a Better Future for All by Kara Perez
488 Rules for Life by Kitty Flanagan
Goodreads reports that I read 224 books in 2024. They also reported that my top-read categories were picture and middle grade books. This is directly due to the focus of librarian book group this past year as one of our members was on notables. I’m hoping to read more grownup fiction in 2025.
I read the movie schedule incorrectly and the first movie of my planned double feature was not playing for another week. I had already bought a ticket for the second movie in the double feature at a different theater, so I had time to kill.
I needed a place to hang out where it was warm and there was access to a bathroom. Where could I go for 2+ hours? After mulling it over, I remembered the Lloyd Center, the first shopping mall built in Oregon.
(But actually I only remembered the Lloyd Center because I checked the movie theater outside of the mall to see if I could catch an early movie at that theater. The answer: not any movie I hadn’t already seen or was interested in seeing.)
The Lloyd Center is in a state of change. All of its anchor stores have closed, and the only chain stores left are Forever 21 (it spans two floors!) and Barnes and Noble.
(Correction: The website says there is both a Hot Topic and a Claire’s; I remember seeing the Claire’s, but don’t remember the Hot Topic. The main point is that only a smattering of the retail spaces are filled with national chain stores.)
Let’s see what else there is to see.
I drove past hundreds of empty parking spaces in the street-level covered parking. When I finally found the place people were parking, it was blocked off by a chain, and I couldn’t figure out the alternate entrance. So I ended driving up a ramp (on the wrong side, as it turned out) and finding parking on the upper deck near where the Sears used to be. As I walked in, I heard much more ambient chatter than I thought I would hear.
Turns out, there was a card trading convention on the first floor! Many people were buying, selling, and chatting about cards.
Of course, to take over all this space, all the stores behind them need to be closed. And they are. One of them is the old Victoria’s Secret where I have attended a few NWCTC plays.
The medical directory lists two providers and the mall’s offices. In the early aughts, there were many professionals occupying the third story of the mall.
As the chains have fled, The Lloyd Center has offered attractive leases to small businesses. Floating World Comics is here, as is a place to buy lego.
There’s also a skate school. A school, not a rink!
Speaking of rinks, the ice rink is still going strong. It even snows intermittently. Speaking of, OPB had a fun story about one of the Zamboni drivers in December. It’s worth a listen. Or read. They have a transcript.
One thing that is an intermittent bummer about life in this particular big city is that I have no easy access to a department store. This used to be a Macy’s at the Lloyd Center, and there was another Macy’s downtown. Sometimes I just want to go to a place where I can buy a sweater and kitchen shears. And such a place is nowhere near me.
The third floor had a variety of interesting things. Beau Monde, the haircutting school I went to for many years is at the Lloyd Center now. They used to be down on SW 12th. If you want to play bridge, you can learn at the Portland Bridge Club.
Across from the Bridge Club is another club: the Chess Club. When I walked by there was a tournament, so there were many families hanging about.
The food court still has a few eating options. It also hosted some overflow chess action.
After walking the whole building, I hung out for the rest of the time at Barnes and Noble, where they had only the old edition of the Chicago Manual of Style. The new edition came out in the summer, and I hope no one buys that previous edition because it’s expensive.
I also learned that Barnes and Noble is part toy store, which makes sense because the Lloyd Center’s KB Toys closed years ago.
Overall, it was a very interesting and pleasant visit.
