Things of the year!

David Blackwood's January Visit Home

I have a "love, hate, kiss, marry, kill" relationship with all the year-end lists, like "Best Movies of the Year" or "Best Albums of the Year". I enjoy them and to a certain point, depend on them to fill me in on what I missed out on while I was busy doing other things like, I don't know, buying groceries, talking to friends, or looking at trees and trying to guess their height. It gets in my craw (wherever that might be) when many different dictionaries announce their "word of the year" that aren't even a word but "words". They're often phrases like, "brain rot", "rage bait" or "TACO" or some other faff. I wasn't surprised that Merriam-Webster chose "slop" as their Word of the Year. I'm still amazed by how quickly AI agents and their use became mainstream. What was strange was just how bad some AI-generated content by "professionals" was (looking at you Coca-Cola and McDonald's). This crap output was dubbed "slop" and it only goes to show you can fool some of the people some of the time, and the rest will call you out on your slop. An even worse type of year-end list is "Pantone's Color of the Year". This year's colour, "Cloud Dancer", appears to be wisps of white, which is even more underwhelming than last year's "Mocha Mousse". It had the heart of chocolate pudding but the soul of a neglected rural outhouse. What I'm saying is I expect more from The Oxford English Dictionary or The Economist. That being said, I expect a lot less from myself, so here's my list of lists of some conventional, some idiosyncratic, "things of the year".

My word of the year
My most used word was most likely, "ugh". As in, anything about the US President lumbering through societal norms like a drunken bull in a poorly stacked tea shop: ugh. A torn tendon in my elbow, ever present, reminding me not only of my mortality but that being mortal comes with a lot of aches: ugh. Carrying two mortgages when the goal was no mortgages: ugh. Inflation at the grocery store: ugh.

Quote of the year
We were reminded of something my mother said to my sister-in-law when seeing the painted crafts her and her friends were working on. After a brief assessment, my mother apparently declared that it was "Nice, but rather useless,” which seems to describe so much of modern life.

Best Musical Discovery
Muete. It feels weird to say I got into listening to a German marching band, like some kind of WWII collaborator. This band plays "electronic" dance music with genuine brassy instruments, which would make it "analogue dance music"? It's fun and brings that party vibe, so it's more Octoberfest than Kristalnacht.

Favourite Book
Last year was the lovely and enchanting A Frog in the Fall, but this year it's a very different book. It's definitely been Craig Thompson's Ginseng Roots. Thompson returns to his hometown and reminisces about the hard work he and his family did on various ginseng farms. I never would've understood the cultural, economic, and societal impact of this unusual crop without this work.

Artist
David Blackwood died in 2022, but his presence has been more vital than ever for me.

Favourite Tree
The massive maple in front of our new home deserves a round of applause almost every time I leave the house or come home to its assuring presence.

Best Swim
On Canada Day, I swam about 1700m in 38 minutes, but a few days later on the American holiday, July 4th, I swam 1200m in 24 minutes for my fastest pace in a very long time. That day included a bike ride to the pool, a stop for a snack on the way home, and a nap in a hammock. A perfect day of active laziness.

Best Bike Ride
Every once in a while, you need to dress up in athletic clothing, get on your bike, and ride at a pace to a nice spot to sit, look at the water, and have a snack. Then ride home. A ride to Port Credit on a warm, sunny day in May with a friend was just what I needed.

Best Meal
In a new home, with a new wood pellet barbecue, I traded quick salads with beans for beef and grilled a perfectly medium-rare steak, served with baked potato, zucchini and roasted peppers. The vegetables were like butter that had been infused with even better butter. It was so satisfying. I don't eat beef that often, so when I do, I don't want to waste it. A lot went into this animal, and you have to respect its sacrifice.

It's also the time of year for "wrap-ups" or "replays". YouTube has determined my viewer type is "Wonder Seeker", the same as 18% of users, or about 485 million other people, so not really what you might call unique. Even if you're one in a million on YouTube, there are still about 2700 other people just like you. My music replay on Apple Music was equally uninformative. I guess the algorithms and AI agents lack that thing that makes us human: our silly intuition and the ability to know slop when we see it.