Here I am, blogging like it’s 2005. Like so many other people, I just don’t know where to overshare on the internet anymore. Meta gives me the ick; Substack is pro-Nazi; Bluesky is ok but I don’t have many irl friends there. I don’t know if a blog will be a decent solution, since it requires extra effort on the part of the reader, but if you’re here, I’m glad to have you.

I think I’ll try a monthly recap format for now and see what happens. Maybe I’ll post once and abandon it, or maybe I’ll become prolific and viral (one of these seems far more likely than the other). For now, I’ll start with the longest month of the year and go from there.

{Aside: I know why January feels so long. Our brains only count December until Christmas, so the entire week from Boxing Day to New Year’s Eve is ascribed to January, giving it a full 38 days instead of 31. Combined with the post-holidays letdown, the dark, the cold, the political hellscape, and the weird goal setting/resisting the resolutions vibes, January is endless Now you know.}

January was eclipsed by a major event: a trip to Cuba. I’ve never done a warm weather holiday in the winter before, although I’ve always wanted to try it (for research purposes, to prove that it’s a terrible idea, obviously). Sam had an overabundance of holiday hours to take and didn’t want to spend them all at home, so he snapped up a sale and booked us into the Royalton Hicacos Varadero. I posted all my photos on a separate page, but here’s a little preview:

I have a lot of feelings about the trip. Overall, it was so nice to go someplace warm, and I definitely understand why resorts are so popular. It reminded me of first year university, where everything is walkable, people are open to camaraderie, and all the basic needs and some of the perks are prepaid so it’s not a concern. It was amazing to take a break from parkas and boots, and floating in the ocean was glorious. My back pain went from pretty obnoxious to almost nothing, and that was the thing I wanted most. I read nine books, not including the one I abandoned at 60%, and I didn’t get a single sunburn. Massive shoutout to Beauty of Joseon sunscreen for coming through there.

I also had some complicated feelings about the tourist economy of Cuba, and how weird it felt to be waited on by a population of mostly brown people who are dependent on people like me. Ultimately my individual actions don’t change much about the Cuban day-to-day life, but I still think it’s important to recognize that discomfort. The environmental impact of resort travel was uncomfortable as well, and that is a big reason why I don’t plan to become an annual resort-goer, even if it was affordable for us. The food was as mediocre as everyone says, because the government restricts what the resorts can access.

The fallout from our trip has been interesting, too. Winter is hitting me much harder than it usually does this year. I want to say it’s because I got a complete break from it, but it could also be everything else that’s going on. Nobody I know is having a good time right now. Plus climate change’s effect on Winnipeg winters is to make them yoyo between slushy muck and polar vortex, and it is practically impossible to adjust to that sort of thing.

In order to prepare for Cuba, I did a bunch of sewing. It’s very normal and reasonable to sew a swimsuit to prepare for a trip, right? I also made two dresses, because many people say that dresses are ideal for resortwear, since they’re so easy to put on after being hot and/or damp.

Please enjoy my excellent self photography to show off my creations. For the swimsuit I used the Faye pattern by Closet Core, and all I did was add length, no other mods, and it turned out great! Ideal for an ocean float. I’m very pleased. The blue linen dress (sorry not sorry I didn’t iron it for the photo) is a Hallon dress from Paradise Patterns. I cut the back in two pieces to fit it into the fabric I had. The back is low and open, which makes it great to wear over a swimsuit, so I didn’t add any length to make it sit a little bit higher on me. It’s also more of a midi than maxi length, which I like. The floral dress is a Charlie Caftan, also from Closet Core, and I’ve wanted to use this fabric for this pattern for years, but was afraid to cut into it for some reason.I added as much length as I could (again, fabric restrictions) and it turned out ideally.

These are the nine books I read on the trip:

The Marriage Portrait – Maggie O’Farrell

The Dead Cat Tail Assassin’s Club – P Djeli Clark

Ninefox Gambit – Yoon Ha Lee

Never Let Me Go – Kazuo Ishiguro

Strange the Dreamer – Laini Taylor

A Sorceress Comes to Call – T Kingfisher

The Blighted Stars – Megan E O’Keefe

A Wizard of Earthsea – Ursula LeGuin

The Tombs of Atuan – Ursula LeGuin

It’s a pretty great list, if you ask me. If you click on the little collage I made, it will take you to my Storygraph.

The book I didn’t finish was The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez – it has so many rave reviews that I was sure I’d love it, and the concept that I think the author was working with was fascinating, but it was SO violent. I got to 60% and then there was a scene that combined horrific animal cruelty and cannibalism and I almost threw up. So I quit reading it and turned to the Earthsea books.

There were lots of mundane, regular things that happened in January as well: basketball games, final exams and report cards, little walks and coffee dates, video games and a lot of Would I Lie To You on Britbox (excellent brainless tv). I have a whole bunch of projects to work on, but instead I’m totally absorbed in Horizon Forbidden West – saving the world from the devastation of tech bros is ideal escapism, and it’s such a gorgeous game.

So that’s it! See you in a month, if I remember.