Alicen Wrapped: 2024

It’s been a year, that’s for sure. There’s been good, there’s been bad. There’s been a whole lot of obsessing over Taylor Swift. Every year I write a blog post about what goals I achieved and usually am pretty hard on myself because I didn’t complete a lot of them. I’m not going to do that this year, because I’ll be honest, I don’t even remember what my goals were, much less if I reached them or not. (Author’s note: I looked them up and I achieved 12/24) This year I’m going to sum up the experiences I had instead. Now, I’m not saying that my year was perfect. Mentally, it was one of my worst in a long time and I had my fair share of health struggles as well. I’m not writing this as a “look how great everything is”, but instead, as a reminder that there was some good amongst the dread and mental lows. 

Not much happened in January aside from dealing with the post-Christmas low and grey, rainy weather. I did have my Sephora advent calendar I purposefully kept for January to look forward to, and opening that every day was a delight. I’m still using the mascara from it (I know, I know, you’re supposed to throw them out every three months). My contract in the MLS department of Greater Vancouver Realtors ended in December 2023 (it was only supposed to be two months, and it ended up lasting nine), but for this month I had a month contract in the Education department filling in for someone who was on vacation. One thing that did happen in January is Angela watched The Act after Gypsy-Rose got released the previous month and she got me into it too. I got obsessed for a while. Watched The Act, the documentary, the docuseries. However, I’m not a true-crime girly, and it tapered off and now I really don’t care about her life or what she does. We had Angela’s work Christmas party in Jan and it was really cool because she planned the whole thing. It was honestly really impressive and I’m looking forward to this year’s (which will be in Jan, so next year, I guess, well this year since I’m publishing this on Jan 1). Finally, Mean Girls the musical. We went to see the movie in mid January, and it was fine. However, the stage production came to Vancouver at the end of the month and it was incredible. If you look back at my most listened to music in January, it was definitely the soundtrack. January was also full of watching Oscar nominated movies to prepare for the awards ceremony. 

In February, Angela surprised me with a Valentine’s Day gift of going to get rat tattoos. The artist had some cute rat flash and it’s probably one of my favourite tattoos and I show it to everyone to see if they get weirded out or not. One of these I’ll get a tattoo to honour the rats I had, and I might get her to do it. A big scary thing that happened this month was my contract with Education ended and I was unemployed. It was scary and stressful and not a great time. However, it lasted about three weeks before the head of HR from my company called me and said they had another contract for me and I started a short contact for the Executive Office. Andrea and I went and saw Brett Goldstein (I think Doug was there too, but that was almost a year ago and I don’t really remember). He was great, but I think I loved his opening act Mo Welch even more. To no one’s surprise, this month was also filled with watching Oscar movies. We ended the month going to Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle. I had been before, as had Margaret, but it was Angela, Andrea, and Sam’s first time. Angela and I got a picture with Misha Collins from Supernatural and we saw Chris Evans, Jodie Whittaker, some Twilight cast, some LotR cast, and some Addams Family cast in various panels. 

March started off in Seattle (still ECCC). We had our annual Oscars party at Andrea’s and this year I watched all of them. I won’t rehash my thoughts on those as I already wrote an in depth blog post on it, but the “I’m Just Ken” performance still lives in my head rent free. After not having a haircut for two and a half years because my hairdresser moved away, I found a new stylist who specializes in curly hair and she has been an absolute lifesaver. I finished up my contract in EO and decided to take a week off before starting my next contract in Admin sorting files. For my week off I got on a seven hour bus ride and went to visit my parents for a week. It was the rest I needed and I got back into writing. 

In the beginning of April we had our second Broadway Across Canada show of the year: Hairspray. It’s never been one of my favs, but honestly I had a really good time, and really loved it. My friends Sam and Michael bought a place this year and their housewarming was in April and so we got to see that and meet their newest cat before we left to go for dinner at Inkantu (which I’m still dreaming about). A not-great thing that happened this month was the beginning of my leg problems. They gave out on me one day and I’ve been struggling with pain and weakness since then. And we still haven’t figured out the cause. Challengers came out this month and that movie was just so bisexual. I haven’t watched it again since it got onto streaming, but I really should. Taylor Swift’s newest album The Tortured Poet’s Department dropped and then it was revealed to be a double album. Yeah… it may have been my most listened to album this year. 

May was a huge month for media content. Doctor Who came back and I fell back in love with the show. We went to see Fall Guy in theatres and it was one of the most delightful movies of the year. Ryan Gosling’s character crying in his car to Taylor Swift’s “All Too Well” might be one the most relatable movie moments of the year. Season three of Bridgerton also came out and I would just like to formally apologize for not liking the show when season one came out. This was Jonathan Bailey moment #1 of the year. My parents were supposed to visit this month, but Carol got Covid and they ended up having to stay in Salmon Arm. However, the weekend they were supposed to come, we still went for Dim Sum and to Fort Langley, and East is East with my in-laws. Music was pretty big this month too. Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft came out the same day as Arkell's Disco Loudout and those two albums on repeat was a break in my TTPD listening. I got to take a train for the first time, from Vancouver to Seattle to see Billy Joel. I cried during “Vienna”, I scream sang during “Piano Man” and the whole thing was great. On the way home from that trip, I decided it was time to get a cane. 

When I started making a list of what happened in June, my calendar was blank and I was all “guess nothing happened in June”. Then I remembered I went on a whole trip in June… Angela, Andrea, Doug and I went to Prince George to visit Andrea’s family. It was pretty low key and just full of animals and kids, except for the accident blocking traffic on the way there, causing a nine hour drive to become a fifteen hour one. But once we were there we just ate and drank a lot, as well as going to Barkerville. We also got the Acolyte in June, which was the first Star Wars show I’d been excited about in ages, and of course it was cancelled after one season because it was diverse. We went for Dim Sum for Father’s Day. That was about it for the month. Except for my job situation. Finished my admin contract, and finally signed on for a one year contract in the Education department. 

July was game-changing as I reached a gay right of passage: I discovered Chappell Roan. I’d heard of her before this of course but I hadn’t listened to her yet. At one point I’d heard a part of one song and really didn’t care for it (no clue what song or why, because I was very wrong). I ended up listening to her on repeat and I am now obsessed. This month was also the beginning of me taking flex days. We have summer hours at work, where we get four day weeks, but I am not eligible because I’m on contract. So instead, I worked extra hours so I could have an extra day off every two weeks. My first one in July, I wandered around Burnaby Village Museum, which was lovely. Broadway Across Canada came back, and we saw Frozen. Considering Andrea and I have matching Frozen tattoos, we were very excited. A bunch of friends came over to our place for Angela’s birthday and we ate pizza, cupcakes, and played games, which was pretty great. For my second flex day of July, I went to Nikkei National Museum & Cultural Centre which was pretty neat. Then I went to the New West Quay and walked around. I wasn’t sure what else I was going to do to kill time until I needed to meet Angela, so I decided to go see Twisters at the Landmark theatre and I finally fulfilled a life-long dream of seeing a movie in a completely empty theatre. Later that day I met up with Angela and we went on a Fireworks cruise for the Celebration of Lights, which was a birthday gift from her parents. Definitely an incredible way to see the show. The Olympics started in late July, which normally I wouldn’t care about at all since it isn’t the winter Olympics, but this year gave us Ilona Maher, Pommel Horse Guy, the hitman, and the Australian breakdancer. Another big thing that happened in July is Angela went for a sleep study. Turns out the reason she’s always exhausted is because she has severe sleep apnea. The last thing for the month was my friend Kate was in town so we all got together for my birthday dinner, despite it being a month early. 

My birthday month (August) started off with Angela and I going to the Pride edition of Science World after dark. I love Science World when it isn’t full of kids. Shortly into August our foster rabbit, Stinky (her name is actually Lotus, but Stinky fits her better), got adopted. She went to a lovely woman named Karen and now has a ton of space and a backyard, and we have our living room back. Remember, I said my parents were supposed to visit in May? They actually visited in August. We spent a day visiting Steveston with them and my in-laws and it was really great. I’ve talked about a lot of good media that came out, but the final season of The Umbrella Academy came out, and I hated it. I thought it was out of character and completely necessary. The only part I liked was the use of “Baby Shark”. For my first Flex day of August I spent the day in North Van exploring the Quay, the art gallery, the museum, and shops. I knew on August 10th I was doing something with Angela for my birthday since she’d be gone on the actual day, but I had no clue what. She asked me to leave the house for the day so she could get stuff done and then I’d meet up with her and we’d go for dinner. I honestly don’t remember what I did that day and I have no pictures of bank statements as hints, but I must have done something. I got home and was obsessing over what I should wear and Angela was all like “whatever you’re wearing is fine”. She told me we were about to leave and then her phone rang. She told me it was Amazon and our stupid buzzer wasn’t working again (happens every once in a while) so she was going to go grab it. When she didn’t come back immediately I got a little suspicious, but then a strange man walked in the door. He dropped a bag and left and then a woman in a chef’s coat walked in. Turns out we weren’t going anywhere for dinner; dinner was coming to us. We sat outside and played cards while a private chef made us a beet salad, duck and potatoes, and poached pears. It was something I never expected to do, and it was an A+ experience. Angela went on a trip to Alberta with her dad for a Metallica concert and I used the time home alone to binge My So Called Life which I’d heard of, but never seen. Angela told me to watch it and I loved it. Right before my birthday Sabrina Carpenter came out with Short and Sweet and I guess I now have to admit, I really got into pop girlies this year. Angela was in Edmonton on my birthday, but Andrea and I spent the day before on main street window shopping and then she took me to Burdock & Co (my first Michelin starred restaurant) for dinner. I’m still dreaming about the corn they served us. I got all the wine pairings and it was just so indulgent. I spent the night at Andrea’s and we spent half my birthday together before she took me home and I ordered some ramen and spent the evening watching 13 Going on 30 for my 30th birthday. Right after Angela got back, we and her parents went and saw Electric Light Orchestra, and let me just say that “Mr. Bluesky” is incredible live. I ended the month binging Back to 15 on Netflix at Angela’s recommendation, and it’s one of the best Netflix shows I’ve ever seen and everyone should watch it (it also got to end on its own terms and wasn’t cancelled). 

September was blessed with the internet sensations Moo Deng the hippo and Pesto the penguin. If you don’t know who they are A. what rock do you live under? And B. go look them up! September was a pretty low-key month, but Angela, Andrea, and I did take a day trip down to Bellingham for a Trader Joe’s run and I am now in love with the Trader Joe’s Supergoop dupe. Because my mother-in-law, Maria, had been away, we hadn’t had time to go for a birthday dinner for me yet, so we met in Gastown and Maria surprised me with a pair of Fluevogs before the three of us went for dinner at Joeys. Agatha all Along started this month and I haven’t loved something from Marvel this much in so long. It was all practical effects and it was just magical. I have had the self care app,  Finch, for years now but I kind of did the bare minimum but I convinced Angela to download the app (okay, okay, it was her idea) and I became even more obsessed. I change my outfit every day and make outfits themed to what I’m doing. I actually use it properly now and my self care and good habits have never been better. I went to a book event on Queer Speculative Fiction, that my former coworker, Ziggy, spoke at and I’ve never been more inspired to read and write queer fiction. I felt great after that for days. Andrea has been singing the praises of the streaming service Dropout for ages, but she recommended the show Dirty Laundry to Angela and we’re both obsessed now. Basically a bunch of people drink and guess whose secrets belong to who. Last thing for this month was the return of Adam Brody to my screen in Nobody Wants This, a delightful romcom series starring him and Kristen Bell. 

Season three of Heartstopper came out on October 3 (aka Mean Girls day) and it was as good as ever. Made me laugh, made me cry, made me love Johnathan Bailey even more… (Johnathan Bailey moment #2 of the year). Andrea and I also went to see The Wild Robot and it was one of the best Dreamworks animated movies I’ve seen since Shrek and How to Train Your Dragon. Thanksgiving was pretty lowkey. We didn’t do anything with my in-laws this year, instead Angela rested and I went to Sam’s with our friends. The big exciting event of October was my third anniversary. Angela and I both took the day off and she had a surprise planned. I didn’t know what we were doing aside from going to Burrard station way too early in the morning. Once I got coffee we turned the corner and there was the surprise: we were taking a bus to Whistler for the day. I had never been to Whistler so I was so excited. We got brunch and just wandered around all day looking in shops and then we went to The Raven Room for an early dinner and cocktails. It was decorated for Halloween and it was incredible. I also had an ADHD appointment in late October, and was gaslit by the doctor who said I just need to “fix my mood and limit distractions”. Luckily my family doctor also seemed to think he was a quack, and provided me with much needed ADHD meds. Halloween wasn’t a big deal this year. I didn’t dress up, although I did wear spooky outfits all through October, and I spent the evening in my Spanish class. I did pop by the neighbors though to see their decorations. 

It only took me until Nov 2 to go get a Christmas pedicure with Sam, which Michael teased us about (Nov 1 is Christmas, Michael!) but I didn’t care. We had a friend stay with us for a couple days and she and I went to go see Sabrina Carpenter. It was hands down one of the best concerts I had ever been to. It’s such a fun dancy album and screaming “I don’t give a fuck about you” was a highlight, as was hearing the pre-teen near us scream “motherfucker”. Angela introduced me to Santagato Studios videos (more specifically Joe and Frankie) and not only am I obsessed now, we’re actually going to see them when they come to Vancouver in February. They’re just fun videos where dumb boys play dumb little games and they bring me so much joy. Angela has been watching them for like ten years, so it was really satisfying to tell her that they’re coming here and that I’m buying her tickets for Christmas. I also got back into reading this month. Or should I say “eyeball reading” as my friend Margaret calls it. I listen to a lot of audiobooks, but I hadn’t read a physical book (well, ebook) in ages until this month. One that I read (that a friend recommended like 6 months ago) was Out on a Limb by Hannah Bonam-Young. It took me so long to read it because I really don’t like surprise pregnancy books, but oh wow was this one great. And she’s Canadian! I ended up reading all the books she has out so far. Another thing I finally got around to doing was watching Lost in Space. Angela and I watched the first few episodes years ago and we just kind of stopped but she ended up binging it and told me to as well, and it’s probably one of the best sci-fi shows I’ve seen. It ended perfectly. Don and Debbie forever. I also started the Netflix Christmas movies this month. I normally watch the Hallmark ones as well but I just couldn’t be bothered to track them all down. Andrea and I went and saw the Arkells for the second time, and they were great as always. Wicked also came out this month, which as you know, is my new personality for at least the next two years (Johnathan Bailey moment #3 of the year). We ended the month with our annual Ginmas celebration at Andrea’s, where we all get together to watch cheesy Netflix Christmas movies and drink gin. It was great this year because Andrea’s mum was able to join us. 

December coming again meant advent calendar time. I did a David’s Tea one, a Kinder one, and a dollar store Frozen one. The Frozen one is great because everyday Angela tries to guess what the character is. She got the first nine days right in a row, and hasn’t gotten a single one correct since. (Edited to add: she ended up just guessing Kristoff every day at the end and got it right a few times) Vancouver put up 13 Taylor Swift signs in the city to celebrate the Eras Tour coming here and they had kind of a scavenger hunt contest if you find them, so Andrea and I spent three hours walking around Vancouver finding them all. Well, we found 10 of 13. We couldn’t find the one at Science World, because it was actually in False Creek, not Science World. We couldn’t seem to find the one in Gastown. And we didn’t even go to the one on Granville Island because it was too far. On the topic of a different concert, Angela and I couldn’t get tickets to Billie Eilish in Vancouver, so we took the train to Seattle to see her. I got so much reading down on the train and in the hotel before the show. I finally got around to reading The Prince and the Dressmaker which deserves all the praise it’s been given. The Billie concert was incredible. I was super stressed because I spent up until the show trying to get Taylor Swift tickets, but once Billie started performing I forgot all about that and was just mesmerized. There was a moment of absolute silence (except for one asshole) while Billie recorded herself looping her voice, and it was so eerie and cool. Screaming “Happier Than Ever” was also very cathartic. I’ve mainly been talking about things I did get to do, but December was also a big example of what I didn’t get to do. I never managed to get tickets to Taylor Swift. We tried on the first drop way back when that was, and we tried in every drop after that in late November and early December. We got through the queue a few times, but we never managed to get tickets. I don’t even know how many contests I entered. Angela was half tempted to get me a resell ticket, but it was just too much of a gamble and I had seen too many people online get scammed by StubHub. I’m sad and I’m disappointed, but mainly I’m just angry at Ticketmaster and resellers. Billie Eilish has a rule that you can’t resell for more than face value, and I really think that would have been good to be implemented here. The whole thing was ridiculous and stressful. However, the day of the final Eras tour, Andrea and I went downtown to see the Folklore cabin and the giant friendship bracelet on the stadium. We made some friends in line and exchanged friendship bracelets and stickers. It was also great to hear from other Vancouver Swifties who didn’t geet tickets. After that, and after we failed to get tickets two more times, we headed to Andrea’s to watch a grainy live stream. We made some friendship bracelets, had chicken strips and “seemingly ranch” for dinner, and Andrea made us some French Blondes. We weren’t there in person, but it was still great to see the concert in the only way we could. We had a cookie swap at work which was a lot of fun. Shout out to Liz, and how delicious and professional her cookies were. In the middle of the month, I had a diabetes appointment to switch me over to the Omnipod Dash insulin pump and the Looping System. Within 24 hours my time in range (blood sugars being at a good level) went from 53% to 90%, I’ve had some ups and downs since then, but my blood has been way better since I switched. Andrea got me into hockey last year during the playoffs when the Canucks were playing well, so John and Maria offered to take Angela and I to my first Canucks game. We went for dinner beforehand at Glowbal, which I had never been to, and it was lovely. The hockey game itself was incredible. For one, it was Pride Night, which was so much fun. John and Maria bought us hoodies with the pride logo on them and I’m in love. We were playing the Florida Panthers, who won the Stanley Cup last year, and we beat them 4-0, which was very satisfying. JT Miller was finally back so it was great to chant his name, and Lankinen was on fire with his saves. It was a great game and a really fun experience. For the second year in a row, Andrea and I wore matching candy cane tights for our work Christmas party. It was really fun and chill this year. Next up was Sistermas. Andrea and I have a girl’s night once a month where I spend the night, but our one in December is always called Sistermas and we tend to make it extra special. We started off by doing Brewers Row in Port Moody. We did five breweries, sharing a flight at each: Rewind, Yellow Dog, Twin Sails, Parkside, and Moody Ales. Then we went back to Andrea’s house and ordered Korean fried chicken and watched Sabrina Carpenter’s Christmas special and a bunch of Christmas movies. Red One was a real standout. Angela and I did gifts on the 21st because we’re going to her parents for Christmas and we didn’t want to drag them with us. She gave me a pair of Fluevogs (the Lyras, which are now discontinued) and I’m obsessed. The day before I went to Coquitlam, I had both a hair and a nail appointment and it was the perfect self care. Christmas was nice. We went to Angela’s aunt’s on Christmas Eve. There was a ton of food and people and it was way more chaotic than my family. On Christmas Day we called Andrea and my parents. Then Angela and I watched Die Hard (it’s a Christmas movie, fight me!) The rest of the time at John and Maria’s was spent relaxing and playing games. We played so much Wordle and Phase 10.  We also ate a ton of good food. We came home on the 29th. Naturally Andrea, Erika, and I went to see Wicked (so maybe it’s my third time, so what?) again, but the sing along version this time. I’ll be completely honest, I bought it since it released on digital on Dec 31, and I can’t wait to watch it weekly until part 2 comes out. New Years Eve, Angela and I went for lunch at Earls. The rest of the day was pretty low key and I watched all the special features for Wicked and one of the commentaries. 

It was definitely a challenging year but at least I did a lot of fun stuff. I’m hoping 2025 will be a little less stressful. Here’s to another year of obsessing over Wicked! Happy New Years everyone. And credit to Angela for the great blog title.