After the excitement, fun, and just mega relaxing of Xmas and New Year, January has been for the most part a long uneventful month. Lockdown is infinite, work is forever, weekends are my time. After setting some resolutions and goals for the year ahead, January has been a month of forming new habits and behaviours.
With long nights and more time inside, boardgames were great distractions. This month Ailish and I started playing Ticket to Ride: Europe, after getting it for Xmas a few weeks previously. The Ticket To Ride series is something I’ve been aware of for a few years now, but this was my first time playing any of them in a series now spanning the last 16 years. Players take turns bulding trainlines and transport networks across a map, scoring for objectives and route length with coloured carriage meeples and card drafting. I’m mostly indifferent to trains but I missed travelling so much last year, so it was fun plotting journeys across a map and visiting different capitals. We both liked the game a lot (and scored highly!) so this one is definitely a keeper, and game nights in general are something we’re wanting to do more regularly. It will definitely be getting played more!
Last year I watched 141 films in, around, and after the initial lockdown and had a great time doing it. Seven starred Michael Caine, six with Daniel Craig, and five directed by Christopher Nolan. Of my twenty five most watched actors that year only one -Morgan Freeman- wasn’t white(!), and of the sixteen directors, only one again stands out- Taika Waititi. Going in to this year I wanted to watch things more culturally and gender diverse instead of just distinctly and predominantly white male. This is a longer goal, but this month I watched the excellent anthology series Small Axe by director Steve McQueen. The five stories individually show different aspects of the culture, segregation, and racism of London’s West Indian community between 1960-1980 and combine to paint a bigger unique picture. All the films have a distinctive voice and there is a very real sense of history and documentary within each film. It feels and looks real, because, well, these are stories that really happened, and Steven McQueen is great at capturing that. It’s very well done, and I’m on board to follow whatever he does next.
One of my other big resolutions for the year was to do more creative writing! This month I started on a short story, wrote a synopsis for something bigger that’s been rattling around for a while, and entered a short 50 word contest. A great start, but as the month went on things changed pretty abruptly and it’s not something I’m going to be able to prioritise for now…because I’m studying again! After some really nasty existentialism and doubt last year I felt I wanted to actually do something, and I’m now enrolled doing postgraduate History and Archaeology of the Highlands and Islands through part-time distance-learning. I woke up and just jumped in! This is something I’ve been wanting to do for a few years now and while I continue to doubt if I’m clever, young, or have enough time to do it succesfully, I’m looking forward to the challenge. The opening module lasts from now until May, giving me a break before continuing again with the next one after the summer. This is something I’m hoping to focus on a lot this year and while it’s worrying I’ll have less free time, it’s exciting knowing that something bigger is happening instead.
With a Covid_19 vaccination still months away for me even with good intentions 2021 is probably going to be a difficult year again. I want to be out, seeing people, having dinners, and travelling, and none of that will probably be possible again for a while. It’s reassuring however, if the world does go fully tits up again, it means I have some goals and habits, plans and resolutions to keep me ticking over. Less uncertainty please.