In the first six days of 2021, I wrote a stream-of-consciousness appreciation list for the good that still happened in 2020, with one item for each day of this leap year. This is a revised, condensed version of that list.
THE WORLD, GLOBAL & LOCAL
The uprisings
Stacey Abrams
The jubilation of Election Saturday
Biden’s cabinet picks, including Deb Haaland as Secretary of the Interior and Alejandro Mayorkas for Homeland Security
Harris and Biden in the White House (instead of that fucking national disgrace)
People who made me happy on the internet: Sarah Cooper & Nathan Apodaca & Maria DeCotis
Friends’ cooking/baking photos
Local restaurants, bakeries, food makers and purveyors: Firebrand Bakery, La Farine, Little Shin Shin, The Spanish Table, Oaktown Spice, Mägo, Lin Jia, Vegan Mob, Oakland Bread Studio, Yuen Hop
Local shops and makers: Umami Mart, Heath Ceramics, Occasionalish, Cuppa Fog Designs, Mask the Bay
People sharing resources
Public health workers & epidemiologists
Restaurants pivoting so hard: online ordering, curbside pickup, takeout as a way of life, groceries and pantry supplies, pop-ups, new places opening, free food, discounts for essential workers
Humanitarian and volunteer efforts, large and small: Team Midnight Munchies, everybody postcarding, Good Good Eatz, World Central Kitchen, Buy Nothing groups, the food bank, all the grassroots racial-justice fundraisers
Slowing down & waking up: Not having to rush places, most days & more community and neighborhood and civic engagement
Good newsletters, including Terri Coles’s early-pandemic emails
Oakland
Owl having three good options for kindergarten
Local journalism: Oaklandside & The Chronicle
Neighbors’ yard and window signs, signs on the avenue
Birds
Clearer skies
So many shops starting online ordering and curbside pickup
Public transit is still running (so far)
Everything is less crowded
All the restaurants and small businesses that are still standing
MOVEMENT
Yoga with my regular teacher from a decade ago
Dance with a teacher from a decade ago
Shaunna’s class (and taking her class with JM in the before-times)
Walks around the lake
Trying new dance forms
Getting a skateboard (which, in 2020, I hadn’t yet fallen off of!)
PEOPLE
Being this happy to be with my parents and sisters
My birthday Zoom
Virtual moms’ groups (including Zoom meetups and a Secret Santa)
Reconnecting regularly with KK
Erik
N: Planning a writing workshop & starting meditation together
Getting to be better friends with W
Podding, and that our friends wanted to pod together
Friends who love me as I am
COVID cancellations I’m still glad we tried for: Owl’s birthday party & family camping
My in-laws
Learning to use they/them pronouns with Owl
Trying perfumes with Y
Our dear sitter, A
Interacting with our neighbors, new & longtime, and their cats (including one named Pickles!)
Exchanging mail with SE, AS; new penpals LL & A
Elders: Our elderly next-door neighbor is still doing well & so are many other elderly people I know
Chats and calls: regular, out of the blue, catching up after years
Healthcare workers, teachers, and overt public appreciation for both
Inspirations: Mushim Ikeda, Andrea Tsurumi
Our co-op preschool community, including: the board, diversity committee, meetings with JM, book parties, Friday micro-pod
So many people in my life who aren’t afraid of feelings
Roses, sunflower, cosmos from W
Meal swaps with ME, family-recipe cookies from AS, spiced peach jam from H, apples from AV
Farmers, farmworkers, grocery workers, and delivery drivers
Owl: their verve, self-confidence, imagination, and resilience; their art; that they taught themselves to read during SiP
My nephews
Virtual figure drawing: BIPOC & Spirited Bodies
W answering my call when I needed to vent, friends like SD I can cry with
Care workers: homeless, child care, elder care
Community for friends who live alone
All the foster pets finding homes
Owl’s calls with SD & A
My sister’s cat, Darcy
Birthday tulips from J
Asian American food writers: Soleil Ho & Luke Tsai
Masks as the new gifts of care
KC
Meeting up with SY
E getting me a snack and water after a particularly emotionally taxing conversation
RITUALS
Daily journaling with fancy pens & lovely journals (and being able to use large notebooks again — because of not needing to carry them to cafes, etc!)
Weekly call with RL
Mending circle & learning to darn
Restarting a visual practice, even in a small way
Writing with AS & HB
Talking weekly with J
Drawing and writing birthday and holiday cards, including to a handful of senior citizens, and a lovely collection of cards from Lea
Date nights, before and during pandemic
Pre-COVID: facials & massages, play dates, Saturday morning routine with parent/kid dance class + Nest of Comforts + Funky Elephant + clothing outlet
Christmas cookies & satsuma candles
Watercolors
Seasonal food love: Masumoto stone fruit & apple season & satsuma season & Japanese sweet potato
Phone calls (after hating the phone for so many years!) & walking phone calls
Outdoor evenings with friends: Sitting fireside with N & hot drinks on the steps w/TY
Springtime cherry blossoms
A de-ritualization: Quitting some games
MASLOW’S HIERARCHY
Our apartment with its space and its big windows, and learning to use our deck more
Discovering quiet/work time in the bedroom
New kotatsu
Cozy sweaters
Weekly CSA pickup, weekly fish share, & buying a share of acorn-fed, lovingly raised local pork
Heirloom whole grain flours and beans, and using more whole grains in baking
Chocolate
Touch
A long-awaited trip to Yaoya-San
Laughter
Nights/weeks when I don’t have to preside over a meeting
E’s employer
Living in a walkable neighborhood (and no catcalls for 10 months)
Venn chair
Decluttering
Massively upgrading my self-care toolbox, getting to talk to Tiha weekly, & honoring my HSP-ness more
Very little (maybe even no!) sunburn this summer
Getting an AC unit finally
A new appreciation for freshness and acidity: Radishes, lettuces, arugula, fennel, vinaigrettes, pickles, cultured foods
Kindness
Fresh air
VISIBILITY
Being elected preschool board president and so much growth there: working with my board members, learning I’m a good facilitator, having my peers’ respect and praise
Getting chosen for Celebrate Your Body again (even though it got COVID-cancelled)
Tonlé photoshoot
Getting asked to lead movement at SI’s virtual start-of-year retreat in 2021
Dance videos and how people have responded to them
Stepping into leadership at preschool and also with my Meetup group, realizing I have potential for more
ART & IDEAS
Books I loved, both newly published and not: Ace, Essentialism, Something to Talk About, How to Do Nothing, The Book of Delights
New music: Adam & Red Note concert
Online dance performances
Everyone watching Bridgerton
Watching Hamilton with Mommy & A
East Point Peace Academy’s year-end email
Ed Yong & The Atlantic
APPEARANCE, SELF-EXPRESSION, & BODY
Feeling so sexy without the fear of unwanted attention out in the world
New clothes
I can still have shaved sides
Nail polish
Braless since March
Gender discovery
Getting firmer about my boundaries
Leg warmers
Prioritizing pleasure
How much I loved myself and my life just before COVID
MISC
NYT Crosswords
That I splurged on so many vanilla beans before this!
satsumabug.com | Lisa Hsia 