December 2019

I spent most of December in California, biking and reading and hiding from the rain. This month is always so separate from the rest of the year, but I relish the time to hang out with my family and slow down a bit.

Best Of The Month

My best friend Kelly was unexpectedly in the Bay Area, so we got to see each other for the first time since she was in Istanbul in September 2018! We are so rarely in the same place so this was the ultimate treat— she stayed at my parents’ house for a couple of days and we drank wine and gossiped like no time had passed at all.

Spending time with my family is always one of the nicest things in December, but this year was particularly lovely because we didn’t DO as much— there was a lot of time sitting together and reading, or going on walks, or running errands, and I loved it.

Everything about visiting my sister in LA was great (everything about my sister is great) but there were two highlights: the night we spent out at a brewery in LA with a whole bunch of our friends, and a visit to the Eames House and surrounding meadow. You can’t enter the Eames House, where Ray and Charles lived for 30+ years, but you still see enough to feel its splendor.

Worst Of The Month

After years of not getting it, I’ve suddenly started getting the dreaded SSSS designation on my boarding passes at airports. This means I get a secondary screening where my carry-on bags are completely unpacked and every item is swabbed, I get an invasive full-body pat down, go through the metal detector at least three times, and more. For the first (and second) time ever, I got it for domestic flights, and almost missed my flight from LA to Oakland. I took three flights during the last two weeks of December and got SSSS every time, and it sucks.

What I’m Loving

Reads: Access to a public library and all the books in our house meant I read a lot this month and STILL wished I had time to read more.

This was the month of our family Stephen King Book Club, when we all read our first Stephen King novel— which ended up being Pet Sematary, because we could get four copies of it from the library. I really enjoyed it (maybe horror is less scary on a page than on a screen?) though the best was that I couldn’t escape the creepy cat on the cover, because there was a copy of the book in every room.

I read Exit West by Moshin Hamid, which follows a couple from an unnamed Middle Eastern country as their city becomes a war zone and they become refugees. The twist is that there are doors that transport people to other cities, so their journey takes them far afield. I really enjoyed this book.

Hillary ordered the newest Phillip Pullman book and had it sent to our parents’ house so I could read it before I went to LA. Turns out that The Secret Commonwealth is 600+ pages long, but it’s also great so I gobbled it up in less than a week. And now I feel impatient for the next book.

A fortuitous library find was The Monk of Mokha by David Eggers, about a young Yemeni-American guy in San Francisco who decides to revive Yemeni coffee production and bring the beans to the US— despite an imminent civil war. This was a quick and enjoyable read.

And at the end of the month I indulged in my old favorite murder mysteries, re-reading The Greek Coffin Mystery by Ellery Queen for the first time in ages. I remembered whodunnit, but not how, so there was still a thrill in revisiting the book!

Music: I finally started listening to a lot of Robert Glasper this month, which I should have done years ago. He appears all over Kendrick Lamar’s album To Pimp A Butterfly and plays frequently with Kamasi Washington and Terrace Martin (and I love all those artists), so it was quite an oversight.

I also loved the songs Turning Back by Pictish Trail and Xanny by Billie Eilish this month.

Movies/TV: Between going to the cinema, staying in with my parents, and flying, I watched a lot of movies in December. My favorite in the theaters was Knives Out, no competition. As mentioned above, I spent a lot of time as a kid reading murder mysteries, and this film felt like it was MADE for me. I loved everything about it. The cast is delightful, the script is tight, it’s just SO enjoyable, please go see this movie!

The next best movie in the cinema was Little Women, which is gorgeous and giddy and full of so much joy.

At home, we watched 9 to 5 (inspired by the Dolly podcast) which is a very silly movie. But fun! I also watched a documentary about Blue Note Records called Beyond the Notes with my dad, which led to this month’s indulgence in Robert Glasper.

And on my flight home, I watched The Prestige for the first time and it was incredible, how did I miss that back in 2006? David Bowie plays Nikola Tesla! Now I want to watch it again.

Podcasts: I gave this podcast a shout-out last month, but I finished the first season of Cautionary Tales and just loved it more and more. I recommend the episode “Bowie, Jazz and the Unplayable Piano” (though really, all of them are good).

I’ve also listened to all the available episodes of Ronan Farrow’s Catch and Kill podcast, which is so riveting that my sister walked into the room halfway through an episode and was so enraptured that she stayed to listen all the way through with me.

Back in Istanbul, I spent a day binging on the podcast The Assassination, about the murder of Benazir Bhutto. I remember when that happened, and it was interesting to learn so much more about it from a journalist who followed the story for a decade.

And, two episodes from other podcasts to recommend: Studio 360 has a series of American Icons and New York Icons, and one of the episodes focused on The Brill Building and the music produced there in the ‘50’s and ‘60’s. It’s great. And, my cousin Elissa works for NPR and recorded an episode of Life Kit with her mom about stains… it’s a true delight. (And informative.)

The Film Files

I came home to a massive box full of expired film and cameras, including two Holgas! A friend I met in Istanbul ages ago found the haul in her garage and sent it along to me… what a terrific gift.

I also picked up a Zorki 4K camera that was made in the USSR, probably in the ‘70’s. I shot one roll with it and it’s a new experience for me, but takes nice pictures!

Ephemera

LA is always full of small pleasures, like fresh-made mole with a side of garlicky grasshoppers (yes I ate them, yes they were delicious) and a visit to the Annenberg Center for Photography’s exhibit about walls and borders.

At home I enjoyed the slow joys, like hot baths at night in my parents’ soaking tub, and doing a sketch of my mom’s Christmas cactus.

Upcoming

In January, I’m back in Istanbul! And unless I plan a last-minute adventure, I will just be here. It’s nice to be back.