Musically, Embers played our last show. Lots of people bummed that that happened, but the band had run its course, in my opinion. We had plenty of time to change things but we never did, so if the band didn't end, someone (even I) may have left.
After the first Embers show of the year, Kathy Moore messaged me saying that her and someone else were chatting that once Embers blew up, that I'd be a wanted bassist. Fast forward to now and, though that didn't happen on a large scale, it certainly did happen for me a little, I guess. I put a bug out on Facebook and my old pal Dusty from the SSA! days reached out, said his yacht rock band was looking for a bassist. Kathy reached out as well, in May, so after Embers went away, I had those two little gigs percolating. Add in that Robb, Cass and I decided to get Planets going and things were getting busy.
At the end of it all, I played 13 gigs, 2 with Embers, 2 with Planets, 4 with Kathy and 5 with Sunset Grooves. As far as cash is concerned, made the most ever, with $2200+ in my fun bux account. I turned that money into a new radio for my car, a couple new basses (P and T-Bird), some pedals and accessories, and finally a new 212 Avatar cab for a steal and an Orange Terror Bass amp.
Hoping next year promises even more gigs, would love to do maybe double that, with about 2 per month. So far, there are 3 shows on the books for 2023.
Still reading every day on my Kindle. This year I started 36 books and DNF 3 of them, so I finished 33 books (last year, 44). Looks like my most read author was CJ Box, whose Joe Pickett/Cassie Sewell books I fall back on when I can't find anything else to read. I read 7 of his books. Everything else was a single author, except Alma Katsu (2) and Don Winslow (2, though one was a re-read - The Force).
- Favorite book I read this year: Heat 2 by Michael Mann and Meg Gardiner. Action, set pieces, crime, really excellent tie in to the movie.
- Second favorite book I read this year: City on Fire by Don Winslow. Pretty much anything Don writes is excellent and this was no exception. Sequel drops late April, so that's gonna be great.
- Third favorite book I read this year: The Maid by Nita Prose. This book reminded me of the Richard Osman Thursday Murder Club books. Quirky main character and sort of accidentally solves a murder mystery. Good fun.
- Honorable Mentions: The World's Worst Assistant by Sona Movsesian; The Book of Cold Cases by Simone St. James; The Bullet That Missed by Richard Osman; Desert Star by Michael Connelly.
- Least favorite book: The Island by Adrian McKinty. Just dumb. Hate read that sucker.
- Most disappointing book: Born a Crime by Trevor Noah. As much as I enjoy seeing his bits on TV, the book left me a little bored.
Watched a bunch of TV. Let's see what I can remember.
- Better Call Saul. Gotta start there. I have been all in on the BB universe since S5 of BB. I've watched BB 4 times through and BCS 2 or 3 times. So sad to see the show gone, but man, what a ride. Will be rewatching soon, but need to decide if I'm gonna do the full universe marathon again or not.
- The Bear. Family-owned restaurant in Chicago dramedy. Really enjoyed it and thought it was super clever and raw.
- Abbott Elementary. Loved this show from the beginning. Haley loves it too and really had fun watching it with her and Marci over this past season.
- Alone. All seasons. Marci and I binge watched all of it. For a couple of non-outdoorsy people, we really enjoyed watching everything about this show. All because those knuckleheads on Smartless are always talking about it.
- The White Lotus. Just finished both seasons after Haley kept recommending it. Though I enjoyed the show, it has stripped away any innocence that Hay may have had left. So much sex and stuff that if there was anything she hadn't seen or heard of before, after watching this show, she has now. Entertaining enough.
- Severance. Though I didn't complete this show. In fact, I think I was on the finale and just lost steam. Apparently that's the best episode, so I suppose I should finish it.
- Barry. Watched S3 earlier this year and rewatched several episodes with Hay over winter break. What a cool show and can't wait to see S4 later this year.
Video games, what did I play? I don't think I played much. Though recently, I've been playing Forza Horizon 5 again, and did ask for and get the Hot Wheels expansion. I seem to remember enjoying all the "roguelike" games. Hades, Dead Cells, Curse of the Dead Gods, but after researching, looks like I played those last year. As far as this year, the big time sink was FH5. The best game I played was Prey. Loved that and finished it. But otherwise, it seems like it was pretty light. Tried more RDR2 but just can't seem to stay focused enough to finish it. The character has a bad sickness or something now. Need to get back into that.
