It’s the last newsletter of 2022! Good thing I checked my calendar because I did not know that until I sat down to write this. It’s been quite the year. I started it in Pittsburgh, and I’m ending it in Pittsburgh. Woof. Being back in Lawrenceville means I’m back to my old routine. Watch game shows - teach online - go to the library - watch more game shows - repeat. There is some Big News!! The library got new reading room furniture! Some new chairs for the same tables and a few new reading chairs. All jokes aside, the set up is really quite nice now.
In other Big News, I need to shout out two subscribers for going above and beyond this giving season. In the last edition of The Third, I recounted the tragic loss of my most loyal companion - my Muji teapot. Well, two of you rectified the shituation and I now have TWO Muji teapots. First, THANK YOU. I truly love this thing. Second, what will I do with two teapots? Make a shit ton of tea. Tis the season!
In today’s final newsletter of the year, I discuss a detour taken (unwillingly), groups left (willingly), and a look into 2022 at The Third. Happy Holidays, dear readers!!
Two Saturdays ago, I left the comfortable, heated flat of my friend Alyson for Pittsburgh. My little international move incubation period was over. What should’ve been an easy breezy 3.5 hour drive (mostly because I was chilling in the backseat) turned into a 7 hour expériénce (not Frenchily correct spelling). My parents kidnapped me and took me to Gettysburg. Why? To pick up two things:
Coffee.
Pickles.
Yes, you read that write. No autocorrect there. Just the necessities! After we secured the bag (a total of 10 minutes), my parents realised we either needed to eat lunch in town or on the turnpike. It was 11am, and we chose violence - eating lunch in town. After some weirdly timed sandwiches and burgers, we were finally on the road again. I had to listen to the French-England match on the radio (in my jock era). My butt was incredibly numb. Some peanut butter cups melted. But we finally made it. Me, my parents, and my 6 suitcases. I feel like I should say that “I’ll never let myself be put in a detour/kidnapping situation with my parents ever again.” However, as I am now living in the same city as them, it feels inevitable. Wish me luck.
I used to say that the only reason I still used Facebook was to keep in touch with older family members, and Facebook groups. Now that the latter has gotten incredibly out of control, only the first is true. I almost never open Facebook. I don’t even have it on my phone. These aren’t radical actions in 2022. Facebook is a hellscape. So imagine my delight when I realised last week, “oh, I can leave every Madrid related Facebook group I’m a part of.” You may be wondering, “if you hated them so much, why did you leave them earlier?” And my answer to you is simple - they’re incredibly useful. Let me regal you with some exaggerated stats that I’ve made up. In 100 posts, about 60% are repeat questions. 20% are mods yelling for some reason or another. 10% are anecdotes about the dumbest situations. And the last 10% is good crowdsourced info, tips, and tricks from the past 10 years. You’d be stupid to leave the group when a myriad of weird immigration situations or policy changes could be sprung upon you at any given moment. But now that I’m out of there. I’m free. My eyes scanned those pages for “Leave group.” And I’ve never hit a button so fast in my life.
Can you believe there’s been a full calendar year of The Third? A full calendar year of emails in your inbox or push notifications on your phones. 2022 was a wild year for me personally, as I’m sure for many others as well. But what was this year like for The Third? Here’s a small list of stats from The Third’s posts in 2022 (excluding this one). It’s The Third Wrapped! (That sounds dumb.)
26 posts (that’s just simple math)
78 topics (again I’m just very good at simple math)
64 potatoes were ranked (weird?)
15 personal film photos were shared (art?)
the word “Eurovision” appeared 13 times (I like what I like!)
7 recipes were shared <3 (you’re welcome)
3 photos of Miss Kitty Regan (feels like I’ve been cursed)
2 pizzas were thrown (or…tossed?)
2 playlists were embedded (taste!)
2 images of Big Ang (icon)
and 1 iconic photoshop of me as Emily in Paris (another icon)
Wow, what an iconic year. Can’t believe there’s only been two images of Big Ang this year. Think she needs incorporated more in the new year. And only one photoshop of me? Tsk tsk. 2023 is gonna include some wild shit. See you next year!