General Purpose Tools

2020 Happy List — Mark

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Things that lifted our spirits in 2020

Instead of a gift guide this year, we’ve written lists of things that made us happy in 2020. Here’s my list. Kevin and Claudia’s will follow.

  • I started using an ice cream maker I hadn’t touched for at least 10 years, and I’ve used it every weekend to make low-sugar/no-sugar ice cream.
  • Like a lot of people, I’ve been baking more than ever. I avoid wheat, so I’ve been using almond flour to make bread, scones, and shortbread.
  • Many of my almond flour and ice cream recipes are in the newsletter I started this year, called The Magnet. I’m an avid newsletter reader, and I’m having a terrific time writing a weekly newsletter about things that interest me.
  • My wife gave me a Calamityware Landing Page sketchbook for my birthday, and I’ve been using it to draw hundreds of little creatures, space aliens, robots, and contraptions. For the last couple of months, I’ve been drawing in it every day. I also started selling things with my art on it at Society6.
  • I’ve used a spoon gouge to carve dozens of spoons over the years. I’ve carved more spoons this year than ever before and have given most of them away.
  • My family binged through Erased, a 13-episode anime mini-series on Netflix about a 29-year-old pizza delivery driver who travels back in time 18 years (and becomes an 11-year-old) to stop his classmates from being kidnapped by a serial killer. There’s also a live-action adaptation but the anime is superior.

 

-- Mark Frauenfelder 12/5/20

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