Well, “year 2 of the pandemic” wasn’t what anyone wanted to hear after 2020, but here we are. For a couple blissful weeks in July, it looked like we might be able to slowly start reducing Covid restrictions thanks to vaccines and declining cases, hospitalizations, and deaths, then along came the delta variant, followed closely by omicron.
January was a quiet month for me. I went on a winter adventure for the sake of photographs and walked over 8 miles in snowy weather. It was completely worth it. Otherwise, I hung around my apartment, cross stitched for the first time since 2013, played the library’s special pandemic winter version of the Summer Game (aptly called the Winter Game), organized four years of research files, and started watching Kim’s Convenience on Netflix.
In February I worked on my big Acadia National Park cross stitch project and (re)discovered audiobooks and podcasts as a good side activity for cross stitching. I used to listen to audiobooks on cassette tapes, but I never could get into podcasts because I’d either be doing something, get distracted, and stop paying attention to the podcast or not be doing something, get distracted by the need to do something, and stop the podcast. Selections for February included Jane Eyre, Persuasion, and the Office Ladies podcast (an episode by episode recap and behind the scenes look at The Office). With my first paper (finally) accepted and published, I began working on and finalizing simulations for my next paper.
As the semester went on and the university continued transitioning back to in person classes and activities, during March all students in on campus housing, including grad students, were required to participate in weekly asymptomatic Covid testing. I strategically scheduled my tests for the same morning engineering would give out free donuts on North Campus so I could pick up a donut on my way back to my apartment. With my bike still out of action with a flat tire, I hiked the trails around my apartment for the 94,858th time. To celebrate one year of the pandemic, I gave in to the likely pandemic-induced brain melt and requested Twilight from the library.
April turned out to be one of my more eventful months of pandemic life. Although Tax Day 2021 was delayed, I filed in April because I had no reason not to. MLS and the New England Revolution also started up their 26th season, and I got my bike tire tube replaced (it was punctured by a metal wire, likely in a gutter masquerading as a bike lane), began the saga known as writing my second manuscript, finished the Acadia cross stitch, and received my first Covid vaccine (Pfizer).
With the weather warming up in May, I continued hiking as usual and also took my bike on an extended ride down the Border to Border trail into Ypsilanti. When a friend from Cornell was in Michigan to visit family, I met up with them at the arboretum for my first in-person social activity in months. Other notable goings-on: baking a carrot cake, finishing Star Trek: The Next Generation, watching soccer.
I kicked off summer in Ann Arbor on the second day of June by baking some quintessential summer staples, pumpkin cranberry bread and pumpkin muffins. At the beginning of the month, I staked out the peony garden, and that was followed by a hunt for periodic cicadas. Midmonth, the AADL Summer Game started, I checked in with Cornell ChemE at my virtual 5th reunion, and I worked on the incredibly tedious tasks of making manuscript figures and compiling the world’s longest Supporting Information section. Later in June, I baked the famous Doubletree cookies, then while on Reddit, read a post that discussed Dungeons & Dragons, wondered how exactly D&D worked, remembered a blog post from years ago about Critical Role (an internet show in which voice actors play D&D), and started in on Critical Role’s second campaign. Similarly to podcasts, it’s a great cross stitch side activity because you don’t really need to watch half a dozen people sit around a table and talk for four hours straight, but it’s an entertaining background for the repetitive nature of cross stitch.
The back and forth editing process with my advisor started on my manuscript in July. Thanks to the aforementioned vaccines, I attended outdoor church for the first time since the pandemic began, and the library reopened for browsing. The lab had its second virtual defense, I stopped by Art Fair to watch the chaos, and the Revolution unbelievably was having what was shaping up to be their best season ever. At the end of the month, I took two buses and a plane to go home for the first time since December 2019.
I spent most of August with my family at home, where I got to go to Wegmans, see a Revolution game, hike a fair amount, and take a road trip up to Acadia National Park. I planned most of the Acadia itinerary, and we hiked some of our usual favorite trails as well as some new to us.
Back in Ann Arbor for another semester, my first achievement of September was catching up on all 17 seasons of Grey’s Anatomy. I also made my return to my office and started making preparations for graduation while finishing Star Trek: The Original Series before it left Netflix.
In October, I jumped right into Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and my research group took a road trip up north to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. We visited Pictured Rocks, the Porcupine Mountains, Copper Harbor, and Mackinaw City. Upon our return, I got back to work because I had my data meeting scheduled for the end of the month.
By November, the defense countdown was on. I submitted my second manuscript and NaNoWriMo-ed my thesis in the office while enjoying the weather outdoors when possible. After closing out the MLS season as the Supporters Shield winner (best regular season record) for the first time ever and setting an overall record for most points in a season, the Revolution lost in the first round of the playoffs, ending the hopes and dreams of Revolution fans yet again.
Finally, the time had come, to talk of many things, but actually just my micelles. In December, I got my thesis written and distributed to my committee, and shortly before Christmas, at long last, held my dissertation defense. After passing, I celebrated Christmas and New Year's in Ann Arbor with The Nightmare Before Christmas, The Night Before Critmas, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and a bike ride along the Ann Arbor portion of the B2B trail when it hit 40 degrees on the last day of the year.
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