2025 Reading Tally

Once again, I gather together all the reading data.  It's always interesting the things it tells me.  Here's last year if you want to compare other years. Commuting means my audiobook consumption has been very different this year  
Read: 223
DNF'd: 22
I read 205 different authors, 97 of whom that were new to me.  Oldest book was from 1993.  103 of them were from 2025.  115 of them were audiobooks.  Top authors included KD Casey and Jodi McAlister. 69 books were part of a series.  6 rereads.  109 were library books.  One was a play.  Top genre was romance.  January and March were top months with 21 reads each.  
It was a good year of reading.  

Mislaid Plans

In late fall I decided I needed something to look forward to, so booked myself a little mini-day trip to New York to see a show. I belatedly realized I had picked the same weekend as BroadwayCon and thought about extending my stay, but ended up choosing not to. 

The things I had not properly remembered were that, ten years ago it snowed like hell on BroadwayCon weekend and well, we were due for a repeat. 

When I first saw the forecast for snow I figured, this will probably change, I like snow, I really want to see the show, and with the cast having announced they are leaving now, new tickets will be hard to come by, plus, I know people in New York so if I get stranded I have options. 

And then the forecast basically shifted so that the storm was going to be at it's worst right during my train back. A train that has a crew change in Philadelphia. And well, after I told like six people I was just gonna go for it and see what happened, I started to feel like would I consider other people who decided to go somewhere during the worst of the snow/sleet absolute fools? And since the answer was yes, maybe I should not be a fool. Intentionally at least. I had a little bit of concern that if I cancelled it would then not snow, but I reminded myself, I was not actually in charge of the weather. I was just in charge of making decisions for myself. 

So I did a little what would be a good other day to go research, and then had a weird issue where my bank card wouldn't work so I called it a night.

And woke up Friday morning to discover that Amtrak had cancelled my trip, and so was offering me free rebooking. And Telecharge kindly let me buy a new ticket and refunded my original one.

And so instead I braved the cold and got breakfast tacos and pastries with a friend and then settled into the couch with my cat and my knitting. It was not the adventure I had planned for myself. But there was reading, and baking. And I listened to the cast album to get my remote Broadway feels in. 

Complaints

I reached out to my (non-voting) representative this week to express my frustration.

Separately I emailed a large chain to let them know a recent business decision they had made to offer a service that provided less expertise, but one imagines is also cheaper for them. 

I don't always expect everything I complain about to be addressed. Sometimes I just don't want to let it pass. Corporations are going to make business decisions I don't like. But I always want them to know I noticed. To know it has affected my shopping decisions. It's become practically a pastime for people to chime in with enshitification every time something happens.

But it's worth noting, when I complain, I do so in the hopes that Congress or a corporation will attempt to do better. I know I am one person. But on average so few people reach out, I hope to add to the tally. I hope that maybe, someone who fought against the choice will read my email and say, see. Or try to nudge things back in the other direction.

Complaining isn't the only way to imagine a better world, but it's one of them. 

Tara Kennedy

Note: If you are reading this outside of your normal work hours, feel free to hold off response until your work hours.  

~To the world we dream about, and the one we live in now. 

"Hadestown", book and lyrics by Anais Mitchell

Not Safer

A short but non-exhaustive list of things that do not make me safer.

-Arresting people for being unhoused.

-Taking and/destroying tents of unhoused folks. 

-Federal agents who do not know local law patrolling the streets.

-National guard monitoring my morning commute on metro. 

-Immigrants who escaped an oppressive regime having their status revoked or changed unilaterally. 

-The US bombing civilians, creating more displaced and insecure people.