Saturday, January 2, 2021

A year of being a nerd

 2020 was a tough year for a lot of people due to the COVID-19 pandemic and all the challenges associated with it. For me, it was certainly an interesting year, but in a lot of ways, it was much better than I'd had the past few years. Between 2016 and 2019, I had a pretty rough go of things and I'm fortunate to be through that now. When I look back at 2020 I see it as the year where I really found myself again. There were some real hilights for me. I got to spend a lot of extra time with my kids that I wouldn't have had if not for the shutdowns. I met a few amazing people, despite the pandemic, who really helped me re-build some confidence that I had lost over the rough years. I wrote more songs than I've ever been able to write in such a short time. I discovered my love of kayaking.


I'm not going to talk too much about all that. What I am going to do is show you how much of a nerd I am.


I decided for my New Year's Resolution for 2020 that I would keep statistics on a bunch of different areas of my life, and I did it; I met that resolution. And being the nerd that I am, I want to share some of those statistics with you. So below you have my 2020 in statistics.


Music

Albums listened to - 1,135

Songs written - 11

Concerts attended - 0 🙁

Most albums listened to in a day - 13 (January 4)

 

 Top 20 artists by album listen

    • David Bowie - 31
    • Elliott Smith - 25
    • Otis Redding - 21
    • Fiona Apple - 19
    • Willie Nelson - 17
    • Iron & Wine - 17
    • Radiohead - 16
    • Elvis Costello - 16
    • The Beatles - 15
    • The Little Willies - 14
    • Brandi Carlile - 14
    • Nickel Creek - 13
    • Jim Sullivan - 13
    • Dawes - 12
    • Blind Pilot - 12
    • Aretha Franklin - 12
    • The Rolling Stones - 10
    • Talking Heads - 10
    • Ray Charles - 10
    • John Prine - 10

Most listened albums

  • Jim Sullivan - U.F.O. (9)
  • Elliott Smith - XO (8)
  • The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds (8)
  • Elliott Smith - Figure 8 (8)
  • David Gray - White Ladder (7)
  • Blind Pilot - We Are The Tide (7)
  • The Little Willies - The Little Willies (7)
  • Dawes - Nothing Is Wrong (7)
  • Jon Brion - Meaningless (7)
  • The Little Willies - For the Good Times (7)
  • Fiona Apple - Fetch the Bolt Cutters (7)
  • Elliott Smith - Either/Or (7)
  • Tom Petty - Wildflowers (6)
  • The Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers (6)
  • Talking Heads - Speaking In Tongues (6)
  • Weezer - Pinkerton (6)
  • Brandi Carlile - By the Way, I Forgive You (6)
  • R.E.M. - Automatic For the People (6)
  • Nickel Creek - This Side (5)
  • Willie Nelson - Red Headed Stranger (5)
  • Elvis Costello - My Aim Is True (5)
  • Aretha Franklin - I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You (5)
  • Cake - Fashion Nugget (5)
  • Clem Snide - End of Love (5)
  • Nickel Creek - A Dotted Line (5)


Favorite albums first listened to in 2020

    • Jim Sullivan - U.F.O.
    • Fiona Apple - Fetch the Bolt Cutters
    • The Delfonics - The Delfonics
    • Queens of the Stone Age - Songs for the Deaf
    • Al Green - I'm Still in Love With You
    • Roy Orbison - Mystery Girl
    • Sam & Dave - Hold On, I'm Coming
    • Toots & the Maytals - Just Like That
    • Black Pumas - Black Pumas

 

 

Movies

Movies watched - 147

Movies seen at the theatre - 5

Fully animated movies - 23

Black and white movies - 6

Movies watched by country:

      • USA - 123
      • Japan - 12
      • UK - 3
      • Ireland - 3
      • Sweden - 1
      • Spain - 1
      • South Korea - 1
      • New Zealand - 1
      • Germany - 1
      • Canada - 1

 Favorite movies first watched in 2020

  • Parasite

  • Grave of the Fireflies

  • Black Swan

  • Baraka

  • Fateful Findings

  • Boyhood

  • 12 Angry Men

  • Hands on a Hard Body

  • May It Last: A Portrait of the Avett Brothers

  • Wolfwalkers

  • Jacob's Ladder

  • Princess Mononoke (but only because I'd already seen Spirited Away and My Neighbor Totoro; all the Hayao Miyazaki movies are great) 

 

 

 

 Driving

Total miles driven - 12,473.5

Most miles driven in a day - 1,075.1 (December 26)

Days without any driving - 12


Dining

Restaurant meals - 180 (most of these were carryout/drive thru)

Coffee out - 95 (Panera rewards is a dangerous thing!)

Local restaurants patronized more than once:

    • Uncle Bob's Homemade Ice Cream - Eureka, IL
    • Pegasus Pizza - Morton, IL
    • M&M Twistee Treat - East Peoria, IL
    • Leaves 'n Beans - Morton & Peoria, IL
    • The Fox Pub - Peoria, IL
    • Italian Villa - Henry, IL
    • Ice Cream Shack - Washington, IL
    • Cranwill's Drive In - Pekin, IL
    • BBQ Smokewagon - East Peoria, IL
    • 30-30 Coffee - Peoria, IL

 

Books

For a year with so much down time, this was in incredibly slow reading year for me. Astericks indicate books I read out loud to the kids.

  • The Sun Also Rises - Ernest Hemingway
  • American Gods - Neil Gaiman
  • Cat's Cradle - Kurt Vonnegut
  • *The Horse and His Boy - C.S. Lewis
  • Theft By Finding - David Sedaris
  • *The Last Battle - C.S. Lewis
  • *Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone - J.K. Rowling
  • *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - J.K. Rowling (unfinished)
  • Heart of Darkness - Joseph Konrad (unfinished)

Running

  • Total distance run - 739.3 miles
  • Time run - 121 hours, 48  minutes, 47 seconds
  • Longest run - 11.02 miles
  • Average pace - 9:53
  • Longest daily running streak - 5 days (9/21-25 & 11/3-7)


So there you have it; I'm a nerd, and I've proven it.

Below are some of my resolutions for 2021, which I will likely be writing about in the future; probably not taking as detailed statistics though.

Music
  • Write 12 new songs
  • Start a band
  • Record most of the songs I've written
Movies
  • 3-year goal - Watch a movie from every country in the world
Running
  • Run at least one marathon in 2021
Fitness
  • I lost 30 pounds between fall 2019 through 2020. I want to lose 20 more in 2021.
Writing
  • Write at least 6 blog posts

No comments:

Post a Comment