General

2024 Annual Report: Routine

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

When writing my summary of 2023 twelve months ago I noticed it was the first year in four that hadn’t been defined in some way by COVID, but was instead partially defined by a bunch of other illnesses. Now, thinking back on 2024, it felt like the first year in nearly a decade that was marked by routine. By sameness. Frankly, it was welcome. I mean, I was sick once or twice, but nothing major. Just…usual stuff, you know? Routine.

Sure, my new job was only two months old when the year started, but I adapted quickly, helped along by the excellent people I work with. And the geographical quirk to my job actually contributed to some of the feeling of routine: I got into the habit of flying to Moncton about once a month, spending a week or so there. Sometimes visiting family at the farm, sometimes seeing them for dinner in Moncton, sometimes visiting an old friend, sometimes taking a quiet week by myself. I did that trip ten times this year; the people at the hotel nearest my office know me by name now. Lindsay and I even rented a cottage in Grande-Digue, not far from Moncton, for two weeks in the summer. Waking up by the Northumberland Strait and driving to the office turned into a pretty nice routine too.

There were a couple other work trips as well, starting with a visit to Saskatoon and Winnipeg in the throes of January winter extremes. Saskatchewan was the only province I’d never visited, and I hadn’t ever been to Winnipeg other than flying there on my way to Brandon 25 years ago, so it was a bit of a Canadian mini-adventure to boot. Similarly, a company meeting in Charlottetown had me back in PEI for the first time since I was a wee tot, so that was fun. And less distant in memory, but always fun to visit for a night, I squeezed in a dinner and some good coffee in Ottawa before a work conference.

Also: there were some small and medium-sized personal trips, along with one very large one. We’ll start with the small: we drove down to Niagara-on-the-Lake for the weekend to see the solar eclipse. We spent a weekend in Stratford seeing three plays, and another weekend in Kingston. Most significantly we flew to Amsterdam for a Lindsay work thing, then on to Thiruvananthapuram, India for a friend’s wedding. Total trip was 14 days, about four of which were spent on planes. That brings to 23 the total number of countries I’ve visited, not including the 3 (Switzerland, Uganda, UAE) transit countries where I only stopped over and never left the airport. A few months later we tacked extra days onto a work conference to enjoy the Rockies (Lindsay’s first time there) and see friends in Calgary, and in December went to NS to see family and friends.

Despite Toronto becoming an impassible cacophony of traffic and construction, we did get out for a few things: concerts by Mitski, The Rural Alberta Advantage, and Bruce Springsteen. Our second Ibsen play of the year: Rosmersholm at the Crow’s Theatre. Pizzas at Shannon & Warren’s. A visit from Lindsay’s brother Patrick. Tons of great meals at new-to-us Toronto restaurants (Giulietta, Mira Mira, Ricky + Olivia with Laura and James, Paradise Grapevine, Aera with Dan and Abtin, Ladybug with Dan, Rosebud, Toronto Hunt Club with Dan, Maha’s, Belle Isle with Shannon, Lucie, Tiflisi with Kirsten, 20 Victoria) and old favourites (Treadwell, Wynona with Laura, Ardo with Matt, Ascari Enoteca with Kirsten, Lovage, Richmond Station with Laura, Ricky, and Olivia) and probably some others I’ve forgotten about. There were also new finds in other cities: The Windjammer and Notre Dame de Parkton in Moncton; Villa Maya in Thiruvananthapuram; 1888 Chop House in Banff; Bridgette Bar in Calgary; Riviera in Ottawa; The Everly in Kingston; Darya and Au Liban and Matadora and Cafe Chianti in Halifax.

Maybe the biggest event of the year: we adopted a cat from the Humane Society. Her name is Bianca and we love her. She’s scrappy and has boundaries, but not nearly as many as Kramer did. But she’s somehow even fluffier!!

I also tried something else in 2024, something structured. Not resolutions…goals, maybe? I just used a made-up theme (multiples of 3) to prompt some ambition during the year. Here’s each goal, and how I did against it:

  • Pass WSET level 3 wine course
    • Done! Tasting portion passed with merit, theory portion passed with distinction.
  • Read 6 books
    • Done!
  • Of the 11 Michelin starred/recognized restaurants east of Yonge, hit the 6 I haven’t tried
    • Hit Madrina, Maha’s, Tiflisi, and the lone starred restaurant on the list: 20 Victoria
    • Haven’t yet done Wood Owl or Puerto Bravo
  • Make at least one improvement in each of the 9 main zones of the house
    • Made changes / bought needed things for five rooms
    • Didn’t quite get to the kitchen, main bedroom, guest bedroom, or basement. This one requires a lot of coordination with Lindsay, so it was tougher to manage.
  • Lose 12 pounds
    • While I made no real lifestyle changes I was actually doing pretty well on this, losing more than a pound per month…until June, when it (and I) went pear-shaped
    • As of the end of November I’d lost about 5.5 pounds total, half the YTD target, but I don’t expect December to be kind in this regard

I’m not sure I’ll try to do this every year, but it was actually fairly helpful in 2024. It gave me some structured things to aim at, to make progress on. Structure, routine…not something I always want in my life, but this year I was alright with it.

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Annual reports from past years:

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