Best of 2022 🏆 & a resolution recap [Like You Know Whatever]

An exercise in subjectivity.

Hi friends!

How are you? I hope you’re doing well in these last few days before the winter holidays. I know that personally, this has felt like the longest week of the whole year for me. Between things getting crunchy at work and trying to get my goddamn holiday cards out before Hanukkah (I got mine this year from alternatehistories on Etsy), I’m pooped. But hang in there, baby! We’re almost home free!

A big holiday welcome to my new subscribers! Do not be alarmed: this newsletter may appear to be very long, but it’s just because there are a lot of year-end lists in it that take up a lot of real estate. The word count isn’t any longer than my other newsletters (which, admittedly, are pretty damn long, too, lol).

I believe that most of you newbies discovered me through The Sample, which will forward you a random Substack newsletter daily, weekly, or 3x/week if you choose. I’ve been really enjoying reading the newsletters that I’ve been forwarded through that service. It’s so interesting to see what other writers are doing with their Substacks. One thing that’s bummed me out a bit is that all the forwards I’ve gotten in the past two weeks are from male writers. It just seems odd to me, because most of the newsletters I subscribe to are written by women. At any rate, if you’re a funny or interesting person who writes, please consider starting your own Substack newsletter! In my opinion, the world is in desperate need of more newsletters that aren’t just “here are the top five tech/finance news stories of the day.” No offense to anyone, but snoooooooze to that format.

Meanwhile, I am really looking forward to my upcoming trip to Mexico. If you missed it in my last newsletter, I mentioned that my husband and I will be traveling with a friend to Mexico City and Oaxaca over the holidays. We’ll be in Mexico City for Christmas and New Year’s, and in Oaxaca in between. I can’t wait!!! The other day I was at the liquor store around the corner buying beer to make fish tacos (for the beer batter), and a random man who was also in the store said, “¿Hola, cómo estás?” to me, and I got so excited to practice my very limited Spanish that I almost forgot to use “usted!” Oh, boy.

I have been reading more about Oaxacan cuisine to prepare myself for the spectacular gastronomy that is ahead of me. One thing that got me a tad apprehensive was learning that some insects are considered a delicacy in southern Mexico, specifically, certain types of grasshoppers and ants. I actually do think it’s cool to learn about a culture with a very long, rich history of making do with the natural ingredients available to them. I have a lot of respect for that, and the last thing I want to do is come off as some culturally insensitive dickhead. But also, I have always looked at insects as pests, not food. You may recall that I’ve had my own negative experiences with insects this year, for example, when ants invaded my bathroom. So, I’m not sure what I’ll do if and when someone puts a plate of fried grasshoppers in front of me. Then again, I was telling my husband about this and he reminded me that I actually ate ant larvae as part of a dish on Quintonil’s tasting menu when we were in Mexico City in 2017, and I consider that meal the best of my life so far. So, I guess, just tell me that a restaurant is one of the finest in the world and I’ll happily eat anything they put in front of me. 😂

As you can probably tell, I love food, but I don’t really consider myself a “foodie,” i.e. someone who keeps on top of the latest restaurant news and knows all the different players in the industry, so it’s been super fun to research restaurants and learn more about the chefs in Mexico. There’s one place we’re going in Oaxaca that is based out of the chef’s childhood home, and there’s no menu, the dishes are just made up of whatever they find in the markets that day. His mom makes the tortillas. I’m a huge mole fan, and this chef became known as the master of mole at Pujol, where it’s their signature dish. This might be the best mole in the world, y’all. I’m fucking PUMPED.

Speaking of new discoveries, I learned something about myself in the past two weeks that I never knew. Do you ever go to a new doctor, and they tell you something you’ve never heard about yourself before but that makes perfect sense, and you’re like ohhh, I guess I’ve only been to shitty doctors up until now? Let me back up. I went to a new eye doctor, because my old one was in West Hollywood from when I worked there at CollegeHumor, and that’s just way too far to drive from my current apartment, especially if my pupils are dilated. I hadn’t had my eyes checked in about four years, and felt that things were getting blurry and it was probably time for a prescription update. I found a new place with great Yelp reviews that was less than a 10 minute drive from my home.

Let me tell you, this place was THOROUGH. At first we did the little test where you put your eye up to the machine and look at the tiny picture of a barn, and that measures… something. I was like, okay, it’s the usual drill. But then they had me put on a VR headset (!) and essentially play a game to test my peripheral vision, they took photographs of my retinas, and the doctor made me do exercises to practice blinking better (I blink too fast, apparently???). She did that “better one, or better two?” thing where they put different lenses up to your eye that always feels like a pop quiz that I’m somehow going to fail. Then she basically told me that I have a lazy eye! I always knew that my eyes were two different prescriptions, but a drifting eye is not something that I nor anyone in my life has ever noticed before, not even when I was drunk or tired. Fascinating. She asked if I had ever done any eye therapy, like patching, which I know all about because I follow Truffles the kitty on Instagram. (Truffles is a fluffy tuxedo cat who works at an eye doctor and wears glasses to make kids feel better about wearing glasses, and she’s very supportive of patching.) Anyway, I never did any patching as a kid or even knew that I had a need for it, and now it’s too late. What fun material for my next therapy session!

While we’re already processing things, let’s check in on my New Year’s Resolutions for 2022! I remember feeling that these were all very attainable at the time. Were they attained? Let’s find out!

- “Go on walks/be active every other day.” I WISH I did this! Instead, I just made a lot of excuses. I would definitely like to be more active in 2023, if for my mental health alone. And on the positive side, even though I don’t like my weight, it stayed pretty much the same all year. That’s… good, right?

- “Eat more fruits & vegetables.” Hmm. It’s hard to say if I accomplished this, so that’s probably a no. I definitely didn’t eat a lot of fruit, but I may have eaten more veggies? Gonna have to re-up on this one as well.

- “Cook more.” Oh, I definitely did this! I consistently cooked twice a week or more throughout the year. I know that may not sound like a lot, but it’s a lot for me, Ms. GrubHub Queen.

- “Cook new types of cuisine.” Here was another big win. I made a lot of recipes for the first time this year, including Thai and Indian cuisine, which I’d never attempted before. I’m pretty proud of my progress as a home cook this year.

- “Write at least 2x per week.” I was just talking with my therapist about how I don’t “count” this newsletter as writing when I am beating myself up for not writing more often, and she said I should count it. So, including LYKW, I think I met this goal. I would like to write more things that are not newsletters next year, though.

- “Save $4000 by end of year.” BAHAHAHA! Nope, didn’t make this one. My savings have never looked so pitiful. All the traveling I did definitely took a bite out of this one. YOLO, I guess…?

- “Stop biting my nails.” Ooh! This is one that I did! I got really into Mooncat nail polish and I haven’t had raggedy nails in months. Score!

- “Query my YA novel.” I guess that technically, I accomplished this one, but I only sent it to like seven agents, which is not very many in the grand scheme of querying. I’m going to take the W here and run, though.

- “Finish my screenplay.” Ughhhhh. I came so close, but I still have to add five more pages for it to meet the industry standard minimum length of 90 pages. Damn that blasted thing.

- “Write a wacky new pilot.” Nope! Maybe next year?

- “Read 22 books in 2022 (not just romance and YA).” Hahaha. I’m looking at my Goodreads right now, and I have to laugh. I read 15 books. Five of them were YA, 13 of them were romance, and I also read one mediocre thriller and Jennette McCurdy’s memoir, which was excellent. Sooo technically, I accomplished the second half of this goal? I’m giving myself a half point.

So, where does that leave me? It looks like I accomplished 5.5/11 resolutions. Fifty percent! Honestly, that’s not bad for me. I always get too ambitious about these things. 

But please don’t feel sorry for me, because even though I may have failed at my resolutions, I did a lot of living this year. Here are some things I accomplished that weren’t on my list:

- Spent more quality time with my husband

- Spent more time with long-distance friends

- Spent more time with family

- Traveled more

- Sent out a newsletter every two weeks

- Got a new job that I like

- Learned new media skills

- Went to more concerts

- Went to the movie theater more

- Went to see more art

- Went dancing more

- Went to see more drag shows

- Went to the beach more

- Went to see more live comedy

- Did more karaoke

- Watched more movies

- Took more pictures

- Used my car’s CD player (thanks, Beyoncé!)

- Tweeted less

- Got back into therapy

- Fixed my medication

- Tried new experiences

I feel pretty good about all that. If you’re a resolution-maker, I highly recommend you make a list of non-resolution accomplishments for your year, too. It feels emotionally healthier than basing your self-worth on a somewhat arbitrary list you made a year ago.

Finally, here are my new resolutions for 2023:

- Be active at least twice a week, every week

- Eat more produce

- Continue to grow as a home cook and try new recipes and cuisines (maybe explore vegan cooking?)

- Go out more often–to restaurants, the movies, the beach, shows, etc.

- Travel to three new places

- Do one thing that scares me

- Publish a newsletter every two weeks

- Read 23 books in 2023, including three novels

- Complete a writing project

- Do at least one major decluttering of my home office and my clothes by the end of the year

- Donate at least $500 to various causes over the year

I am so intrigued to see how this year goes. I realize, in looking at this, that I always base my resolutions for the next year on how the previous year went. But you can’t know what you don’t know. You know?

Things I’m looking forward to next year include: going to two weddings on Memorial Day weekend, my birthday falling on Friday the 13th, and maybe going to Japan??

Now, let’s get into my personal favorites/bests of the year. These are not necessarily things that are new this year (although most of them are!), but things that I tried for the first time this year and loved. I’ve probably recommended most of these to you before, but maybe you are new here. At any rate, here they are, neatly compiled for your clicking pleasure:

*Like You Know Whatever Presents: The Very Best of 2022*

Best Makeup Brush: A tie between Trixie’s Extra Large Flat Shader brush (SO good for packing on eyeshadow!) and this super soft all-over powder brush I use to set my foundation

Best Eyeshadow Palette: Natasha Denona’s Bronze palette

Best Red Blush: Persona DreamStick in “Kiss”

Best Pink Blush: KimChiChic Beauty in “Pink Era" (from KimChi’s collab with Trixie)

Best Warm/Coral Blush: about-face Cheek Freak in “Champagne Room”

Best Nail Polish: Mooncat’s "A Midsummer’s Dream"

Best Recipes: See my last newsletter!

Best Snack: Snacklins

Best Noodle: Bucatini

Best Book: Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin (I’m only halfway through it, but it’s better than anything else I’ve read this year)

Best Song: “Chaise Longue” by Wet Leg

Best Album: Renaissance by Beyoncé

Best App: BeReal

Worst App: Twitter

Best New-to-Me L.A. Restaurant I Tried: Cabra

Best New-to-Me Non-L.A. Restaurant I Tried: The Jolly Oyster Shuck Shack in Ventura, CA

Best Meal: I believe it’s still ahead of me, in Oaxaca. Okay, fine. So far? Artichoke Pizza in Brooklyn at one in the morning (recapped here).

Best Cocktail: The signature martini at Father’s Office in Culver City

Drunkest Night: Going to see Belle & Sebastian at The Greek (recapped here)

Best Trip (So Far): This is REALLY hard. I’d have to say going to New York in July. I got to see family and friends and had so much fun running around the city in the warm weather.

Best Boat Ride: Taking the ferry to Catalina Island

Best Art Exhibit: “DEATH TO THE LIVING, Long Live Trash” (Duke Riley at the Brooklyn Museum–still there!)

Best Karaoke Night: Baby Ketten Klub in Portland, OR. I sang Weezer’s “Say It Ain’t So” and gave it everything I’ve got.

Best Dancing Night: Blind Barber in L.A. for my friend’s birthday. After I had about 30 Dirty Shirleys, La Roux’s “Bulletproof” came on, and me and the other millennials went wild.

Best Live Show: Trixie & Katya Live! at the YouTube Theater in L.A.

Best Live Comedy: Iliza Shlesinger at The Comedy Store in L.A.

Best Movie: Everything Everywhere All At Once

Worst Movie: My Christmas Fiancé

Scariest Movie: Barbarian

Most Fun Movie: A tie between Bodies Bodies Bodies & The Lost City

Best TV Show: Severance, Season 1 (AppleTV+)

Worst TV Show: Russian Doll, Season 2 (Netflix)

Best Comedy: The Rehearsal, Season 1 (HBO)

Best Competition Reality: Drag Race All Stars: All Winners, Season 7 (Paramount+)

Best Housewives Reality: Ultimate Girls Trip, Season 2 (Peacock)

Best Dating Reality: The Ultimatum, Season 1 (Netflix)

Favorite Outfit: Dress the Population Stevie jumpsuit

Favorite Shoes: My custom leopard-print Chuck Taylors

Biggest Regret: Getting Covid

Biggest Splurge: Going skiing in Lake Tahoe. Woof!

Best Money Spent: Therapy

Best New Baby: Just kidding. Can you imagine??

Okay folks, that’s it for now! I do not expect to be able to write to you again until the new year, when I’m back from Mexico and back to the grind, ugh. I hope you have a most excellent holiday season and that the new year brings only good things to you & your family, however you define it.

Don’t forget to like, comment, and share this newsletter if you’d like–you can use the buttons at the bottom or the top.

Until next time—¡Feliz Navidad! Prospero año y felicidad. ❤️

Love,

Liz

XOXO