Rek Bell

⬟

2024

The year began with the completion of the re-upholstering of all of the cushions on our boat. I first embarked on this ambitious endeavour in November, but because Pino housed a surprising total of 18 cushions it took a long time to complete - wait, is Pino mostly cushions? Some shapes were trickier than others, but all that was required to do it right was to be meticulous, a 'measure twice, cut once' kind of approach. The rest is all technique, learned by watching videos of more experienced sewists.

That same month, I made the decision to stop drinking. I wrote about why at length in a short post entitled no alcohol.

This year I worked on many short comics for hakum. I decided to allot weeknights to drawing comics, reserving time to do it has kept me happy this year. It is very important that I keep time for it, otherwise I just feel terrible overall.

This year I moved my domains away from Netfirms and transfered them to a new registrar, WHC. Netfirms has been terrible for a long, long time, but moving them seemed like such a hastle that I constantly delayed it. I bought my first domain with them in 2005, since then the website's UI has gone from ok to barely functional. I enjoy WHC so far.

This year I found it harder to find good information out there. While doing general research, I often landed on webpages that were hosting erroneous generated content. It was very frustating:

A site about how to fill a pillow looks legit at first, then lapses into how to make filling for food. A site about boating uses fake people to write articles about boating, talking about how to make trips they've never done or never plan to do (obvious from the writing).
It is gonna get harder and harder to find good information out there. I am fighting this in my own way, by building an extended list of bookmarks. If everyone does this, maybe we have a chance? Smol net.

On April 22nd, Andrea, a friend, fellow sailor, and marina neighbor, passed away. Andrea was an excellent watercolor artist, specializing in dreamy scenery of the B.C. coast. We spent many afternoons on the dock, sharing stories, drinks in hand. Andrea was modest, soft-spoken and kind, she would always leave room for you in a conversation - a rare trait. Jim, her partner, gave us a graphic novel called Va’a: Virée aux Tuamotu by Benjamin Flao et Troubs, belonging to her. Now, we carry a part of Andrea with us wherever we sail.

Then in early May, we set sail for Southeast Alaska. I've described the trip at length in the Victoria to Sitka logbook. It was not an easy trip, but we saw many beautiful things, and learned a lot more about the engine. When failures occur, there is always something to learn. I was not enchanted with the breakages when they did happen, because it was stressful, but I am proud that we were able to solve them. I saw bears for the first time on this trip, lots of whales, a puffin from afar, and I got to meet some albatrosses again.

I still have a fear of waves, I don't think that it will ever go away, but at least I can still sail in open water. Fear is not bad, it keeps me safe.

My favorite book this year was Beryl Markham's West With the Night, my favorite series was I'm a Virgo by Boots Riley, and my favorite movie is a tie between Jordan Peele's Nope and The Rocky Horror Picture Show(yes, i only saw it this year for the first time and I am SOLD).

Resume of the year

2024 reading list

2024 watched movies/series list

Go back to yearly reviews