This my Top 20 List for 2020
Last year I wrote,”2019 Favorites” and the year prior to that I did “2018 Favorites”, and it was a lot of fun. So for a third time, I decided to do this again.
As many of you experienced first-hand, this was a year of online shopping as opposed to experiences due to being stuck indoors. This is why you’ll find that the majority of my list will be products that are easily accessible online.
Below I have listed the experiences, products, and applications that affected me in 2020. I’ve done my best not to include anything from previous years.
Keep in mind that each individual is their own universe. What may work for me, may not work well for you. The wonderful thing about this article is that it gives you new things to try and incorporate into your life.
2020 EXPERIENCES / CLASSES
1. Virtual Board Game Nights- Last year I mentioned how Board Game Nights were an important staple of my weeks. This continued to be true in 2020, but instead of in-person game nights, having virtual board game nights helped keep my friends and I connected throughout the pandemic, especially in the beginning. Shout out to Board Game Arena for providing a great online space to game with friends.
One really memorable experience I had with my board game group was on Easter when one of us decided to host an Easter egg hunt on the Steam game, “Don’t Starve Together”. The host hid gems all across the map and then we were given an amount of in-game days to find the gems, the one who found the most gems would win the egg hunt. (Spoiler alert: I won the ‘egg’ hunt).
2. Netflix Party- Another virtual event that helped my friends and I during quarantine was Netflix Party. Now rebranded as ‘Teleparty’, Netflix party was a way for us to stream movies and shows on Netflix while also being able to chat-together in real time. Some of the best things we watched together were “Trolls World Tour”, “Your Name”, and “I Lost My Body”
3. Animal Crossing New Horizons- While normally this would go under the “Games” or “Miscellaneous” category, I wanted to put this under 2020 Experiences. The reason is because not only did this game come out right in the beginning of quarantine as an ‘escape from the chaos’, but what made it amazing was the community that was built from playing this game. I already was a fan of Animal Crossing before this latest version came out, and the fact that a lot of my friends were also playing it was simply a bonus.
I was apart of a Facebook chat that was dedicated to sharing recipes, tips, and memes about Animal Crossing which made the game exponentially better. We also would use the chat to arrange “watering parties” which were basically nights in which we’d go to each other’s virtual islands to watch each other’s flowers. We’d have a lot of fun showing off our outfits, our island’s designs, and villagers. All of this to say, the game was great, but the community made it even better.
4. “The Lab” - The Lab was a virtual event that I co-hosted with with the founder of Chroma. Doing this got me out of my comfort zone by forcing me to be in the spotlight of an event instead of being ‘behind the scenes’ like I usually am. Not only that, but this was an event I was holding for my own company, 15 Minutes of Creativity, which added a level of fear since I was representing my own company. Overall, we had a great time. We did 15 minute writing prompts introducing ourselves, expressing our fears and aspirations, and just taking the time to let loose and be creative while in the middle of a pandemic.
5. Mercari - This is another favorite I should have categorized as ‘Applications’ instead of 2020 Experiences, but the reason I wanted to list it here is because my favorite part of using this application was creating videos to say ‘goodbye’ to my things as opposed to selling. As I mentioned in last years’ blog post, I’m not really crazy about vending things. I’m not much of a seller and if I could donate my things easily, I would much rather do that than try to make a profit. However, I used Mercari during the pandemic to help me get rid of some of the things that no longer brought me joy, like my Fujifilm Instax Mini 9. Since I’m a sentimental chap, I would ship my items off with a cute note and then I’d create a TikTok of the item I packed, and shipped it. However I’m not going to lie, I did get a nice deal or two while using the application as well!
BOOKS
6. Artist of Life Workbook- While not a typical ‘book’, The “2020 Artist of Life Workbook” was a big part of my 2020 experience. It was given to me by a very dear friend of mine and this book helped me document my entire year from start to finish. While admittedly there were months I was a bit behind in documenting, especially towards the end, the fact that I was able to fill it up from start to finish was an accomplishment for me and I’m grateful to my friend (and to Lavendaire) for the workbook.
7. Webtoons- This is another favorite that technically is not a book. However webtoons has provided me with so many stories to read during the quarantine. I wrote a blog post about it a while ago about several of the comics that I’ve read in the Romance category and goodness, there are so many more now that I’m following since I’ve written it! Webtoons is one of the first things I would check every morning to read a new chapter and it certainly gave me an escape during the bleak days of quarantine. Not only that, but Webtoons also is the least shady of the comic book/graphic novel apps that I’ve encountered this year. While I’ve tried several others, like Tappas, they usually will hook you into a good story and force you to pay a fee. Others have a horrible search engine that doesn't clearly say which stories are free, while which ones are pay-to-read. Webtoons is easy to use, all the stories are free to read (only forcing you to pay if you want to read chapters ahead of time before release), and provides a great platform for artists who want to tell their stories.
8. Eat Pray Love- I listened to the audiobook of Eat Pray Love and goodness, I resonated so hard with this book. While the situation I was in and the one the main character was in were completely different, I really felt the pain she went through as she left her divorce and had to rediscover herself. I lost my father in the middle of the year and when he passed away, I felt like a large piece of me went with him. The feeling of helplessness, the feeling of guilt, and the feeling of loneliness was overwhelming at times and being able to be in the shoes of the main character as she traveled to Italy, India, and Indonesia made coping with those emotions a little bit easier. While during quarantine no one could travel, while listening to the main character’s journey, I was able to travel through her tales. It also was great being able to watch the movie based off the story afterward on Amazon.
APPLICATIONS AND GAMES
10. TikTok- This social media app became a household staple for many during quarantine. This was especially true for me as I spent countless hours swiping past all the quick, short, and occasionally informative videos on the platform. The types of content I follow range from comedic sketches, cute animal videos (shout out to Mochi the Bearded Dragon), cooking videos, dungeons and dragons, to sign language content creators.
11. Hey.com- This email application is amazing. While I’m not too happy with the fact that I’m paying for an email address, something I teased my dad about when he told me that he was paying for his own, I have to say I don’t regret my purchase. Hey.com provides a new way to handle email and I love how it can gather my email from my various accounts and consolidate them in one place. I enjoy how my emails get categorized in three “buckets” (Imbox - Important mail, Feed - promotions, Paper Trail - Receipts), but I can tag emails, and I can also set them aside to reply to later in a batch or to reference at a later date.
My major complaint about Hey.com is that I can’t reply to emails as the email it was sent to (so if an email that was sent to my gmail account is in my hey imbox, I can’t reply to it as my gmail email address, instead it’ll reply as my hey.com email address). This means that it didn’t work as intended to help consolidate ALL my email since my professional emails couldn’t be read AND responded to from this email provider. Still I believe this is a feature that the team is working on and hopefully it’ll be released in 2021.
12. Ring Fit Adventure- Before working from home, I used to walk a lot in the city. I would walk 15-30 minutes in the city and get my exercise by doing that five days a week. However after quarantine, I didn’t really get much exercise and admittedly I’m awful at just ‘doing exercises’. This is why when Ring Fit Adventure came out for the Nintendo Switch, I had to get it, especially after one of my friends gave it a raving review and promised me that this wasn’t a badly designed game made just to sell an overpriced Switch accessory. The game is really well-designed and it motivated me to stay active every day by playing through the levels. Not only that, but after release, Nintendo had added a rhythm-based mini-game in which I could work out to a very small selection of Nintendo soundtracks.
SKINCARE / BEAUTY PRODUCTS
13. Youth to the People Kale Superfood Cleanser- Replacing my Clean & Clear Morning Burst, I now use this new facial cleanser as apart of my morning routine. It’s still a very cost-effective product that so far has given me good results. While I miss the ‘beads’ that my previous skincare product had, I love the glass bottle that it comes in. I also take pride in the fact that the last person who gave me a facial said that this was a very good product to have in my routine, so that was a plus. My glass bottle lasted me the whole year and for 2021, I ordered a second one.
14. Harry’s Razors- As many women could tell you, shaving is the worst. We have so much hair to get rid of and the shaving products that are out in the market tend to be overpriced (and not good for the environment!). While I’m sure there are better alternatives, I love my Harry’s Razor and am very happy with my purchase. I still am using the same razor after months of use and this is because the base is permanent while the blades are replaceable. This means that instead of buying a whole razor every couple of weeks, I only need to fuss about the blades. They are very easy to order on amazon and the packaging is super cute. Another bonus is that my fiance uses Harry’s Razor as well so we can share razors!
LIFESTYLE - MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCTS
15. Mover Erase: Mini Whiteboard on the Palm- This was a purchase that I made in 2019, but received in 2020. I got this in preparation for my personal organization system that is going to revolve around using magnets. I ordered ohsnap! (a phone grip, which unfortunately does suck), and MagEasy, a business portfolio organizer that is magnetic. This made it to the top because of how frequently I use these magnetic erasable post-it notes and how well designed they are. As you all know, I’m trying to use less paper and these post-it notes are handy to write on in a pinch AND are reusable as well. I bought two packs (so I have a total of 8) and tend to rotate them out. 4 for personal use and 4 for work.
16. Beaston Bug Zapper- In the middle of the year, I had a problem with itty bitty flies in my house. While I tried various DIY solutions to get rid of them, this bug zapper was the one that was not only most effective, but also a lot of fun to use. I would charge it up via USB and then use it to swat at any flies that were in my kitchen or home office. If I caught any, a satisfying ‘zap’ could be heard, and it almost ‘gamified’ my bug hunting experience. This made the nuisance of seeing flies in my kitchen turn into a mini-game of sorts to distract me from the bigger problems in the world and gave me small accomplishments with each zap I got.
17. CuttleLab 22 Piece Measuring Cups- Cooking has always been like ‘magic’ to me. You take a bunch of raw ingredients and POOF, you somehow have delicious food that tastes amazing and provides fuel for the body. This ‘magic’ previously seemed too complicated for my mind to wrap around, but with recipes online the task of making an edible dish seemed less daunting. However living in a hispanic household, I didn’t really have any measuring tools to help me follow the recipes since my family members use their eyes to create food. So while my mom and grandma laughed at my purchase, the results that I made from using my measuring cups and spoons really have made a difference in the kitchen and I love the packaging that these guys came in!
18. Golden Devil’s Ivy Pathos- I bought this plant for my lizard Pesto. Pesto is my green anole who I have not written much about, but he appears from time to time on my personal Instagram and on Sol’s instagram. He’s a timid lizard who I wanted to create a more naturalistic habitat for. So in the late spring I purchased this plant after doing some research and after a lot of watering (and praying), it has now grown to be the centerpiece of his tank. After several months, this plant has grown big enough that Pesto can safely perch on its leaves and just chill. It’s so great being able to see a plant that I’ve grown from a tiny little thing to what it is today. I highly recommend this plant for anyone who wants to spice up their green anole’s tank, I usually kill plants, and this one somehow managed to thrive.
19. JBL Clip 3- Last Christmas Eve, I got this speaker from a relative of mine. Initially I was not too crazy about it, it was red and totally didn’t vibe with all my other pieces of tech that were white, rosegold, gold, or pink. However despite being an ‘eyesore’ compared to all my electronics, this water-proof bluetooth speaker came in clutch when it came to showering. I was able to ‘read’ so many audiobooks in the shower thanks to my speaker and my fiance loves using it too so he can jam to music. My only complaint is that you can’t skip tracks while using it, but honestly the main functions that you’d need are there. Pause/Play, Volume Up, and Volume Down.
20. Lollimeow Cat Carrier- Last, but not least, is the cat carrier that I bought for my lizard, Solaris. I had added this backpack to my Amazon wish list a while ago while my cat Princess was still alive, but unfortunately was never able to get it for her. So during quarantine I decided that since Sol was smaller than a cat, perhaps it’d be a great way to transport him instead of needing to solely rely on his harness. After trying his harness, he had a tendency of slipping out and during car rides, he was either really chill or freaking out (with almost no in-between). So I figured the backpack would make things a lot easier, and it did! I love how cute and easy it is to put Solaris inside and honestly I’d recommend this to anyone who wants to take their bearded dragon out. Just make sure you line the bottom with paper towel to make cleaning up any ‘accidents’ painless and you are good to go!
What would be on your Top 5 List of 2020?
I’d love to hear what experiences, products, or media really affected your 2020 experience. Perhaps it was something small such as a new pair of socks to an incredible traveling experience of a lifetime. Regardless of how grand or small your list may seem, I’d love to read about it! After all maybe it’ll show up on my Top 2021 list!