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Amy McNichol @amymcnichol.bsky.social · Jul 19

In 2024, @jo-scho.bsky.social thought about her first love: Oasis. Tonight, she's off to see 'em.

I thought about that a lot @allconsuming.bsky.social · Dec 24

In 2024, I thought a lot about my first love

www.ithoughtaboutthatalot.com/2024/my-firs...

image text says: I’d filed my first love away in the nineties nostalgia compartment of my brain. The band that was once my everything became the band I only ever brought up in ‘first gig’ icebreakers. ithoughtaboutthatalot.com

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Amy McNichol @amymcnichol.bsky.social · Jul 19

Yesss! A favourite spot. @allconsuming.bsky.social

Amy McNichol @amymcnichol.bsky.social · Feb 23

🙏🏻 so clever and cheeky!

Amy McNichol @amymcnichol.bsky.social · Feb 23

Autocratic weeknotes.

The New York Times @nytimes.com · Feb 22

Breaking News: Elon Musk said federal workers must summarize their accomplishments for the week in an email or be forced to leave, a tactic he used after buying Twitter. Follow live updates.

Trump Administration Live Updates: Latest News on Elon Musk, CPAC and More

www.nytimes.com

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Amy McNichol @amymcnichol.bsky.social · Feb 11

Back in May I loved this from New York Magazine's Critics at Large. Hoping for a follow up in Thursday's ep...
open.spotify.com/episode/32RL...

Kendrick Lamar, Drake, and the Benefits of Beef

Critics at Large | The New Yorker · Episode

open.spotify.com

Amy McNichol @amymcnichol.bsky.social · Feb 11

Breaking Bluesky silence to ask for reading recs on Kendrick Lamar. Mostly commentary on his cultural commentary but also Super Bowl subtleties I definitely missed (US flag >> swastikas?!)

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Amy McNichol @amymcnichol.bsky.social · Jan 17

Ikr?! So frustrating 😞

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Amy McNichol @amymcnichol.bsky.social · Jan 16

Not a particularly useful button then. Help? Help.

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Amy McNichol @amymcnichol.bsky.social · Dec 24

Thank *you*! What a banger to end on.

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Reposted by Amy McNichol

jo-scho.bsky.social @jo-scho.bsky.social · Dec 24

Thanks for including this @amymcnichol.bsky.social @allconsuming.bsky.social ❤️

My first love was Oasis. If you didn't like Oasis, this essay is also about nostalgia and optimism, and hopefully you can substitute [oasis] with [your first band].

If you did like Oasis, press play on 'Whatever'.

I thought about that a lot @allconsuming.bsky.social · Dec 24

In 2024, I thought a lot about my first love

www.ithoughtaboutthatalot.com/2024/my-firs...

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Amy McNichol @amymcnichol.bsky.social · Dec 23

By my husband who bench presses 80kg, has had watery eyes over his Grandad this morning, and is now smoking half a side of salmon on the terrace. Masculinity isn't toxic by default.

I thought about that a lot @allconsuming.bsky.social · Dec 23

"How can the strength of my testosterone-fueled vessel co-exist with my tenderness? Where does the need for control and competition meet my delicate emotions and thoughtfulness? Why do we treat men with privilege, yet our number one killer is ourselves?"

www.ithoughtaboutthatalot.com/2024/muscles

image text says: In 2024, I thought a lot about muscles

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Amy McNichol @amymcnichol.bsky.social · Dec 23

Every year, @madebysheppard.bsky.social says there's one essay that just gets him. This is that one: honest. Heartbreaking. Funny.

I thought about that a lot @allconsuming.bsky.social · Dec 22

In 2024, I thought a lot about my mum, her Alzheimer’s, and the Gregg’s sausage roll scam

www.ithoughtaboutthatalot.com/2024/my-mum-...

image text says: Mum was vivacious, sharp and courageous. She’d had to be to raise three boys, alone, in south London. But Alzheimer's is taking that away. And that's devastating to see. ithoughtaboutthatalot.com

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Amy McNichol @amymcnichol.bsky.social · Dec 21

Challenging to edit when the essay is about indifference and apathy around the subject. How might we encourage people to engage?

I thought about that a lot @allconsuming.bsky.social · Dec 21

Last year, I saw a bloodied, dead baby outside a hospital.

I've been seeing dead babies quite frequently since, and I've noticed a lot of people seem to ignore them.

Maybe they don’t see them at all.

www.ithoughtaboutthatalot.com/2024/why-i-a...

image text says: In 2024, I thought a lot about why I am embarrassed to be human

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Amy McNichol @amymcnichol.bsky.social · Dec 20

I have passed this on 🌟☄️

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Amy McNichol @amymcnichol.bsky.social · Dec 20

🌝Today's essay is by 2024's oldest contributor. It's got a touch of the Mighty Boosh and a whiff of the wacky backy about it but it's just lovely. Gentle. In awe of the universe. Incredulous at their insignificance in the vastness of the universe ☄️🌟 and thrilled to pieces with how lucky they are 💛

I thought about that a lot @allconsuming.bsky.social · Dec 20

In 2024, I thought a lot about markers in time and space

www.ithoughtaboutthatalot.com/2024/markers...

image text says: Legend has it that the 3 wise men didn’t follow a star, but Halley’s Comet. It’s a good story, as is much of religion. ithoughtaboutthatalot.com

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Reposted by Amy McNichol

I thought about that a lot @allconsuming.bsky.social · Dec 19

"Ghosting needs a rebrand. The term feels too cute – a bit silly. Stick your tongue out and wink ghost emoji. But it is serious, it takes a real mental toll."

www.ithoughtaboutthatalot.com/2024/ghosting

image text reads: in 2024, i thought a lot about ghosting

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Amy McNichol @amymcnichol.bsky.social · Dec 19

I've been forgetting to flog these cute totes which are adorned with Noelle and their brain farts, but ladz they are *embroidered* not printed. What class.

www.ithoughtaboutthatalot.com/product/noel...

Photographs by Laura Ashman.

photograph shows a tote bag embroidered with a line drawing of a character thinking and the words i thought about that a lot.

Amy McNichol @amymcnichol.bsky.social · Dec 19

Illustrations, book design, lux white space, and glorious paper choice by @ralphhawkins.bsky.social

photograph of the inside back cover showing a line drawing of a character in the bath with thought bubbles escaping from their head

photograph of the inside back cover which has been opened out to show a line drawing of a bus with a character sitting on the bottom deck thinking, their thought bubbles escaping from their head

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Amy McNichol @amymcnichol.bsky.social · Dec 19

🌟 Here is your last-post-before-Christmas warning!🌟

We have a few copies of the I Thought About That A Lot book left (like, I can count them on my fingers). If you'd like one in time for Christmas, order your copy before 2pm tomorrow (Friday 20 December).
www.ithoughtaboutthatalot.com/shop

photograph shows the inside cover of the book with a line drawing of a character holding an umbrella and walking a dog.

photograph of inside the front cover and underneath the flap. image shows a line drawing, sitting on a stool with thought bubbles escaping from their head

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Amy McNichol @amymcnichol.bsky.social · Dec 18

⚠️ WARNING❗❗❗

This essay may compel you to bin your desk job, chuck your laptop in the pond, take a sabbatical and live your best creative, arty-farty, explore-all-the-galleries, do-some-journaling, free-your-mind life.

Inspired by The Artist's Way (fondly referred to as 'The Dickhead's Way').

I thought about that a lot @allconsuming.bsky.social · Dec 18

In 2024, I thought a lot about creativity and self-discovery woo-woo

www.ithoughtaboutthatalot.com/2024/creativ...

image text says: I felt my creativity was a thing of the past and that my imagination was lost to adulthood. I decided to take a career break. ithoughtaboutthatalot.com

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Amy McNichol @amymcnichol.bsky.social · Dec 17

Loved working with this contributor. She's 66 and hadn't worked with an editor before but had a lovely balance of strong narrative voice and openness to trying new stuff. I'm glad she's found some peace this year.

I thought about that a lot @allconsuming.bsky.social · Dec 17

"At 17, Dad wound up on the Arctic Convoys which sailed to the Soviet Union in perilous conditions, and under heavy threat of German attack. Dad’s ship was torpedoed and he survived by clinging on to a plank of wood. He was one of only six survivors."

www.ithoughtaboutthatalot.com/2024/why-my-...

image text says: in 2024, i thought a lot about why my dad was like that

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Amy McNichol @amymcnichol.bsky.social · Dec 16

Fun to edit and lots of amusing quips but these days we would call this child abuse tbh.

I thought about that a lot @allconsuming.bsky.social · Dec 15

"I’ve never really had an OK time at the dentist – not since The Incident back in 1971 at the hands of my mother and Mr E. This year, some rather unfortunate dental activity in the top right corner of my mouth has triggered some terribly bad memories."

www.ithoughtaboutthatalot.com/2024/my-top-...

image text says: in 2024, i thought a lot about my top right canine

Amy McNichol @amymcnichol.bsky.social · Dec 16

"While the decision to be child-free was always pretty clear for both of us, its ripple effects through our social lives have been more surprising than we anticipated. Here's how things have changed for us as the dominant draw in our clique has transferred from friends to family."

So well-written 👏

I thought about that a lot @allconsuming.bsky.social · Dec 14

In 2024, I thought a lot about friendship in my child-free forties

www.ithoughtaboutthatalot.com/2024/friends...

image text says: We realised we’d probably expected everything to stay the same when we went another way to everyone else. ithoughtaboutthatalot.com

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Amy McNichol @amymcnichol.bsky.social · Dec 13

In 2020, I thought a lot about the magic of community radio by Giles Turnbull was the first essay I published in the first ever essay advent calendar. Got us off to a jolly good start, I thought 😁

www.ithoughtaboutthatalot.com/2020/the-mag...

In 2020, I thought a lot about the magic of community radio – I thought a lot about that

A new anonymous essay published every day in December in the countdown to Christmas.

www.ithoughtaboutthatalot.com

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Amy McNichol @amymcnichol.bsky.social · Dec 13

Ecstatic you wanted to write about Taylor 😊 She's basically the definition of 2024.

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