A few years ago, I attended our local art-house movie theater’s Oscar night party. Having just started to watch award shows (mostly to stave off the depression of Northeast winter), I loved the excuse to get dressed up, have fun with friends, and take part in a cultural phenomena.

Each year I grew progressively more interested in what was sanctioned as a “good” movie versus a “great” movie and what movies were ignored altogether. I started reading movie reviews and people’s opinions about “The Academy” (which is really colleagues weighing in on each other). I started to actually develop my own sense of what made a movie enjoyable and what made it a work of art. I began to appreciate skilled cinematography, nuanced dialogue, subtitles of strong acting, expert transitions, and the awe created when complicated truths are unwrapped through a compelling and well-told story.

Always a staunch ally of “the book is always better than the movie” position, I now also found that movies stole my heart.

Enter January 2019 when the Oscar best pictures are announced and I realize that I had already watched at least half the movies. For the first time in my life, I could potentially watch the Oscars having an informed opinion, preference, and/or prediction for each of these categories. I could celebrate a talent whose work I had cherished, and decry the one who had been passed over.

I love a challenge, a deadline, and a way to enhance an experience I already enjoyed. The race to the Oscars was on. I chronicled the journey loosely in my Instagram stories using my refrigerator white board.

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And it was fun. So I’m at it again this year. Researching the likely nominations over my holiday break and strategizing how I can watch as many movies as possible–which platform is streaming it? When can I grab it at my local theater? Who will join me? Which movie will I watch by myself as a treat in the middle of the day?

I also love that my partner is supportive and wants to be part of my movie squad. He’s enjoys the challenge and is more of a big-screen nerd than I. The conversations afterward–what we liked, what we loved, what we thought we silly or poor or problematic–I love the whole experience. Plus, a few winter months of date nights planned? Win/Win.

The anticipation almost makes me forget that we are facing one of the longest months of the year with the shortest days and impending polar vortexes and blizzards. I will try to chronicle beyond insta stories this year. Anyone else along for this journey through the long, cold January? Oscars are February 9 and my tickets to our viewing party are purchased. Movie reviews to follow. Let’s go!