I was going to make some kind of remark like “wow, the month went by really fast!” before I remembered that February is in fact the shortest month of the year so of course it went by fast. Anyway, even though it was short, February was a good month with a lot of cool stuff happening.

Before I get into that though, if you missed any of my blog posts this month, I blogged about…

• The characters I really want to see appear in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
• Where all the single people are in young adult novels
• Why silent protagonists in video games are still important
• The ABCs, according to Percy Jackson & The Olympians

Oh, and don’t forget to check out my 1 Second Everyday compilation for February!

 

I was home at the beginning of the month, since we had a short 4-day weekend at the end of our January term classes. The best part was that I got to be home to watch the Super Bowl with my parents, which I haven’t been able to since before college. It was really special, and I’m thankful for that time I got to spend with my family.

My regular spring semester started up right after the break. I’m taking four classes this semester: American Women’s Writing, Victorian Literature, U.S. Urban History, and Non-Traditional Games. Every class has its ups and downs of course, but so far I’m really liking all of them!

About midway through the month, Kiara and I went to go see The Lightning Thief musical on tour in Pennsylvania. It’s based on Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson & The Olympians, particularly on the first book in that series. I was a little hesitant (we all know how bad the movies were), but the musical was phenomenal! It was so much fun getting to go together.

The week after that was my school’s Humanities Symposium, and I was invited to be part of a panel for that. Unfortunately, our panel got postponed because of the weather. However, since my parents were already in town to watch the panel, we got to have breakfast together before they drove home. I also celebrated my friend’s birthday with her that day, which was fun.

Then finally, the week after that, my panel got to present. Our topic was “Young Adult Literature and the Common Good,” and my presentation was specifically focused on dystopian novels and how they’ve inspired teens to make change in the world. I might have a video of it sometime soon that I’ll definitely be sharing.

 

 

In the meantime, I’ve also been…

Watching…

A lot of movies this month! I saw Bohemian Rhapsody when they showed it on campus, and enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would (also learned I knew a lot more Queen songs than I thought I did). My friends and I are also trying to get through the Harry Potter movies, so we started with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. I saw How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World on opening weekend and had a good time with it (and a few criticisms, but I’ll save those for another day). Finally, I watched Spirited Away after a few friends recommended it to me. I’m really into animated films and shows these days, so I had a lot of fun with that one.

Oh, and I started the second seasons of both Ace Attorney and The Dragon Prince, because clearly I didn’t have enough going on already.

 

 

 

Reading…

SO MANY BOOKS. It was rapid-fire reading for my classes this month, and I somehow managed to do some fun reading in there too. I read Divergent, Wonder Woman: Warbringer, The Promise, Great Expectations, The Awakening, Vicious, and Passing. Since that’s a lot, I’ll just talk for a second about my favorites.

Wonder Woman: Warbringer was a great superhero tale (much better than the Black Widow novel I read a while back), and it pretty much solidified Leigh Bardugo was one of my favorite authors. I also listened to this one, which made it extra awesome. I’m slowly amassing a collection of the Avatar: The Last Airbender comics, and The Promise was my most recent addition. Finally, I re-read Vicious and then read Vengeful by V.E. Schwab and WOW. I love these books so much.

 

 

Playing…

Moonlighter again after their Friends and Foes update, which I LOVE. I mean, who doesn’t want a laser-firing friend following them around a dungeon? I also picked up Tetris 99, since it was free and the only battle royale game I’ll ever be okay at. That led to me going through another Tetris phase, in which I might have beaten my high score, but that’s yet to be confirmed.

 

 

Listening to…

A lot of The Lightning Thief cast recording since I bought it at the show. I’ve also been enjoying August Burns Red’s Phantom Sessions EP, especially “Midnight.” “Two Nights” by My Epic is also a favorite recently.

Working on…

A MAP. My original map for my fantasy story, Quest, was pretty rough and vague, so I decided to make a new one on some proper graph paper. It’s still a work in progress, but it’s a lot better than where I was before.

Around the internet:

• Facts vs. Feelings – Blimey Cow
• Christian Meme Review – Blimey Cow
• Writing When You Have a Mental Illness – PaperFury
• Pokémon Direct 2/27/19
• Link’s Awakening remake trailer

Gratitude

Space heaters, ice cream and cookies, haircuts, football, making people laugh, audiobooks, fudgecicles, new headphones, snow days, game nights, getting a parking ticket waived, breakfast with parents, raspberry flavored things, writing things I’m satisfied with, and time to refresh myself.

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Readers, how was your February? Did you do anything exciting? Watch any good movies? What are you looking forward to in March? Let’s talk in the comments!

Until next time!