Every month I think, “surely this month will be less busy than the previous month” and every month I am proven wrong, but at least I’m consistent.
All that to say, there’s a lot I want to talk about, so I won’t waste any time getting to the important stuff! First off, this month, I blogged about:
- Six books that were absolutely, thoroughly, disappointing
- My writing project for my senior seminar course
- The Hardest Photo I Ever Took
- the Language of Worlds linkup and a main character from my senior project
And here’s my 1 Second Everyday compilation from October!
I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned it before, but I’m a member of the swing dancing club on campus. For the record, I’m Not Great at swing dancing, but I try, and I have fun, so at least that’s something. Anyway, at the beginning of October the club held a school-wide swing dance with live music, and that was a lot of fun! I got to hang out with my friends and meet new people, and it was a good workout too.
The weekend after that, I was back home for Fall Break. It was good to be home for a few days and spend time with my parents. We watched moves and worked on projects together, I read a book for fun (!), visited the local library, and just generally got to spend some time resting. On Sunday, before I drove back to school, I even got to go to my church’s chili cookoff and have some delicious food there too.
My school’s homecoming was the following weekend, and since it was my uncle’s 25-year reunion, he and my aunt and one of my cousins came up to Pennsylvania for the day. We had breakfast together and I showed them around campus a little bit. I don’t always get out very much on weekends, so it was nice to spend an afternoon around campus and not worry about schoolwork so much.
And finally, the weekend after that I went home again for my dad’s early birthday celebration. We had a lot of people at our house, including some long-distance family and friends, and the party was a huge success! I got to bring some of the leftover food back to school with me too, so that was a bonus.
In between all of those things, I’ve been busy with classes and work. I have a lot of writing on my plate this semester especially, but I feel like I’m handling it okay. The biggest struggle was having two written exams in October, but they went better than expected. All that being said, I think I’m already looking forward to winter break.
In the meantime, I also…
Watching…
Just My Hero Academia. I’m halfway through the third season, and even though season four is being released weekly now, I think I’ll take a break after S3. There are some other shows (mostly anime) that I want to watch, so I can wait for more episodes to be released. Plus, season three of The Dragon Prince comes out at the end of November.
Reading…
Surprise surprise, I read a lot of stuff for school. I read Book I of The Faerie Queene, The Prince by Machiavelli, and Going on Faith. On the fun side of things, I listened to the audiobook of Boneshaker by Cherie Priest and finally got to read Rebel by Marie Lu, which is EASILY one of my favorite books of the year. Oh, and I randomly read a volume of Fullmetal Alchemist that I came across at the library.
Listening to…
I have a few new songs on my playlist from this past month: “Chemical” by The Devil Wears Prada, “Paper Boats” from the Transistor soundtrack, and “Walking and “Doctor” by Truslow.
Working on…
Same stuff as before – I won’t dwell too much on it, but if you’re interested in hearing about my senior writing project, you should check out some of my blog posts from this month. So far, the project is progressing steadily!
Playing…
Celeste on my laptop! I recently discovered that the Pro Controller I own for my Nintendo Switch can also be connected to my laptop via Bluetooth, and I got Celeste for free through the Epic Games store, so I’ve been enjoying it. It’s INCREDIBLY FRUSTRATING AND CHALLENGING most of the time, but also strangely rewarding? I die a lot. But for the most part, dying a lot isn’t detrimental to the game. You learn as you go.
Around the Internet
- TED Talk by Jane McGonigal – Gaming can make a better world
- Say Goodnight Kevin – I Still Believe | Trailer Reaction
- Girlfriend Reviews – Should Your Boyfriend Play Legend of Goose: Link’s Ahonkening?
- Blimey Cow – Side Hugs vs. Full-Frontal Hugs
- A Real Penguin’s “Internship” and Penguin Random House
- Paper Fury – YA Epic Fantasy Tropes I Love Vs Ones That Make Me Quietly Die Inside
- The Evolution of YA: Young Adult Fiction, Explained
- Hannah Heath – 10 Tips for Writing a Story That Will Become a Fandom
- Nowhalle – dysautonomia and sensory processing awareness month video
- Jordan Taylor – The life of a Bluebird
- Wolves At the Gate – A Voice In The Violence music video
Gratitude
I’m thankful for swing dance club, the career center, wearing my hoodie, notepads, haircuts, libraries, Torrid, washi tape, Klondike bars, chili, getting better grades than I thought I would, blankets, tea, being home, new tupperware, and banana bread.
