Hi internet, it's me! Did you miss me? I'm sure you did.
So, yeah. At this point there's not much use in bothering to explain/apologise for my absence from these here pages, except this time I shall say that I am still in recovery from my Shakespeare OD, I have just had 14 days off in the last 16 and have spent approximately 6 of them basically in bed, and reading and writing have kiiiind of been beyond me. But I know you'd like a list of the things I've been doing instead, so here it comes!
- I have created an entirely new books database of all the books I own (digital and physical) which has led to the slightly overwhelming conclusion that I own 348 books that I haven't read, but will hopefully avoid the unnecessary expense of buying books I already own. Or at all, because NEARLY THREE HUNDRED AND FIFTY BOOKS TO READ WHAT EVEN AM I?!
- The books database was part of a wider attempt to sort my room out after a year of just putting things wherever and hoping for the best. This sorting has been both successful and unsuccessful- my bookshelves look amazing, I've turned my Shakespeare table back into my sewing table, and I've gotten rid of a lot of stuff already. However. My cupboard full of crap is still a cupboard full of crap, and my bedroom floor is kind of filled with stuff that doesn't really have a home yet. This is all to say that I'm not really done yet, much as I wanted to be for the resumption of normal life tomorrow.
- Outings! I have had some. So I've been to garden centres with my cousin, to London with Frances, shopping with my mum, and Canterbury to see Bex and Christine, my friend from uni who also lives in Kent, making visits there a handy two-for-one kind of deal now! I'm actually pretty proud of myself for having managed to go places without actually bankrupting myself (I have basically no money) and still having fun- who knew one could have fun without money?! (Me. I knew that.)
- I was about to write that I've been sleeping a lot, but that's actually not quite true, I've just been tired for the large majority of the time. A lot of this is obviously Shakespeare hangover because oh my god my brain does so know what to do with itself half the time now, but, as identified when I actually did go to work for a couple of days, I hadn't actually been moving or keeping hydrated or eating as well as I generally try to. SO these past 5 days I've been walking everywhere (I walked about 5 miles on Wednesday, try not to be too impressed) and I have definitely felt less tired so goddammit I guess I have to admit my boss is right about some stuff. Poop.
- In spite of this, however, there has just generally been quite a lot of resting. Much time in and around bed, watching anime or reading the internet, and just generally taking a bit of time to not-think for a change. I haven't been actively not-reading, but I also haven't been reading very much (with the exception of comic books which I am just gulping down at the moment) and I really don't feel bad about that because... Yeah. Damn. Remember when I had to read a Shakespeare a week? That was insane.
- Probably most importantly, today we found my sister's old gameboy and my two games (Pokemon blue and yellow, bitches) and I basically spent the afternoon getting through these caves I'd been stuck in on both games with the help of a youtube tutorial, and FINALLY BEATING THE ELITE FOUR AND FINISHING BLUE. Like seriously. I can't even tell you my pride in myself. It's immense.
So, yeah. I've just generally been doing life, not thinking too much about anything (including the fact that I have a poor little neglected blog out in the world, bless it!) and kind of trying to enjoy myself juuuust a little bit before I think about job hunting and whatnot (GULP) (but like seriously, MASSIVE GULP). The constant reinforcement of people asking me when I'm going to blog again has led to this post, but it's not that it's something I've been putting off because I don't want to do it, I just haven't thought about it that much at all. I'm not sure which is worse, but to be honest, I don't want my writing brain muscles to atrophy anyway, and (AND!) The Monk Readalong starts on Thursday, and frankly if I am not ready to blog in a readalong, then I do not even deserve to still have a blog.
I'm not entirely sure that sentence made sense, but remain there it shall (this ended up being my dissertation motto...) The point: I have been a terrible blogger for a year. I think I might actually be back now. Or at least I want to try to be. Now I just need to remember how to write about the things I've read...
HEY! *waves* HEY! It's not like there's really been much of an absence since we talk on facebook and all, but it is nice to see you on your blog!
ReplyDeleteThat is an insane amount of unread books Laura. When Tom and I moved earlier in the year I donated a bunch of my unread books that I know I'll never read (damn you library sales, your $1 books trap me every time)
HEY WHATS UP GIRLFRIEND?! Or something. It's weird being here haha but I like it!
DeleteYeah, it's a pretty special amount of books I have committed myself to read. Sadly it's the number I came to AFTER having got rid of a load of books (probably 50+?) and ohh boy do I need to stop buying books! But... New books are so pretty... Hahaha
Oh boy, that's alotta books. I am pretty proud of my 2015 book buying, I've probably only bought about 10? I mean, I don't have 300+ unread books, but my shelves are also overwhelmingly unread so I feel pretty proud of this small achievement.
DeleteWe'll be book shopping in London yes?
I think next year shall be the year of not buying (many) books- I feel like I have perhaps not bought THAT many this year, cause I haven't even had time to, but still more than I should have.
DeleteDOES IT SOUND LIKE I SHOULD BE BUYING BOOKS WHEN YOU COME HERE?! So obviously I will be. Yeesh.
You own 350 books you haven't read? That is quite impressive.
ReplyDeleteThe Monkalong will be a good way to get back into blogging.
Is it impressive, or is it fucked up that I can neither read all ze books, nor stop buying ze books. It's a strange life I'm leading haha.
DeleteThe Monk readalong will be perfect! It's just slightly unfortunate that I not at all secretly hate 18th century novels *glares at pamela*
I have almost exactly that amount of unread books. They are now all organised in pretty rainbow colours though :-p stupid phone wont let me stop being Ninja Book Swap!
ReplyDeleteWe didn't go back to the food festival in the end so I'm pretty glad I bought all that cheese AND I'm pretty glad you heeded all my 'are you gonna blog again now' poking!
We need to sort our damn lives out, dude. Or possibly just take a year off from everything and read a book a day, that'll solve it!
DeleteOh yay I'm glad you bought all the cheese in the world then! And yes, you and my family, annoyingly (as in, it annoys me that they even read this haha) have all been bugging me so HERE. ARE YOU HAPPY NOW?!