Currently #4

You know on films, when they show pages flying off a calendar to signify that a lot of time has passed? This is the mental image that popped into my head the other day when I thought about my blog. My immediate thought was to throw in the towel. I had this thought while I was driving somewhere, and by the time I got to my destination, I had decided that I would keep blogging. I had dreamt up a variety of fantastic ideas for posts during this drive, which I duly forgot, which has prompted me to genuinely contemplate buying a dictaphone so that I can record all the really deep thoughts and amazing ideas I have while I’m behind the wheel.

So, in lieu of having any amazing ideas for writing a blog post, I present you with a nauseatingly trite run-down of what’s going on in my life. (Be warned: it’s not much.)

Reading

Amity & Sorrow by Peggy Miller. A few months ago I went on a spree of requesting titles on Netgalley. A lot more of them were approved than I ever anticipated, so now I’m taking on the mammoth task of reading all the books I was granted access to. Amity & Sorrow is a lot slower than I thought it would be, if I’m honest. For my non-fiction course I am having The Real North Korea: Life and Politics in the Failed Stalinist Utopia by Andrei Lankov, and Feminism is for Everybody: Passionate Politics by bell hooks.

Writing

Since my last post was about my new surge of writing enthusiasm, it’s only natural that I reveal how it’s been going. The results are in: not too badly! I have entered a few competitions, have a little tidbit of good news that I will share in due course, and have been having lots of ideas, which really is the crux of it. It seems that just thinking about writing is a creative exercise in itself, and that reading over some of my old stories oiled the wheels for me to write some more. Hopefully this will spill over into blogging (and maybe even job applications).

Watching

I went on a spree of watching-every-episode-of-something-ever-made in a way that I haven’t since university, and watched every episode of Hart of Dixie. You can judge me all you want, I’m not ashamed. I think I love watching it in the same way that Americans seem to love watching Downton Abbey. Also Rachel Bilson is surprisingly good in it, and wears lots of nice clothes, and Annabeth is one of the best characters ever and may be my true soul mate. (Some people seem genuinely offended when I mention that I really enjoy watching cheesy TV programmes: if this is you, then congratulations, you’re far more worthy and cerebral than I am, now move along.)

Listening to

Oh, am I glad you asked. I am working on what may (sadly) be the greatest achievement of my life. I am making a Pub Jukebox playlist on Spotify. And this is a proper pub jukebox playlist: nothing too modern, nothing too dancey, nothing that would upset the veteran drinkers huddled around the bar. There’s not very much in it yet but I will be adding to it over time. Find it here if you’re interested.

Eating

Well, today I ate a whole courgette to myself. I ate most of it in the form of pasta, with a chilli-garlic-white wine sauce and some prawns. The floppy inside bits I fried so that they vaguely resembled fries, and ate them with ketchup. I did this mostly out of gluttony but partly because there were some courgettes in the vicinity that needed eating before The Heatwave turned them to mush. Another delicious thing that I ate today was a beetroot, pastrami and Cambozola sandwich.

Admiring

People who don’t turn into sweaty messes when it’s hot. I don’t know how they do it and they will be forever regarded as gods in my eyes.