Bookish and Not-So-Bookish Thoughts is a weekly blogging event hosted by Bookishly Boisterous. It allows book bloggers (and non-book bloggers) to write about pretty much anything, bookish or otherwise (i.e. share exciting plans for the weekend, rants on things they’ve encountered during the week, etc.).

1. Is it April 27th yet?
2. No, seriously, I’ve been so busy bouncing back and forth between work and school that last week I finally said no, I need to take care of myself too. Last weekend I had no shifts scheduled so I told myself no, I’m not picking up, I’m going to take it easy, I’m going to focus on my homework. Not sure if this is a good sign (in terms of awareness) or a bad sign (that I clearly don’t know what school-work balance is) but there you go. I’m close to losing my mind.
3. Of course I say that I’m going to take care of myself and take it easy and then suddenly I’m not 100% okay over the weekend. It wasn’t full-blown not feeling weel but I wasn’t at my best, either. Of course that would happen when it did *rolls eyes*
4. I’m also moving units again. It’s confusing for everyone, including myself, at this point and a lot of factors went into the move (again) but I think that’s it for now. No more moving around lol.



5. Despite of the stress and whatnot, the no-spend is surprisingly holding. Yay me! 🙂
6. Books I’m currently reading right now: I’m still slowly going through John English’s first volume on the life of Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau (aka the superior Trudeau IMO), been too busy reading other nonfiction that’s school-related to focus my energies on this tome. I’ve started re-reading J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring (review) because I’ve been wanting to re-read LOTR for a long while now and with Tolkien Reading Day coming up this weekend, I figured why not?
7. I finally read Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express! That was quite the read, so glad I finally got around to it 🙂
8. Despite my lack of reading as many new books, I have been doing a bit of re-reading. For example, I re-read Kate Clanchy’s poetry collection Samarkand (review) and William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar (review). Always a wild ride, that play.
9. How is it the remainder of the books on my TBR pile are all 500+ page tomes? lol. Kind of hard to pocket that for work, if you know what I mean…
10. I’ve got “El Tango de Roxanne” stuck in my head thanks to the following program. Perfection *hearts* I must’ve watched it how many times and it just amazes me every time–their performance, their skill, the emotion:
    

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And that’s it from me! Wishing everyone a lovely week 🙂

Bookish and Not-So-Bookish Thoughts is a weekly blogging event hosted by Bookishly Boisterous. It allows book bloggers (and non-book bloggers) to write about pretty much anything, bookish or otherwise (i.e. share exciting plans for the weekend, rants on things they’ve encountered during the week, etc.).

1. Y’all, I need a proper day off, like, stat O_O If I’m not working, I’m at school. Why am I doing this to myself?
2. Since February 1st I’ve been taking part in InCoWriMo — International Correspondence Writing Month. It’s been a lot of fun sending out letters and catching up with correspondence…Not to mention it’s something completely different from the usual school and work fare I’ve been going through lol.



3. Took a bit of a break last week from my no-spend (I was really sad, okay?) but on the upside I went a whole month without buying anything 😀
4. Books I’m currently reading: Mary Balogh’s Someone to Love. I recently finished reading Brandon Sanderson’s Edgedancer so I don’t have anything to read at work or school right now. Oh, and I started reading volume 2 of Monstress but haven’t gotten far because I keep falling asleep when I settle in bed. Oops.
5. I’ve been too busy to actually sit down and watch any of the games but yay, go Canada (re: the Winter Olympics) 😀 And once again I am reminded at how flawless Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir are; they’re so synchronised, they’re practically floating on ice <3
6. Absolutely gutted to hear the news last week about Johann Johansson passing away. His compositions were so unique and brilliant and his album “Orphee” is not only one of my favourite albums EVER but it’s just absolutely inspirational. Just so so sad 🙁

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And that’s it from me! Wishing everyone a lovely week and a Happy Valentine’s Day (and start of Lent if you’re practising, haha; so weird that both fell on the same day this year) 🙂

Bookish and Not-So-Bookish Thoughts is a weekly blogging event hosted by Bookishly Boisterous. It allows book bloggers (and non-book bloggers) to write about pretty much anything, bookish or otherwise (i.e. share exciting plans for the weekend, rants on things they’ve encountered during the week, etc.).

1. Back from hiatus (sort of)! I hope everyone is having a lovely January so far and that your Christmas holidays were wonderful 🙂 Mine was, albeit peppered with work (but that’s okay).
2. Despite the holidays though, I was so frustrated because of school. They said they kept our holidays intact and yet they placed assignment deadlines on and around Christmas -_-; And after New Year’s of course all the other deadlines started streaming in so I was pretty pissed…And then of course there were exams last week and this week so yeah, I just want this month over with, to be honest.
3. Some news right before the New Year: I got a permanent part-time position at my hospital! Yay, no more worrying about where I will nab another temporary part-time and reverting back to a casual status. I’m also heading back to the medical rehab unit, which is also yay but at the same time I’m a bit sad that I didn’t stay at my old unit longer as I really enjoyed working with the other part-timers there. But anyway, onward and upward, right?
4. So since January 1st I’ve also been on a no-spend, which has surprisingly held up! lol. Sure, there’s been that moment where I was thinking about something but so far I have been strong, haha (and saved some money along the way). Yeah, there should be a reprieve somewhere for a bit, but in the meantime it’s been good and I’m using a lot of the stuff I have on hand so that’s a plus 🙂



5. Remind me the next time I’m offered an overtime shift to make sure I’m not working a day shift the following day? I worked two overtime shifts last month (day/evening) but the second one was brutal, I was dragging myself through the following day shift. Never again (as much as possible), 16 hours is too much for one person x_x
6. Unfortunately because I’ve been so busy with schoolwork and mounds of application forms and whatnot, I haven’t gotten around to editing my next poetry collection. I initially wanted to release it in February (heh, does that give you a hint as to what that collection is about?) but yeah, that’s not happening and I don’t want to make a rush job of it. Besides…
7. …I’m still promoting my second poetry collection, Of Frost and Fury: Poems Written in the Land of Volcanoes and Giants 🙂 It’s a collection of poetry I had written while I was in Iceland last year, and I had put it together incorporating photos I had taken during the trip. So that was good fun; you can find out more about the process in this post) I had finalised it sometime in the December amidst shifts at work and assignments; coupled with the Christmas holidays, I reckon it went under the radar considerably.
8. Books I am currently reading: Robert Ostler’s Empires of the Word: A Language History of the World and Soren Kierkegaard’s Works of Love. Why do I have so many “hefty” books on my TBR pile at the moment? I need something light to read, lol…
9. I was sort of catching up in preparing some content here in the blog for the next bit (changes are a-coming; see next week’s January Updates post) but I realised that next month will hit 11 years blogging regularly. I know I say it every year but time truly flies…
10. On a final note:
    

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And that’s it from me! Wishing everyone a lovely week 🙂

Bookish and Not-So-Bookish Thoughts is a weekly blogging event hosted by Bookishly Boisterous. It allows book bloggers (and non-book bloggers) to write about pretty much anything, bookish or otherwise (i.e. share exciting plans for the weekend, rants on things they’ve encountered during the week, etc.).

1. I am back from hiatus! Still have classes technically running until Friday but my brain has already checked out like, even before my health assessment exam x_x
2. So, things that have been going on with me…School has been back in full swing since the end of November and I’m just as fed up as I was before the college strike. They keep saying they understand how stressful things are and they’re working towards optimising our learning, blah, blah, blah, and yet they heap all the tests on you. Maybe I’m just especially sceptic about their blah-blah because I’d been in the academic system for too long and know what I’m dealing with. Unfortunately our Christmas break has been shortened as a result of the strike…and they were saying it wasn’t #iamnotamused
3. Work has been okay. Not going to lie, I miss the craziness of the medical unit I was working at previously, but routine is good too. Been picking up a lot of shifts, which is great but also a bummer when you’re also blocking yourself off to deal with schoolwork. I’m working before Christmas and Boxing Day this year but not Christmas Day, which is a nice change. However I am working on New Year’s…on my previous unit, lmao.
4. At least I did almost all of my Christmas shopping and all of my Christmas cards last month 🙂



5. Remind me the next time I’m offered an overtime shift to make sure I’m not working a day shift the following day? I worked two overtime shifts recently (day/evening) but the second one was brutal, I was dragging myself through the following day. Never again (as much as possible), 16 hours is too much for one person x_x
6. After going through issue after issue, my latest poetry collection is finally completed, lol. More about that tomorrow 😉
7. Books I am currently reading: for something light and fun, I’m reading Candace Camp’s A Winter Scandal. I’ve also slowly started reading Lauren Eden’s second poetry collection, Atlantis. I also have Joseph Stiglitz’s The Euro: How a Common Currency Threatens The Future of Europe sitting on my night table but I don’t think I’ll be getting around to it anytime soon…
8. New Year resolutions are something I don’t really do these days just because they end up being superfluous and broken by the end of January (though I did do the things I set out to do this year: self-published two poetry books, travelled to places I’ve been dreaming to go for ages, went back to school (again)). However I find myself thinking about them this year, more along the lines of the future, what do I want in my life ultimately and what I want to achieve, little things that could be changed (starting with using all the stuff I’ve accumulated in the past few years, lmao). Dunno what got me stopping and thinking about all of these big things, but there you go.
9. So yes, starting next year I am going on a bit of a no-spend. I’ve done it here and there in the past but it has gotten a bit out of control recently so I figured go on a no-spend (by some parametres of course, too rigid and the plan will fall to pieces within a day) so that I can use what I have. Funnily enough this has more to do with the amount of stationery-related stuff I have as I have actually dwindled on the book-buying a bit (though it will nonetheless fall under the bracket of the no-spend as a way to catch up on my TBR pile right now!). We’ll see, we’ll see. Early days.
10. Changes are a-coming on the blog in the new year. After I ger through the January hiatus, lol.

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And that’s it from me! How is everyone doing? Hope everyone is having a lovely and as stress-free December as possible!

Bookish and Not-So-Bookish Thoughts is a weekly blogging event hosted by Bookishly Boisterous. It allows book bloggers (and non-book bloggers) to write about pretty much anything, bookish or otherwise (i.e. share exciting plans for the weekend, rants on things they’ve encountered during the week, etc.).

1. So, shitfest ahoy: my college went on strike mid-last month, right after my Reading Week. As annoyed as I was about school, I’m more annoyed at how this will affect the rest of the school year and into my plans next year. They finally got back to the bargaining table last Thursday but still, that’s about three weeks of schooling gone (and going into the fourth week. That’s a bloody month). So yeah, I am not amused.
2. I also had a bit of a headache at work–long story there–but suffice to say I started working back at my home unit again. It’s an adjustment, it’s been a long time since I was there so the patient population changed, and of course there’s a bit of the routine and mindset to get used to again. My schedule at work is also a bit tossed around thanks to the college strike.
3. So, kind of pissed off on top of all the other craziness that’s been happening in my life recently: I realised a while ago that my engagement/outreach on my Instagram account, @eclecticreading, dropped considerably early last month. Looks like I’ve been shadowbanned for whatever reason–bloody algorithms–which is a bummer, but quite annoying in that I’m trying to promote my poetry book too, you know? Luckily I found some tips on how to reset my account from that status, made some changes to the way I’m posting and whatnot and now my account is back to normal, thank goodness.
4. But I came to the conclusion that when life is crap, just watch this video on Liam Gallagher, it never fails to get a laugh out of me:
   

   Liam Gallagher making tea is the best thing you'll see today. As you were. pic.twitter.com/JaAB0p6Qr2

   — BBC Three (@bbcthree) September 20, 2017



5. I attended my first pen show last month! I heard about Scriptus from the pen and stationery show I frequent so I went to the event on October 29th with my brother and my mum. I was amazed at how many exhibitors were present and how many people attended! It was so busy, it was hard to maneuver around the salon area and check out properly all the pens and inks and paper laid out! But I had a good time, a little overwhelming, but it was cool, and I picked up some awesome ink along the way, lol.
6. Books I am currently reading: I finally properly settled in and started reading Robert Shearman’s Everyone’s Just So So Special; I had stared reading it a few months back but I couldn’t quite get into it so I put it down for a while, read some other books, and only got back to it now. A good time to read it too as I haven’t really been able to stick to a novel lately…I also started reading Frank Herbert’s Heretics of Dune. I thought I wouldn’t get around to reading it because of everything that’s been going on but ehhh, it couldn’t be helped 😉
7. It’s that time of year over at GoodReads where you vote for the best books of 2017…And once again I find myself scrolling through the lists, recognising a few titles, but unable to vote because I’m so behind, lol…
8. I’m kind of bummed out that I’m not participating in NaNoWriMo this year but there’s just no way I can fit it in. Plus, I’m having a bit of a creative drought right now 🙁 So I guess I’ll just focus on promoting my first poetry book, Shall I Be a Poet Instead (did I mention I’m hosting a giveaway for a copy of this book here on the blog?), as well as getting the final draft done for my other book (fingers crossed!) 🙂
9. I am however participating in Sci-Fi Month this month! 😀
10. I know it can be a hectic time for everyone, but I’m looking forward to the Christmas season 🙂 And I admit, I’m also pretty relaxed going into this season because I actually already bought most of my Christmas gifts to people already, I just have a few left to pick up and then I’m good :3 But there’s all the Christmas cards I look forward to writing… 😀

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And that’s it from me! How is everyone doing? Hope you all have a lovely November 🙂