weekly wednesday blogging challenge

Three Fun Facts About Myself

This week’s Weekly Wednesday Blogging Challenge is one that I actually really struggled with, and ended up asking Li for some help to answer. That tricky topic? Three Fun Facts About Myself

I tend to over-think this topic – what’s fun? what’s interesting? what have I shared to death?

1) I could read and write before I started nursery school.
I don’t remember not being able to read, or learning to read. I have been told the story of I used to spend most of the time in the nursery in the book corner reading. I remember my dad taking me to the library every Saturday morning.

2) I met my fiancée Li through fanfiction
I found her SG-1 fic on AO3 in October 2020, started reading and leaving comments as you do. Then looked her up on social media and a couple of months later, found the confidence (and this is very out of the norm for me) to message her… that was December 2020 and we haven’t stopped talking since!

3) Li says I have to say how I can always predict who’s going home on competition shows
I never used to watch any of them, but with Li I watch Masterchef, Bake Off, and many many more. It’s competence porn combined with people sharing the thing they love which is always happy making. But yes, I can always say who’s going home. Even when I say I don’t know… I can still say it just a beat before the judges do!
(I honestly think it’s basic pattern recognition, but Li loves this mundane super power of mine)

What’s a fun fact about you that you feel comfortable sharing?

life · weekly wednesday blogging challenge

Documentaries I’ve enjoyed (and a quick life update)

To catch y’all up, I’ve been in a lot of pain for the last couple of weeks. There have been calls to 111 – the NHS non-emergency line. There has been a visit to a Minor Injuries Unit. And I’ve had to register as a temporary patient at my partner’s GP in Devon – where I’ve been stuck for the last month. I saw an Advanced Nurse Practitioner last Friday who did a full physical exam and diagnosed me with piriformis syndrome with sciatica, and trochanteric bursitis. She prescribed me a month’s worth of 10mg amitriptyline, 30mg codeine (not co-codamol this time, straight codeine) and 500mg naproxen. She tells me to rest, gives me ‘gentle’ stretching exercises to do, and she also signed me off work ‘for two weeks to start with’ – I’d honestly only wanted a letter or something that confirmed I was being treated in Devon, and couldn’t drive, but now I get to properly relax, let the drugs work and my body heal

When I’m just sitting, as long as I don’t move too quickly, it’s easy to forget that I’ve been in excruciating pain. With the pain pills, it’s mostly dialled down to a deep ache – with the odd muscle spasm and pins and needles in either my foot or my bum. And can I just say that that is a weird sensation in your bum, that point where when your foot has been to sleep, it’s waking up and about to tip into pins and needles? That, in your butt is weird.

I’d say when the meds are all worky and I’m being mindful of what I’m doing, the pain is at about a 3-4 (sometimes distracts me), but when they wear off or I forget myself, it’s at about a 5-6 (hard to ignore, interrupts some activities). Though when you consider 4 weeks ago it was a 9, and a week ago it was a 7, I’m getting there slowly. I’m still uncertain if I’ll be able to drive home next week or if I’ll be getting another sick note, but there’s a whole other week to go. The swelling in my thigh appears to have gone down though so I’m taking the small wins!

The meds are still making me a little woozy and wobbly. I’m making sure to keep moving regularly and I’m doing my stretches every day. I’m not getting a huge amount of reading done because my concentration isn’t great. I’m working through organising my tags on Dreamwidth and posting a bunch of memes. Mostly, I’ve been getting a bunch of colouring done – apparently, that’s the current hobby du jour

This week’s Weekly Wednesday Blogging Challenge is about A Documentary I Liked and I don’t know where to start. I watch a lot of documentaries – mostly (and I’m sure you’re shocked) history and science ones.

I enjoyed Alien Worlds on Netflix and Year Million on Disney+. American Ripper, which investigated the theory that Jack The Ripper & HH Holmes were the same person, was fascinating

BBC Horizon documentaries are just CLASS. I mean, BBC documentaries in general are utterly fantastic. There was a Chris Packham one about T-Rex which was brilliant, and there was one about the weather on other planets. So was The Genius Of Modern Life with Hannah Fry.

Li and I have been working our way chronologically through all the available David Attenborough shows available on iplayer and they have all been fucking fantastic. And so many of them completely groundbreaking for their day. That man is a national treasure and should be protected at all costs. Also, how does he clamber around in rainforests, jungles and deserts and his clothing still pristine white? Even the planet recognises his importance LOL

If you have any documentary recs, please feel free to share them!

weekly wednesday blogging challenge

Share one interesting fact you know

This week’s question over at the Weekly Wednesday Blogging Challenge is one that makes my brain go completely blank! Share One Interesting Fact You Know

I collect random facts like other people collect baseball cards but as soon as someone asks me to share an interesting fact, my brain just short-circuits and cannot think of a single thing. It’s the same as when someone asks you to share an interesting fact about yourself – I’m not that interesting – and then I second-guess what is interesting

There’s the obvious ones like France was still executing people by guillotine when Star Wars premiered, or woolly mammoths were still roaming the earth when the pyramids were built, but I feel like these are ones that most people know at this point

OK so did you know that a polar bear’s liver is toxic – even to another polar bear? They have so much vitamin A in them because it’s stored there from the blubber in their diet, it’s not easily flushed from the body because it’s not water-soluble. Bears and seals also have generally high levels of vitamin A but not as many as polar bears. The entire liver contains enough vitamin A to kill 52 adults!

Li offered that there is a species of tuna that has anti-freeze in its blood.

How about you – do you have any interesting facts to share?

weekly wednesday blogging challenge

Describe your Fashion Sense

This week’s question over at the Weekly Wednesday Blogging Challenge is one that made me cackle out loud! Describe Your Fashion Sense because dear god I do not have one. I have absolutely no sense of fashion at ALL

I don’t think I’ve ever dressed ‘fashionably’. I am a plus-sized llama with even bigger boobs. I have always had boobs, I was like a DD by the time I was 14/15 so I’ve never been able to wear general high-street fashion because it’s literally not designed to fit me. And even if it was, I plain Did Not Like It At All which, since hindsight has 20/20 vision, is because I was looking at women’s clothing.

So, I basically live in either geeky or band t-shirts, a pair of jeans if I have to leave the house, otherwise nice comfy sweatpants. I wear bright colours, usually many layers – a plain long-sleeve shirt under the aforementioned t-shirt is my standard, with a plaid shirt/hoodie/jumper depending on the temperature. I’ve recently fallen in love with Run & Fly or Lucy & Yak dungarees but they are not cheap. Most of my clothes are thrifted. I do love knee-high brightly coloured, preferably stripey socks.

I’m a lapsed goth. My favourite shop as a teen was United Colours of Benetton – and I had these amazing rainbow-striped pants. I was emo/scene in my mid-20s. I aspire to a Vibrant Academia aesthetic kind of style. But mostly, I want to be comfortable and warm!

weekly wednesday blogging challenge

A recent song I’ve loved

I’m actually answering last week’s Weekly Wednesday Blogging Challenge which asks about a recent song I love.

Now, y’all know how much I love music, right? I’ve pretty much always got music on and love a wide variety so I wasn’t sure I could answer this one. But I have had a hyperfixation on Taylor Swift for about 9 or 10 months now, not sure where it came from and I’m pre-registered to get tickets for the UK leg of the Eras tour. While this isn’t a recent song of hers per se, it IS one of my favourites and so I’m sharing Love Story

book blogger hop · weekly wednesday blogging challenge

Weekly Wednesday Blogging Challenge & Book Blogger Hop

And, once again, I find myself needing to catch up on both Weekly Wednesday Blogging Challenge and Book Blogger Hop, so without further ado:

The Weekly Wednesday Blogging Challenge questions are:

Films to watch when you’re having a bad day
I’m generally not a big film person, I usually turn to TV shows rather than movies although my go-to movies will always be Star Wars and Jurassic Park. TV wise it’s Buffy, Leverage, Stargate and Supernatural.

My thoughts on small talk
I hate it, I find it incredibly painful to do. It’s bland, it doesn’t mean anything, it’s pointless and it’s boring. I’d rather have a conversation about something important or exciting, I love talking with people about the things they care about, or are passionate about.

And for Book Blogger Hop we have:

Have you ever read with a book light?
Not that I recall. I didn’t do the torch under the covers as a kid either – I don’t recall not being allowed to read, even well past my bedtime, I just had the light on. It’s the same now as well, and I do still read well past my bedtime. I do appreciate the backlight on my Kindle though!

Have you tried a reel on Instagram
Nope, I don’t generally watch them either although I love watching TikTok videos. I don’t like seeing/hearing myself on video and I don’t know enough about editing to do any of the other kind of videos.
I am figuring out using my book instagram though – I’m using the May Photo a Day challenge as well as trying to remember to post the books I’m reading as I finish them

Have you ever been told that you have an excessive number of books? If so, what was your reaction?
Oh many many times, and that I read too much. I’ve heard that SO many times. I now generally just laugh and I’ve learned over the years that anyone who harshes my squee on that isn’t someone who’s worth having in my life – the people who matter understand that it’s important to me and encourage my love.

weekly wednesday blogging challenge

Weekly Wednesday Catch-up

Every time I think I’ve caught myself up and got into a rhythm, life laughs at me. I actually got my ADHD diagnosis yesterday which helps me understand a little why this happens, and I can start to try and figure out things out once we find a medication schedule that helps!

But, for now, it’s another catch-up on the Weekly Wednesday Blogging Challenge

A famous book I’ve never read, and why, and honestly there are SO many of them. 

The first one that always springs to mind on this sort of question is Lord of the Rings. I don’t enjoy high fantasy, the hero’s journey in high fantasy bores me to tears and I have no patience for Tolkien’s writing style. 

But, like I said, there’s so many of the famous and/or classics books that I haven’t read because they simply don’t interest me or the writing style or narrative voice don’t work for me. And I’ve tried a couple of the popular booktok authors lately, Colleen Hoover & Sally Rooney as examples, and thought they were dreadful, didn’t get past the first page.

Best non-fiction book I’ve read? Can you at least narrow that down into subjects? I read so much non-fiction about so many different things.

I went to my goodreads, selected the non-fiction shelf and sorted into 5 star reads and there’s everything from Derek Acorah – Haunted, Anton Adams – The The Learned Arts Of Witches & Wizards: History And Traditions Of White Magic, The Intimate Adventures Of A London Call Girl, Written in Stone: The Hidden Secrets of Fossils and the Story of Life on Earth, Gods with Thunderbolts: Religion in Roman Britain, Silent Witnesses: The Often Gruesome But Always Fascinating History of Forensic Science, The Body: A Guide for Occupants, The Plantagenets: The Kings Who Made England, Megacatastrophes!: Nine Strange Ways The World Could End and Diddly Squat: A Year On the Farm – and that’s just the first handful of a shelf of 136 books

Sports I’ve tried and what I thought of them I am not a sporty llama. I have joint issues and have spent most of my life on crutches. Sport is generally not a thing I do. I do love going for a walk, and I’m absolutely terrible at but enjoy playing tennis. And I do love exergaming on the Wii, especially Mario & Sonic at the Olympics, Wii Sports, snowboarding and boxing games.

weekly wednesday blogging challenge · www wednesday

Weekly Wednesday Blogging Catchup & What I’m Reading Wednesday… On A Thursday

Between work and health and school and just… life in general, I am a stressed and struggling llama right now. I have been hiding in books this last few weeks, lots of reading but no spoons to do any writing about the reading. Hell, over the last two weeks, typing has hurt because my hands have been so swollen and I’ve had to get two extensions on my Julius Caesar assignment. Co-codamol, naproxen and CBD have been my BFFs

Today, I actually feel like I have a little space in my brain and the pain levels are dropping off so I thought I’d catch up on some Weekly Wednesday Blogging Challenge questions that I’ve missed over the last few weeks – not all of them or I’ll be here all day but definitely a good handful of them.

My favourite food is a stuffed crust pepperoni pizza
Don’t get me wrong, I love cooking. And you can’t go wrong with some savoury mine and cheesy mash, or a good spaghetti bolognese, or a macaroni cheese, or a Full English.  But there’s something about a pepperoni pizza hits home in a different way. 

My favourite subject in school will probably come as no surprise to many people becuase it was history. From learning about the Romans and Vikings, to Medieval and Tudor times, to GCSE history and the history of medicine. I’d always planned on doing history at university – there was a history of science, medicine and technology degree that I really wanted to do – but it wasn’t to be, continued to love the subject and read all the non-history books about the times that I loved. And now I’m doing my Classical Studies degree and it’s amazing!

And, in a related question, My Favourite historical personage to read about isn’t generally a single person, but it’s all things related to the Plantagenets, the Wars of the Roses and the Tudors. Pretty much the whole British monarch from Henry II through to Elizabeth I. 
I have a book out the library right now on St George,  because I saw it on the shelf and realised I didn’t know much about the legends, or if there was an actual person they were based on. 

And then, even though it’s a Thursday, we have WWW Wednesday which asks:
What are you currently reading?
Mary Beard – The Roman Triumph
Andrea Penrose – Murder on Black Swan Lane
Chris Smith – The Naked Scientist
AF Steadman – Skandar and the Unicorn Thief

What did you recently finish reading?
Sarah J Maas – A Court of Mist and Fury
Mira Grant – Chimera
VE Schwab – Gallant
Jeremy Clarkson – Diddy Squat: A Year On The Farm
Talia Hibbert – Damaged Goods

What do you think you’ll read next?
Holly Black – The Wicked King
Talia Hibbert – Untouchable
Ransom Riggs – Library of Souls
Sally Rooney – Beautiful World, Where Are You?
Ruby Wax – A Mindfulness Guide for the Frazzled

weekly wednesday blogging challenge

Something I’m Proud Of Doing

This week’s Weekly Wednesday Blogging Challenge asks something I’m proud of doing and honestly I’ve got so much recently. 

For a little background, I have agoraphobia, GAD and various other anxiety issues. I leave the house as little as possible, and over the last 3 years, it’s been much worse. I have been in and out of therapy for 30 years, my most recent was last year and it was incredibly helpful. I’m also medicated for my depression and anxiety, although not my ADHD. Please don’t offer any medical advice. 

Just after Christmas, Li and I caught the train to Exeter. I have not been on a train in maybe 6 or 7 years. I got very panicky as the train was late and more people arrived at the station, I was terrified to start but the train was relatively empty and I started to relax.

Our first stop was into a Waterstones. Because of the sale, when I stepped in I got a bit panicky due to the sheer number of people at the entrance, but once we passed the sales tables and up to the first floor… OMG WOW. I was in book heaven y’all. We grabbed a drink and a cake from the cafe then set about exploring the shop. As you may recall, between this Waterstones (and the second one we found at the end of the day), around £200 on books and it was amazing!

The main reason we were in Exeter though was to have a meal at Yo!Sushi. We both love sushi and neither of us had been for far too long – although my Tesco now has a Yo! counter. I had pre-booked us a table and bought a gift card in the sales, so we had a budget of £100. The menu had changed slightly so a couple of my favourites weren’t available, which was a bit sadly and while I mostly stuck to things I knew I liked, I actually tried a few new things… and only didn’t eat one of them because it was a weird texture. 

We wandered around for a bit, had a quick look in Bird & Blend, CEX, and Game… then discovered the second Waterstones before catching the train home.

A couple of weeks later, we went back to Exeter to go to the museum – there was an exhibition on the history of medicine that we both wanted to see and was finishing in January. So back onto the train, into Exeter and this is where I’m super proud of myself. See, one of my Big Goals when starting therapy was that I wanted to go to a museum, because I love them but too many people, closed spaces, etc. We managed to walk around most of the museum, even though there was a school party of very wee ones in there as well. We had to skip one room because of them, and at one point I had to run away out of another because I was feeling closed in but other than that… I had a very happy nerd. And they had a mummy which was so cool!

We still had some money left on the Yo! voucher, so we had some more sushi for lunch. We went into Build-A-Bear because Li wanted her Yoshi to have more stuffing in it. We ended up back in Waterstones (don’t look at me like that!) where I bought… more books. Another £100 or so worth. Because books. Our last stop was Bird & Blend where we spoke to the mixologists, and talked about what I did like, they recommended a few things to try, and I bought a few sample packs. By this point, I was hurting, so we limped back to the train station in time to miss our train – sat in Costa with a hot chocolate and a cake before the train home

So yeah, super proud of myself for that and hoping to try and continue the momentum into 2023!

weekly wednesday blogging challenge · www wednesday

My 2023 Goals and What Are You Reading Wednesday

This week’s Weekly Wednesday Blogging Challenge asks my goals for 2023

Reading-wise, my goals are
Read 50 books
Complete A-Z reading challenge
Clear one pile of the physical TBR
Try to only read 3-6 books at a time
Finish Bill Bryson bibliography

Non-reading goals include
Blog 3x a week
Pass my current university module
Play all the Super Mario games in order
Watch more TV
Fall back in love with fandom
Do the shit I love and have fun doing it

Next up we have WWW Wednesday which asks
What are you currently reading?
Olivie Blake – The Atlas Six
Frederick Joseph – The Black Friend: On Being a Better White Person
Jenny Kane – Midsummer Dreams at Mill Grange
Rainbow Rowell – Fangirl

What did you recently finish reading?
CS Lewis – The Magician’s Nephew
QI Elves – Funny You Should Ask
Alison Weir – Richard III & The Princes In The Tower

What do you think you’ll read next?
Peter Ackroyd – History Of England: Foundation
Marian Keyes – Rachel’s Holiday
CS Lewis – The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe
Madeline Miller – Song Of Achilles