Nerd Church - How To Disagree With Someone Without Being a Jerk

(Warning: this post contains jerky/not smooth-moving gifs which may effect people with photosensitive conditions.)

(Warning: this post contains references to bigotry and Nazis.)







The only person you're ever going to 100% agree with all of the time is yourself - and if you're anything like me, that doesn't always work either.

So sometimes, you're gonna disagree with people you like (not to mention the people you don't like,) over big things and little things alike.

Month in Review(s) - August 2017

August. Yeah, August...

August, for me, was stressful.

My 88-year-old grandfather was very unwell and ended up in hospital, he's better now but we still have to do a lot to make sure he and my grandmother are safe, happy, and as healthy as they can be.

Nerd Church - Holding Up The Sky With A Teaspoon

Much as we want to, we can't fix everything. We can't save everyone. We can't do it all.

This is far more negative a statement than I usually go with. You know me, my nerdlets, I'm usually all about the hope and the can-do attitude! ;)

Nerd Church - An Edumacation

Education is not the same as grades.

There! I said it! (...Please don't yell at me!)

Nerd Church - Stop Breaking My Heart

I've had to use the candle picture in this post way too often this year.

Nerd Church - Wars of Words

Warning: this post discusses a lot of sh** that went down this week, including Nazis and a lot of bigotry.



Buckle your seatbelts, Cee's got some sh*t to lay down.

Nerd Church - 6 Tips For Staying Productive While Feeling Cruddy

It's always the same.

You've got a deadline; work to do; bills to pay. And you've managed to catch a cold or some other annoying buggle* at the exact wrong moment.

This week I have a pretty awful virus of some type. And I feel like crud. But I work for myself and money doesn't grow on trees (...or so they tell me; I'm gonna find that money tree one day dammit!)



*yes, I refer to viruses as 'buggles.' Blame my mother. Honestly.

Month in Review(s) - July 2017

July was a big month for this little book nerd's blog!

This was the month that Diary of a Reading Addict (DORA) became Dora Reads - with a custom URL to match.

It's something that'd been on my mind for a while, and I'm so glad I did it!

Nerd Church - Winter Is Here

'You know nothing, Jon Snow.'

(Don't panic: this is a spoiler-free zone.)

Nerd Church - Losing Chester

(Warning: this posts contains discussions of suicide – specifically that of Chester Bennington - mental health problems, and grief; it also mentions addiction problems and child sexual abuse.)

First of all guys, if you need help with mental health stuff, ESPECIALLY IF YOU'RE IN A BAD PLACE RIGHT NOW, there are links to helplines and resources at the end of this post.

You are valuable, you are valid, and we want you here.

The news of the death of Chester Bennington - the lead singer of rock band Linkin Park - was a big and painful shock to his fans.

I cried. And I wasn't the only one.

Nerd Church - Redefine Success

What do you call success? Millions of pounds/dollars/insert-currency-here? A sports car? A mansion? Fame and fortune?

Welp, f**k that!

No. I mean it.

You can take your f**king drafty mansions and your privacy-violating levels of fame, and stick them where the ever-loving sun is hesitant to shine.*

*I haven't even had coffee. I don't even. Just go with it.

Nerd Church - Victims of the System

(Warning: this post discusses a child killing case from the UK committed by a mentally ill teenager, and issues surrounding this such as stigma and failings in mental health care.)



Diminished Responsibility is a defence in English and Welsh law.

It means that the person who has committed the crime is not in control of their own actions, and is usually used in mental health-related circumstances.

At the same time it recognises that there is some responsibility on the part of the person committing the crimes - if only that they did not take all reasonable precautions to prevent this or a similar situation from occurring.

Nerd Church - I Know You Mean Well...

Warning: this post contains discussions of homophobia and f**k-ups by well-meaning allocishet people.

Pride month may have come to an end, but those of us who are LGBTQ+ are LGBTQ+ all year round.

(And pride season pretty much continues all summer anyhow - due to scheduling issues.)

Something I’ve noticed since I came out last year is well-meaning allocishet* people put their ever-loving feet in it on a pretty regular basis.

This isn’t out of malice – it’s more like a failure to listen and understand.

*Allocishet = allosexual, cisgendered, heterosexual. Basically, non-LGBTQ+.

Allosexual means feels sexual attraction (i.e. not asexual or asexual-spectrum,) cisgendered means identifies as your birth gender, heterosexual is only attracted to the opposite sex.

So the term allocishet refers to people who aren’t in any way covered by the umbrella of queer or LGBTQ+.

Nerd Church - Some Thoughts on Finsbury Park

The terrorist attack on theFinsbury Park Mosque broke my heart.

I'm so sorry. I know it might seem very little consolation, but I am. As a white woman, a Welsh woman, and a British citizen – my heart is broken.

Nerd Church - Not Worth Less

Disasters happen. But when they appear to have been preventable? Justice needs to be done.

At this stage - and thank God, I did A-level Law, and I know how to dance around this country's libel laws - it appears that the horrific loss of life at Grenfell Tower could have been avoided, or at the very least reduced.

Nerd Church - No-One Wins

How do we even define victory in 2017?

Because I'm not sure I know any more. No-one wins.

I don't just mean in the British election - although, there was no least-worst option there.

I mean overall. No-one wins. We're all lost and headed nowhere fast.

(Except for the Nazis - and they're the ones we don't want to win.)

Nerd Church - OK UK, We're F**ked

Who do you vote for when there is no least-worst option?

I'm damned if I know; but for the sake of being a helpful little Bookish Rebel, I'm going to try to go through the options with you!

(Aren't you lucky?! ...What do you mean 'no?')

Don't be afraid to ask questions - I don't bite, and I may inadvertently slip into British and/or Wenglish slang and totally confuse you.

Nerd Church - Are There Words?

Are there words for what happened last week in Manchester?

Maybe a few: murder; heartbreak; pain; tragedy. But none of them sum it up.

Nerd Church - A Tribute to the Father of the Nation

It's likely that, unless you're Welsh or have noticed the name on my Twitter feed over the last few days, you don't know the name Rhodri Morgan.

If you do, perhaps you think of a mop of white hair and a whirlwind of energy.

Or maybe you think of some of his famous one-liners, the things he said that make Boris Johnson look positively shy in comparison.

Rhodri Morgan was the second First Minister of Wales.

The First Minister leads the Welsh government. We have only ever had three: Alun Michael, Rhodri Morgan, and our current leader, Carwyn Jones.

He passed away on Wednesday (16th May,) at the age of 77.

Nerd Church - Mental Health 101

(Warning: This post discusses mental health problems and stigma.)


Mental Health Awareness Week is 8-14th May in the UK.

Let's take things back to the basics.

To people who have never had mental health problems, it can be all too easy to believe misconceptions.

The worst of these are stigmatising:

The ideas that people with mental health problems are weak, faking it, wanting the attention, whiners etc., as well as that people with mental health problems are inherently dangerous, or to blame for their conditions.