Showing posts with label Nerd Church. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nerd Church. Show all posts

Sunday 29 July 2018

Nerd Church - Meta Nerd Church






(Meta = about, or self-referential/self-aware.)




I've written over 150 Nerd Church posts since I started this series in February 2015.

Yes. That's how long ago I started Nerd Church.

(Please don't look at those first posts... it's not good! 😅)






lightbulb in a thought bubble




Sunday 22 July 2018

Nerd Church - Self-Care Is Vitally Important In Hot Weather






...of course, Self-Care is vitally important generally, but you get what I mean.





If you're in the middle of a heatwave like we are in the UK, then your Self-Care game needs to be sharp.



'Summer Self-Care' graphic with melting ice-cream against a blue sky, sprinkled with pink stars



Sunday 15 July 2018

Nerd Church - What the London Mayor and the Goblin King Both Know About Trump’s Power






Thank you, London Mayor Sadiq Khan, for being an example of the good and the strong in this country.




Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London

Image Courtesy of Katy Blackwood via Wikimedia Commons





Thank you for dismissing Trump as the little boy that he is.


Thank you for showing such dignity in such difficult circumstances.

Thank you for standing strong in the face of bigotry.




Sunday 8 July 2018

Nerd Church - Don't Get Distracted By Shiny Balls






(Warning: this post contains details of the persecution of LGBTQ+ people, and references to the war in Syria, and the novichok poisoning incidents.)





football on a Russian flag painted onto a football pitch





Russia. At the moment there are balls flying everywhere.

And the media seems to have largely forgotten that Russia* has repeatedly had their names entered in the Naughty Book.**

Because they've really been doing a lot of sh** lately.

And we can't forget about that just because your team are kicking a ball around.





*By which I mean the Russian government and regime, not normal Russian citizens/people.

**Did you guys have a 'Naughty Book' and a 'Good Book' in infants/primary school? 😅 There was no bigger threat than having your name put in the Naughty Book! It had a frowny face on the cover and everything!






Sunday 1 July 2018

Nerd Church - Spread a Little Love





You wanna change the world my nerdlets?



It seems like it needs some changing at the moment.

Between Trump's Muslim ban (yes, it is a Muslim ban, quit fooling yourselves) and all the other sh** going on right now, it can seem like there's no hope.

But that's not true - there's always hope.







jam jars with heart lids
Spread love... get it? 😄







So how can you change the world, right now?


Welp, you can spread the love.

Sounds simple, doesn't it? Well it is. And it isn't.

When everything's dragging you down, when the world is full of ill-feeling, spreading love and positivity can be the hardest thing of all.





Sunday 24 June 2018

Nerd Church - A Short Intro to Parkinson's Disease and Parkinsonism








Parkinson's Disease is horrible.

This degenerative neurological condition has no cure, and its affects are often devastating.

That's not to say that people with Parkinson's can't manage it - especially in the early stages. But it's not something to take lightly.

People associate Parkinson's with tremors - and yes, that's a key symptom, but it's so much more.





picture of a brain in front of a jazzy retro-comics background




Sunday 17 June 2018

Nerd Church - Embrace Procrastination (Ft. #Science)





I'm procrastinating right now.

There are about five different things that I need to do at the moment. And I'm not doing any of them.

Instead of sorting out various work stuff, or writing the Friday Fics Fix post that I (hopefully) posted last Friday, I'm writing this.





woman biting pencil while looking at laptop on desk






Sunday 10 June 2018

Nerd Church - What's the Purpose of Purpose?







Apologies in advance for the existential crises that I may very well spark with this post.

I think I'm on like my fifth or sixth quarter-life crisis, so... yeah.

If you're someone who gets freaked out by existential 'what am I doing with my life?' stuff, consider this your warning!







person holding a ? sign in front of their face







I've never really wondered about what my life's purpose is - my life's purpose is books.

I've never doubted that I'm on this planet to read and write.

I don't doubt it any more than we doubt as a species that we're on this planet to breathe, eat, and sleep.



Sunday 3 June 2018

Nerd Church - Light in the Dark











silhouette of woman on beach at sunrise or sunset, with pink-y light contrasting with shadows in scene







This week, between the sh** Germaine Greer said*, and the cr*p Tommy Robinson pulled**, it might've seemed like the whole world had had a moment of extreme bigotry.

(...and I realise those are only two examples. I could've come up with a ton more, but it's too dispiriting, honestly, so I've stuck to these two.)

But there are people in this world who are willing to point out just how jerky Greer and Robinson are (and no, I have absolutely no problem putting the two in the same sentence.)






*Link CW: rape, victim blaming

**Video in link may auto-play.

Link CW: EDL, general bigotry, Islamophobia, references to child sexual abuse case.

Background info: Tommy Robinson is a right-wing extremist and founded a hate group (the English Defence League.)




Sunday 27 May 2018

Nerd Church - Reactive









My new favourite thing* is YouTube reaction videos.


Not of the clickbait-y type. (Y'know, where either the original video or the reaction is like 'you'll never guess what happened next!' or has some sort of cheap/misleading title? Those ain't my thing.)








video 'play' symbol in black against a red background






*Well... one of my favourite things, I'm a complex person dammit!





Sunday 20 May 2018

Nerd Church - The Basics of Self-Care






(Warning: this post includes frank discussions of a variety of mental health problems, including references to suicidal thoughts, and self-harm.)




May is Mental Health Month in the US, and 14th-20th May is Mental Health Awareness Week in the UK.




umbrella protecting the words 'take care of yourself' from the rain






You've probably heard, at some point in the course of your internetage, the phrase 'self-care.'

Hopefully, what you've heard has been positive. Unfortunately, you may have heard others mocking people who practice self-care, or calling it selfish.

Self-care is not selfish. Self-care is vital for everyone.

Just as everyone has both mental and physical health, though not necessarily mental or physical health *problems,* likewise everyone can (and should) practice self-care as a way of keeping yourself as happy and healthy as possible.




Disclaimer time: I am not a medical or mental health professional. I'm a blogger with personal experiences of mental health problems - OK? OK



Sunday 13 May 2018

Nerd Church - IRL?







We're living in a world where the lines between online and offline have become more wibbly than ever before.

So I've been thinking a lot lately about the difference between online and offline life.

(Yes, this post is probably going to meander quite a lot - you've been warned! 😉)








emoji plushies in an emoji box





Sunday 6 May 2018

Nerd Church - Viral Reading





Are you ready to be a Bookish Rebel? Cos we're gonna shake sh** up today! 😉





girl reading as dragons, light, smoke, etc. emerges from the book





I love my blogging friends - but you weren't originally who I was aiming my brain babbling at (But I still love you!!!! Never leave me!!!! *tugs at your sleeves to stop you going*)

No, when this blog started, it's half-formed, characteristically-vague, ideal was to spread reading like a positive plague across the globe - I wanted, and still want, to make READING go viral.





Sunday 29 April 2018

Nerd Church - Please, Shut Up About the Royals




I'm British. But I don't care about the royal family. I don't care about the royal baby. I don't care about Harry marrying Meghan.






vintage Alice in Wonderland illustrations with King, Queen, and Knave





What I do care about is that I keep having to hear about them all.


Social and mainstream media are both fawning over all things royal and... *sighs* I don't mind like one news-in-brief report or whatever guys, but everyone seems to have freaking lost it, tbh.




Sunday 22 April 2018

Nerd Church - Toxic Friendships, and Reclaiming Enthusiasm

(Warning: this post discusses toxic/abusive friendships, homophobia, and emotional abuse.)


I was a weird kid.

At 6 years old, my passions were Beethoven, Renoir, and The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.

I loved writing my own stories and playing games which somehow always involved more witches than princesses (although, combining the two was never out of the question!)






padlock with heart on it





Sunday 15 April 2018

Nerd Church - 4 Rules For World Leaders on Twitter

I can't create world peace.

I wish I could, but dude, they won't name me supreme leader of everything.








circle of social media and website icons with help written in the middle - a finger is pushing the word help








So I can't do anything about Syria or Russia or chemical weapons or drone strikes or any of that stuff. Much as I'd like to.

What I can do, is explain 4 rules for world leaders using social media (and, let's face it, Twitter in particular,) that will stop us all from escalating things quite so quickly.


Sunday 8 April 2018

Nerd Church - Disconnected






This might be one of those times where it turns out I've gotten old. It's highly possible.

Despite the fact that I get ID'd pretty much everywhere, I am actually a grown-a** woman; albeit one that only comes a little over 5ft.

A grown-a** woman who is still as genuinely enthusiastic about the bands and music I love as ever.

At the end of March, I went to see Fall Out Boy for the 4th time (and a year or two ago I completed the Emo Trinity, thank you v. much! 😉 )









hands holding mobile phone with music symbol








I've never quite understood though, why, while I'm bouncing around, screaming my heart out and singing 'til my lungs give out, everybody else HAS THEIR F**KING PHONES OUT!

Don't get me wrong - a few photos, a video or two: there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. Nice memories and all that jazz.

But if your entire night consisted of FILMING the concert, instead of WATCHING the concert, then - and this is a genuine question - why did you bother to GO to the concert?




Tuesday 3 April 2018

Month in Review(s) - March 2018

March. Ah, March.



Daffodils




March, for yours truly, was one of those months with too much trouble, and too little time to deal with it.

There was some good, incredible, awesome stuff - like a Fall Out Boy concert last week (completely awesome!) and hitting 200k page-views on Dora Reads (I LOVE YOU MY NERDLETS!!!) - but there was also a lot of stress, worry, Anxiety, etc.

There's a lot of personal stuff going on atm, including my grandmother being in hospital since the beginning of the month - and thanks so much for your support my dearest nerdlets! You rock, and I can't tell you how much I appreciate it!




Sunday 25 March 2018

Nerd Church - Pressure, Obligations, and 'Good Enough'

Sometimes, you need to accept things for what they are.





artistic-y pic of girl in washed out colours with large, vibrant butterflies around her






Not always! No way! Sometimes what you need is to dig your heels in and kick and scream.

But there are many situations where we simply have to accept things and move on.

I'm terrible at this.