Nerd Church - Sometimes You Need To Take Things Slow

 

Do you get the feeling, sometimes, that everything out there in the big wide world is kind of... rushed?

It's kind of fast, kind of hurried, kind of urgent.

Nerd Church - I'm So Tired Of The General Election

 

I'm so tired of the election.

...That's the UK election, by the way. 

Which is happening on July 4th, the date of which apparently led to several people from the Conservative party using insider knowledge to place bets. Classy. (Allegedly.)

Nerd Church - Migraine Trips

 

You wake up and go downstairs, pausing mid-way down.

The lines of each individual stair seem to waver for a moment.

The stairs themselves seem vaguely Burtonesque - all slanted lines and moving pieces.

Your head hurts and you close your eyes.

Month(s) In Review(s) - April + May 2024

Warning: pet death, grief

Did I intend to make this a 2-month wrap-up?

No. No I did not.

Did it become abundantly clear that I wasn't gonna get April's post done by the end of May?

Yes. Yes it did.

April was awful.

Really.

You know how my criteria for a good month is one where no-one I care about - human or animal - dies, almost dies, or gets a life-changing diagnosis?

April was not a good month.

My beautiful cat died, dearest nerdlets.

And the world feels off without him. There's a hole in my chest.

So most of the rest of April + May has been trying to get used to life without him.

...It still hurts like hell.

That boy was my everything, and I have cried every single day since I lost him.

But I kept going, despite the urge to stay in bed and wail. 

(Turns out I'm frighteningly good at wailing - with frighteningly being the key word. I... did not know I could make that kind of noise. I freaked my parents the hell out.)

So, y'know, if you've got the chance to check out the posts I somehow managed to write despite the separation of my soul from my body, that'd be great... 😅

Comics Wrap-Up

Was Not Expecting That! - Wenglish in Marvel's Echo and more

Iconic and Irreplaceable - Joker: Folie a Deux and more

I Can Already Tell - X-men '97 and more

My Fangirling Heart Is Singing Right Now! - Deadpool & Wolverine and more

You Learn Stuff, I Guess - Chibird and more

The Freaking Chaos - Marvel's What If...? and more

Actually Quite Lovely - X-Men '97 and more

Gracing The Waves of the Interwebs - Deadpool & Wolverine and more

Wholesome and Positive - The Cursed Princess Club and more

Friday Fics Fix

The Nature of the Void - A The Umbrella Academy (TUA) fic exploring the nature of death, grief, and the Void

Most of You Aren't Gonna Read This - A The Falcon and The Winter Soldier (TFATWS) horror novella that is extremely well-written. I loved it. I hated it. It's so good.

Because I Am Trash - A TFATWS fic where Sam and Bucky are stuck in an industrial freezer. I stand by my life choices.

Cyberpunk Stucky - In a nutshell: Stucky (Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes from the MCU in a relationship,) as detectives in space. But it's so much more than that. I would legit. buy this as an original novel - it's that good.

Vampires and a Smidge of FrostIron - Everything's better with vampires, right? Plus a little bit of Tony Stark/Loki love.

Klaus' Ghosts In A Specific Trope - I like the fandom-specific trope of Klaus literally showing his demons to people who deny or minimise them - the emo goblin spaghetti brain very much likes, OK?

Bucky's A Literal Demon and Sam's A Literal Angel - TFATWS

So. Freaking. Beautiful - A TUA Klaus/Dave fic with Klaus noticing that, in some lights, Dave's eyes are the exact same shade of blue as his powers, the ghosts, etc. etc. Which leads to a whole lot of introspection from both of them and... it's beautiful.

Nerd Church

Can Books 'Talk' To Us? - Do you think books can send us messages?

It's OK (Just Keep Going) - Brought to you by the art of giving myself a pep talk and then posting it on the internet 😅

My Heart Is Broken... - My beautiful boy is gone. 💔

Random Audiobook Ramblings - Walking is boring and books are awesome

Unpopular Opinion: I've Never Liked Gavin and Stacey - Sorry, not sorry. It feels uncomfortable - like Wales through an English lens.

What Does 'Enough' Even Mean? - Has anyone ever reached ‘enough’?

Things Happen When They Happen - I'm trying to remind myself that, so long as I'm working on things, they'll be ready when they're ready.

I Quit Google AdSense - Because this is way too many hoops to jump through for £7

Other Non-Review Posts

Month In Review(s) - March 2024

So, that's April and May for yours truly.

How was yours?

Talk to me! 😊💬

You can follow me on Twitter @CeeDoraReads, on Pinterest, and on Dora Reads @ BlogLovin. For more ways to support me, check out the Support Me page

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Nerd Church - I Quit Google AdSense

I’ve been using Google AdSense here on Dora Reads for quite some time — at least two years, but honestly, I lose track.

It’s probably more like 5 or 6 years at this point. (I am nothing if not persistent.)

In that time, I earned about £7  — which I couldn’t get to, because the minimum payout threshold is £60.

Nerd Church - Things Happen When They Happen

 

I'm trying to remind myself that, so long as I'm working on things, they'll be ready when they're ready.

I'm an impatient person by nature - I want things done yesterday or earlier, thanks very much - but that's not the way to get sh** done in the long term.

Nerd Church - What Does 'Enough' Even Mean?

I never feel that I’m ‘enough’ of anything.

Not good ‘enough,’ not attractive ‘enough,’ not successful ‘enough,’ not ‘enough’ of anything.

Nerd Church - Unpopular Opinion: I've Never Liked Gavin and Stacey

...confessions of a rebel Welsh chick, I guess. 😅

OK - I know that there are international fans of this series, but since it's less well-known outside the UK, a little background:

Gavin and Stacey is a BBC sitcom about a Welsh woman from Barry and an English dude from Essex meeting on the internet, falling in love, and trying to get together despite being from opposite ends of the country.

It's also where James Corden hit the big time, in the UK at least. So... there's that. Make of it what you will 😅

Nerd Church - Random Audiobook Ramblings

 

...a post brought to you by my boredom with walking, and my doctor's insistence that, if I go walkies, it'll help with my mental health. (I'm not buying it - it's never helped before, but I'll try anything.)

When there's been no rain for a couple of days in a row, it's not so bad 'cos I can go to the woods, but otherwise said woods are like a very slippery mudslide. 

So if it's been raining within 48-72 hours, then I have to walk around streets and shops and sh** so I don't trip, fall, and end up in the river/bang my head on a tree/anger one of The Fair Folk by falling into them or summat. 

*Sigh* The woods are my natural habitat, dammit!

Nerd Church - It's OK (Just Keep Going)

 

The world is a total mess, but it's OK, just keep going.

There's war and floods and famine and disease, but it's OK, just keep going.

The things that bump in the night are real, but it's OK, just keep going.

Month In Review(s) - March 2024

 

March wasn't great.

Not terrible - but then, the bar for terrible is pretty high (or low, depending on your perspective, I guess,) at this point - but not great.

Basically: my mental health sucks at the moment.

Month In Review(s) - February 2024

 

February for yours truly wasn't too bad.

...It wasn't great either, tbh. But it's still one of the better months I've had lately, so I'll take it!

Month In Review(s) - December 2023 + January 2024

 

And 2023 is OUT OF HERE!!!!

And thank whoever's listening for that.

Because, in case you weren't aware, my 2023 effing sucked.

Nerd Church - I Seem To Be Watching More True Crime...

Warning: This post references true crime and murder, and discusses mental health problems - especially Anxiety.

Disclaimer time: I am not any type of psychological, medical, or scientific expert. I'm a chick with a blog, nothing more, nothing less.

Wild-child that I am, of an evening I like to get myself a snack, and a glass of diet coke, and watch TV for a while.

Lately that's meant, more often than not, true crime.

Because there's nothing more calming than some grisly murder before bed.

Nerd Church - Putting Self-Care At The Top Of My To-Do List

I've had to remind myself so many times, over the years, that it's best to take things one step at a time.

...That I only have two hands.

...That I actually get more done when I relax.

And yet... it's still so hard to do.

Month(s) in Review(s) - October + November 2023

 

Yes, this post covers two months.

No, I have not done that before.

But I was already pretty busy/lacking in time in October, and then November...

Well, my criteria for a 'good month' in the hellstorm of 2023 is one where no-one I care about (human or animal,) dies, almost dies, or has a life-changing diagnosis.

Nerd Church - The Writer Diaries: The Words Need To Be Out There, Somewhere

Warning: brief references to Depression and Anxiety

A lot of the time, when I write, it's not so much a choice as an exorcism.

(Metaphorically, ofc 😅 )

Don't get me wrong - I love writing.

But sometimes it's the case that, if I don't do it, these words are gonna rattle around my head and drive me to distraction.

Not necessarily in a bad way. It's just... they gotta come out, y'know?

The 9 Year Blog Anniversary Post!

 

Yes, I've been at this, right here on Dora Reads -

(or it's previous name of 'Diary of a Reading Addict' aka DORA - and I do not miss typing the full thing out all the time 😅) 

- for a full NINE FREAKING YEARS!

Nerd Church - The World In A Spin

 

I recently took up spinning my own yarn from wool - because apparently I wasn't doing enough weird old-timey crafts for my brain's liking.

So, yeah, in addition to my previous heritage (i.e. ye olde timey,) crafts - knitting, weaving, embroidery, and cross-stitch - I now also spin wool fibre into yarn.

...Honestly sometimes my brain just, entirely out-of-the-blue, is like, 'we should learn how to abseil while painting stained glass windows!'* and I'm just like, 'yeah, sure, why not?'

(I do some non-heritage crafts too. Because I am like this, apparently. 😅)

*Don't panic, it hasn't actually suggested doing that. Yet.

Anyhow, it got me to thinking - we don't know enough about how stuff gets made, about where stuff comes from.

We in the modern world - especially in the West and the global North - have become so far removed from the means and methods of production that we can't even fathom it any more.

(Can you tell I was raised by South Wales Valleys (i.e. Socialist,) working-class hippies? Yeah? Great. 😅)

Month In Review(s) - September 2023

September.

(Yes, I know we're halfway through October - I have a lot of metaphorical plates spinning, and sometimes I drop one 😅 )

Iesu Effing Grist, September.

Well, it wasn't the worst month of this year - by a long shot. But it, uh... it crammed a whole lot of stuff in there.

...I am very, very, tired.