Nerd Church - What's Behind the Covid Arts and Crafts Boom?

(Warning: this post discusses mental health problems, especially Depression and Anxiety, and the Covid 19/Coronavirus pandemic)

I've always been an artsy, craftsy, sort of person.

I'm one of these people who can never name their hobbies when asked, but actually has somehow accumulated so many hobbies that she can't physically fit them all in to her timetable.

(Part of the solution to that is to make some of your hobbies into your employment, but that brings its own challenges.)

And most of those hobbies are creative in some way.

So yeah, I'm a big fan of the arts and crafts!

Month in Review(s) - November 2020

 

(Warning: this post discusses mental health problems, Covid 19/Coronavirus, and Transphobia)

November saw some rays of sunshine breaking through the end of 2020.

Biden won.

Hope of a Covid vaccine became more real.

As for me, well, I've had some ups-and-downs.

News of local people dying of and/or being ill with Covid. A firebreak Lockdown. The continued anti-Welsh sentiment in the press...

And then there's the Amazon Associate issue *sigh* 

I can't go into it, because I've appealed the decision, but after some problems in November, I lost my UK Associateship in the first few days of December. That's all I can really say for now. 

But it had me super stressy for a bit 😣 still kinda stressy now tbh.

Damn Anxiety always blows this kind of sh** out of proportion.

Update, 8th December:

Please DO NOT use my links to purchase from Amazon UK - my Associate account for the UK was unfairly closed, and Amazon UK will no longer pay me for any purchases made with them.

I will slowly be removing the UK links from 1000+ posts, but it's gonna take a while.

Nerd Church - Working From Home More? It's Time To Set Some Work/Life Boundaries

(Warning: I briefly discuss mental health problems in this post - it's not graphic, and is written about in the context of self-care and healthy work/life boundaries)

A lot more people are working, at least in part, from home this year - on account of 2020 and all the Lockdowns and everything 2020-ish.

I've actually worked from home for several years, and it's got a ton of advantages - but you also have to be careful to set work/life boundaries -

- especially if, like me, part or all of your income is coming from things which were once solely hobbies - it tends to blur the lines.

Disclaimer: This is the bit where I remind you that I'm not any type of mental health or medical professional.

Neither am I some kind of life or productivity coach (that would be scary!)

I only have first-hand experience of Depression/Anxiety, and using self-care to support myself - and hopefully my experiences can help other people.

Month in Review(s) - October 2020

 

(Warning: this post discusses Coronavirus/Covid 19, and mental health problems)

Well... October was pretty much the same as the rest of 2020 - there were a couple of nice things in there, but overall it sucked.

(I'm still standing though! #ThePositiveSide!)

My local Lockdown became a Welsh national Lockdown, and the anti-Welsh sentiments in some parts of the media and the Interwebs were irritatingly loud. 

*Takes deep breaths* *Resists urge to rant*

(If you want to see me ranting for a whole blogpost against an ignorant RT from the Trumpkin, you can read that here.)

6 Years of Blogging At Dora Reads!

 

It's Halloween, which means that it's my blog anniversary!

- Which in turn means it's time for my annual ramble about this blog, and blogging in general, and all that stuff, while trying not to repeat the stuff from previous blog anniversary posts too heavily!

Woo!

Month in Review(s) - September 2020

(Warning: this post discusses Coronavirus/Covid 19, Transphobia and JKR, and mental health)

September was weird. I think that goes for much of 2020, but September felt especially 2020-ish.

In August, Wales was down to a very small number of Coronavirus cases. We had it in control. 

By the end of September, over half of our population was in Lockdown, and remain in Lockdown. That includes yours truly.

Nerd Church - The Writer Diaries: Oh, the Melodrama!

 

(Warning: this post briefly discusses overthinking and Anxiety/Depression)

In its previous life, my WIP, written by teenage-Cee over a decade ago, was melodramatic as f**k.

As in, there were kidnappings, and murders, and guns, and a secret child, and... if you can think of a plot-twist, it was probably in there. Plus a few more for luck.

And while the current version of These Ghosts of Ours is much, much, less ballistic, the memory of that previous version has left me constantly questioning the emotion-y bits and plot developments.

Nerd Church - I'm Not (Totally) Lovin' It: Why I'm Not Entirely Happy (Meal) That They're Ditching The Plastic Toys

 

Recently, I saw that McDonalds are gonna stop supplying hard plastic toys in their kids' meals in the UK and Ireland.

This was due to a petition from two smol eco-warriors, who were annoyed at the lack of recyclable-ness. 

And good on them. We all need to be working on cutting down on the amount of plastic we use.

But when I heard the news, I wasn't entirely happy. 

Of course, I was happy that there'd be less plastic thrown away and ending up in landfill or the water system!

...But I still had some reservations.

Because I knew how much it would hurt a lot of kids whose families are on low incomes. 

Month In Review(s) - August 2020

 

August was way too hot - I'm too Welsh for this cr*p!

Seriously, I melt above 24C. That's plenty enough for me. So between 27C and 30C is literal hell to me. Thank God it's cooled down a butt-tonne now.

Anywho, I cut back on blogging in August (and you can see how that went here,) but I somehow wrote more reviews and bookish content than I have in a long time *shrugs*

I wrote 2 whole reviews dearest nerdlets! In one month! Lol.

Nerd Church - I Scaled Back on Blogging In August. Have I Learned Anything?

I don’t know why I need to keep learning the same lessons in order to actually, y’know, learn them, but…

I do? I guess?

Good habits are much easier to break than bad habits, dearest nerdlets! 

So anyway, let’s back up and rewind and all that jazz -

In August, I decided to scale back to about one post a week, instead of my regular 3 or 4 per week. I also took a break from my regular series – Comics Wrap-Up, Friday Fics Fix, Nerd Church.

This was so that I could have chance to do some goddamn blog admin for once, and try to get a handle on my socials, make something that at least vaguely resembles an actual posting schedule, make a plan for updating old posts, etc. etc. 

Month in Review(s) - July 2020

July was a month that happened.

Is it bad that all of the months have just kind of squidged into one and I can't remember what happened in July vs what happened in June?

Can I blame the Dyscalculia for that, d'y'think? Or is it just me? (It's probably just me.)

Anyhow, this is your reminder that the Coronavirus situation is NOT over, and you need to keep taking all the hygiene and distancing precautions.

(People who think 'it's all over' are... ARGH!) 

#StaySafeDearestNerdlets

Nerd Church - Caffeinated Current Events: Explaining the Headlines

(Warning: this post discusses Covid 19/Coronavirus, the backlash against Black Lives Matter, and general Nazis. Because 2020.)

If you don't know, Caffeinated Current Events (CCE) is where I explain various stuff in the news whilst under the influence of caffeinated beverages.

I haven't actually written a CCE post in a while because... 2020. But I felt like now was the right time to do so because... 2020.

Disclaimer Time: This post is primarily a satirical and snarky look at the news, intended for entertainmaint and comedy purposes. As such, hyperbole is likely. You've been warned - don't sue.

This time, I thought I'd take some real-life headlines and explain them with my own cynically optimistic and optimistically cynical caffeine-hyped frame of mind.

I'll link to the article each headline comes from so that you can see what the 'professional' news reporting is like!

Nerd Church - If I Had £1million...

Money can't buy you happiness, true. But it can buy you the time, freedom, and resources, to be happy.

Plus, not having to worry about how you're gonna pay for stuff is guaranteed to help your mood. #JustSaying.

So, though I doubt it'll ever happen, I felt like doing some day-dreaming of what I would do if I had £1million.

I picked £1million pretty arbitrarily - mainly 'cos it's a nice round milestone number, and because it's a lot of money, but not so much that you wouldn't have to think about what you were gonna do with it.

Month In Review(s) - June 2020

June 2020. Somehow we're only half-way through 2020... which is... interesting.

We're still more-or-less on Lockdown here in Wales, though we're slowly easing things - so as of 6th July, we formed a social bubble with my brother, which meant we could hug him and everything.

Anyways, I had an OK month, although I did have a migraine, and hayfever, and a few bad Depression days... but I'm still here, still standing, still writing slightly rambley blogposts! 😊

Speaking of my blogposts - I once again posted zero reviews this month, and had one of my regular existential crises re: this blog.

(Not to be confused with my regular existential crises re: writing, Queerness, productivity, the meaning of life, etc. etc. etc.)

The typical, really: does my blog have enough bookish content? Can I even call it a book blog? Am I somehow misleading people by posting about other topics on here?

Nerd Church - Online Responsibility (All The World's A Stage)

I think one of the primary responsibilities we have in life is to not hurt people.

The thing is, not everyone agrees on what, exactly, that entails.

A lot of people don't think that that responsibility to not hurt people covers saying cr*p online, for example.

It may not hurt someone physically, but what we say online can have serious repercussions. 

And the more 'influence' we have - online or in the mainstream media - the more responsibility we have to consider the consequences of our actions.

The world is full of nuance and 'what ifs' and 'but what abouts' - I'm not going to deny that. It's the way things are.

But I think that, in general, you have the responsibility to think about the ramifications of your words before you say them (whether that's verbally or online or whatever.)

Nerd Church - Covid 19: Seriously, People? There's Still A Pandemic

(Warning: As you can probably tell from the title, this post discusses Coronavirus/Covid 19)

I swear to all that is, or may be, holy: VIRUSES DON'T GO AWAY JUST 'COS YOU GOT BORED.

Covid 19 is still a problem.

So people who are cramming their butts onto beaches? Or celebrating football wins? Or having massive brawls on the beach?

- What, exactly, is wrong with you?

Nerd Church - A Short Ramble on Father's Day

Happy Father's Day!

This post is gonna be short and ramble-y because I have a migraine and it sucks. 

I'll be fine in a day or two, but I need to write this post now, when I feel like I've been hit by a shovel, which is great timing. 😅

And sorry if this post looks a little strange - migraines affect your vision with obstructions (like blindspots/sunspots,) light sensitivity, and colour differences, so if things look a little odd, then it's because I physically can't see the post or graphics in the way I normally would.

I love my dad.

I know that, sadly, a lot of people have less-than-ideal relationships with their dad. A lot of people have no relationship with their dad. And a lot of people understandably don't want a relationship with their dad.

A lot of dads, likewise, may have mixed feelings about their relationships with their kids.

A lot of people have also lost their fathers, or their children, and that hurts.

So hugs all round, dearest nerdlets, hugs all round!

Month in Review(s) - May 2020

(Warning: this post discusses the Coronavirus/Covid 19, and references the death of George Floyd)

May 2020... who wrote this film?!

Obviously, globally, May was a dumpster fire. 

(And Black Lives Matter. George Floyd deserves justice. If you disagree, you can eff off.)

Nerd Church - For Those Of Us Feeling Overwhelmed Right Now

(Warning: this post discusses Covid 19/Coronavirus, and references Anxiety and mental health problems)

This post isn't a magical solution to feeling overwhelmed, but hopefully it'll help a little.

Disclaimer time: I'm not a medical or mental health professional. I'm someone with my own personal experiences of Depression/Anxiety which may or may not be helpful to you. Always do what's right for you, k? K.

Sometimes it can be hard to keep moving forward. It can feel overwhelming as f**k, let's be honest. 

But to make it less overwhelming?

You have to take everything one step at a time - as goddamn irritating as that can be, sometimes. 

Month In Review(s) - April 2020

(Warning: this post discusses Covid 19/Coronavirus, and Anxiety)

April 2020.

Um... yeah... 

(I know it's the 13th of May - I'm disorganised, and you all know this.)

OK, plus side: I had fewer panic attacks this month!

I mean, I still had panic attacks, and a butt-tonne of Anxiety, but I had slightly less of it! Woo!

(Small victories, dearest nerdlets, small victories.)