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.)

Nerd Church - How Are You Bored...?

(Warning: this post references Coronavirus/Covid 19, and Lockdown)

"Bored!" I kicked the carpet with my heel. "Bored!" I kicked it with my other heel. "Bored!" I switched back to the first heel.

...That's the last time I can remember being plain bored. 

I think I was eight. I definitely wasn't older than ten.

Don't get me wrong - I've been bored of things plenty of times. Teachers, mostly. 

(School is good and something you should go to and all that - but my school sucked. On many levels.

We used to hide maths homework inside our PSE (Personal Social Education) booklets - because apparently LSD was a big threat to the teens of the mid-to-late 00s. (Spoiler: it wasn't.) 

Also we had to colour in the pictures of drugs for some reason? Like this is gonna put us off in any way? (Don't do drugs, dearest nerdlets, k? K.)

Also the teacher I had for PSE told us way too much about the various times she 'ran away with [man] to [location] and it all went wrong and I ended up stranded in [location - not necessarily the 1st location]' We honestly didn't want to know. 

We were hiding maths homework, dearest nerdlets. Maths. Homework.)

Month In Review(s) - March 2020

(Warning: This post discusses Coronavirus/Covid 19 (b/c March 2020) and related stuff like lockdown and Anxiety)



...Maybe the first rule of March 2020, is that we don't talk about March 2020.

But then, I'd totally break that rule in half and throw the pieces in the air like confetti anyways, so here we are!

Nerd Church - The Writer Diaries: Aesthetically Confused

(Warning: this post discusses the affects of Anxiety)


If you hang around bookish and/or writerly corners of the Interwebs, you may've seen random-a** collages related to books, individual characters, or writing projects.

Or maybe you haven't - in which case you probably don't know wtf I'm talking about. But trust me, they're out there.

Nerd Church - The Benefits Of (Sometimes) Switching Off

(Warning: this post discusses Coronavirus/Covid-19, although it's v. brief, I promise!)

Turn off the apps and tabs you aren't using, log out of social media, and let the noise just... stop for a while.

Hooman beans aren't meant for screens - not 24 hours a day, anyways.

I'm not saying 'turn off the evils of technology and become one with the universe' or whatever the latest anti-tech line is.

(Side note: these lines always seem to be spouted online. #JustSaying.)




Technology is a tool. An exceptionally useful one for so many people.

But you don't hammer nails all day, every day, do you? (Wait... do you?)

Even the most fervent lumberjack has to put down the axe every now and then. (Axe... chainsaw... I don't know wtf they're using - ask them!)

Month in Review(s) - February 2020

February... I mean, on a personal level, February wasn't too bad.

I had a few colds (and yes, they were colds,) and some bad depression days, but nothing too much.

Although *gestures vaguely at the state of the world* I realise that more than a few squares have been crossed off on our apocalypse bingo cards.

But we've been crossing those things off since 2016, so it's probably not that surprising.

And a reminder, my dearest darling nerdlets: where there's life there's hope, and where there's hope, there's life.

Nerd Church - #InternationalWomensDay: 'My Feminism Will Be Intersectional, Or It Will Be B*llsh**'

'MY FEMINISM WILL BE INTERSECTIONAL OR IT WILL BE B*LLSH**'

Have you heard those words? Maybe seen them on a placard or a pin badge, or on your socials?

Maybe you have, maybe you haven't.

They are the words of Flavia Dzodan, as written in her delightfully sweary 2011 essay of the same name*

(I actually don't mind reading swear words, I just can't bring myself to reproduce them without *s - my mother might find out. 😅)

*CW: racism, rape, violence against women, White Feminism™

Nerd Church - St. David's Day Special! Let's Talk Robert Downey Jr as Dolittle!

Robert Downey Jr's performance as Dolittle is amazing. And he does it with a Welsh accent.

...I think it's fair to say, though, that the accent has had a mixed response.

And since today is St. David's day - and I never lose a chance to talk about Wales and being Welsh - what better time to discuss it?!

Nerd Church - 7 Amazing Queer Songs To Bring You Joy and Brighten Your Weekend

I think we could all do with a little oomph and some good tunes, right?

These tracks are both awesomely awesome, and Queer af.

The world wears down on Queer folks - and sometimes it's good to just surround ourselves with the creations of our LGBTQ+ siblings.

But then, the world's weary atm whether you're Queer or not, so I hope all of you enjoy this little pick me up! 😀


Here we go then:

Nerd Church - The Truth?

Caution: This is one of those existential crises type posts with more questions than answers! Enjoy! 😅



What is the truth?

How can we tell what the truth is, in this supposedly 'post-truth,' 'alternative facts,' world?

Does the truth even matter any more?

Let's break this down, dearest nerdlets.

Month in Review(s) - January 2020

January 2020. The first month of a new decade.

...A little worrying that World War Three was trending on Twitter within a day or two of the New Year.

Trending globally. Off and on. For quite a while.

Anyway, in better news, if you're reading this it means you've survived.

And that's worth celebrating, ok? That's an achievement in itself.

Nerd Church - Brexit: How We Got Here

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland has officially left the European Union, albeit in a transition period.

And no, the sky didn't fall in at 11pm GMT on 31st Jan, when we left the EU.

But we did start a period of time that, if we're lucky, will just be highly unpleasant and economically difficult.

I hope we're lucky, but that doesn't seem like the most realistic outcome.

Made with imgflip.com

It's difficult to explain, to an international audience (hi! I love you!) exactly why the UK made such a foolish, pain-inducing decision in 2016.

(To those from the US: you made a worse decision, with the Trumpkin. So hopefully you understand how embarrassing this is.)

...But I'ma try.

(Please note - this is my opinion, ok? I'm not an expert or a politician or anything like that!)

Month in Review(s) - December 2019

December has Christmas! Christmas is awesome! Therefore December is awesome! 😀

...I'm good at logic! (Lol.)

In all seriousness, December wasn't an easy one for me - but was far from the worst one I've ever had (as in, no-one died.)

So, despite the various colds I had (I'm a revolving door of viruses, dearest nerdlets!) and some upsetting problems with my grandfather's grave, December was good.

I love Christmas, ok? Christmas is amazing. 😊

Nerd Church - My New Year's Resolution

Hey dearest nerdlets! I hope that 2020 is treating you well so far! 

(...or at least hasn't been too sh** already. ...I'm pragmatic.)



So, I figured I'd talk a little about my New Year's Resolutions... 

...Well. Sort of.

See, to me, NY resolutions have always been a little *waves hands* ...vague.

Like, I don't even know what I'm doing next week, let alone committing 12 months to something, y'know?

So, they're more like an idea. Maybe a goal, or an intention, or whatever.

Nerd Church - Our Roaring 20s

It's nearly that time again - when one year becomes another and we have the chance to make a fresh start

(...symbolically, if nothing else.)

But this year? This year marks the change of the decade, as well as the change of the year.

Yup, it's So Long and Farewell to the 2010s, and roll on the Roaring 20's.

(I'm now singing Panic! in my head, and I have no regrets.)

Were the 2010s that bad...?

Probably.

Especially 2016 onwards.

There's no sugar-coating it, some bad sh** has happened in this decade, especially the latter half - it feels like the world is colder, crueller, place than it was before.

Nerd Church - My Favourite Time of the Year (...Despite Everything)

(Warning: this post discusses bereavement, & other bad stuff that's happened to me at Christmas)


This week has been... difficult.

That's the polite way of describing it, anyway.



I don't want to go into the detail because I'm just gonna get really upset again -

- but basically, there's a serious and significant - though thankfully fixable, although in the long-term rather than the short-term - problem with my grandfather's grave.

So, yeah. That's what I've been dealing with in the week before Christmas.

I guess it could be worse - last year, in the week before Christmas, we buried him.

A few years before that, my other grandfather died on Christmas Eve, followed by his wife, my grandmother, four days later.

Nerd Church - Hope, Politics, and the Zombie Apocalypse

Something important happened on Thursday, dearest nerdlets!

What..? The UK election..?

Yeah, that happened too.

We now know which brand of f**ked we, as a country, are stuck with *sighs*



What I'm talking about, though, is yours truly watching a truly bizarre, but amazing, film, called Anna and the Apocalypse.

Have you ever thought, 'wouldn't High School Muscial be better if it was combined with Shaun of the Dead... and it was in Scotland... at Christmas...?'

No? Well apparently someone did!

No, really. That is what this film is.

Nerd Church - The Writer Diaries: Dealing With Self-Doubt

If you've been around my blog at all in the past (love you!) then you probably know that I struggle with...

...Well, that list could take a while, but for the purposes of this post, I struggle with self-doubt.

Image by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay

So it's probably not that much of a surprise that I also have doubts when it comes to what I'm writing.

(Even blogposts - this is like my 6th attempt at writing this week's Nerd Church, and about the 3rd possible topic I came up with)

Month In Review(s) - November 2019

November was... it was ok.

I spent most of the month with a revolving-door of colds and viruses, so business as usual I guess! 😅