(Warning: this post discusses Covid, migraines, and mental health problems)
I know it's late-ish June. I got Covid.
...And I didn't want to just not do a post for May, because it was bugging me 😅
May 2022... *hysterical laughter*
OK, May 2022 was a bit of a rollercoaster for me.
Like, there was some really good stuff, some really bad stuff, and some stuff I point-blank don't know how to categorise.
(Yes, this post discusses Covid)
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| No, this is not my cat - it's a stock photo from Pixabay. Yes, I wish I could pet this kitty 😅 |
Covid really sucks, by the way.
Like, it really sucks.
So, I obviously want to get back to blogging straight away. But even walking up the stairs is still an exhausting activity, so I'm going to have to try easing myself into things.
(...which, is not easy for me. I really want to spend circa 25 hours a day, 8 days a week, being productive right now, and I can't. Argh!)
My regular posts won't be back in June - it's just not practical *sigh* - but I do have dates in July when you can expect my series-posts back on your screens:
(Warning: this post obviously discusses Coronavirus/Covid 19)
Hi everyone,
I tested positive.
I went to an outside concert for the first time in 2 years, was really careful, am triple vaxxed, and still got Covid.
So, my brain is currently smoosh, and I really hope this missive contains a modicum of sense (...I turn into a Victorian dictionary when I'm tired - sorry.)
My usual posts will be suspended for the time being, until I can think clearly enough to figure out a strategum for said missives.
(...I honestly have no clue where that came from, sorry again.)
Once I know what in the name of your great-aunt Doris (...seriously, I have no clue,) I'm doing, I will let everyone know - I promise.
See you soon.
I'm settling down to write this with some caution...
Because if the last few days have been anything to go by, the moment I really get into things, really get some momentum going... drama happens.
April was rough, mental health-wise.
I'm OK - just having to adapt and take care.
...It's kind of worse when there's no real reason or trigger because there's nothing you can blame, y'know?
...and it really doesn't help that the pollen this year is exceptionally, brutally, high, so my hayfever is extra-present this year.
Kind of hard to focus on your mental health when the pollen is making you feel like a zombie, lol.
(Oh, and hayfever is linked to climate change. #TrueStory.)
'I feel the need... the need to read!'
- Anonymous bookish meme, based on a Top Gun reference
I'm a mood-reader.
I read every single day.
...I need to.
You're the only one of you.
( *Starts mentally singing ME! by Taylor Swift and Brendon Urie: 'I'm the only one of me! Baby, that's the fun of me!...'* Lol.)
Hooman-bean-brains are one of the most complex things in the known universe (I know, right? We're special!) and yours is just that: yours.
No-one else's brain will ever work in exactly the same way as yours does.
We may come to the same conclusions or think along the same lines as someone else - but at the end of the day our brains are ours alone: entirely unique.
Warning: this post briefly discusses various aspects of the world's clusterf**k, including but not limited to: Ukraine, systemic Transphobia, and Covid 19.
It also breifly discusses poor mental health, and chronic illness (migraines.)
March was... turbulent.
Which I know isn't exactly unusual atm, but still...
Warning: this post discusses mental health problems and symptoms
Disclaimer time: I am not any kind of medical, mental health, scientific, etc., professional - I'm a chick with a blog and some personal experience, m'k? M'k.
Are you ever watching a TV show or a movie, or reading a book, and just...
...have to...
...pause...?
(Warning: this post discusses war, the threat of nuclear disaster, injured cats, and blood)
February.
2022.
February. 2022.
February 2022.
...I live in Europe. Edges of, here in the UK, but still Europe.
Y'know, that continent Putin nearly turned into a nuclear wasteland last week?
And no, I'm not over-reacting, Zaporizhzhia is way bigger than Chernobyl, and radiation from the Chernobyl disaster in 1986 was the reason Welsh farmers had restrictions on selling livestock until 2012.
So... *gestures at Putin in a non-polite manner*
You can donate to the Disaster Emergency Committee's Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal here.
Carbon offsetting is sadly not the get-out-of-eco-jail-free card that some people think it is.
Whether you're a frequent flyer looking to make up for the environmental sins of your trips around the world, a heavy-polluting fossil-fuel-based corporation, or just someone who gets their Etsy packages delivered, you've probably heard of carbon offsetting.
But, so that we're all on the same page: what is carbon offsetting?
Well there's no concrete definition - everyone has their own ideas of what 'counts' as carbon offsetting and what doesn't - but I can give you the basics.
Carbon offsetting, as far as I understand it, is where someone - sometimes an individual, but more commonly a business or organisation - attempts to counteract their carbon footprint by supporting environmental projects.
This support often comes in the form of... (paying to make the problem go away) ...investing.
This might be an investment in a green energy scheme, such as a wind farm or tidal energy project...
'Three in the morning is never the time to try and sort out your life.'
- Matt Haig, Reasons To Stay Alive
Most of us have been there - it's a ridiculous time in the night, you're utterly shattered, and you're still trying to get things done.
You inevitably make a mistake -
because you should be sleeping
- and you decide that your entire life is a sh**-show, and you need to leave everything you know behind and move to the mountains and breed chinchillas or something equally random.
(...Unless that's a long-held ambition of yours, in which case don't let me stop ya!)
January was the perfect example of pandemic time
- it simultaneously lasted five minutes and three thousand years.
(Not that my experience of time as a concept ever manages to be one speed, but this is especially marked.)
So, this is 2022.
...I feel like it's best not to tempt fate by saying any more than that 😅
One of the many things that makes me tired in this beautiful trash-fire of a world is that some people think that everything - everything - has to be a superlative.
What's a superlative? Well there's a couple of meanings to the word, but I'm talking about this one:
'In grammar, the superlative form of an adjective or adverb is the form that indicates that something has more of a quality than anything else in a group. For example, ' biggest' is the superlative form of 'big'.'
- COBUILD Collins English Dictionary Online
And the world? The world isn't actually comprised solely of superlatives and extremes.
Good Lord, she's gonna talk about nuance on the Internet! Someone stop her!
(Note: don't stop me. 😜😎)
December had Christmas - and therefore was de facto awesome.
I don't make the rules (well, not all of them.)
(I love Christmas. So. Much.)
As I usually do in December, I scaled back on blogging a bit
- although I decided to keep going with my Comics Wrap-Up posts this year so that I could ramble on about Hawkeye, because I am Marvel trash.
So that's the reason there's so few posts this month.
I usually try to use the time when I'm posting less to schedule and organise and all that jazz. Key word is 'try' - but there's points for trying, right? 😉
It's that time of year again - the time when everyone and their great-aunt Lucy is trying to get you to buy into the ideals of work and productivity.
January is a webscape of blogposts which promise to increase your productivity by 1000%! or earn 50 times more by adopting THIS winning attitude!
Vlogs of new fitness regimes/money-making schemes, which seem more like shaming lectures than helpful tips.
Humble-brag tweets about how 'few' followers/views/monies someone got last year, and how they're gonna do so much better in 2022 - and you can too if you enrol in this course!
...And under-pinning it all this vibe of having to do more! more! MORE! or else you only have yourself to blame for your unenviable position in life/work/Western society/whatever.
OK, this post is a bit later than I intended, but December's hectic at the best of times, so... let's just do this -
November's over, and here I am standing in December wondering how we got to the end of 2021, when it feels like it never really got started in the first place.
This year's felt like the hangover after 2020, and never really moved past that.
Or is that just me? How has your 2021 been, dearest nerdlets?
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When I'm tired, my brain sometimes throws out random phrases.
Straight-forward things like, 'I'm so tired,' and 'I wanna be a kitty-cat' (because, well, why wouldn't you?)
Amongst these understandable statements, sometimes it throws out weird ones.
The other day it threw out a new one that I'm still trying to figure out.
Out of nowhere, the thought popped into my head: I want the books to be OK.
And I stopped short.
And I thought... what the hell does that mean?
I want the books to be OK.
By now, you've probably heard of COP 26 - the global climate summit taking place in Glasgow.
(And if you haven't, it might be a good idea to ask yourself why your usual news source hasn't told you about it.)
COP26 started on 31st October, and will end on 12th November.
The general vibes (and I may be wrong about this, so please bare that in mind,) are that most of the headline agreements happened in the 1st week, with the world leaders present, with the details and logistics being hashed out by the civil servants, etc., in the 2nd.
(Warning: this post discusses grief, bereavement, Covid 19, mental health, and general existential crises.)
October was not the easiest month I've ever had - but then, it was far from the hardest, so that's a plus point.
We've been dealing with some of the last admin of my nan's estate, and every time I feel like I've come to terms with her being gone, it's like another gut-punch.
Because I hadn't seen her in-person for so long due to Covid, sometimes it kind of still feels like I'm just waiting for the pandemic to be over, to be able to visit her.
Accepting that I'll never be able to hug her again, after waiting over a year to be able to do so is... difficult.
