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.

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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

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Please do not use my links to make UK purchases.

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.)

Update, 2021 - this statement did not age well



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

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(Please do not make UK purchases with my Amazon links)

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! 😅

Nerd Church - Think Before You Speak

Social media. 

Love it, loathe it, or (like most of us) find yourself somewhere in between.

Whatever you feel about the ol' socials, sh** escalates fast online!

I... kind of think that a lot of the escalation is related to people not having some sort of filter between their reaction and their mouths/fingers

- (talking and typing - I mean talking and typing. Minds out of the gutter nerdlets!)

Image by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay

Month in Review(s) - October 2019

October... what can I say about October?

October was a month, that happened, I guess! 😅

...complete with colds and a lot of work-stuff. But meh *shrugs* it was fine. Just an average month, really! 😅

The Five Year Blog Anniversary Post! (Ft. My Wisdomous Blog Advice)

It’s Halloween! And that means it’s my blog-anniversary-thingummy! Woo!

So let’s have an awesome-sauce post with the following awesome features:

• me giving what is most probably contradictory and confusing blogging-advice

• me ruminating on my 5 years (5 years!!!!) of blogging

• me generally over-using both exclamation points and brackets

(There was probably too much caffeine and/or YouTube consumed in the making of this post. #JustSaying.)

Nerd Church - Have A Little Consideration! (...And Treat Your Neighbours Right)

I think that some people - not everyone, but some people - need to re-evaluate their common decency, and the consideration that they may or may not have for the people around them.

Because sometimes, people do sh** that ain't a lot to them, but is, in fact, a big deal to other people.

Image by Prawny from Pixabay

My neighbours have dogs.

They're lovely dogs. Adorable af.

But they like to chase cats. And I have cats.

Month in Review(s) - September 2019

September! 

(This wrap-up isn't late, it's casually timed 😎)

September was cool.

I had another cold, but that's pretty much my life tbh.



I also had my birthday! Woo! Birthday!

Although, I did have a few mixed feelings this year...

Nerd Church - Dyscalculia (Part 2: The Real World)

Dyscalculia is a maths learning difficulty that affects a lot of things that other people find easy and/or straight-forward.

Today, I figured I'd give you a real-life example of how Dyscalculia affects me.

You can catch up on my first post about Dyscalculia, which includes a lot of general info., here.

Image by TeroVesalainen from Pixabay

A real-world Dyscalculia example: catching the goddamn train

Nerd Church - Dyscalculia (Part 1: What Is Dyscalculia?)

I've mentioned in passing before now that I have a learning problem - condition, disability, whatever you wanna call it - called dyscalculia.

So I figured it was about time (ha, you'll see why that's a pun soon,) that I let you know what that entails, and why that means I struggle with a lot of things that most people find easy.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Disclaimer time: I am not a medical, educational, or neurological expert. I’m a Welsh chick with a blog.

So, what is dyscalculia?


In its simplest explanation, dyscalculia is the maths version of dyslexia.

It affects numeracy, rather than literacy, and also affects a lot of things related to mathematical ways of seeing the world that most people don't actually associate with maths.

Nerd Church - An Unpopular Opinion On the 'Don't Feed the Trolls' Campaign

There's a new campaign in the UK using the previously informal hashtag of #DontFeedTheTrolls.

The Center For Countering Digital Hate advises that you don't engage with trolls. 

Ignore, block, report. Rinse, repeat.

Now, that's certainly not a bad option for dealing with trolling.

And you should ALWAYS feel that you can use the mute, block, report options, or some variant thereof, if you want to.

Cos you owe no-one, and you need to protect your mental health. Take care, ok?




So, what's my unpopular opinion?

Nerd Church - It's My Birthday! (And I'll Cry If I Want To)

...Not that I'm particularly aiming to. But I'll give myself the option!

Yes, the day this post is published (15th Sep, unless I pushed 'Publish' instead of 'Schedule' again! 😅) is my birthday!

While I'm hoping to have fun and enjoy myself today... I have had some mixed feelings in the days leading up to today.

See, for my entire life, my birthday has been a few days before my grandfather's.

Month in Review(s) - August 2019

August was not as hot here in the UK!!!!! 

Thank whatever deity, divine power, or cosmic entity that may be listening!

Don't get me wrong, there were still days which were officially too hot. But there were less of them. *sighs happily*

Unfortunately, I spent most of August with a cold.

Because I'm one of those people who will catch every virus imaginable after a galandular-fever-like illness screwed my immune system over when I was 16. Good times.

Nerd Church - Caffeinated Current Events: We're Really F**ked (Like, More Than We Were Before)

I'm full of coffee, so let's try to figure out the state of the UK, shall we?

I don't know if you've been paying attention to UK politics lately, but it basically goes a little something like this:

Our Prime Minister is somehow Boris Johnson. 

Because we apparently haven't suffered enough yet.

Nerd Church - Escapism, Reality, the Power of Stories, and Brigsby Bear

Films, books, media, stories.

They’re how we talk, communicate, connect with each other, with the world around us, and how we understand ourselves. 

At least, that’s true for me, maybe it’s not for you.

Or maybe you just think it’s not the way it is for you 😉

...when I was making the graphic I somehow wrote 'realism' instead of reality but *shrugs* same diff I suppose! 😅

There’s an amazing, adorable, and, in places, heart-breaking, film called Brigsby Bear.

I love it.

It’s one of those films which rips your heart out, hands it to you, and then is like ‘look! This is what your heart looks like! Look at all the blood and gunk and stuff!’ (Metaphorically, of course.) 

It’s hard to talk about Brigsby Bear without either a) getting spoiler-y, or b) descending into fangirling to such an extent that all I’m doing is making a series of inarticulate noises.