It's Thursday, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier finishes tomorrow (*gasp*,) let's get some comics-y superhero-y goodness!
Dora Reads is the book blog of a Bookish Rebel, supporting the Diversity Movement, bringing you Queer views and mental health advocacy, slipping in a lot of non-bookish content, and spreading reading to the goddamn world! :) (All posts may contain Amazon links, which are affiliate, unless marked otherwise. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. USA ONLY - please do not make UK purchases with my links)
It's Thursday, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier finishes tomorrow (*gasp*,) let's get some comics-y superhero-y goodness!
(Warning: this post discusses true crime, and though it avoids details of murders, it does reference various topics surrounding true crime. This post also discusses Depression/Anxiety.
Any links to other websites may have further details of true crime, though I've tried to avoid anything graphic; I am not responsible for the content on these sites.)
I find true crime media weirdly helpful with combatting the affects of my mental health problems.
I put true crime shows on the TV sometimes in the evening, to wind down before falling asleep.
I clamour to Netflix true crime to calm my Anxiety.
I watch true crime docs or YouTube videos while I'm working to help me concentrate.
It's Thursday, the world is still pretty weird, let's get some superhero-y, comics-y, goodness!
(Warning: this post briefly discusses family ill health, mental health problems, and Covid 19)
So, dearest nerdlets: March!
March was better for me personally as Nan's health, although still exceptionally fragile, has been a little better and more stable. Hopefully it'll stay that way and/or keep improving.
(Warning: this post briefly discusses the day-to-day affects of Depression/Anxiety)
Some of you might think this blogpost topic (i.e., blogging ideas) is a bit of a cheat – which, honestly? It kind of is.
But… that’s kind of the point? I guess?
No matter how long you’ve been blogging, you’ll have moments when you just don’t know what to blog about.
Either because your brain is producing nothing but white noise in answer to your increasingly frantic requests for blogging material...
...or because you can’t seem to string your ethereal ideas together into something readable, or at the very least coherent.
(Warning: this post references Covid 19/Coronavirus, and Depression/Anxiety)
"How old are you then?" the adult asks; she's jolly, I do not appreciate forced jolliness. It's inauthentic.
"Six," I say... only it comes out 'thickth' because I've lost some of my baby teeth, and I have a decent gap between my front teeth anyway.
"Thickth," the adult responds, laughing.
I really do not approve of this mocking.
It's Thursday, spring has sprung here in sunny Wales, let's get some superhero-y, comics-y, goodness!
(Warning: as you can probably tell, this post is about Coronavirus/Covid 19.
It also references: anti-vaxxers, conspiracy theories, general 2020-ness, mental health problems, Trump, discrimination, ableism, systemic racism, and other systemic discrimination)
"My grandparents lived through the First World War and the Spanish Flu and all that," my mam said, "it's weird - they never talked about it much."
"Well," I said, "imagine explaining 2020, and the pandemic, to someone who's not even born yet. How could you even begin to make them understand?"
If a child asked, decades from now, 'what happened in 2020 and 2021? How did so many people die of Covid?' - what would you answer?
Where would we start? With the fires and the floods and World War Three trending at the beginning of 2020?
Or would we just jump straight into the Lockdowns, the social distancing, masks, Covid testing, the race for a vaccine...?
(Warning: this post discusses Coronavirus/Covid 19 and mental health problems)
We are two months into 2021. Just two months.
I have nearly lost my Nan twice so far in 2021.
Covid (which she had in January) has been so damaging to her health... it's awful.
If you're one of the people who thinks it's not that bad, or it's a hoax, or it somehow doesn't apply to you, then you can fuck off.
And yes, it kills me to write swear words without *s, but I'm leaving it in.
'...“But when he doesn’t show up for pancakes it's good practice to make sure he hasn’t fallen down a manhole or something,”
Klaus resists the urge to hiss.'
You know I love novel (or novella) length fanfiction.
The beautiful dedication that it takes to write a piece like this always makes me smile.
* = commission link
'The massive box of 64 crayons calls to me, every one of them waiting to be picked and pressed to a page. (I could have gone for the box of 120, but that seemed like too much.)'
This week's fic is from a fandom that is super-popular, but also not especially well-known outside its core fanbase.
...which is why I'm going to do a very brief explanation of Carry On* aka the Simon Snowverse just so's we're all on the same page.
(I realise that a lot of die-hard fans are probably screaming that how could anyone not know about Simon Snow?! But we do not gatekeep here at Dora Reads, dearest nerdlets.)
(Fandom notes:
gatekeeping - also a non-fandom term, when used in fandom this typically takes the form of 'you're not a real fan of [insert fandom or genre or author, etc.] unless you've [insert arbitrary benchmark]')
(Warning: as you can probably tell, this post is about Depression. It also includes brief references to ableism, suicidal thoughts, suicidality, and passive suicidality.)
Disclaimer time!
I am not a mental health or medical professional.
I am someone with personal experience of Depression and Anxiety, and this post is based on my own experiences only.
Mental health problems are intensely personal and therefore have a range of complex, varied, and valid experiences.
If you need help - PLEASE seek help. Getting in touch with a doctor or other help is scary, but so totally worth it - YOU are worth it. Please take care.
If you're in the UK or ROI, you can talk to The Samaritans about anything at any time. Check out their contact details here.
If you're not in the UK or ROI, you can check out this list of international suicide helplines.
'Klaus also had a tattoo on his arm of an umbrella inside of a circle. That image was the symbol of the Umbrella Academy, a group that had caused a whole lot of dissension among the Avengers.'
It's Thursday, it's February, let's get some comics-y, superhero-y goodness!
This week's is unintentionally super-queer (ha, super 😎) and is once again all in the 'Other Stuff' category (#BlameLoki).
(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!
'Klaus had been… animate when describing each of his siblings.'
OK, OK - I know, OK? I know.
...I rec'd an Umbrella Academy fic last week. I know.
I usually try to leave at least one week in between rec'ing fics from the same fandom (no, really, I do.)
(Warning: this post discusses mental health problems, as well as referencing abuse by parents.)
'Klaus blinked slowly, then nodded. “Yeah, what can I say? Some people just can’t accept that they’re f**king DEAD!”'
Now that I've finally finished watching Series 2 of The Umbrella Academy, it is of course time for some TUA fanfiction!
I'm Umbrella Academy trash, and proud of it! 😂😎
(Warning: this post discusses mental health problems, specifically Depression and Anxiety, and references Covid and the dumpster fire of 2020)
For those unaware: there is a website called Goodreads. It's like social media for books, basically.
(Before you ask, my Goodreads account is private.)
And every year it encourages people to set a target number of books to read that year - the Goodreads (GR) challenge.
(It would be cynical to point out that Goodreads is owned by Amazon, and therefore may have a monetary incentive for encouraging people to consume vast quantities of book.
Corporations can create unintended social benefits - in this case encouraging literacy - despite what their motives may or may not be.)
(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.