When I was putting together my 11 Years of Blogging post, I noticed a post from last May that is very similar to how I’m feeling this month. Social media is still tough for me these days and I rarely feel like posting anything. The downside of that is that everyone forgets you exist and/or thinks something bad has happened to you. So here’s what I’ve been doing and not really sharing.
Planning a lot of trips
With my next big trip (to Washington, DC using all my air miles) in limbo until a certain person moves out of the big white house, I’ve been planning lots of smaller trips. I was up north for a few days earlier this month, we’re off puffin-hunting in Fife in June and I’ll be at Hyper Japan in July (with a trip home on the fancy new sleeper train!). There’s a couple of other possibilities too so it could be a busy travel year.
Making new stuff for my Patreon
I’m still enjoying my Trouble Club on Patreon and a lot of my blog writing energy goes there instead with weekly catch-ups and process posts. This month has been especially fun putting together little matchboxes full of tiny surprises for happy mail rewards. Above is just the back view – I can’t wait to share the full thing once they all arrive.
Learning German
This was a bit of a whim but I was interested in trying out Duolingo. In retrospect, I should have chosen Dutch (since I am half-Dutch but don’t speak it) but I already know a lot of German from school – and from watching German TV shows. It’s been good fun so far and I’m going to try and keep it up until I finally book that trip to Berlin. Just in case I lose my tarantula while I’m there.
Super Cute Kawaii
As always, SCK keeps me busy, especially with my book coming out in a matter of weeks! I’m a bit more active on SCK social media and write multiple blog posts every week. There will be more Visiting Japan posts and reviews next month. If you’d like to work with me, we’re currently looking for a new Summer Intern, which includes mentoring and/or writing paid blog posts.
Watching TV
I had to pay for both NowTV and Netflix recently so I’ve been trying to get my money’s worth. Rilakkuma & Kaoru was especially adorable – I had to buy a big Rilakkuma plush to hug as it was getting too much for me. The final season of Game of Thrones has been super weird to watch. No spoilers – you can totally see how some of this is going to work in the books but the TV version has mostly been confusing and kind of boring. I also really enjoyed Narcos Mexico, The Good Place and Deutschland 86.
Pokemon Go
Still playing this daily nearly 3 years later! I finally caught Mew after a ridiculously long time. The special research tasks are so hard when you live in a rural area – it took me literally years to evolve another Magikarp and to find a local friend to trade with for Celebi. Of course, now I’ve completed them all, I really want a new challenge to work on.
Growing my hair
I never planned to grow my hair long but it kind of happened and now it’s become an interesting experiment. I’ve always thought short hair was easier to deal with but longer hair is actually less hassle. It looks fine without any styling, suits me better and can be tied up out of the way when I’m working, plus I don’t have to go to the hairdresser as often (SO BORING when you’re essentially blind without your glasses and dislike chat). It’s getting to the point where I need to update my avatar though.
