Life Update #3 // Wherein I am Significantly More Positive

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One of my goals for this year was to keep better track of time, and apparently that is not going to happen. So with that said, if you have messaged me and waited for months with no response, just nudge me or something, because I probably still think you messaged me yesterday. I promise I’m not snubbing you. I just have no clue what’s going on. 

Now that we have that established, let’s talk about all that's happened in my little corner over the past two days months. 

Reading News

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As of the end of June, I have read 101 books this year (I’ve finished another one since, but we’re not counting that in this update, because reasons). In May, I read 20 books, and then in June I slacked off and read only 6. However, before you rush to console me on my reading slump, don’t worry. In this case, it hasn’t been a reading slump, per se. After the busyness of moving and unpacking that bled over from May into June, I needed a lot of time to relax and calm myself and get my brain in order again (moving is extremely hard for me), so I listened to music all month. (Sometimes music helps even more than coffee.) I got a lot of other things done, but I don’t enjoy reading fiction as much when I’m listening to music, so books had to take back burner. 

Bookish Ratings Breakdown

Five stars

10

Four stars

4

Three stars

8

Two stars

3

One Star

1

Other Stats

Rereads

3

Rereads so far this year

11 

(My plan is to reread 88 books out of my overall goal of 175 for this year. I may not be bright when it comes to math, but I’m clever enough to see that the numbers aren’t lining up and that I will have to up my overall reading goal if I’m to reach my rereading goal, considering the fact that I have a bunch more new books to tackle as well. Not a problem. *distant sobbing*) 

Bookish Highlights

See what I did there? 

Life News

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My sister and I are very happy with our new apartment. We’re still in a basement setup with our landlords living above us, but we have a lot more space this time around. Another bonus to this place is the animal life—our landlords own a flock of chickens, a cat, a dog, and two goats. There’s also a porch swing. On top of that, the neighborhood is great—everything is more open and safer feeling, and there’s a train station nearby. 

For whatever reason, I’ve found that the sound of young children playing makes me feel like I’m in danger. In our old apartment, the noise of the children living upstairs slowly drained my energy, and I ended up closing in on myself because I couldn’t escape it, so I’m glad to be in a place that is more compatible with my strange mind. 

As you could probably tell from my Five Reasons to Love Summer post (in which I am not at all sarcastic), I’m not a huge fan of summer. I love spring, and I love autumn, but I don’t love that sneaky little season in between. Already I have found three ticks on my person (no bites yet, fortunately). Pretty much the biggest highlight of previous summers was working at a camp in Maine, but obviously I won’t be doing that this year. Which means, while I’m enjoying the sunlight, I’m really looking forward to autumn and better writing weather. Overall though, I’ve been much happier over the past two months, and at the risk of sounding melodramatic and ungrateful, I don’t necessarily feel happy a lot. So I take what I can get. 

I’ve started catching up on journaling (which is a really great sign, because I haven’t felt well enough to journal regularly for almost two years now). Sister-Mine bought me a coloring book, and I've been focusing more on various forms of art, which is something I’ve neglected and missed. Eventually I might show you some of my work (no promises, though). 

Writing News

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For almost a year, my brain has felt drained of creative energy, with varying degrees of severity, and I don’t want to hold out too much hope, but it does seem like I’ve succeeded in decluttering my head a little. I’ve started getting story ideas again, and I’ve started wanting to write for the happiness of it, which is huge. I still haven’t made as much progress on my novel as I would have liked, and I doubt I’ll accomplish all my grandiose writing goals for the year. But hey, I still have six months, so we’ll see what I manage. 

Blogging News

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I don’t have much to report on this front. Hopefully my mental vacation, slack-off session is at a close. I don’t want to push myself too hard and make it worse, but I do want to be more involved in the blogosphere. I really appreciate all of you who have stuck with me and commented on my blog even though I’ve been nonexistent aside from my regular posts. 

Speaking of posts, here are my top three most popular posts of May and June: 

Life Update #2 // Wherein I Admit to Having Fallen off the Face of the Earth

I Did a Thing

PTSD // In Which I Rant a Little

Now I’m going to hunker down for the rest of Independence Day, but I hope you enjoy your cookouts, fireworks shows, and whatnot. Stay safe! 

What about you, my little coffee beans? What have you been up to over the past couple months? What are your plans for the summer? What is your favorite animal?