Happy Wednesday everybody! Hump day woohoo! I’m actually off work on Friday so this Wednesday technically feels like Thursday, which is amazing. Only one more day of work until I’m free!
So, time for your 5-minute coffee break read. I’m sat with a smoothie today because I recently purchased a NutriBullet and it has changed my life. OK, that may be a bit over the top, but it’s been amazing so far. I never knew smoothies were so easy to make, and I always thought you’d need some fancy yoghurt or milk, and it just seemed like a lot of hassle. But nope! I’ve been making them with just fruit, ice and water. Delicious!
So, what have I been up to for the last week?
Reading
I finally finished The Switch after spending what felt like years at it, and honestly, it was good but I wouldn’t rave about it. I really loved The Flat Share and considered whether me not getting proper time to sit and enjoy a book at the minute made me not love this one as much, but I don’t think it’s that. It just kind of felt a bit flat. It was a great storyline, but I just didn’t really connect with the characters. I found Leena a little annoying, though I definitely liked her more towards the end of the book. I did love Grandma Eileen but I felt there were more unlikeable characters in the book than likable and there were too many to get to know any of them on a deeper level, so it all felt a bit shallow. I’d give it a 6/10.
I was recently kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review, so I made a start on it last night. I am absolutely loving it so far. It really hooked me in from the opening page, and whilst the cover made me feel a little like I was about to embark on a more academic textbook type read, I’ve already warmed to the narrative voice (which I’m guessing is Amy – I’ve literally only read a chapter), and found myself really engaged from the outset. I can’t wait to get stuck back in later after work!
Until yesterday, I hadn’t heard about #BlackOutTuesday, I only researched it when I saw a load of black squares on my social media feeds with the reference to the Black Lives Matter campaign. As a result, I’ve been reading up on recent events, why people are protesting and what’s going on and am educating myself on the inexcusable situations faced by so many people of colour in this day and age. There will never be anything I can say that can do justice to this, nor will I ever understand what it is like to be a person of colour, but there is an abundance of information and so many ways to get involved, and it’s important that we educate ourselves. You can find more by clicking through to the above hashtags on Twitter or Instagram, or googling ‘George Floyd’, whose murder – because despite it being referred to as ‘death’ that’s exactly what it was, murder – has sparked a vast amount of protests across the world.
One thing to note is that there is a lot of negativity and controversy filling feeds right now, and some of it is really taking attention away from the real issue. It can be difficult to get a grip of what’s really going on. But if you look into the way that this innocent man, and so many others like him have been treated based on the colour of their skin, you’ll realise just how bad things are and why it’s so important they change.
Watching
Still watching Lost because as you’ll know if you’ve seen it (and for info if you haven’t), there’s about 50,000 episodes in each season and there’s six seasons! We’re coming to the end of season four now, things are beyond crazy and I do wonder what the hell the writers were on when they wrote it, but I do love the creativity and I’m looking forward to seeing what the final two seasons bring. I talk like I haven’t seen it – I have, but it was 10 years ago and I can’t remember any of it, so it feels like the first time I’m watching!
Listening
Reverend and The Makers (artist)
My Dad asked me recently whether I’d listened to much of Reverend and The Makers. Aside from the song ‘Heavyweight Champion of The World’, a song I play whilst running to give me momentum to power up a hill on one of my routes, I hadn’t really listened to them. I knew of them, but had never really taken the time to listen – I don’t know why, as they’re right up my street. I decided to play them a little whilst working and really like them. My Dad said they are a little Courteeners-esque, but I felt they were more along the lines of someone like Kasabian, mixed with The Dandy Warhols.
You will almost certainly have heard Hans Zimmer’s beautiful music if you’ve ever watched films like Inception, Interstellar or The Dark Knight Trilogy, to name a few. I listen to him when I want to focus or concentrate on work. He isn’t quite as peaceful as Max Richter, but still makes for good listening nonetheless.
That’s it from me this week! I’m looking forward to hearing what you’re all up to and I’ll see you next week!
Reflect and Introspect 
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