I’m baaaaaaaaaaack. Jeez this was a long and wholly unintentional blogging hiatus. Possibly the longest yet?

I just looked back and can see that I published my last post at the end of July, so just a little over 2 months ago. Not that long in the grand scheme of things, but it has felt like foreverrrrrr. I’m back though, and I’ve realised that actually this blog is more self-care to me than I realised, so I’ll be posting every Monday to make sure that I commit to it. For those of you who’ve followed me from the start, I’m well aware we’re working through what feels like every day of the week. First, Wednesday, then Friday (which barely took off let alone lasted because Fridays are my busiest day of the week!) and now Monday. MONDAY IS THE ONE.

What have you been up to whilst I’ve been gone?

I’ve had a crazy few months – with life over here in the UK well and truly opened back up again, it feels like I haven’t had a minute to breathe, let alone reflect and take in how much fun we’ve all been having.

I had my first gig back after lockdown in August which was INCREDIBLE, and whilst I never ended up being able to have the belated 30th birthday bash I had hoped for, I did celebrate my birthday in August by going out for food and drinks with friends, and DANCING and singing at the top of my voice letting out everything that had pent up over the last 18 months or so, so that was fun. I’ve been away for weekends seeing friends and family, I’ve been to gigs and parties, and I’m even – dare I say this out loud – going on HOLIDAY next week. A proper holiday. ABROAD!!!! I won’t go too much into this here because I am still not fully letting myself believe it’s going to happen and I am so desperate for it that I am trying to control myself in case it all does fall to shit the day before because Bozza’s decided to change his mind again on the travel restrictions.

So for now, I’ll just say that the next time I publish, I might be in the country that captured my heart over 10 years ago, but that’s all I’m going to say. EEK!

Sooooo… I’ve got some goodies for you this week! As always, I’m talking about things I’ve read/seen or listened to, and whilst I aim to never give too much away in the context of spoilers, if you don’t want to know ANYTHING about these things you might need to stop reading. Keeping going? Don’t say I didn’t warn you!

Reading

YOU ARE A BADASS – Jen Sincero

I started reading this book years ago when I wanted to leave my unfulfilling job and didn’t know how I would ever do it. Now I look back and reflect on the fact that I left my unfulfilling job not knowing how I would ever do it, and here I am over here doing it. Crazy. I feel like I’m on the edge of the next development with my work too right now, so watch this space!

You are a badass is the book I needed to read back when I didn’t think I was capable of taking leaps of faith, believing in myself, or achieving anything more than what I had back then. I only read a chapter or so back then and I’m about halfway through now, and I really value what Jen Sincero has to offer and the way she has to offer it. She is personal development/self-help without the eyeroll and assuming label.

Looking back, I think this book was one of my first steps into the world of personal development, so it is interesting to read it now when I have become somewhat of a personal development expert. Will report back when I’ve finished!

Watching

SQUID GAME

Squid Game, Squid Game, Squid Game. The show that what feels like everyone is talking about right now.

I saw this show advertised just before it came out on Netflix, and I wasn’t sure I was going to watch it because it sounded like that other show The Platform that came out mid-pandemic, as though we all needed a reason to lose what little faith we had left in humanity. Was it just me who grew absolutely done with people during the pandemic? Anyway. I didn’t watch The Platform but I gave Squid Game a go.

The show is dubbed as the original is Korean, and the first episode felt a little slow to take off. I felt the main character was particularly unlikeable, and whilst my opinion kind of changed throughout I just found the whole thing a little annoying. Once the show really kicked in, I found it absolutely fucking terrifying, the music was haunting too, and the entire show just freaked me out, to the point where I had to stop watching it one evening because it creeped me out so much that I couldn’t sleep.

By the end of the series I had grown angry, upset, and emotionally fatigued, but I had to keep going because I needed to see how it ended. It was great at keeping me tuned in and curious, I’ll give it that, but that’s about it.

Otherwise, I found it unnecessarily violent, gory, unnecessarily savage, and frankly just unnecessary altogether. I didn’t understand it, and after the final episode I’d probably say it’s up there with some of the most pointless things I’ve ever watched.

I didn’t really get it at all. In the last episode I hoped there was going to be some profound revelation that made me go completely 180 and have it go from one of the worst things I’ve seen to one of the best, but alas it was not to be. So for me, Squid Game remains overhyped and I have zero clue how it’s got 100% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Listening

There are a few things I’ve been listening to lately that it was quite hard to choose.

NADAL DE LUINTRA – BERROGÜETTO

This song is utterly beautiful. I get some strange looks as I’m driving around Reddish blasting this out with my windows wide open but it is just so so beautiful. Upon a little research, it is sung in Galician, which makes sense as Berrogüetto are a folk band from Galicia and it is delightful. I heard this track on ‘The Way’ which I actually spoke about in my last post here (and is a brilliant film if you’re looking for something to watch.) GO GIVE THIS SONG A LISTEN!

Glasgow – The Snuts

Absolutely LOVING The Snuts lately – they seem fairly new on the music scene (seems they were formed in 2015 so maybe not that new) but I can see that they seem to be doing the rounds of the festivals etc. so I’m guessing we’ll be seeing a lot more of them next year. This song sounds a little Catfish and the Bottlemen-esque to me, but I absolutely love it and am looking forward to listening to more of them.

Spanish Bombs – The Clash

This song plays often in the wine bar and I just love it just because it’s catchy. I’ve been listening to it a lot as I’m driving about lately and just kind of like the feel it brings.

Before You Go…

Here’s a gorgeous little doggy picture for you because it made me smile today.

Happy Friday for those of you who don’t work weekends and I hope you have a lovely week ahead of you. I’ll see you a week on Monday with my newfound dedication to these posts!