Hello friends! It’s been so long since I’ve sat down to write out a blog post. I hope you’re all doing well, and that you’re all staying safe during these unprecedented times. 2020 started on a bumpy road, and it’s only gone downhill from there. Honestly, I’m ready for 2020 to be over.
WHY HAVE I BEEN ON HIATUS?
So I stopped being part of the bookish community around September last year, which was when I fell sick with the cold. After recovering from my cold, I just lost motivation for everything and became swamped with university. I barely read anymore, and chose to not force myself to read because I know that will only make me hate it even more.
In December, I went to Tokyo, Japan, and had so much fun. This trip reinvigorated my motivation and productivity, and I started reading again. But once 2020 started and university began, I fell down the hole of being overwhelmed by university as well as worrying about the COVID-19 situation.
Anyways, fast forward another 7 months and here we are in July. I’ve finished my first semester of second year, and I think I’ve finally gotten into the flow of things where I can balance work, school and my hobbies. I’ve recently started reading again, and wow how I’ve missed doing so. During my months of hiatus, I started journalling, which I have so much fun doing, watched anime and read some manga. All in all, I hope that I’m able to continue with this momentum and read for the rest of the year. I feel more inspired to continue blogging now too, so hopefully I can keep up with this.
WHAT’S BEEN HAPPENING IN MY LIFE?
- Like I mentioned above, in December, I spent 2 and a half weeks in Tokyo (including Christmas) and it was SO MUCH FUNN!! I 10/10 will be going back one day. It was a lot of walking and train rides during rush hour, but it was fun to explore. Tokyo was so pretty, especially when the sun set. Despite the language barrier, it wasn’t that difficult to communicate with the Japanese citizens
- Fun cute storytime: I went into a cafe by myself and it was super busy and it was my first time so I had no idea what to do. A really nice girl, who took the elevator with me, approached me and told me what to do despite her limited English. And I will never forget that warm feeling because I almost panicked right there (I’m such an awkward shy bean. Why did my companions let me go to a cafe by myself ahaha)
- I’ve started my second year of university this year. Yay, but not really haha. I’ve surprisingly been enjoying the content so uni’s not too bad. Though due to the COVID situation, we went online which was a bit hard to adjust too. But I did it and we’re probably continuing with online uni next semester.
- I’ve started journalling and it’s so much fun. I’ve slowly accumulated washi tapes, mainly from Paper Geek Co, which has the prettiest washi tapes ever. When my next order comes in, I might show you guys 🙂
- I’ve been watching Studio Ghibli films and anime. I recently finished watching Haikyuu, and am OBSESSED. Currently waiting for the second half of season 4 to be released (in October hopefully). I’ve also enjoyed Kuroko no Basket, and I think I have a preference for sports anime haha
- My reading hasn’t been the best, but I’m planning to do a recent reads post, so look out for that.
PLANS FOR MY READING + BLOG + SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS
- I’m planning to come back into the bookish community on Instagram, though I’m not sure if I’ll be posting as often. I want to reconnect with everyone there and will most likely use my stories often. But posting is a little difficult at the moment, because it’s winter in Australia and good lighting is so hard to get *cries*
- In saying that, I don’t know if I want to rejoin Twitter. There are people on Twitter that I adore and love and it’s how I keep up with bookish news. But I don’t like the format of Twitter and it can also be time consuming (and a little toxic) so yeah. I may just just Twitter from time to time but we’ll see.
- I want to continue posting on my blog. I’ve fallen behind on reviews and have no idea what books are coming out or have come out so I need to catch up on that. Expect some reviews of recent books I’ve read because I LOVED THEM and I THINK YOU SHOULD READ THEM
- I want to focus and read more books with diverse representation, including but not limited to LGBTQIA+ rep, POC rep, neurodiverse rep etc. These topics are important and we should be boosting and uplifting marginalised authors.
- My current physical tbr is around 50 books, which may not be a lot to some people, but to me it’s a lot because I have limited space in my home. I want to take this time whilst in lockdown to unhaul some books, especially books that I have not read since 2016/2017 (wow time flies). I now want to focus on borrowing books from my library more often, buying books second hand and if I do buy a book, I want it to be something I KNOW I will read because I have bought so many books since joining this community that I still haven’t read.
SOME IMPORTANT THINGS I WANT TO HIGHLIGHT
- The Black Lives Movement is an important and ongoing movement in our world. It never goes away and we should never stop talking about it, even if the media dies down. Despite my lack of presence on the internet during this time, I wholeheartedly support this movement and am educating myself to become a better person, to learn and acknowledge the hardships that Black people suffer through, and to find ways to help and support them.
Click here to go to find petitions, donation pages and more resources.
- I’d also like to take the time to welcome everyone here, and to let you all know that I accept you as you are, I love you as you are and you are welcome here. I want this blog to be a place where I can share my thoughts with you, where I can have discussions, make friends and learn and grow as a person. Therefore, I want you to know that this is a safe place and I do not condone any racism or harmful phobias (homophobia, transphobia etc.)
- I’ve never really liked HP (honestly couldn’t make it past book 4) and do not condone the author’s “opinion” which really isn’t an opinion but is a harmful comment that hurts the transgender community
- I have a lot to learn, but don’t we all? I’ll make mistakes, but we learn from out mistakes. I want everyone to know that if I ever say something wrong, be it small or large, please let me know and I’ll do my best to fix it (okay but I’m a sensitive soul so please don’t lash out at me)
So let’s catch up! Let me know what’s been going on in your life? What have you been reading? Anything you’re looking forward to? I miss you all and hopefully I get to reconnect with you all soon.
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