General Life Update

(Alternative Title: Where I have been and why I’ve been useless)

Hello darlings,

So, this is a little life update to let everyone know what I’ve been doing with my life, and why things have been sporadic as hell.

The biggest reason things have been a little iffy here, is exhaustion from working two jobs, one of which was an unpaid, expenses covered, internship. Spending five days a week, working three of them unpaid, and the other two including an eleven hour long shift in which I get one hour break and am on my feet the other 10 hours, it’s been pretty tiring. And then to top that off, my two days of freedom were either A) Filled with overtime, or B) Filled with adult responsibilities like cleaning, paying bills, or attempting to sleep.

So, all in all, it added to me being super tired every waking minute of my life for three solid months, which is always super fun. But I am beyond pleased to announce some things;

First off, the internship was a massive success. It was as a digital marketer for the Rainbow Trust Children’s Charity, an absolutely amazing charity dedicated to ensuring every single family in the UK with a terminally or seriously ill child has support – from diagnoses and beyond, as long as they’re needed, even if it sadly means being there for bereavement support. Working for such an amazing cause felt genuinely good, and the staff are the most wonderful, kind and friendly people I’ve ever met. They treated me so well and thanked me so much for my work with them – I was so gutted I had to leave!

Secondly, I now have a new job! Just one, full time, and in something I really love. I’ll be working in an after sales role for a ticket company which basically means if someone messes up and books a show on the wrong night or feels like their show went wrong and they want some kind of compensation, I am who they call. It comes with the privilege of getting to see shows on occasion for trade nights, which, honestly thrills me so much because I do love theatre! So I’m really excited to have an actual adult job and make better money than currently, in something I love!

In some general updatey things; I got a new tattoo!

This one is Legend of Zelda based. I love it so so much. It was done by Chris Morris Tattoos, who has now moved from London to Cardiff to Keep the Faith Social Club – if you live nearby and want a tattoo in his style, get in contact! He’s a super cool guy and the creator of all three of my tattoos!

I also got some new books in prep for Halloween, and got some creepy candles and decorationy, home stuffs! I’m very excited about Halloween because it really is my favourite time of the year; so sometime soon I will be doing a Halloween Book Haul/TBR and a Halloween Decor Haul! I’m thrilled to share it with all of you.

I hope you’re all doing well!

Fare thee well,

Fran

March TBR and general life update

As you probably guessed by my last post, my March TBR is going to consist of reading Crown of Midnight and Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas, the two sequel novels to Throne of Glass. I also might pick up The Assassin’s Blade, which contains the series of companion novella’s that link to this series.

Look a the cover for Crown of Midnight LOOK AT IT.

Oh and here’s Heir of Fire too because that came in the post and I just, adoration.

I’m genuinely so pleased to have them and this series looks so good on my shelf. I am very happy and eager to read!

EDIT: I thought I posted this post last night, turns out I did not. And last night I finished this book. So I’ll actually be reviewing this in my next post yay!

At the moment, I am reading Severed Heads, Broken Hearts by Robyn Schneider. Fun fact: I spent a good half an hour on Goodreads swearing at the website because they didn’t have this book listed, and I wanted to add it to my 50 books a year challenge and it wasn’t fair if I failed because it didn’t have this book.

Turns out it has a completely different title in the US; the UK edition is what I have. The US edition is called The Beginning of Everything. Why.

Regardless of why though, I am reading it, and I’m about 140 pages in at this moment. Severed Heads, Broken Hearts follows the narrative of a young man named Ezra, who is the most popular boy in school with a promising athletic career in tennis before him. But then Ezra is in a car accident, which shatters his knee and his entire life. Ezra’s narrative is also followed along by a theory Ezra has about life; that every single person in the world will go through an unspeakable tragedy that tears their world apart, but ultimately changes their life and causes them to really start living as they should.

So far I am enjoying it, though I do have a fair few problems with it. Most of it is because it’s just so eye rollingly cliche at points – you are looking at the typical “Oh my GOD everyone in this town is the SAME and everyone is AWFUL and SAMEY and so BORING and no one is DEEP LIKE ME except oh wait THIS GIRL HAS APPEARED and she is UNLIKE OTHER GIRLS WHILE BEING CONVENTIONALLY PRETTY BUT SHE DRESSES A BIT DIFFERENT AND DOESN’T CONFORM TO THE MAN.”

You know what I mean.

I’m also having trouble connecting to the characters at points; the only one I really connect with at all is Toby, Ezra’s best friend. Ezra himself is alright, but certain things get glossed over really easily and the writing feels a bit clunky at times.

I am enjoying reading it though and I do plan to finish it in the next night or two, so, it’ll probably get a 3.5/5 stars from me! We shall see how I feel about the next half.

So in general life, things are pretty good. Sticking to my water goal has gotten so much easier now because I finally have a litre sized bottle to contain the water. I know it sounds weird that it’s made this easier for me but trust me, it has.

Unfortunately the skin-biting has begun again due to nerves and a momentary slump I had which got me all worked up about ~the meaning of my life~, so now it’s back to the malvala stop. Again.

Cooking wise I’m doing well, I live with my mum and we’ve both gone into this healthy kick, so we’re both exchanging tips and recipes we’ve found and it’s been fun!

I do plan this month to actually start my BookTube – as I said, I hit a slump last month. I’m not sure where the slump came from or why but about a week after my anniversary and my few days off, I just fell into a slump of constant tiredness and irritatedness. But that has ended! And productivity can resume! I’ll probably aim to get my BookTube, and maybe even more general vlog type things (maybe even Let’s Plays?) up by the next two weeks.

Publicly setting myself goals like it won’t come back to bite me, good job kid.

I’m also getting more and more excited for the release of Avengers: Age of Ultron as it gets closer and closer. I’ve been waiting for the next full blown Avengers movie pretty much since the credits rolled on The Avengers/Avengers Assemble. My friend and I already have plans to stay the night in London for the red carpet premiere and we are both insanely excited. I could honestly cry.

Also coming in April; Game of Thrones Season 5!!! I’m so, so excited but also nausea-inducingly terrified. Mostly because GRRM went ahead and casually announced that the show was going to start killing off people who he wanted to die, but who aren’t dead in the books yet.

Excuse you.

I did not just catch up on seven damn 400+ page books and mentally prepare myself for this season to have you tell me that you’re just gonna straight up answer one burning question  I’ve had about the fate of one of my favourites. Because I am not ready for the answer, because it’s Game of Thrones and they are most likely very very dead.

Argh.

Finally, I haven’t told many of my IRL friends this because I don’t want to jinx it, but this coming Friday I actually have an assessment day at the Telegraph Media Group! If I pass, I’ll get to be interviewed for the Social Media Internship I’ve applied for!

Although I know the chances are slim of me getting the job (this isn’t me being like URGH I’m TERRIBLE they won’t HIRE MEEE – I know I’m awesome and capable. But I also know there are others with more knowledge and experience for this kind of role, and I am more than calm about that) – I am really really excited. It’s such a great opportunity and learning experience, and the fact I’m even being considered is really great. So I am pleased.

So that’s all from me in the life update center. I’m sorry I’ve been slacking like hell, but I am going to get my ass in gear. I gave myself one hell of a pep talk at 2am last night and now I feel ready to take on the world!

Or at least some degree of adult responsibility.

I’ll speak to you all soon, I hope all your reading challenges and life in general are going great for you!

Fare thee well,

Fran