alexandra black

Author: Alexandra

  • Demon Slayer, Chicken Nuggets, Brain Fog | Weekly 35.25

    Demon Slayer, Chicken Nuggets, Brain Fog | Weekly 35.25

    The inaugural Weekly is probably a little wordier than I meant it to be. The forthcoming ones will probably be shorter. Less paragraphs, more bullet points. Unless I’m unnecessary verbose, as I seem to be this week. I did take a long while to write it, though. Which is also not my intention.

    Right, then. This is what I managed to gather through the brain fog.

    Life

    This month my work life received yet another trauma facet, so all I wanted to do was rot in my bed, full goblin mode. Or, you know, be consumed by moss. But I’ve got promises to keep, cats to feed, etc., etc., so I’ll dust myself off and go on. I suppose my saving grace has been having the house fully to myself for the past week. I hope this goes on for at least another 10 days or so. Don’t really do well with people when I’m overwhelmed.

    I’ve also been resisting the urge to get chicken mcnuggets delivered to my doorstep. I have so far resisted this urge by getting frozen nuggets at the supermarket, but alas. still wanting the mcdonalds thing. i will continue resisting though. not really a big fan of parting with my money at mcdonalds.

    Books

    • Continued:  The Sweet Oblivion by Danielle Lori. High time I finished it, too – been stalling on 3rd act breakup for a little too long. Not in Love by Ali Hazelwood. I’m not a Hazelwood stan by any means, but this is a damn good book. So far, at least.
    • Picked up: nothing, to be honest. I am traipsing dangerously close to a reading slump.
    • Finished: Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. The Autistic Brain by Temple Grandin. I read this with my friend for our two person book club.
    • Bedside table limbo: Fever Pitch, The Secret, Madame Bovary, 50 Short Stories.
    • Next week: I want to get to my last TBR of this summer, so I will be focussing on that.

    Making

    I’ve been working on my Patreon and Kofi. Finally solidified Patreon tiers (content is the same across all of them, I just wanted cute names and finally found ’em), and now I’m working on consistency across all platforms. I’m also slowly inching towards opening an ephemera shop. I will use my Kofi page for the listings – already have Tarot readings open there, so this will be another subcategory. I’ve no idea why I’m stalling on these ephemera packs. Perfectionism, I guess. The only way to beat it is to just list a couple of things already, so mystery packs here I come. I am also having these thoughts on doing blog/vlogtember and blog/vlogtober, but with my ADHD it’s like if I give myself the instruction to do it, my brain will do everything possible to prevent it. So we’ll see.

    Watching

    I’m on the second season of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba. Last time I dropped it on S1E11, and decided to give the first ten eps a rewatch. It was better than I remember. I still can’t get over Muzan’s initial appearance (IYKYK), but this time around the storyline gripped me, and wouldn’t let go.

    I also watched Red Notice and The Mother. Both of these are precisely the type of movie I enjoy – I watch movies solely to be entertained, and seldom venture outside of my preferred genre of action flicks and true crime. Feel free to fight me on this, but Red Notice was arguably worse than The Mother. Much worse. Still entertaining, though.

    Links & Things

    so as i was watching episodes with Urokodaki in Demon Slayer, I wondered: why are there stones on the roof of his house? Here’s the answer if you want it.

    some works of Kurt Hutton, a pioneer of photojournalism.

    madsunelia

    Next Week

    It seems that all my mind has been circling around lately is content consistency. I hope I can live up to at least some of my expectations. Will I finally get over myself and post one preset or ephemera pack to my Kofi? Lord knows. I also want to film a reading wrap-up and a TBR for September, and that last tbr of this summer also needs posting. And since as of September 1 I am going to be without a day job – i.e. without gainful employment – I think I might also film a ‘reading like it’s my job’ kind of week – i.e. me joyfully reading 8 hours per day, 40 hours per week.

  • the last tbr of this summer

    the last tbr of this summer

    Summer is almost gone, and I am not here to mourn that. I’m a winter/ autumn girlie, with a touch of early spring, when I can enjoy the sweet scent of air and greenery without the oppressive heat. This year I had especially prolific summer reading plans, but big TBRs really only exist as lulz for my future self – I rarely manage to stick to a rigid reading list. Below, though, are the books that made it out of my ten foot ancient scroll of questionable summer joys to a reality of “I ought to read these before the leaves fully turn.”

    Dandelion Wine, by Ray Bradbury

    Last year I tried to finish this book in the autumn months, and I just couldn’t. This is indeed summer joys distilled, and I want to read the story during the season. Gentle summer nights just EMANATE from this book’s pages. Plus, I really want to get to Something Wicked this Way Comes and Farewell Summer come October, and I’d rather read this one first.

    I made a whole-ass list of summer romances I wanted to read during the scalding months of May, June, July, and August, but hardly got around to any of them, because I’m always distracted by the next thing. The full list would have to wait until next year, Lord willing, but I do want to cross out at least some reads off of it this summer, even if the season is heavily on the wane.

    Problematic Summer Romance, by Ali Hazelwood

    I chose Hazelwood from the list mentioned above, because I’ll be reading this one fresh in the footsteps of Not In Love, the first one in the series. You can’t really get any more summery than this title. And it’s set in Sicily. Plus I don’t want to wait a year to read the follow-up to Not In Love, even if the follow-up involves a different couple, and the tropes mentioned aren’t really my thing.

    Just for the Summer, by Abby Jimenez

    Another romance book on this list. I haven’t read anything Abby Jimenez yet – why not choose a summer book for my inaugural one? Plus I hear this one is good, so hopefully it will be a proper introduction to the author.

    The Amalfi Curse, by Sarah Penner

    Water witches, dual timeline, set in Italy — this book just screams ‘summer’ to me. I started reading The Amalfi Curse in late June or early July, but have yet to finish it. If not now, then when?

    Day Boy, by Trent Jamieson

    While Day Boy is not explicitly posed as a summer book, its setting is post-apocalyptic Australia overtaken by vampires. Something about this book says ‘scorching heat’ – apart from some mentions of surroundings and climate. Plus *minor spoiler* the vamps in this one are obsessed with the sun.

    bonus:
    Book Lovers, by Emily Henry

    And bonus book #1, Emily Henry’s Book Lovers, about two New York editors vacationing in a small town. I won’t be mad at myself if I don’t finish this one before autumn is fully here, because oddly enough this book doesn’t scream SUMMER at me, but I would like to finish this one sooner rather than later – simply because I really enjoyed what I’ve read so far, so we’re putting it on the ‘goodbye summer’ list.

    bonus #2:
    The Running Grave, by Robert Galbraith

    The last published installment in Cormoran Strike series, I really want to pick it up and finish soon, because The Hallmarked Man is coming out on the 2nd of September (omg that’s literally days from now), and I don’t want to wait too long to read it, because then I’d have to wait even longer to read the next. So the simple solution is to read it ASAP.

    Any books you’re in a rush to finish before the season is over? Do tell, do tell.

  • Manicure 1.25 – AVON, Tips, Sally Hansen

    Manicure 1.25 – AVON, Tips, Sally Hansen

    I quite randomly decided to start taking pictures of my nails again, so please forgive the low-light questionable quality photos – but then again, I guess it’s kinda real.

    • 2 layers AVON Gel Finish Lavender Sky
    • 1 (and a half) layer Tips Spring 2020 Confetti
    • 1 layer Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Top Coat

    AVON Gel Finish Lavender Sky

    I love this line of AVON. Nearly all of my polishes are 2+ years old, and this one is no exception. I’m not sure how the line looks right now, and I won’t go looking, because nail polish is my huge spending trigger, and I’ve been trying to use as much of the things I own as possible.

    This shade, Lavender Sky, is no exception to the overarching rule of this line – it paints really well. It’s a thinner and runnier formula, so keep that in mind if it’s not your preference. The brush shape is not flat, but it’s not annoyingly thin either and fans out nicely.

    In the photo of the bottle it pulls kind of grey, but on the nails it’s lavender.

    Tips Spring 2020 Confetti

    Tips is an indie Russian brand that I’ve been obsessed with. Unfortunately the only way for me to get this polish was to placate my brother and then have him bring it over when he visits. Currently he can’t visit, so I left him alone, and I don’t know what the new Tips collections look like.

    Confetti is a glitter, as you can see. It’s got some holo specs, it’s got some multicoloured ones, some are multichrome I believe. The shapes are also different. The base is a really pale sheer lavender – which is what inspired me to use Lavender Sky by AVON underneath. I used it without the base of colour before, just two coats of this glitter, and I loved it as is, but this time around I wanted something more substantial.

    Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Top Coat

    And then the top coat I’m still deciding if I like enough to repurchase. It does do exactly what it says it would on the tin – it dries almost instantly. But I kinda feel like it gives the overall nail a brittle sort of look. I don’t know how else to explain it. It’s like it thins out the volume of the application. I think I’m going to try applying either a thicker layer next time, or maybe even two coats.

    Also, Sally Hansen Insta-Dri top coat bottle is red, but the top coat itself is completely transparent.