alexandra black

Category: Weekly

  • Unemployment, Charmed, and Lots of Gothic Fiction | Weekly 42.25

    Unemployment, Charmed, and Lots of Gothic Fiction | Weekly 42.25

    (Amazon links are affiliate links. At the moment I make no money from them.)

    42. The answer to life, the universe, and everything. Perhaps it will be the answer to consistency as well.

    Life

    In the time since I’ve been gone from the blog, I found a job, then lost a job, and am now jobless again. Trying hard to stay calm and keep afloat, but to be honest I’m both a little scream-ey, and a little run-around-in-circles-ey. Regardless, the horrors persist, but so do I. At least my favourite time of the year (cold) is finally here.

    Reading

    Recently finished:

    Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing | Amazon

    Listened to Matthew Perry’s memoir (in Russian). I have no idea what to say about it, apart from it being very raw. And of course, now that Perry is gone, it reads differently.

    The Tapestried Chamber | Amazon; Gutenberg

    A short story by Walter Scott, from my volume of gothic literature that I’ve been reading this season. I liked it.

    The Castle of Otranto | Amazon; Gutenberg

    The more removed I am from this work, the more I see its merits. Its style was uniform; the characters behaved the way 12-13th century people should, and the suspense was there. It’s just that for the 21st century emancipated me half my reactions were ‘how bout you just choke that bi-‘. Manfred is– something. But if you enjoy classic lit and especially gothic fiction, you should read this. It’s the founding book of the genre. Some excellent humour in there too.

    Actively trying to finish:

    The Secret History | Amazon

    I’m definitely the target audience for this book. Volatile intellectuals, murder, atmospheric surroundings – basically, all the attributes of dark academia as a genre are something that I, in theory, highly enjoy. And so far the book is going reasonably well.

    Frankenstein | Amazon; Gutenberg

    I couldn’t read it in the summer – Frankenstein’s monster is a winter baby, after all – so I picked it back up as soon as the weather turned for the better.

    The House of My Mother | Amazon

    Poor kid, is all I’m going to say for now.

    Ghost Stories by M.R. James | Amazon; Gutenberg

    My current audiobook. (I listen to it in Russian on Yandex Books.) These are the classic ghost stories that I so love. A bit of spook, but nothing that would keep you awake at night. Also, the humorous moments in this are *chef’s kiss*.

    A lot of new books also joined my shelves, but more on them at a later date.

    Making

    Grape jelly. The country I live in practically worships grapes, but I’ve never seen grape jelly on the supermarket shelves here. (Perhaps because all grapes go into wine.) I am making some of my own, and I am following a recipe from Martha Stewart.

    Watching

    I just finished watching S1 of Charmed, and am now on my second season of Buffy. Gotta say, y2k revival has nothing on the original. Immaculate outfits.

    Listening

    It’s been either Marilyn Manson or lo-fi. This is my favourite lo-fi playlist ever, but this time around I’ve been deviating into ambience and ‘oldies playing in the other room’ type stuff.

    Playing

    Apart from my main four games, I’ve not been playing anything else. There’s simply not enough hours in the day, and I already spend a good chunk of time maintaining the main four. But I’ve been having an inkling to play a good old quest game.

    Links & Things

    content creation is actually a healing modality.

    Next Week

    Fingers crossed I’ll get at least 1-2 replies to my listings and maybe even an interview scheduled.

  • 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.