July 2024 – Page 4

Sunday News #59

Sunday Post and Sunday Salon are blog news memes hosted at Caffeinated Reviewer and Reader Buzz, respectively. It’s a chance to share news, recap the past week on your blog, and showcase books and other things.

Feeling

I’ve been feeling a little bit sad this week. I had to say goodbye to my amazing therapist, Doug. Due to unforeseen circumstances, he’s moving his skills to the state mental hospital and will no longer be doing private practice.

When I say Doug changed my life, I really mean I’m still alive because of him. If you’ve been following my blog for long, then you know I’ve been in therapy off and on since I was 16 to treat a myriad of problems–depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, PTSD from sexual trauma, etc. However, it wasn’t until I was diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) in 2020 and spent a week in the hospital in March 2021 for overdosing on lithium that my psychiatrist and therapist at the time recommended I find a DBT (Dialectical Behavior Therapy) program.

Thanks to Doug and the skills I learned in DBT, I’m no longer diagnosable with BPD or PTSD. I still deal with depression and anxiety, but not to the same extent I did before DBT. I also don’t need therapy as much as I did.

I’m going back to my previous therapist, Parker. I actually really adore Parker. I just needed Doug more at the time.

Blogging

Here’s what I posted on the blog this week:

Reading

I listened to Neil Patrick Harris’ memoir CHOOSE YOUR OWN AUTOBIOGRAPHY this week. You can click the link above to read my review if you’re interested.

I’ve made a lot of progress on rereading SUNRUNNER’S FIRE by Melanie Rawn. I’m pretty sure I’ll finish it today or tomorrow. I’m also listening to HELLO, TRANSCRIBER by Hannah Morrissey.

Listening

Corey and I saw INSIDE OUT 2 this week and the theme song has been on my mind for most of the week.

Watching

Like I said above, Corey and I saw INSIDE OUT 2 this week. I loved it! Both movies are a subtle nod to what I learned in DBT. Sometimes our emotions can take over and cause us to act irrationally. As we get older, our emotions become more complex and harder to manage. We can learn to use our core sense of self (or our Wise Mind in DBT vernacular) to challenge our emotions and act more rationally. Emotions aren’t bad; we just need to learn to not let them take over.

Loving, Wanting, Needing

I have some really cute planters. I’ve been wanting to get plants for them. However, I know I’ll forget to water them because I keep them out of reach from my cats. Out of sight, out of mind. I’ve also tried succulents and killed them too. I decided the best option for me would be to crochet amigurumi plants. I’m in love with the cute little succulent I made for my 1.5-inch pot. Isn’t it cute?

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Next, I want to make some cactuses and flowers for my other planters. I just need to decide the color and style.

How was your week? Anything exciting happen?

July 7, 2024/32 Comments/by Jenni Elyse

Review: Choose Your Own Autobiography

Title: Choose Your Own Autobiography
Author: Neil Patrick Harris
Genre(s): LGBTQ+, Memoir, Non-Fiction
Pages: 291
Source: Library
For: Book Club
Rating:
Sexual Content:

Add to Goodreads

There's content in this book that may be triggering to some readers. I've tried to include the possible triggers in this book at end of my review.

Goodreads Synopsis

Tired of memoirs that only tell you what really happened? Sick of deeply personal accounts written in the first person? Seeking an exciting, interactive read that puts the “u” back in “aUtobiography”? Then look no further than CHOOSE YOUR OWN AUTOBIOGRAPHY! In this revolutionary, Joycean experiment in light celebrity narrative, actor/personality/carbon-based life-form Neil Patrick Harris lets you, the reader, live his life. Choose correctly and you’ll find fame, fortune, and true love. Choose incorrectly and you’ll find misery, heartbreak, and a hideous death by piranhas.

My Thoughts

My IRL book club has done a memoir-of-choice-month in July for the last three or four years. This year I chose to read CHOOSE YOUR OWN AUTOBIOGRAPHY by Neil Patrick Harris (NPH).

I’ve been a fan of NPH for a while. I loved him as Barney Stinson in the sitcom HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER and as Dr. Horrible in Joss Whedon’s DR. HORRIBLE’S SING-ALONG BLOG. And, I thought it’d be fun to read his memoir.

CHOOSE YOUR OWN AUTOBIOGRAPHY is written in the style of the choose your own adventure novels. This style lends mostly to true stories about NPH with the occasional “if you want to listen to your own horrible death, keep listening” anecdotes. Like most celebrity memoirs, NPH narrates his own audiobook. He even breaks out into song every now and then. Even though the choose-your-own-adventure style would’ve worked better in book form, I think the audiobook is still worth listening to.

So pluck up your courage and take that risk! Add another story to the book of your life. Even if it doesn’t go the way you planned or wanted, you’ll still learn from it.

CHOOSE YOUR OWN AUTOBIOGRAPHY focuses on NPH as a whole rather than just one aspect of his life. It focuses on his acting, love of magic, coming out, finding love, and starting a family all while giving him a chance to be funny. I really loved a lot of the over-the-top parts. I especially loved listening to the sometimes true, sometimes comedic notes from his friends. My favorite parts, though, were the stories about his husband and their kids.

Despite the choose-your-own-adventure format not quite working in audiobook form, CHOOSE YOUR OWN AUTOBIOGRAPHY was fun to listen to and I’m glad I read it.

Have you read CHOOSE YOUR OWN AUTOBIOGRAPHY? If so, what did you think?

Trigger Warning

There is a trigger warning for bullying, derogatory comments toward gays, and drug use.

July 5, 2024/10 Comments/by Jenni Elyse

Challenges, Goals

2024 Reading Goals Check-In

Now that the year is halfway over (can you believe it?), I thought I’d check-in on my progress with my 2024 reading goals. My reading goals are:

Read at least 30 books.
Read 50% of my book club books.
Read at least 15 of my Book of the Month (BOTM) books.

I’ve been keeping track of my progress on my 2024 Reads page.

Yearly Goal

My goal for the year is to read 30 books and I’ve read 18. I’m more than halfway there! Woot Woot.

So far, my favorite books are:

IRL Book Club

I made a goal to read at least 50% of my IRL book club books this year. I’ve currently read 3 out of 6. To reach my goal, I only need to read three more books.

Book of the Month

Since joining BOTM in January 2022, I’ve amassed quite a lot of books I need / want to read. I made a goal to read 15 books by the end of the year. I’ve only read 2 so far. It looks like I’m quite a bit behind on this one. I think I better stop rereading books I’ve already read.

Even though I’m behind on my BOTM Challenge, I’m pretty happy with my reading progress, especially since I didn’t get much reading done in March and April thanks to my health. I’ve really loved all the books I’ve read this year and I can’t wait to discover more books to love during the last half of the year.

How are you doing on your goals this year?

July 2, 2024/8 Comments/by Jenni Elyse

Monthly

June 2024 Monthly Wrap-up

My reading suffered a lot in March and April thanks to my health issues. Even though I didn’t feel like starting any new-to-me books in May, I did reread the first three Harry Potter books via audio. I then finished rereading the series in June.

Because I didn’t read any new-to-me books in June either, this post’s more about updating my year-to-date stats and posting my plans for July than anything else. I’m hoping my reading will get back on track in July with some new-to-me books.

I learned in DBT (Dialectical Behavior Therapy) that life is full of dialectics, or two opposing truths. In this case, the two opposing truths are: 1) I don’t agree with JKR’s stance regarding trans people, and 2) I still love Harry Potter.