Sunday News #41

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’m feeling a bunch of things this week. First, I’m feeling excited and nervous. NaNoWriMo starts on Tuesday and I’m excited to finally participate. I’m also nervous because I’m not sure I can do this. I’m such a perfectionist that it’s going to be really hard for me to just write and not worry about making it perfect even for the first draft.

I’m also feeling a bit discouraged about blogging and reading in general. Ever since Corey and I decided to sell our townhome back in May, I feel like my blogging and reading haven’t been the same and they’ve slowly been getting worse. Because I’m not reading, I don’t have any new material to talk about and I’m worried I’m going to lose followers due to lackluster posts and not always commenting on other blogs. And, because of NaNoWriMo, I’m going to be blogging and reading even less than I have been for the next month.

Blogging

This week on the blog:

Reading

I’m a little over halfway through the NEW MOON audiobook. I haven’t read anything else.

Listening

I’ve been listening to my “Songs That Make Me Happy” playlist this week and one of my very favorites is “Party Rock Anthem” by LMFAO. Here it is for anyone unfamiliar with it.

Watching

Corey and I watched a lot of things this week (mostly on Netflix). We started bingeing ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT. We’ve both seen seasons 1 through 3 and part of 4. What we watched of season 4 sucked, but I’ve heard season 5’s better. We’ll see.

We also watched a couple of thrillers and comedies. The first thriller was a limited series called THE WATCHER. It’s very loosely based on a true story. I enjoyed the series even though the ending was a bit ambiguous and confusing.

We next watched THE VAULT. It’s a Spanish-produced English heist movie with Freddie Highmore and Sam Riley. It was a lot of fun and very suspenseful. It reminded me of a non-comedy version OCEAN’S ELEVEN meets NOW YOU SEE ME.

We watched I CAME BY next, a movie about a corrupt judge in London and a couple of graffiti taggers who want to bring him to justice. I don’t want to give anything away so that’s all I’m going to say other than I thought it was really interesting.

We also watched ME TIME, a comedy with Kevin Hart and Mark Wahlberg. It was funny. Hart and Wahlberg had really good chemistry (aromantic), almost as good as Hart and Dwayne Johnson do in their movies.

We tried out an episode of MURDERVILLE with Will Arnett. I thought it was funny, but Corey didn’t so we didn’t continue watching. I’ll probably watch it without him.

I watched a few episodes of EASY-BAKE BATTLE. I’m enjoying it a lot. I think some of the cooking hacks are really ingenious and others are stupid and make cooking for difficult. LOL.

Finally, I watched DEAR EVAN HANSEN. It was the first time I’ve seen it. I loved it. I felt seen.

Loving

I love soaking in epsom salt. I had a massage on Wednesday morning to help with the tightness in my muscles around my pinched nerve. After the massage, my massage therapist recommended I take a bath with epsom salt to help with the pain. It was amazing! Sadly, my pinched nerve was severely inflamed on Thursday due to the massage. I went back to the chiropractor on Friday and the pain mellowed again.

Wanting

I want to confess something. You may have been wondering why I haven’t talked about school very much since August. I decided to take a leave of absence for the semester or longer because I had a hard time doing school while in PTSD therapy. I should be done with therapy in November or December so I registered for next semester.

I’m still going to pursue a BA in Spanish with a certificate of proficiency in Japanese. I also registered for a web development class. Because I love CSS and HTML coding, Corey thinks I’d enjoy being a front-end web designer so I thought I’d take a class and see what I think.

Needing

I still need to prepare for NaNoWriMo. I have a basic outline of my story done. I just need to do a little bit of research and then I’ll be ready … I think.

How was your week? Anything exciting happen?

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Sunday News #40

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’m feeling proud of myself. My SUDS (Subjective Units of Distress Scale) when I started my first memory in PTSD therapy was about 95, on a scale between 1 and 100 with 100 being the most distress. It’s now around 36. When I related the memory to my therapist last week, there was no visual distress. That’s a huge improvement! I can also be dialectical about what happened instead of just fearful, angry, disgusted, and sad.

Tomorrow, we start working on another memory. My therapist said that it probably won’t take nearly as long as the first one did to get to a tolerable distress level. I can actually see a light at the end of the tunnel.

Blogging

This week on the blog:

Reading

Surprise, surprise, I didn’t read much this past week thanks to the pain caused by the pinched nerve I mentioned last week. There’s no way I could concentrate while I was in as much pain as I was. Hopefully, next week I can get back to THE UNDERTAKING OF HART OF MERCY.

I finished listening to the TWILIGHT audiobook. It was a lot of fun. I’ll start listening to the NEW MOON audiobook tomorrow.

Listening

Every time I rewatch the TWILIGHT movies, I’m reminded how much I enjoy the music in NEW MOON. I love the minor key and I’ve been listening to the score non-stop. Even if you’re not a fan of the movies or books, you can appreciate the music. For your listening pleasure, here’s “Full Moon” by Alexandre Desplat.

Watching

Corey and I finished bingeing COMMUNITY this week. It was bittersweet. The last season isn’t nearly as good as the previous one, and it was still hard to say goodbye to all the actors/characters. I’m excited and intrigued about the movie they’re currently working.

As indicated above, I also watched all five TWILIGHT movies. They start out rough, but I like both Breaking Dawn movies, especially the ending of Part 2.

We also watched THE INVITATION and I thought it was really good. I really enjoyed the modern take on the DRACULA tale. The movie’s a lot like READY OR NOT with Samara Weaving only with vampires.

After watching THE INVITATION, we watched READY OR NOT since they’re similar. READY OR NOT is highly underrated and I recommend it! For those of you who aren’t familiar with it, it’s a horror movie containing dark humor. Here’s the trailer:

Loving

I love my chiropractor. I’ve been in so much pain because of my pinched nerve. I couldn’t sleep properly and nothing seemed to relieve the pain until my adjustment on Friday. He uses a special machine to align the neck and spine by gently tapping your vertebrae into place. He’ll also manually adjust when it’s necessary, which it was. My neck was very locked up, he said. I also had STEM therapy on my shoulder and ultrasound therapy on my neck.

My pinched nerve area–arm and shoulder blade–is still sore, but not like it was. It’s now bearable. I can sleep and enjoy life again. I’m going back on Monday and Wednesday and I’m getting a massage on Wednesday too.

Wanting

I want to buy a shirt for Halloween. I have a sweatshirt with Jack Skellington on it, but it’s still too warm to wear it. Maybe I’ll look for a regular T-shirt with Jack on it.

Needing

I need to get ready for NaNoWriMo. I’ve always wanted to participate, but I’ve never had the time, energy, or story idea to do it. This time, I think I have all three.

How was your week? Anything exciting happen?

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Sunday News #39

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 didn’t really feel like blogging this past week. I was tired, worn out, and in pain (see below for details). I’m still not feeling like blogging very much AND I’m using my DBT (Dialectical Behavior Therapy) skills to act opposite of my depression urge of not doing anything. If I do this, my depression will lessen and I’ll want to blog again soon rather than force myself to.

Blogging

On the blog since my last post:

Reading

I decided to put WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING by Delia Owens aside since I’m not really in the mood to read it at the moment. I started reading THE UNDERTAKING OF HART AND MERCY by Megan Bannen instead. I haven’t read a lot, but what I have read is very interesting.

I also realized that listening to the Harry Potter audiobooks was really helping me with my emotion regulation after each exposure session for PTSD therapy. Since I finished the series a few weeks ago, I decided to start listening to the TWILIGHT audiobook. It’s helping and doing what I need it to do.

Listening

I haven’t really listened to a lot of music over the last two weeks. However when I did, I mostly listened to my Instrumental Favorites playlist. I’m sharing two songs from that playlist because they’re related.

One of my favorite songs is Pachelbel’s “Canon in D,” which is the first song for those unfamiliar with it. The second song’s one I came across on Apple Music when I was searching for a good rendition of the original. It’s called “An Improvisation on Canon in D” by Robin Spielberg.

Watching

Last week I found ECHOES on Netflix and pretty much binged the entire 7 episodes in one night. It stars Michelle Monaghan as two identical sisters, Matt Bomer as one of the husbands, and Daniel Sunjata as the other husband. It was very addicting, suspenseful, and I wish it wasn’t a limited series because I’d love another season!

Corey and I’ve also been making progress on our bingeing of COMMUNITY. We have less than one season left. This show is gold, at least the first four seasons are. The last two seasons have some good moments too, but they are different. If you haven’t watched COMMUNITY yet, I definitely recommend it. You can find it on Hulu or Netflix.

We also watched the last three Harry Potter movies since I finished listening to the audiobooks a couple of weeks ago. I really have such a love/hate relationship with the movies. I love the actors and watching my favorite series come to life AND I really hate how some of the story’s adapted. #firstworldproblems

I learned in DBT 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.

Loving

I love my current manicure and pedicure. I decided to do both sets the same color with different decorations.

Wanting

I want the pinched nerve in my right shoulder blade to stop hurting. The pain is so intense and it’s radiating up my neck and down to my fingers. My arm feels dead and painful at the same time.

I took some Ibuprofen, my Fibromyalgia pain meds, and a muscle relaxer before bed. I’ve been alternating between a heating pad and ice. I also had Corey rub some Icy Hot (i.e., Bengay) on me and rub out the knot in my muscle, which hurt like hell! Hopefully, the pain will go away soon.

Needing Laughing

I’m laughing about something that happened on Monday night. A little bit after I got in bed, I noticed a good-sized black bulbous spider rearing next to my head. For those of you who don’t know, I have extreme arachnophobia so I flipped out! I scrambled out of bed as fast as I could, landed on my ankle wrong, and fell down in the process.

Corey heard me scream, fall, and start to cry in both fear and pain. I told him what happened and he pretty much turned the room upside down looking for the spider. He couldn’t find it. We concluded I must’ve dreamt it.

I’m still having a hard time accepting that it was a dream. It seemed SO real. My ankle’s nearly all better. It wasn’t funny at the time, but I can laugh at it now.

How was your week? Anything exciting happen?

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Sunday News #38

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 blah this week. I haven’t felt well physically or mentally. I definitely haven’t felt like blogging or reading. Corey thinks the trauma I’m working through in my PTSD therapy is not only taking its toll on my mental health, but my physical health as well. It has been proven that our bodies often react physically to extreme stress and mine is acting in kind. I’ve been experiencing gastrointestinal discomfort, nausea, lack of appetite, cravings for sugar and carbs, dizziness, extreme fatigue, a facial rash, headaches, sore throat, sinus congestion, and body aches. It sounds like I have a cold, the flu, COVID, or something else, but I don’t. The symptoms come and go.

Blogging

Even though I didn’t feel like blogging much this week, I did still post a few things. This week on the blog:

I’m sorry I haven’t responded to the comments on my posts yet. And, I’m even more sorry I haven’t commented on very many blogs this week. I probably won’t try to catch up on every post I missed as that would take days, but I am planning on spending some time today responding to the comments on my blog and commenting on other Sunday Posts. Thank you, all, for continuing to comment on my blog even though I’ve been absent.

Reading

I finished listening to the HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS audiobook. I loved every minute of it. It really helped this week when I was feeling distraught mentally and physically.

I haven’t read or even tried to read anything else. I really do hope I’ll feel like reading something this week. I may put WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING down, even though I’m enjoying the story. Maybe, I’ll keep reading one chapter a day and then turn my focus on something more light-hearted like LOVE ON THE BRAIN by Ali Hazelwood.

I learned in DBT 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.

Listening

Since I haven’t been in the mood to read this week, I watched a few movies. I’m embarrassed about sharing this, especially since I grew up in a very sexually conservative religion and watching movies with nudity or that center around sex is frowned upon. If my family or some of my IRL friends read this, they’d probably be very disappointed in or shocked at my choices.

I’m also embarrassed because of the negativity associated with the Fifty Shades franchise because of its connection with and misrepresentation of BDSM. (At least that’s what I’ve read.) Still, I watched the trilogy this week because I was curious. I’m a huge fan of the Twilight Saga and I wanted to see what EL James took from Stephenie Meyer’s series to get FIFTY SHADES OF GREY. I don’t feel the need to read the books, but I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the movies.

The only reason I’m sharing this is one of the songs from the second movie, FIFTY SHADES DARKER, really captured my attention. It’s a cover of “The Scientist,” which is one of my favorite songs. I like Coldplay’s version better, but I really enjoyed this rendition too. This version is sung by Corinne Bailey Rae.

Watching

As I already said, I watched the Fifty Shades trilogy. I thought Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson were very believable in their roles. I also thought they had great chemistry. And, as I said above, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the stories.

I also broke down and watched the movie adaptation of WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING. I was going to wait until I finished reading the book, but I decided to watch the movie to help motivate me. I really enjoyed the movie and I’m more excited to read the book now if I can just get over this mental slump I’m in.

Loving

Even though I missed participating in the community this week, I loved taking a bit of a break. It was very restorative and I hope it has renewed my interest in reading, blogging, and commenting.

Wanting Wishing

I wish I could go back to being oblivious in regards to my religion. I was happy in my ignorance. Now that I’ve opened my eyes, I feel constant shame and guilt for turning my back on how I grew up and what I used to believe. I’m trying to find a middle ground. It has been really difficult, though, because everything seems so black and white in religion.

Needing

I need to quit putting so much pressure on myself. I’m good the way I am. It’s okay if I’m in the middle of a faith crisis. It’s okay if I do things my friends and family wouldn’t do. It’s okay to become someone different than I expected. It’s okay not to have all the answers. I still have worth.

How was your week? Anything exciting happen?

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Sunday News #37

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’m feeling exhausted and a little more like myself. (I expound on my exhaustion in a couple of sections below.) As far as the second bit, I had a really good talk with my therapist about how PTSD therapy’s affecting me. He reminded me about a couple skills I learned in DBT (Dialectical Behavior Therapy) that I don’t use very often. I tried using them during some of my exposure sessions and they helped me cope with the ups and downs of my emotions.

Blogging

This week on the blog:

I really enjoyed and looked forward to participating in more Let’s Talk Bookish discussions, but I’m a bit disappointed that the host isn’t very consistent in posting each week. And, she doesn’t use a linky so the participants can’t visit and read each other’s posts.

Reading

I’m still reading WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING by Delia Owens. I haven’t made much progress because I’ve been spending most of my reading time working on my blog design update. I’m planning to spend more time reading this week.

I’m about 75% of the way through the HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS audiobook. As I stated in my Book Blogger Hop post, it’s been helping me calm down after my exposure sessions.

I learned in DBT 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.

Listening

As some of you know, I enjoy listening to K-pop. My friend Suey (It’s All About Books) often sends me new songs and music to listen to. It’s fun discovering new bands to listen to when I’m in the mood.

Anyway, at book club this past Wednesday, she introduced me to Psy’s music video for his new song “That That.” I’d listened to the song before; I’d just never watched the video. For those in the know, he’s joined by Suga (BTS) about halfway through.

Watching

Corey and I saw SEE HOW THEY RUN this week and it was so much fun. The comedic timing was perfect. The writing was so creative and funny and the actors and characters were fantastic. We want to see it again to catch all the things we may have missed the first time around.

The actress who portrayed Moaning Myrtle in the Harry Potter movies was in SEE HOW THEY RUN. She has such a unique voice that I recognized her immediately. Every time she spoke, I’d think of my favorite line from Myrtle: “Harry, if you die down there, you’re welcome to share my toilet.”

Loving

I loved our discussion at book club this week. We read THE GOOD SISTER by Sally Hepworth and it generated a lot of awesome thoughts on mental health, neurodivergence, and psychological thrillers in general. I’ll be posting my recap tomorrow if you’re interested in that at all.

I also loved going out to lunch with a friend this week. We were in the same DBT group. I started a few months before her. She graduated this week so we celebrated. We’re going to try to have a lunch date every month.

Wanting

I want to spend the day in bed listening to the rest of the HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS audiobook.

Needing

I need to chill today. Yesterday was a hard day. I went to my great-nephew’s birthday party as part of PTSD therapy. (I usually avoid family events.) It was the first time seeing any of my family since my dad’s funeral in December 2020. I’m glad I went and I’m spent. My emotions were pretty intense for most of the day.

How was your week? Anything exciting happen?

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