Month: September 2017

Monthly Recommendations: Required Reading

~ afledglingadult ~ 1 Comment

This is a Goodread’s group that gives book recommendations based on a different topic every month. This month is centered around the books that you believe that everyone should read. This was really hard for me so I decided to split it up by age-range and we will see how this works.

Children:

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster- I refer to this book frequently as though everyone had it… so everyone should. It’s wonderful and smart and made me feel less bad about liking school more than my classmates.

The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein – I am pretty sure everyone has had to read this for school or has been read this by some teacher figure. However, everyone needs to learn that they always have something to give BUT don’t anyone all of themselves.

Middle-grade:

Harry Potter by J.K.Rowling- You know you have to read this. There shouldn’t be a lot of discussion.       You will like it I pinky swear.

From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg – The traditional children running away from home. Claudia and Jamie don’t know why they just want to run away as all children should and they go to hide in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Young Adult:

Monster by Walter Dean Myers – Please read this. It’s the story of a young African-American man on trial in association for a crime he knew nothing about. As he studies film he writes his diary of the trial as a script. If you care about, race, or law, or film (everyone should care about all three) you need to read this.

The Harper Hall Trilogy by Anne McCaffery – This is one of my favorite series of all time . Dragons. Music. Found family. Being able to choose a home where you are safe and wanted. I think that everyone would enjoy at least some aspect of this series and I love it, so everyone should read it.

Adult:

The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman ( I know it says Stetson here but she got divorced for reasons obvious once you read the story) – It is a short horror story that is an iconic feminist and mental health tale. That everyone must read at at least one point in their life.

All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot – The only non-fiction book I am recommending because it is the best. It is the true story of an English country veterinarian and his truly bizarre adventure. It’s so interesting to learn about the medicine and culture. Also everyone I know likes it.

All the Kings Men by Robert Penn Warren – This was required reading for me and became one of my favorite books of all time. The best written book most people will ever read. It follows Jack Burden who works for a corrupt southern governor in the 1930s. It is both profound and hilarious, someone being compared to a drunkards poodle hilarious.

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Ambiguous Loss

~ afledglingadult ~ 1 Comment

So right now life sucks a little bit. Not just the stress of the year but my family suffered a loss. A loss but not a death. It’s hard to explain to others why I am hurting so bad when they aren’t dead. It is instead the loss of someone that was such a large part of my heart and my life that can no longer be that person, at least I don’t think so.

For a while I was trying to validate my feelings of grief when I came across the phenomena of Ambiguous Loss. It’s a very specific type of grief where there is no closure or true understanding of what happened just that it has happened. Unfortunately, there is also hope. The person that you love could become back to the person you loved again. It leaves you in the grieving process but doesn’t allow you to get to a point of acceptance because there is a hope of change.

So yeah, while life continues I am in a constant state of numb and sad. It’s definitely made planning for my future hard while there is such a hole in my present life. I’m restarting therapy this week but hopefully things start looking up or at least moving forward.

Wish me luck!

Senior Year

~ afledglingadult ~ Leave a comment

So, I am almost done with college. I have one semester left of finishing my undergraduate degree and to be honest I’m freaking out. I’m not exactly sure where or who I want to be when I leave this campus in four months. I’m not sure that I can do anything actually. Do you ever get that fear that if you talk about something too much it’s just not going to happen? I am planning and have been approved to graduate this December, however every time I bring it up I fear that it’s not actually going to happen. That I’ll have to explain myself when I come back next semester. I know that I should be fine.

This semester academically is tough I am taking an additional class to graduate early, which means I have a slightly heavier work load than most of my friends. But it’s all elective classes in my major and minor, which means I actually like the subject matter and I’m not just stuck with them. The weirdest part about being a senior though is when in class I am the oldest academically there. That’s freaky, sometimes I still feel as lost as a freshman.

My goals for this semester is not to fall behind academically but also not miss out socially. I don’t my last semester of college to be one that I regret or wish I had done something differently.

Wish me luck.

 

End of summer

~ afledglingadult ~ Leave a comment

It’s over. Both happy and sad that it has ended. I am pack at in Worcester and have started classes for my last semester of college. Summer was an incredible experience. I was able to live on my own in a new city. I am not ready to be a real adult. My most frequent meal was noodles in soup. My favorite snack was frozen corn, though I stand by that it is sweet and frozen and delicious.

Summer was amazing. I had to unwind and read so much. I actually got tired of reading which has never happened before. I got to explore a career I want to go into and a city I want to live in someday. I also got to spend a lot of time focusing on my relationship with my boyfriend and my parents. As well as making some new friends and be coming better friends with people who had been in my life before.