Month: June 2019

Ender’s Shadow by Orson Scott Card (SPOILERS)

~ afledglingadult ~ Leave a comment

So I didn’t write a review of last month’s book club pick Ender’s Game because I felt it was so popular and I didn’t think that I had anything strong to say about it given so much has already been said. Book club got a little dramatic because we drastically disagreed on the differences between the Wiggins.

However, this month’s book was Ender’s Shadow, being about Bean I was pretty excited to read it as he is a fan favorite. He was like a more confident Ender that always a step behind. I ended up giving this book 3 STARS! I ended up being kinda disappointed with my overall feelings of the world after reading this book.

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Mid-year Goal Check-in

~ afledglingadult ~ Leave a comment

So it is about midyear which means the year is about half way over. This to me is just bizarre but maybe it’s because I wasn’t working and mostly just home for 3 months before I was employed. I thought I would check in with the goals I made through out the year and see what I have accomplished, what is still feasible, and what to adjust.

Life Goals:

  • I went to my friends wedding which you can learn about here.
  • Have not gotten a credit card yet but it is harder than I expected to choose a bank
  • Cooking is going well but it is hard to practice as much as I want cause my partner is such a good cook and makes a lot of our dinners.
    • For the second half of the year I’m going to focus on cooking more often and learning a new recipe once a month, not twice.

Career Goals:

  • GOT A JOB! Just had my three month review and feel confident in the job for a while.
  • I have had 2 public speaking engagements and hope to have more this year
  • I attended no networking events… I am very afraid to meet new people and make these new connections event though I should

Health Goals:

  • I have stuck very well to not buying pre-made desserts though sometimes my partner buys me a treat which is nice. Still trying to stick to this goal, but need to purchase more baking gear.
  • One meatless meal a week has proven to be much less of a problem than I had anticipated.
  • I really sucked at my water goal but two weeks ago I bought a waterbottle (honestly this was shocking)
    • The new goal is to finish one everyday (32 oz.)

Writing Goals:

  • So I have been doing a lot of work writing but my person writing has definitely fallen by the wayside.
    • Goal for the rest of the year is to edit two short stories and finish a rough draft of my novel that I have been planning for years
  • Blogging has not been going as well as I wanted (most of the time I don’t hit three). I didn’t do a review for May’s book club as it was ender’s game and I didn’t have anything new to say. My goal is to re-up in the new year.

Reading Goals:

  • I have read 67 books so far this year.
    • One DNF
    • My favorites so far this year:
      • Bloodwitch by Susan Dennard
      • The Forgotten Sisters by Shannon Hale
      • The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
  • I was really well on my way to reducing unread book I owned by then of course I bought more.
  • I have only read two 2019 releases but I am intending to read more in the back half of the year. They are more accessible in the library.
  • I finished 4 (ish!) series but to be fair two were duologies. I am going to attempt now to finish 9 series.

Wish me luck in the back half of the year meeting all my goals!

5 Year High School Reunion

~ afledglingadult ~ Leave a comment

So this past weekend was the 5-year reunion of my high school’s graduating class. I did not go because of being many states away and also have an insane amount of work this weekend (but last work weekend til october!). However, these sorts of anniversaries bring up a lot of memories and realizations. For starters, I have now been out of high school longer than I was in it! Woo-hoo!

I don’t know that high school was the easiest of times for anyone but it was certainly at least logistically and financially easier. Structure was imposed by parents and schools. I had only time commitments no financial ones. Do you remember when you thought of these things as restraints and not supports? And the 5/10/20 year plans that you made while those supports were in place. While my life is DRASTICALLY different than what I anticipated when I was graduating high school my 5 yer plan could have been garbage for how much I followed it.

I am not trying to complain because my life to be fair is far better, happier, and stabler than my 17 year old brain had the capacity to visualize. It is weird though when I think of the people I graduated high school with and who I thought would be friends for life I was right about like 2 out of 3 most of the time. It’s so bizarre that these people that you are with 40 + hours a week for 4 years if not more before that are out living these lives that you are never going to intersect with again.

Anyways back to the point of the reunion, I didn’t really think I had to go besides being busy because I believed had reunited with all the people I wanted to. Then I saw the photos. There are straight-up people I forgot existed. Anyways 5 years is a lot longer than I realized even though it doesn’t feel very far away.

Here’s hoping that the next five years have more reunions and my life is better in ways I can’t anticipate now.