July 2019 – Pretend adult here

So back in May I did the O.W.L read-a-thon based on the Harry Potter wizarding tests to pursue a professional wizarding career based on prompts for each of the Hogwarts subjects. August is the next level of tests called the N.E.W.Ts (Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests) all the details of which can be found here. The Wizarding career I am going for is Healer, so I need to achieve an E in Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, Potions, and Transfiguration. Normally I would try for O (outstanding) in these subjects, but its gonna be a pretty crazy month so 10 books is more than enough. For every subject I have to read the Acceptable (A) before I can start the Exceeds Expectations (E) challenge.

Charms A (Read a book with a gorgeous cover) – Heartless by Marissa Meyer, our book club pick for August.

Charms E (Read a comic or graphic novel) – Magic Within Vol. 4 by Tania del Rio

Defense Against the Dark Arts A (Book that is black under the dust jacket) – Black Bird of the Gallow by Meg Kassel

Defense Against the Dark Arts E (Memory Charm: first book on your TBR that comes to mind) – Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

Herbology A (Mandrake: book with a green cover) – Spindle’s End by Robin McKinley, one of my all time favorites which I haven’t reread in far too long.

Herbology E (Read a book between 350 and 390 pages) – From Unseen Fire by Cass Morgan which comes in at exactly 390 pages. Possibly my most anticipated read a Roman fantasy with 9 types of elemental magic and a power stuggle. I AM SO EXCITED!

Potions A (Polyjuice Potion: Read a friend’s favorite book) – Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie. Techinically this is one of my mom’s favorite books/authors but we are friends so it’s cool.

Potions E (House Ingredient: book with house colors) – I am a proud Gryffindor and will be reading Chimera’s Curse by Julia Golding which has both crimson and gold on the cover.

Transfiguration A (Read a book with LGBTQIA representation) – The Color Purple by Alice Walker

Transfiguration E (Read a book that’s not the first in a series) – Intheritance by Christopher Paolini

Wish me luck completing all these challenges in the next 31 days and passing my NEWTS!

So the last month has been crazy and believe it or not the next month will be even crazier. Work has gone into overdrive and I had to take time away from my main job to go be a camp counselor for 5-7 year olds for two days, which was a trying time. A friend from home came to visit. My sister came and stayed with us for a week. I wrote almost 20 pages of curriculum for work and created more work for myself for the rest of summer because I am a genius. I also joined a committee at work but mostly just the work aspect and none of the ceremonial aspect.

I’ve been really stuck reading lately but… Amazon Prime can now connect with the Cast which has totally changed the entertainment game has changed in our apartment. I finally finished the Expanse Season 1. It was so good! However, continuing on is hard because it is a show I really need to focus on. Unfortunately this is not always what I want at the end of a long work day. So I’ve just been kinda vegging out after work which puts me in a weird head funk a lot.

Coming up, we are figuring out the vacation days we are taking for the rest of the year as we have to take holidays super early. Figuring out joint holidays is rough. We also may be moving in the next month because of an almost plumbing accident and bad timing. We weren’t planning on moving for the next year and is a whole finicky can of worms I’m not ready to deal with but also currently dealing with. The work is getting real and I am taking on more responsibility than I had anticipated. I can’t tell if it’s all the heat wave or responsibility or the vegging or just my anxiety getting so much worse but my mental health hasn’t been in the greatest place lately.

However, both my and my partner’s birthdays are coming up in the next 5 weeks. I am mostly working from home in the next month and finishing a lot of projects soon and hopefully I will feel much better in the coming weeks as things are wrapped up. I plan on grounding myself in writing and the N.E.W.T readathon. Hopefully things get less crazy and I feel so much better.

Wish me luck moving forward.

Month: July 2019

N.E.W.T Readathon TBR

Life is crazy and maybe I am too…