Week #7: 2023.05

2023-02-05

I can’t believe it’s already week 5 of 2023. It felt like January went by both quite fast and quite slow at the same time.

Update on 110 Reading Challenge

I am partaking in a reading challenge that my local library is doing. So far I have read 67 hours. Which means I read 12 hours this week. Continuing the streak, this is better than last week! :) I did admittedly read a lot over the weekend (and have plans to keep reading, still) but I managed to read more every day.

As for the actual challenge, I would need to read about 2 hours every day to meet the 110 goal… Not sure if it is doable but I have a lot of reading I want to get through so it might work out in the end.

Books I Read

• The Crucible by Arthur Miller: As a non-American, I feel like this was extremely interesting to read. It really hits home how foundational Puritanical culture was for America. It is very interesting how this was based on actual trials. Really one that I need a few days to process.

Books I’m Currently Reading

There are some books from last week that I’m still reading and some that I have picked up.

• Norton Anthology of American Literature (Shorter Version) 6th. Edition by Nina Baym: We’re (still) slowly making our way through this book. Last week we read Cotton Mather and Mary Rowlandson. This week the task was to read Sarah Kemble Knight and Jonathan Edwards. I found Edwards’s to be rather repetitive but I enjoyed the Wharton-esque nature of Knight’s excerpts.
• Healing Rites by Mattea: This is officially a DNF. Oops.
• The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin (again): Just finished chapter four and five this morning. I did not feel as emotional the first time I read this book but chapter four this time around, got me. Le Guin takes an interesting take, including the abolishing of family and how it could affect children. It’s interesting how Shevek’s role models in the book are both women: Mitis and Gavarab. Maybe he is trying to fill the hole that his mother left him? Curious… Le Guin is masterful.
• The Pen is the Wing of a Bird by Afghan Women: I only have read three or four short stories in this collection so far. It is incredibly profound and mundane at the same time. I will need to keep reading!

Week #6: 2023.04

2023-01-30

Update on 110 Reading Challenge

I am partaking in a reading challenge that my local library is doing. So far I have read 55 hours. Which means I just read 10 hours this week. Better than last week! :) I got super absorbed in my reading this week. Admittedly, most of the reading happened on the weekend. I wish I could be more consistent on the weekdays with reading, however.

Books I Read

• The Crucible by Arthur Miller: As a non-American, I feel like this was extremely interesting to read. It really hits home how foundational Puritanical culture was for America. It is very interesting how this was based on actual trials. Really one that I need a few days to process.

Books I’m Currently Reading

There are some books from last week that I’m still reading and some that I have picked up.

• Norton Anthology of American Literature (Shorter Version) 6th. Edition by Nina Baym: We’re (still) slowly making our way through this book. I only read the first part of our readings. I still need the rest of them. Hopefully tonight!
• Healing Rites by Mattea: I have made zero progress on this since last week. I will try to give it another shot this week but it might just be a DNF after all.
• The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin (again): I signed up for a course with the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research that will cover The Dispossessed and it’s relation to anarchism. We already did one seminar and it was really good. I’m making it my goal to say at least one thing in each session. I am terrible with forming arguments and need practice with it…

A Month Retrospective

We’re already 4 weeks into 2023! The month went by quite fast. I am unsure about how I feel about this month. A lot of ups and downs this month. I think the best thing about this month is that I did not let the downs stay down and tried my best to pick it up again and pick it up fast.

THINKING About Joining #LoveHain

On the Fediverse, someone is running an Ursula K. Le Guin book club of sorts. I am absolutely booked for the month of February (they are reading Planet of Exile right now) but maybe I will join in March, when they start reading City of Illusions. I will 100% join in April, where the focus is on the book, The Left Hand of Darkness.

Week #5: 2023.03

2023-01-22

Update on 110 Reading Challenge

I am partaking in a reading challenge that my local library is doing. So far I have read 45 hours. Which means I just read 6 hours this week. Worse than last week. :( Part of it was because I was struggling with technology issues part way through the week (shakes fist at Mercury retrograde). The tinkering took up a lot of time. Hopefully this week I’ll be able to read more.

Books I Read

• The Cybernetic Tea Shop by Meredith Katz: This was a little sci-fi novella that I found at the library. It’s a romance set in an alternative world where AI sentient beings exists. Very sweet and short.
• Equipose by Katie Zdybel: I am very glad I saw this at the library. It was featured in the “prose” section and rightfully so. The prose in this little collection of stories was absolutely immersive. I was pulled into each little world of the characters that was lovingly crafted by Zdybel.
• Nana (Volume 1) by Ai Yazawa: I was re-watching Nana (the anime) and decided to re-read the manga as well. The anime made me forget that Ai Yazawa drew so beautifully. Here drawing style is so unique and pretty. The characters suffer from some same-face-itis but their personalities make up for it.

Books I’m Currently Reading

There are some books from last week that I’m still reading and some that I have picked up.

• Norton Anthology of American Literature (Shorter Version) 6th. Edition by Nina Baym: We’re slowly making our way through this book. I just finished reading excerpts from Thomas Harriot, William Bradford, and John Smith. I never really understood the cultural significance of The Mayflower (I remember reading some book where some character bragged about having an ancestor who stepped off of The Mayflower and being like “okay?”) so this was interesting to read. This section was somewhat religion heavy.
• Healing Rites by Mattea: I am on the verge of marking this one DNF (did not finish). The writing is not my cup of tea. I was able to endure it in the first short story because I was curious about the world but the rest of of the stories just make my eyes glaze over… I’ll give it another 2 pages and see how it goes from there.

Making the Decision to Self-Study

I was originally going to go back to school in the fall. However, after running numbers and weighing responsibilities, I’ve decided that I will just self-study for the time being while I acquire capital. Right now I am supporting my aging parents and while I have moved back in with them and therefore have more disposable income, I still don’t have my own home. I don’t have a good emergency fund. As a result, I cannot afford another degree (taking a loan seems risky as well).

So this week I will concentrate on setting a plan for myself for the upcoming year. I think this would be a good testing ground as well, to see if I truly like the English Literature content enough for me to dedicate another 4-5 years to it.

Week #4: 2023.02

2023-01-15

Update on 110 Reading Challenge

I am partaking in a reading challenge that my local library is doing. So far I have read 39 hours. Which means I just read 8 hours this week. That’s a little over an hour per day… At the current pace I’m going, I would need to read almost 2 hours per day. Am I sweating? Maybe.

Books I Read

• The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin: I just finished reading this book and… Wow! I want more. I really wish the book didn’t end on such a cliffhanger. Ursula K. Le Guin is brilliant. She was able to weave really dense anarchist theory into a wonderful narrative. This was a great thought experiment.
• It Never Happened Again by Sam Alden: I was intrigued by the medium this artist chose for this graphic novel. Alden drew this novel in pencil. The first story was rather loose and sketchy, whereas the second story was more tight and detailed. They were both touching stories.
• Aya by Marguerite Abouet: This was another graphic novel that I devoured. It was a quick read. The contents aren’t exactly the most lighthearted, but the characters were lively and dynamic, which made me keep reading. Teenagers are gonna teenage.

Books I’m Currently Reading

There are some books from last week that I’m still reading and some that I have picked up.

• The Cybernetic Tea Shop by Meredith Katz: I haven’t made much progress on this one since last week. I was too absorbed in The Dispossessed!
• Norton Anthology of American Literature (Shorter Version) 6th. Edition by Nina Baym: We’re slowly making our way through this book. I just finished reading excerpts from Thomas Harriot, William Bradford, and John Smith. I never really understood the cultural significance of The Mayflower (I remember reading some book where some character bragged about having an ancestor who stepped off of The Mayflower and being like “okay?”) so this was interesting to read. This section was somewhat religion heavy.
• Healing Rites by Mattea: I’m still finding that this is dragging on a bit. I made it to the third story, but… I could not care more. Hopefully once I get through this story, the rest will be easier to read.

RE: Nighttime Routine

I still struggled with my nighttime routine last week. However, last night I was in bed by before 22:00, and I hope the trend continues. My goal is ultimately to wake up around 04:00-04:30 every day. I was making a schedule for myself, and I never realized how little free time I have. There are about 4 hours of free time that I have every day (if it’s a good day) and 1 hour of free time if it’s a bad day. Of course, my “free time” will be dedicated “study”/“school” time once school starts in the fall.

Spending Time with Family

Lately, I’m also trying to spend more time with family. My parents are aging and now that I’ve moved back home, I’m trying to be around them more. We went out for lunch over the weekend and I went for a walk with my dad.

Exercise???

One of the things that I’ve realized is that if I want to go to the gym, how?? I can’t go in the morning because it would eat at my study time. But if I go in the evening, I will have to go to bed later. There is literally no space. I think maybe I will exercise over lunch. There is no other way around it, unfortunately. The old adage of “School. Work. Social Life. Gym. Sleep. Pick three.” seems to ring true here.