Week #27 - Jan 01 to Jan 08

2025-01-09

  • 😷 I got sick yesterday and I'm already late for the first week note of the year. I've been spending a lot of time lying in my bed, reading. Trying hard not to feel bad about already not being productive. But I finally have energy to be writing blog posts.
  • 🎈 I got promoted yesterday, and it came totally out of the blue. I learned about this while still sick so I was very much confused. I'm a very anxious person and prone to pessimism and I saw a lot of weird signs leading up to it, but I took it in the opposite direction. I thought that maybe I was getting fired. First, my manager suddenly added me on LinkedIn. Then he said that we had to go into the office very early yesterday (I luckily became sick hah). Then he sent out invites to everyone on my team except for me. And then, in the call where I was told that I was promoted, someone very high up started calling me. I panicked. Last time I heard that happening was during the layoffs. Turns out, I got promoted instead. All that worry for nothing.
  • 🏢 Getting back into the work routine has proved to be very difficult. Especially adding the fact that I'm sick. Also, because of the partying from last year, my sleep schedule is rightly messed up. I'm blaming the Mars retrograde.
  • 🗓️ I haven't made a post about my 2025 bingo yet, but I already knocked out an item off of my 2025 bingo: go to the library, not take out any books, and just read. Thinking about it now, maybe that was the thing that got me sick. On Monday, I had to return some library books after some books. There is a coffee shop attached to the downtown library and I grabbed a hazelnut latte, went in, and sat and read a bit. It was a nice little pause in the day.

Speaking of reading...

📚 Reading

  • The first book I finished reading for the year was Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction. Like for many people, the first book I finished was a book that I started last year. I go into it in my linked review, but the book was quite interesting, but I came out of it thinking that there is a lot more that I don't know than I initially thought. It's a good read if you don't know anything about philosophy and want a single taste, a grain's worth of rice, of it.
  • I started reading Murder on the Links with Joel! Agatha Christie novels are just sooo easy to read. You realize after reading for a bit that you've actually read a quite of few chapters. I originally listened to this on the Pheobe Reads a Mystery podcast, so this is technically a re-read? I'm sure there are people who contest that listening to a book counts as reading a book, but ah, I count it.
  • Also started reading Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier and oh my goodness. I had to force myself a little to get past the first two chapters but after that it was smooth sailing. Wow. It is a great read so far. At first it felt very contemporary, but quickly started to show its 1930s sensibilities.
  • I am still reading Anna Karenina. I finally (hopefully) finished the farming subplot (I hope that's not too spoilery) and getting back into the drama so I'm full speed ahead now! I joke, the farming subplot did reveal quite a lot about certain characters, but man, I could care less about Russian farming techniques.
  • As for the manga front, I started, finished, and am currently reading a few series. Notably, I started reading Nodame Cantanible. I always wanted to read it and I've a couple of times but this time it's sticking! One that I've seen around quite a bit is The Guy She was Interested in Wasn't a Guy At All so I've finally started reading that. It's like it was written for me. A lesbian love story for rock lovers.

Speaking of music...

🎵 Music

  • Things are kinda slow on the music front. Mainly because I moved away from Spotify and I'm trying to watch less YouTube nowadays. I've been playing it safe and just listening to the tried and true. Makes music discovery a bit difficult. Unless an album is on Bandcamp. I love Bandcamp.
  • I find that the artist collage is a little boring and repetitive, so this year we're going with an album collage! My top albums from last week are:
    • Born & Raised (Live at St. Catharines, Onatrio, 2022) by Alexisonfire - Alexisonfire is from St. Catharines so it makes sense they made a concert album at a show there. Great album, makes me want to go see Alexisonfire for the fifth time!
    • It Wasn't Supposed to Be Like This by pulses. - A very fun post-hardcore album! Some people describe it was "swancore" and uh, that is so spot on. If you like Dance Gavin Dance, you'll most likely love this band!
    • The Land is Inhospitable and So Are We by Mitski
    • The Best of Saint-Saens by Camille Saint-Saens - Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso is my reading song and I played that a lot while reading Anna Karenina and Rebecca last week.
    • Stay Golden by Combat - I posted about this on the fediverse, but I really like this band! A gen z take on pop punk, but it kinda has a midwest emo touch. Really fun!
    • & by Bastille - One of Jam's most played albums from 2024. I love listening to people's top songs and albums from the year. Unfortunately not my speed but not bad at all.
    • Get Up by NewJeans
    • TORI. by Tori Kelly - Another album from Jam's top 2024. I liked this one a lot! I never really listened to a lot of Tori Kelly before, but I like her sound.

2025-01-08