January stock-take/round-up
I ended up not getting round to doing a diary-type entry on Sunday, but I guess I can get the week's new things into a January round-up/stock-take sort of thing.
[Cut for length - content as per tags]The week's main non-work activities were going to see the Trainspotting sequel and finishing my second book of the month, Station Eleven by Emily St.John Mandel.
Station Eleven is a post-apocalyptic novel, set partly as a viral outbreak is in the process of taking down civilisation and partly about twenty years later. It won a number of sci-fi awards but the author isn't habitually an author of sci-fi, and it is quite 'lit-fic' (not always a bad thing, of course: The Handmaid's Tale is one of the best sci-fi novels ever written, and Atwood isn't a sci-fi author either). I could believe in the world after the fall and did like the idea of the Travelling Symphony, a band of actors and musicians who travel from one settlement to another. I found the connections between the characters who showed up pre- and post-apocalypse a little laboured at times, and I couldn't help thinking that if the plot had been more linear, rather than jumping backwards and forwards between pre- and post- (so that we were supposed to wait to find out 'Why did K have to kill someone?' and 'Who exactly is the dangerous cult leader?') , there wouldn't have been much tension in the plot at all. I don't think this book is quite as deep as it would like to think it is, and I won't be holding onto it to re-read, but it was entertaining enough for a few days.
T2: Trainspotting was a lot more affecting, for me. The first film was generally agreed to have caught the zeitgeist, and I think you could say that T2 did, too, as a lot of it was pretty damned depressing. However, there were some laugh-out-loud moments, albeit of the darker kind, and I found myself longing for things to work out for Spud, who really deserved a break after all this time (and for none of the other characters to actually destroy each other). As to whether I got either of my wishes, I shall not spoiler things, as it is a film worth seeing if you're at all that way inclined.
That was my third film of the month, and looking at my notebook, I think I did pretty well all told this month: 3 films, 2 books, 2 nightclubs, 1 gig and 1 weekend away. I also managed to find time to have a bit of a sort and tidy (the cupboard under the kitchen sink is in much less of a state and I have reorganised my wardrobe so I can actually find all my work meeting-suitable clothes) and to get to the opticians and to the dentist (who ended up referring me for a course of work under sedation in hospital!). In terms of the most important mental health-affecting things, I have made an appointment for an initial assessment for counselling - although even the wait for that is loooong - and have been keeping up with doing some exercise and a fair bit of Actual Cooking, often with Actual Vegetables. My recipe journal/thing shows that I have tried six completely new-to-me things this month as well as making a few old favourites.
I think the only thing I've not done any of at all this month is gaming. A went to a convention over the weekend just gone, but I decided it was better not to go along so that I didn't fall behind with work after a couple of inconveniently timed meetings. But I'm counting that decision as good self-care, so that's also a win.
So, all in all, a pretty successful month. Onwards!
[Cut for length - content as per tags]The week's main non-work activities were going to see the Trainspotting sequel and finishing my second book of the month, Station Eleven by Emily St.John Mandel.
Station Eleven is a post-apocalyptic novel, set partly as a viral outbreak is in the process of taking down civilisation and partly about twenty years later. It won a number of sci-fi awards but the author isn't habitually an author of sci-fi, and it is quite 'lit-fic' (not always a bad thing, of course: The Handmaid's Tale is one of the best sci-fi novels ever written, and Atwood isn't a sci-fi author either). I could believe in the world after the fall and did like the idea of the Travelling Symphony, a band of actors and musicians who travel from one settlement to another. I found the connections between the characters who showed up pre- and post-apocalypse a little laboured at times, and I couldn't help thinking that if the plot had been more linear, rather than jumping backwards and forwards between pre- and post- (so that we were supposed to wait to find out 'Why did K have to kill someone?' and 'Who exactly is the dangerous cult leader?') , there wouldn't have been much tension in the plot at all. I don't think this book is quite as deep as it would like to think it is, and I won't be holding onto it to re-read, but it was entertaining enough for a few days.
T2: Trainspotting was a lot more affecting, for me. The first film was generally agreed to have caught the zeitgeist, and I think you could say that T2 did, too, as a lot of it was pretty damned depressing. However, there were some laugh-out-loud moments, albeit of the darker kind, and I found myself longing for things to work out for Spud, who really deserved a break after all this time (and for none of the other characters to actually destroy each other). As to whether I got either of my wishes, I shall not spoiler things, as it is a film worth seeing if you're at all that way inclined.
That was my third film of the month, and looking at my notebook, I think I did pretty well all told this month: 3 films, 2 books, 2 nightclubs, 1 gig and 1 weekend away. I also managed to find time to have a bit of a sort and tidy (the cupboard under the kitchen sink is in much less of a state and I have reorganised my wardrobe so I can actually find all my work meeting-suitable clothes) and to get to the opticians and to the dentist (who ended up referring me for a course of work under sedation in hospital!). In terms of the most important mental health-affecting things, I have made an appointment for an initial assessment for counselling - although even the wait for that is loooong - and have been keeping up with doing some exercise and a fair bit of Actual Cooking, often with Actual Vegetables. My recipe journal/thing shows that I have tried six completely new-to-me things this month as well as making a few old favourites.
I think the only thing I've not done any of at all this month is gaming. A went to a convention over the weekend just gone, but I decided it was better not to go along so that I didn't fall behind with work after a couple of inconveniently timed meetings. But I'm counting that decision as good self-care, so that's also a win.
So, all in all, a pretty successful month. Onwards!