I'm still around!...
...although I haven't updated this journal publicly* in months. :S But it has been less time than it appears, however, because apparently I forgot to make this entry about the ending of one section of a French course I was doing public.
Still, that was about two months ago (and in the last year, holy *$^£!). Sorry, anyone who was reading this looking for updates! I shall endeavour to be better - an update once a month, at least, until I say something that changes that.
So, what has gone on in my life since then? Quite a lot, actually.
I finished the course and got a certificate to confirm it. I spent another Christmas in Paris, and this year my family and guests (two family friends) had vension on Christmas Eve before going to my local church for the Christmas Eve service.
Then my mom, dad, sister, and I went to Spain for New Year (29 December to 4 January). That was a great trip! We stayed in Madrid, with a colleague of my dad's, and managed to get out to Granada (a day trip that my mom had planned so that we could see the Alhambra complex), Segovia (one afternoon and evening; it's driving distance from Madrid), and Toledo (about half a day). We also saw all three of Madrid's 'major' museums - the Prado, the Reina Sofìa (a museum of modern art which includes a famous Picasso work, Guernica, as well as at least one Magritte [to my happy surprise]), and the Thyssen-Bornemisza. Our New Year celebration was sort of low-key, but it was interesting: we watched the partying going on at the Plaza del Sol, a popular plaza where there is a clock tower to help count the new year in, and our hostess made sure we and the rest of her guests for the evening (all co-workers) took part in a Spanish New Year custom: to eat one grape per strike of the clock at midnight. Feliz Año Nuevo! :D
Aaand then I came back to Paris. My sister went back to college and I spent about a week waking up late and hanging about generally doing nothing - I didn't bother signing up for the next level of language learning because I wasn't really sure I wanted to do that - and that went on for a bit until I got a meeting about a possible work placement. I went in for a brief interview, gave the person I was talking to my CV, and a few days later he notified me that I'd got the work placement. It's not a job - I'm not being paid for it - and it's not technically an internship, since I'm no longer registered as a student anywhere. So ever since...oh, about the first of this month, I've been going in to "work" every morning.
I've also been trying (still!) to figure out what to do next. I sometimes strongly wish that I had been a little more determined to defer graduating until last December (instead of last July), or even this May - that would have given me some more time to look for, apply for, and hopefully get a real solid internship that may have lead to something interesting. It may have made for a bit of an administrative hassle, due to my university's change in healthcare policy, but now that I think about it it may have been worth the extra paperwork. It certainly would have gone a long way to prevent (or at least mitigate) a rather ugly scene that happened a few days ago between me and my parents - and all about my future, too. :( But I'll spare you any long passages on my inability to decide, which is really the root cause of a lot of my problems (not just this one).
Another thing about this year - I've started up the 50 Book Challenge (based at 50bookchallenge) again. I missed out on making the goal last year by one *&%$£^ book. I intend to write and publish reviews for all fifty (or however many) books I finish this year. So far it's four books read, two reviews written, and four books in-progress.
It's also an interesting time for visits. I have a cousin in France now - she's studying at a business school not far from Paris, and she came to visit for the weekend about three weekends ago. In addition, a high school friend doing grad studies in London now has tentative plans to visit in April. Good times on that front, at least! It's been five years now - I'm looking forward to seeing her again. :)
My fannish life hasn't changed a great deal from last year. I still love most of the things I loved then , although Glee no longer gives me the same amount of happiness that it did some time ago. One particular episode ruined that, and in addition I've begun to notice other things more strongly, helped by a great deal of reading online about the show. I have been fairly active over at my fannish journal (which has been going strong for a while now...and wow, a check just now showed that it's just past two years! 0_0), however - I now do episode "reviews" (with a liberal interpretation of that word) of some things, for example. I've written one piece of fanfic which I've put online there, and I've made some icons for a weekly challenge. In fact, I'm currently working on a proper set for another special challenge.
.
One thing that is a fairly new addition to my internet usage these days, however, is the fact that I have discovered tumblr. It's a new blogging platform which I find quite interesting and rather tempting on some levels, and I now have a group of tumblrs which I read nearly every evening
So that's it for this update! I hope it was enjoyable for what it was worth, and I'll seriously try to be more communicative this year (or if not, at least explain why *before* going off the air for such a long time).
* one book review's done. It's just waiting for another review - the book I finished before it - to be written before I make it public. I'm particular like that.
Still, that was about two months ago (and in the last year, holy *$^£!). Sorry, anyone who was reading this looking for updates! I shall endeavour to be better - an update once a month, at least, until I say something that changes that.
So, what has gone on in my life since then? Quite a lot, actually.
I finished the course and got a certificate to confirm it. I spent another Christmas in Paris, and this year my family and guests (two family friends) had vension on Christmas Eve before going to my local church for the Christmas Eve service.
Then my mom, dad, sister, and I went to Spain for New Year (29 December to 4 January). That was a great trip! We stayed in Madrid, with a colleague of my dad's, and managed to get out to Granada (a day trip that my mom had planned so that we could see the Alhambra complex), Segovia (one afternoon and evening; it's driving distance from Madrid), and Toledo (about half a day). We also saw all three of Madrid's 'major' museums - the Prado, the Reina Sofìa (a museum of modern art which includes a famous Picasso work, Guernica, as well as at least one Magritte [to my happy surprise]), and the Thyssen-Bornemisza. Our New Year celebration was sort of low-key, but it was interesting: we watched the partying going on at the Plaza del Sol, a popular plaza where there is a clock tower to help count the new year in, and our hostess made sure we and the rest of her guests for the evening (all co-workers) took part in a Spanish New Year custom: to eat one grape per strike of the clock at midnight. Feliz Año Nuevo! :D
Aaand then I came back to Paris. My sister went back to college and I spent about a week waking up late and hanging about generally doing nothing - I didn't bother signing up for the next level of language learning because I wasn't really sure I wanted to do that - and that went on for a bit until I got a meeting about a possible work placement. I went in for a brief interview, gave the person I was talking to my CV, and a few days later he notified me that I'd got the work placement. It's not a job - I'm not being paid for it - and it's not technically an internship, since I'm no longer registered as a student anywhere. So ever since...oh, about the first of this month, I've been going in to "work" every morning.
I've also been trying (still!) to figure out what to do next. I sometimes strongly wish that I had been a little more determined to defer graduating until last December (instead of last July), or even this May - that would have given me some more time to look for, apply for, and hopefully get a real solid internship that may have lead to something interesting. It may have made for a bit of an administrative hassle, due to my university's change in healthcare policy, but now that I think about it it may have been worth the extra paperwork. It certainly would have gone a long way to prevent (or at least mitigate) a rather ugly scene that happened a few days ago between me and my parents - and all about my future, too. :( But I'll spare you any long passages on my inability to decide, which is really the root cause of a lot of my problems (not just this one).
Another thing about this year - I've started up the 50 Book Challenge (based at 50bookchallenge) again. I missed out on making the goal last year by one *&%$£^ book. I intend to write and publish reviews for all fifty (or however many) books I finish this year. So far it's four books read, two reviews written, and four books in-progress.
It's also an interesting time for visits. I have a cousin in France now - she's studying at a business school not far from Paris, and she came to visit for the weekend about three weekends ago. In addition, a high school friend doing grad studies in London now has tentative plans to visit in April. Good times on that front, at least! It's been five years now - I'm looking forward to seeing her again. :)
My fannish life hasn't changed a great deal from last year. I still love most of the things I loved then , although Glee no longer gives me the same amount of happiness that it did some time ago. One particular episode ruined that, and in addition I've begun to notice other things more strongly, helped by a great deal of reading online about the show. I have been fairly active over at my fannish journal (which has been going strong for a while now...and wow, a check just now showed that it's just past two years! 0_0), however - I now do episode "reviews" (with a liberal interpretation of that word) of some things, for example. I've written one piece of fanfic which I've put online there, and I've made some icons for a weekly challenge. In fact, I'm currently working on a proper set for another special challenge.
.
One thing that is a fairly new addition to my internet usage these days, however, is the fact that I have discovered tumblr. It's a new blogging platform which I find quite interesting and rather tempting on some levels, and I now have a group of tumblrs which I read nearly every evening
So that's it for this update! I hope it was enjoyable for what it was worth, and I'll seriously try to be more communicative this year (or if not, at least explain why *before* going off the air for such a long time).
* one book review's done. It's just waiting for another review - the book I finished before it - to be written before I make it public. I'm particular like that.