Inkpot Droplets | February 2023

February was definitely a different vibe than January. Where January I felt a little more refreshed and recharged, ready to take on the world, February definitely reminded me what kind of world we're living in at the moment. And my luck hasn't exactly been great, as I wrote about last week. And honestly? I think it's all coming down to having slow, building stress with my day job.

With our main enrollment season about to start at the day job the week after next, I think I genuinely have some sort of PTSD about it. As every day it gets closer to starting, I find myself becoming more depressed. Because last year was so awful and burnt me out so bad, I'm so nervous that I'm going to experience the same. And since I've actually been writing pretty consistently, I don't want to lose that because my day job is so draining. (Especially since the stress of it coming up alone made it to where I only wrote twice last week.) And I think I'm a bit more nervous for this round because whereas we got burnt out last year and then got winter break, for spring, we go from main enrollment to orientation in the summer, which is always way too bloody intense.

I dunno, friends. I've been struggling a bit recently, which makes me really, really sad. Hopefully it won't be as bad, but I'm not holding my breath. But I also sorta hate how much a singular aspect of my life (the day job) affects literally everything else? Like, how is that fair?

Anyway! Let's move away from some of the more depressing state of my brain (sorry about that) and go into what I managed to consume this month.

Content Consumed

I haven't kept up with reading as much as I've wanted to, but I am still reading, which I'll count that as a win! I hope to get back into reading antiracist nonfiction in the morning, SFF during lunch and then romance at night. I really liked that balancing, but it quickly went away as the depression rose back up.

• Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male by Ijeoma Oluo (started in January, finished in Feb)
• ​The Last Watch by J.S. Dewes (started in January, finished in Feb)
• The Outlaw and the Rogue by Lily Riley
• The Faithless by CL Clark
• The Bone Shard Emperor by Andrea Stewart

I did also attempt Master of Poisons by Andrea Hairston, but after getting about 100 pages in, I realized it's not for me. The writing itself wasn't bad, but it was just really hard to follow for me personally? It felt very literary, which is just not my style. So, my first DNF of the year. But I am proud of myself for actually stopping it, since I gave it about two days where I didn't read at all after starting it because I felt guilty. But I couldn't stop thinking about Stewart's sequel to The Bone Shard Daughter, which I really loved. And it was a very good decision, as I'm over 100 pages into that book and enjoying it immensely.

Other media I've been enjoying includes: replaying Cyberpunk 2077 AND ACTUALLY BEATING IT. It wasn't bad! Not my favorite game in the world, story wise, but I did love the mechanics. Might play it for a little longer to do some completionist-type things. Not sure what to play next. I know the next big expansion of Destiny 2 drops this week. Which I was excited about but then there was an article saying they made it harder, which just...ugh. I have an entire rant about that that I might blog about. So we'll see!

Highlight Hello

This month, I want to highlight a friend's big life change! Fellow blogger and wonderful human Shealea just moved out for her job (after they did a "give little notice make her come into the office" stunt, which I have feelings about). But she wrote about the experience and how the community can help her with the new costs as she transitions to her new financial reality of living independently.

Check out her post here!

Advocacy Action

Use this helpful LinkTree to support a few important recent issues, including victims of the earthquake in Turkyie and Syria and the Ohio Train Derailments.

Thanks for Reading!

Thank you all for joining me on this newsletter! It's been really fun to do and check in through this smaller space. And it means so much that almost 30 of you (!!) want to be here. If there is anything you ever want to see in this space, don't hesitate to let me know. I hope this monthly format is working for everyone!

Until next month.

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