How was your Monday, everyone?! Mine was OK. I did just a little bit of schoolwork today, because I’m still getting used to having a normal, school-y schedule. I don’t know about you – I would assume that my international readers might have different vacations – but my winter break ended today. Goodbye, glorious-two-weeks’-worth-of-vacation.
Here is what I did during that time.
1. Wrote a bunch of wrap-up posts.
I suppose this counts as one. Sorry if you don’t like them, but I really enjoy writing them and promise they’ll come to an end quite soon.
2. Watched the Carmilla Christmas special.
LAURA AND CARMILLA ARE THE DEFINITION OF “ADORKABLE” AND THAT EPISODE MADE ME FANGIRL SOOOOO MUCH.
3. Had a very quiet Christmas Eve/Day.
I opened presents, ate yummy food, decorated cookies, and hung out with relatives. Our conversations resulted in several extremely weird inside jokes that we hadn’t had before… so basically, it was a normal Christmas for me!
4. Watched Unbroken with my family.
The theater was absolutely PACKED on Christmas Day! (We’d never gone to the movies on that day before.) The movie was all right, I guess, but it lacked that special something from the book. If you’ve been thinking about seeing it, I would recommend that you read the book first. Or just read the book, period. But it did introduce me to a lovely credits song by Coldplay, “Miracles,” so that’s nice.
5. Watched the Doctor Who Christmas special, “Last Christmas.”
A collaborative review will be posted soon – I aim to publish it on the eighth, but we’ll just have to see how busy I am then. I’m not going to tell you my opinion of it right now because I’d rather make you wait in anticipation for the review! HA HA. SO THERE.
6. Received some lovely Christmas presents from friends.
Thanks, guys! You’re the best, you really and truly are, and I’m not just saying that because you gave me stuff. Pfft. In fact, I’m going to go all mushy and say that the best gift you could ever give and have already given me is your TIME – thanks for all the hours spent fangirling and whatnot!
- Thanks for the bookmark, Taylor Lynn @ Paper Daydreams!
- Thanks for the artwork and the… stick, Orphu @ A Mirror Made of Words!
- Thanks for the adorable Vastra & Jenny story, Mo! (GET A BLOG, DUDE, SO I CAN LINK TO YOUR STUFF.)
- Thanks for the artwork, Artgirl @ Alien Cows!
- Thanks for All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill, Kate @ The Magic Violinist!
7. Celebrated Christmas for three days, kind of, because BOXING DAY.
On the twenty-sixth we ate ham and potatoes and Yorkshire pudding – which, I was astounded to discover, is not like American pudding (AKA British custard) at all. It’s more like an eggy biscuit! An American biscuit, that is… which is like, what, British scones or rolls or something? Whatever. I’m really confused about culinary terminology now, so I’m going to stop before I make an even bigger mess.
8. Visited Chicago with my family.
Many Christmas decorations were still up and they were very pretty to look at! We also visited a camera store and I browsed for an upgrade, though I didn’t buy anything. (If anyone owns a Nikon D3200, let me know in the comments, because it looks promising and I’d like to learn more about it!) And last but not least, we had dinner at an Italian restaurant, where I ate the cheesiest and most delicious lasagna I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing.
9. Had possibly the most low-key New Year’s Eve ever.
I spent the entire day reading books and then fell asleep on the couch at approximately nine-thirty, only to be jolted awake later on due to the neighbors setting off fireworks.
10. Read 27 books.
My original goal was to read at least 100 books in 2014, but by early December I’d already reached 150ish. So, to keep me motivated and reading, I told myself that I would try to read at least 200 before the year was out. I ended up reaching 203! The first twenty-four books mentioned below were all read during the 2014 part of winter break; the last four are books I’ve read towards 2015’s goal of, once again, 100 books in one year.
- I Love I Hate I Miss My Sister by Amélie Sarn
- Set to Sea by Drew Weing
- Emiko Superstar by Mariko Tamaki and Steve Rolston
- Cardboard by Doug TenNapel
- Tyranny by Leslie Fairfield
- The Undertaking of Lily Chen by Danica Novgorodoff
- Young Avengers, Vol. 1: Style > Substance by Kieron Gillen
- Young Avengers, Vol. 2: Alternative Culture by Kieron Gillen
- Young Avengers, Vol. 3: Mic-Drop at the Edge of Time and Space by Kieron Gillen
- Brain Camp by Susan Kim, Laurence Klavan, and Faith Erin Hicks
- Anya’s Ghost by Vera Brosgol
- Life Sucks by Jessica Abel
- Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty by G. Neri
- Orange by Zhang Bin
- Kin by Holly Black and Ted Naifeh
- War Brothers: The Graphic Novel by Sharon E. McKay
- The Great American Dust Bowl by Don Brown
- Lies in the Dust: A Tale of Remorse from the Salem Witch Trials by Jakob Crane
- The Saga of Rex by Michael Gagné
- The Arrival by Shaun Tan
- Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children: The Graphic Novel by Ransom Riggs and Cassandra Jean
- Emily the Strange: The Lost Days by Rob Reger and Jessica Gruner
- Captain America: No Escape by Ed Brubaker
- Last Stand of Dead Men by Derek Landy
- Captain America: First Vengeance by Fred Van Lente
- Humans of New York by Brandon Stanton
- Carrie by Stephen King
- Armageddon Outta Here by Derek Landy
11. Admired the snow.
It FINALLY snowed for the first time this winter on… you guessed it, the last day of winter break! Oh, well. I hated driving in it (SLUSHY ROADS ARE EVIL), but it looks very pretty on the trees and whatnot, and I was able to leave work early yesterday due to bad weather, so that was nice. (Leaving work early, I mean. Not the bad weather.)
-~-
What did you do during your winter break? No matter what you did, I hope it was an enjoyable time for you. Because I’m nice that way.
And now, if you will excuse me, I’m PROBABLY going to go upstairs to my room and flop on my bed and read The Dying of the Light by Derek Landy all in one sitting. But then again, I might not. I sped through the early books of this series, but now everything’s gone all tragic and also I just don’t want this amazing series to end. So I’ve been dawdling lately. Anyway, I’m going to sign off now, and I’ll see all of you in the morning. Goodnight!
Musings From Neville's Navel 
Well I personally LOVE wrap-up and recap posts. They are the bestest. Ooh SNOW! I want to see snow one day! And phewf, you sure read a lot in December. Good on you. 😉 I’m being hopelessly lazy atm and blogging more than reading, but HEY. It’s still holidays for me. Actually my sister doesn’t go back to school till February, but I will probably start working again soon. (That’s the beauty of working for myself though. heh.)
I’m glad. 🙂 I was worried that I’d been posting too many lately.
Ooh, how many books have you read so far this year? *can be very competitive sometimes and will try to outread you in 2015* 😛
Everyone else got you nice, proper things and then there’s my gift. Oops.
And I know other people who might not like wrap-up posts as much read your blog, but as far as I’m concerned the string of wrap-up posts can go on forever. (Theoretically. If you actually continued the string forever you might end up with a lack of things to wrap up.)
Also you’d never had Yorkshire pudding?
Nonononono, your gift IS a nice, proper thing! I mean, I ASKED you to get me a stick for Christmas. xD And I’m still amused that you really did send me one, let alone that one can (apparently) send sticks through the mail.
I’d have to write a wrap-up post for the wrap-up posts! 😛
Nope! I thought it would be more, well… pudding-y.
I don’t have to go back to school til the end of January 🙂 here in England it hasn’t snowed yet, which is sad, but it’s got down to -2 which was kind of…freezing. Lol. Oh and yay Yorkshire puddings!! I love them SO much 😀
Lucky!! (About when you go back to school, not about the freezing temperatures. xD)
Yay!! They were very yummy. I ate, like, five. (Not all during the same meal, though. O_o)
OMG you’re leaving me hanging here! Can’t you give one sentence – just one! – on Last Christmas (I found it pretty cool)? It’s funny how every New Year’s Eve is sort of lazy and drowsy for me – I just sit around and do nothing for a bit! 😀
*zips lips* It’s a SECRET. 😛
Ahaha, it’s nice to know I’m not alone with the boring New Year’s Eves! 🙂
My break was quite good, and one of the first I’ve had in a couple of years where I truly had no schoolwork to do, so that was refreshing.
Our Christmas is pretty mellow–we go to church on Christmas Eve, and my mom arranges a dinner for all the church people who have to do stuff at the eight o’clock service and the midnight service (note: Christmas church services are really long) and I usually end up washing dishes at 10 p.m. at night, but it’s always fun. On Christmas, we opened presents and I got some good things, and then that night my dad and I went to see Mockingjay.
On New Year’s Eve, I went to a friend’s party and stayed up late and didn’t end up going to bed until 1:30. I really enjoyed going to, like, a fellow young person’s party, because in past years we’ve gone to the house of another family and everyone barely makes it to midnight.
Overall, I spent winter break watching Doctor Who, writing application essays, and avoiding writing application essays. Plus I saw Annie with a friend and later that week went over to her house to play a DW roleplaying game and ended up going to see The Imitation Game afterwards. Yeah, I’ve had a pretty good break.
Yay, Mo!
Ooh, what did you think of Mockingjay?
Teehee, “fellow young person’s party.” 😛
What did you think of The Imitation Game? My admiration of Alan Turing has overcome my extreme dislike of Benedict Cumberbatch and so I really really really want to go see it, but it’s not showing at any local theaters. 😦
I really liked Mockingjay. Not enough Johanna or Cressida for my taste. 😛
Well, like I said, in past years, it’s been my whole family partying with another whole family, so it’s much more of a sit-around-and-talk affair. And there’s generally knitting.
Oh, that’s too bad.
(Is it because of the scary homosexuality?)
I did like it. Um, sometimes it was confusing, and it passed neither the Bechdel test nor the Mako Mori test, but overall it was really well done and Benedict Cumberbatch did act well. (My general opinion on him is that he’s a pretty good actor but not good at that much else.) But it kind of fell flat, IMO. And I get that they can’t quite make it “Alan Turing, rock star” or anything, but… it left me unmoved, which was disappointing. And that might just be because I am heartless and wasn’t sobbing over poor Benny acting a tragic gay guy.
SAME.
Oh, knitting. It sounds like a very Mrs.-Weasley-ish party. 😛
Well… possibly, but I also heard that it was released to only, like, four theaters in the whole country as of right now. Idk why, though.
Pffft, my general opinion of him is that he’s only good at playing one type of character – arrogant, condescending jerks. I haven’t seen him in any other kind of role yet…
Thanks for the mention! 🙂 I really hope you like it. I seriously couldn’t stop reading until I finished it.
You never have to worry about me not liking wrap-up posts. 😉 I love them. Probably one of my favorite formats for blog posts.
LOVE THAT “Coldplay” SONG. It’s on repeat now. Thank you for sharing.
Ooh, can’t wait for the DW review! I personally really liked it, eve if I am disappointed by the ending. Did you know that old!Clara was originally supposed to die in the Doctor’s arms? That would’ve been a better ending. I want a new companion. Blah. 😛
You’re welcome! 🙂
Oh, good.
IT’S SO PRETTY FKGAHDFLGKHDFGLDG OH MY GOSH
Yeah, another blogger told me that. 🙂 I agree – that would’ve been a much better ending. I mean, yeah, I don’t like Clara, but even if I DID, it was a really sweet ending and I would’ve been OK with her leaving the show, but then she went back to being young!Clara and… gah. No.
Aw, you’re welcome–so glad you liked the bookmark! It sounds like you had a nice Christmas/New Years/winter break in general; my Christmas day was pretty quiet, too, which is exactly how my family likes it, so yours sounds pretty perfect to me. 😉 Also: We went to the movies on Christmas day in 2013, too, and so I know exactly what you mean about it being packed! We saw the second Hobbit movie and had to separate–my sisters sat across the theater from me and my parents because we couldn’t find five seats together, gah. We’re spoiled: We’re used to empty theaters because we go on weekdays when everyone else is in school/at work. 😉 I hope you enjoyed the movie, though! I’ve been hearing a lot about it, I may have to read the book because it sounds like my kind of thing.
Also, did you enjoy I LOVE I HATE I MISS MY SISTER? It’s on my to-read list but I can’t think of anyone I know who’s read it but you.
It’s so cute! 🙂 Although, as I said, my cat seems to think it’s a toy and he tried to eat it. xD
Same! I’m used to going when everyone else is at school or work.
Um… yeah, I did, but I rated it 3/5 stars. It wasn’t MINDBLOWING or anything, but it was very sad and it made me think. It’s a good book if you like stories about sisters. (Which I do!)
(It would also probably be very interesting to read in light of the recent Charlie Hebdo stuff…)
I tag you to do your top ten books then tag 3 others
Love Eve
Oh… thanks, but I’ve actually already done that! I wrote a post like that a few months ago. 🙂 But thanks for the thought! 😀
Alohaa, I’m a new reader and I just wanted to say that your blog looks pretty cool and I’m going to be a returning reader from now on c:
Also, let me know if you want to do the whole follow on GFC thing c:
Amy-Anne;
Little Moon Elephant
Hello there! Thanks for reading my blog – I’ll be sure to take a look at yours! 🙂
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