Category: Notes

The GTA has grown to become one of the biggest gaming series in existence. A new game is reason enough to postpone other releases, and it could even create an economic dip as people call in sick to work on November 19. For anyone outside of the gaming sphere, this might sound like an exaggeration. And in a way it is. This has taken proportions that our minds can’t comprehend. How can a single game be this big? However, I’m not here to talk about the trailers, the extended look or even what I’m expecting to find in GTA VI. Instead, I want to take a trip down memory lane and maybe ground myself a bit more. Because with the release of GTA VI, it will reveal the best about gaming and also the worst. This is not to complain in any way, just a bit of food for thought. …

HRCYED round 3, let’s go!! Yeah! I’m so hyped! Too hyped if you ask me. After I took a break from participating in the Hardest Reading Challenge You’ve Ever Done, I wasn’t planning on returning to it. But then I watched the announcement video. This year’s theme is customisation, and while my toxic trait is to believe I can totally read over 100 books in a year when I can barely go past 50, if I’m presented with an option to succeed while reading less, then count me in. HRCYED is bigger than ever. Last year’s, or the second round, was when the challenge gained more attention and also when I decided to not participate. My blog posts about this reading challenge also started to get more views, which well indicates how much the challenge was growing. And I’m really excited for Stephanie, how a silly reading challenge grew to …

If you came here expecting a list of what it means that you like to read romance over mystery thrillers, I’m sorry to disappoint. This is not that kind of post. I don’t know you to make those assumptions. We can like the same things for very different reasons. Instead, with this post, I’m going to dive into some of my favourite books to see what they have in common, if anything. And I invite you to do the same with your books because this experiment was actually really fun to do, and I learned a lot about the type of reader that I am. I like proactive characters in their quest for justice The first book I fell in love with was Divergent by Veronica Roth. At the peak of the YA dystopian wave, this book presented me with a sub-genre I enjoy a lot. The world is a …

The past few weeks have been very exciting for anyone with a slight interest in space news. The Artemis II mission successfully sent four astronauts to orbit the Moon for the first time in over 50 years. Everything, from the launch to the safe return to Earth, was live-streamed on YouTube. And it’s just crazy to think that I can be sitting on my couch watching views in real time over 384 thousand kilometres away. But truly, the best part is witnessing something I’ve only read about, watched movies, or seen pictures. The last Moon mission was so long ago that my parents were mere babies when it happened. And that’s not even the first time that humans set foot on the Moon. For many generations, this is the first time they are witnessing such an event from our past with their own eyes. A second chance to see what …

FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) is hitting hard this time. Pokémon Pokopia is everywhere, and I’m guessing that if you are reading this, then we are probably on the same boat. I don’t have a Nintendo Switch 2, so I can’t play Pokopia. Yet, this game is on my mind 24/7. I want to indulge in every video and stream about this game because that’s the closest thing I can do to satiate my craving. But I don’t think it’s working. The truth is, the only game that can satiate the craving to play Pokopia is playing Pokopia. I know, it’s awful. But that’s the only solution. I’ve been on this boat many times to know how it works. However, I am not going to buy a new console to play only one game when I have perfectly good consoles (plural) to choose from and with games that I’ve barely …

Ever since I bought a Kindle, sooner or later, people will come to me asking if I recommend buying a Kindle. The short answer is always: no. The longer answer is: it depends. I’m not writing this post to influence you to buy a Kindle. Quite the opposite, actually. I don’t want you to buy one. While handy, there can be better options than buying a Kindle. So why did I buy a Kindle? I bought my Kindle back in 2017, and it wasn’t an impulsive decision. At that time, I was doing blog tours for upcoming books, which meant I was reading a lot of ebooks. I would read them on my phone, my computer or even on my iPad Mini (a fossil I received from my mother, but to read works just fine). However, it can get really tiring to read from a bright, glossy screen over time. …

I’m in one of the weirdest reading eras of my reading career. It’s not exactly a slump, but I can’t finish books. I keep growing my list of currently reading, and yet the books never graduate to the read shelf. And it’s becoming quite overwhelming. I can read multiple books at the same time, but I can juggle only a certain amount at one time. And looking at my spreadsheet, I’ve been like this for a while… October October was the month of the TBR Harvest readathon. I’ve missed a themed readathon even though I have a mixed relationship with them. This pushed me to finally grab a TBR veteran, Frozen Heat by Richard Castle. I had already decided not to continue with this book series. However, this book ended in the middle of a revelation. So obviously, I have to go read the next. Don’t you love it when …

For the longest time, the talk around perfectionism to me was always very… unhelpful. I think that’s the right word. I am a certified perfectionist. And have been trying to overcome it for a long time. So I’ve read and listened to a lot of talk about it. But time and time again, there was always something that didn’t click. The advice is always the same: recognise and then take action. Act despite the fear. Act despite the friction. Act and fail intentionally. And it’s not bad advice. But there was always something that was missing for me. I get an itch on my brain. It tells me that something is not quite right, but I can’t put my finger on it, just yet. I guess this is my gut feeling. He simply hasn’t learn all the words he needs to communicate better with me. When I was reading Refuse …

For a while now, I wanted to find a way to bring games into this corner of the interwebs. While I don’t play as much as I used to (I also have another thousand and one hobbies I didn’t have before), from time to time, some games steal my heart and time. They are all I can think about. And so, I want to share my love for them here as I do with books. But I’m not quite sure how to do it. Showing gameplay in video form is way better to get a grasp of what the game is really like… And I’m not doing that. I’m sorry. I’m not adding video editing as yet another thing to learn. So fast forward to 2024, I discovered a little indie game called Tiny Bookshop. And it immediately reminded me of The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan. In …

I’ve been dreading the day I had to sit down and write this update. I’m not giving up if that’s what you’re thinking, I’ve just made some progress… in the opposite direction. This summer, the TBR grew bigger, and I’m trying my hardest to clean up that mess! But what would you do if you saw some books become homeless? Wouldn’t you help them? Those poor things were shivering! It broke my heart. I couldn’t send them away… So I opened my shelves… They look so cosy and happy now! And I hope they can make me feel like that as well. June It all started on a warm sunny day in June. The doorbell rings with the mailman bringing a package with fresh new books. The second volume of Les Misérables by Victor Hugo – I can now start planning to read that – The Seven Deaths of Evelyn …

It doesn’t even seem real that I decided to embark on this journey three years ago this month. While this is in no way a project or a challenge I’m actively pursuing, I still want to see what’s on the other side. And it will take whatever time it takes. I want to be more intentional with my purchases. To be on top of the books I really want to read. I don’t want to own a graveyard of books, I think I’ll like. I want to find that out instead of keeping guessing. Over time, my approach to this challenge has changed. From a more strict strategy to incorporating other challenges like The Hardest Reading Challenge You’ve Ever Done, HRCYED for short. I went from book-buying bans to adding too many books to my TBR, from great reading months to reading slumps. But all of this is with one …