January In Retrospect
Salve omnes! Can you believe that January is already over? It seems just a day since I was writing down my resolutions at the end of December and hitting publish on many goals that I probably wouldn't complete. I won't say it was the best month ever, but it wasn't that bad. We even got into the high 40s for almost a week, so it wasn't as much the dark, dismal, freezing pit that it normally was. And, just like the temperature, I've had my ups and downs.
"The way I see it Mr Clennam, there's ups and downs... dont ask me why, why ups, why downs, but there are these, you know... but I've heard it given through a truth, that as the world goes goes round, so it comes round again... now you're down now, no doubt about it, but you'll be up, when your turn comes round again."
~Mr. Plornish, Little Dorrit
Who can name the best part of the month? I know I spend a lot of time complaining about the cold outside and the foreverness of algebra and January, but it was actually a great month. I had MCSMA (Solo Fest) a few Fridays ago, and it went SO well. My judge stood up and actually said that it was "a wonderful performance, I really enjoyed it!" I was GLOWING afterwards...until I had to take my Algebra test. But that's beside the point. God calmed my nerves and gave me an amazing teacher to help me through, and that was such a blessing.
My other huge news is that I FINALLY FINISHED LITTLE DORRIT!!!!!! My first post ever was about me starting Little Dorrit, and that was over a year ago. However, soon after I published it, I realized that I was not going to get it done in time and I should wait for a better time. I restarted it in the beginning of summer, and probably could have finished it way sooner if it weren't for my extraordinarily distracted nature. So I picked it up now and then, reading bit by bit, promising myself to finish by November, then Christmas, then the New Year, and finally it got shoved onto my resolutions list. And FINALLY, last Friday was the day I closed the book and stared at the wall - what am I going to do with my life now?
Speaking of resolutions, how am I doing? Well... the whole working out thing and eating healthy kinda died after the first week. I am eating somewhat healthier, but let's just say that it's a sin not to eat tons of Hershey's Kisses when they're laid out in a bowl on the piano. I have not been doing great with reading the Bible every day, but I am doing it more often, especially as my dad has started to read a Psalm after dinner most nights.
What were my goals for blogging this year? Blog on a schedule, send emails for every post, comment on others' blogs more often, try to look more professional, have more insightful posts, have more photography post, and finish the trip series already. The blogging schedule is working very well. I've been posting on Tuesdays and Thursdays and sometimes more often, even though I'm breaking schedule today. Sometimes I feel like I post too much...what do you guys think? Please tell me! The whole email thing is a little half-baked. Wix only allows 3 free shoutouts per month, so I've had to be creative, but I just discovered a switch in settings that turns on blog notifications AUTOMATICALLY? Like excuse me could you be in a more obvious place? Anyways, hopefully that'll be better in February. I have commented on a ton of blogs, I have been trying to look more professional, and the last three...I'm just going to ignore the fact that I completely forgot about those.
I am so disappointed with myself. I only baked one thing this month, not counting tuna melts. And the Viennese Whirls that I tried to make didn't even work (the individual pieces were amazing, but the piping was a nightmare)! I did figure out, though, that homemade raspberry jam is AMAZING and SO much better than any jelly ever.
In terms of reading, I already said that I finished Little Dorrit. I'm going to try to cram the last 54 pages of Hamlet in tonight (i just realized that I have to study for a huge test as well tonight so now i'm stressed), because I want to get that done before February. Hamlet's amazing, by the way. It's dark, but it's so great. I have read a bunch of short stories, including The Secret Life of Walter Mitty by James Thurber, Luck by Mark Twain, There Will Come Soft Rains by Ray Bradbury, and By the Waters of Babylon by Stephen Vincent Benét. And it'll probably take me until this time next year to read David Copperfield and The House of the Seven Gables.
I didn't write 5 chapters of a novel, or even start a novel for that matter. I have come to assume that I was made a writer only to write short stories and poetry. Not that I even wrote any poetry this month. Zielle's AAWC has really helped me to write consistently. It keeps forcing me to work around prompts and keep my creative juices flowing. AAWC also has been a huge help for photography, because I always want the extra points XD. You can find my stories so far here, here, here, and here.
That just about wraps up my resolutions update. In my bullet journal, I've kept up with my Year In Pixels, my Habit Tracker, and my weekly spreads. I've even done a little doodling, but it doesn't look good so I won't share it. I've had 35% amazing, fantastic days, 25% really good, happy days, 19% normal, average days, 3% exhausted, tired days, 6% depressed, sad days, 3% frustrated, angry days, and 6% stressed out, frantic days. The percentages don't exactly match up to 100 but that's ok, who's counting anyways? *types in calculator to see if there was a flaw in my mental math* Ugh, it comes out to 97%. Bummer. I must have done something wrong. Anyways, my bullet journal has been awesome and I'm so happy I got it!
Academically, I'm doing well enough in Algebra, pretty well in Latin, and amazingly well in Science. In the fall my Latin class took the National Classical Etymology Exam and I got a 36/50, which doesn't look like a good grade but it was a super hard test. I got the second highest in all of the Latin one sections!!😲 And algebra....is still algebra. I love my teacher though, so that makes it much better. As to Life Science, I guess it's just not as confusing as it was last semester, so I'm doing pretty well. I get to get a goldfish for one of my labs in the future about respiration or something.
Y'all are probably getting bored of me talking, so I'll stop now :D I hope you guys had a great month and your brains aren't as scrambled as mine is!
Vale te,
