Weekend Wrap-Up: Awoken Too Soon
The Weekend Wrap-Up offers a little look at what Iβm reading, the new books that came my way, and anything else I may have gotten up to this past week. I will be linking up to Stacking the Shelves, The Sunday Post and Itβs Monday! What Are You Reading? and hopping around your blogs a little to see what the community has to share too!
My Week
Sometime near the beginning of the week, my sleep was interrupted by a neighbour’s tiny dog barking for two hours. What followed was a complete overturn of my sleep schedule (which wasn’t great anyway) and I’ve been exhausted and dealing with some pain and brain fog from it all week. Each day I’ve been woken up much too soon by scam phone calls, lawnmowers, surprise knocks at the door, and I’m so fed up with bad sleep. This affects my physical health, my mental health, and my ability to participate in society. I had to reschedule my CBT appointment and I don’t think I can run Dungeons & Dragons this week, you probably noticed the blog suffered for content. Regardless, I plod along and do my best, but heck.
However, you may be amused to hear about the day I got up around 4.30 am and found two wasps buzzing around the living room light. I shooed them into the kitchen and fly sprayed them and shut the door, then found them buzzing around the living room light again so I did the same thing, rinse and repeat. Turned out there were actually six wasps, not two ninja wasps. I did finish one with my salt rock candle holder, which I’m still amused by. Usually, I hate killing things but they were so big and scary! I was stood cowering backed up against the door at one point. Thankfully we’ve had no repeat visitations since.
It sure has been a week!
Midweek I spent quite a while setting up Notion. I listed out over 100 blog post ideas I’ve had in my drafts and in a Discord list, so now I can find them easily and pick a topic if I need one, or add to the list if I think of something new. I set up an “ARC tracker” to keep track of my review copies, when they release, what I’ve read, what needs reviewing. And I started setting up a page to list all of the podcasts I want to check out, what topics they cover, when I’ve listened to them because I need to check out quite a few things and tidy up my Pocket Cast subscribed podcasts for sure. This one is still a work in progress and I have a few more pages I want to set up. I really love Notion as a tool.
Reading
Sadly my reading was affected by the sleep shenanigans, though I did manage to finish The Liar of Red Valley so I will get that review written up when I’m able!
In theory, I’m now reading Halloween Rain (Buffy book), Gideon Falls (horror graphic novel), and Empire of Black and Gold by Adrian Tchaikovsky because several people this week have sung its praises so heck it, I was looking for a fantasy read to squeeze in between some of this horror I’ve been reading.
Watching
I watched a few things this week. When you’re not feeling well, it’s nice to switch off with some TV. On Netflix, I watched Brand New Cherry Flavor which is a very strange show. It’s about… dark magic and a girl with a movie and a predatory producer and I enjoyed it a lot? Holy heck it was dark, though. That sure filled me up on my horror/dark fantasy quota for a little bit!
Friday I watched the latest episode of Drag Race All Stars and while I’m not entirely pleased with how this episode ended, it was fun to watch. I don’t really like the format of All Stars generally anyway, but this season has been really, really strong.
Playing
I finally got the polar bear mount in Final Fantasy XIV on my EU character this week, I’d been putting it off and the event was ending on the 26th so I got myself online and grabbed him. I love polar bears so I could not pass this guy up.
Thursday night after the Phasmophobia update went live, I played a few hours of that with a friend. Hooboy this update changes a lot. Hunts are scarier (and more deadly), the new sounds are terrifying – I absolutely screamed a few times, a friend watching us play through Discord said at one point, “it’s unsettling that the ghosts yelp now,” yeah, the ghosts. It was all them. Mhm.
I’m just excited to get to grips with all of the changes! We played a bunch more last night too and started understanding how to navigate the changes. I’m in love with the Parabolic Microphone’s new sounds and the D.O.T.S. Projector, when they pick things up!
Listening
I listened to an episode of Fanfiction is Good Actually this week. It’s a fortnightly podcast that talks about fanfiction and cycles guests. It’s really fun! I don’t actually read fan-fiction currently. I’d love to, but it’s usually too explicit for my tastes. Perhaps I’ll find some less focused on boning some day and get into it a little more because all I want is a good story, and fans have great imaginations.
On the Blog
As mentioned, blog content suffered this week from my sleep issues, but I did get excited and decide to talk about my current favourite game this week, so I did.
Incoming
I didn’t mean to request The Tale of the Tailor and the Three Dead Kings on NetGalley but it sounded so interesting and it said I could wish for it, so I pushed the button and two days later, wish granted. Oops! I’m excited though, but I shall need to read something fantasy before I get around to it. I’ve been reading a lot of dark fiction lately and still need to read Gideon Falls, need to mix my spooks up a bit! But gosh I’m intrigued by a medieval ghost story retelling and it is a novella which is nice.
I also grabbed The House That Fell From the Sky by Patrick Delaney for free. It was described as “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory meets Lovecraft”, which I’m sure it isn’t but it worked on me anyway. Also, Lancelot by Giles Kristian. This one has been on my wishlist for a bit. I love Arthurian mythos, and it was 99p. It did trigger my bank to temporarily block my debit card though which was strange, but that’s sorted now. Guess my bank doesn’t like Lancelot.
Next Week
Gosh, I don’t know. I’m pretty much just focused on trying to rest and cycle my sleep back to nighttime again. I’d like to read some fantasy, get a review up, take a look at an interesting read-a-thon, which I’ll post about if I decide to join, and hopefully keep D&D running. I also have CBT rescheduled for Friday. Wish me luck!
How have your weeks been? Reading anything good? Got up to anything interesting? Iβd love to hear what youβre all getting up to in the comments!
30 thoughts on “Weekend Wrap-Up: Awoken Too Soon”
I should make an Arc list since I got 5 new ones this week π and still have at least two to finish? I might have forgotten a few.
It’s really handy!! I can share the Notion template with you.
I’m sorry to hear about your sleep issues. Ugh there is nothing worse than being so tired it ruins your dayπ And wow, how did six wasps get in your house? That would really scare me. I hope this week is a better one!
It’s okay, it’s been ongoing for a couple years now. Been trying to get doctors to pay attention, maybe soon. π And I’m not entirely sure! My theory is that, cus it was still dark outside and I had the window open and the light on, they were attracted to the light, though I’m really confused how that night I had 6 of them yet other night, same set-up, nothing. You’d think that many indicates a nearby nest but.. π€·ββοΈ
I am just the opposite, I am a bit of an insomniac and rarely sleep more than four hours a day, but being up in the middle of the night allows me reading time I may not otherwise have. I do hope your sleeping schedule gets better for you I know how exhausting you can feel at times. Hang in there!
Here is my link:
https://twogirlsandtheirbookishlife.blogspot.com/2021/08/stacking-shelves-3.html
I definitely have some insomnia in there, but I need 9-11 hours a night so when it hits it screws the whole schedule up. π I wish I could manage fewer hours but alas. I do enjoy the quiet of night time though! Thank you. β€
I used to have major issues with noises waking me up. Then I started using wax earplugs. They’re comfortable to the point of being unnoticeable and block almost all of most sounds although certain frequencies go straight through them (bloody pigeons cooing is one). I used to buy the Boots ones but when we were in lockdown I started using Quies which I get from Amazon. The instructions suggest you would only use them once, which would be fantastically expensive, but if you’re careful they last way longer than that.
Just an idea that really worked for me.
Also, six wasps is a lot.
See that’s the wild thing – usually I’m a heavy sleeper. I’ve slept through phone calls, alarms, lawn mowers, door knocks, sirens… all sorts of things. And in many ways I’m glad because I can’t do things in my ears. I’m glad they work for you though, I know ear plugs can be magic for some!
It… was… yeah. π¬
Wasps! Yikes. I remember when bees got in my apartment once- that was not fun! Glad you were able to boot them without getting stung!
Dog barking and noises like that can be so annoying when they go on and ON. I hope your sleep schedule is able to recover this week!
Oh gosh if it were bees I would have sobbed because I refuse to kill bees! Me too, haha.
Thank you!
Gosh, that sucks…sleep is so important! I’m a frequent insomniac so I know how negatively a poor night’s sleep can affect you. And omg, you sounded much calmer than I would have been if I’d found not two but six freakin’ wasps in my house. GAH-UGH!!!
I meeean… I was whimpering and cowering in the corner while I launched a careful attack with the fly spray and covered up all stingable areas of my body and ranted online when I could reach the PC, but sat sideways to get as far away from the light as I could. But I’m calm now that I’m safe? xD
If anyone can relate to your wasps in the house horror story it’s me. {shudder}
And yassss! Having your sleep interrupted is the worst!!! It totally messes with your mind in addition to your body. WHO was knocking?? Ugh.
Oh no! I don’t want to wish that on anybody! Haha.
Big time. THAT is the question!! I have a feeling it was the water people but I guess I’ll never know. π
Lancelot catches my eye too. Enjoy.
Thanks!
Notion sounds like an interesting tool, Iβll have to investigate.
Wishing you a great reading week
I’ve found it really helpful in a few different areas.
Thank you, you too.
I use Notion for all sorts of lists!
I hear you on the sleep thing. It’s so nice to occasionally have a night where I sleep through, although to be fair my idea of sleeping through means waking up after 5.30am. My idea of actually sleeping in is much later than that.
I need to get it up to speed for some other things, but I’ve been using it for D&D and Animal Crossing for a few months now.
Oh gosh, I kinda wish that was my waking time. I usually sleep through the day. I’m so over sleep. xD
I hope you can get your sleep and rest schedule back under control. It sounds horrible with it so mixed up. Congrats on getting a wish granted on NetGalley. I seldom do. Come see my week here. Happy reading!
Thanks Kathy, it’s been rough. <3
Not sleeping plays havoc with reading – at least that’s what I find. Surest way for brain fog. Hope your CBT goes well and sleep patterns re establish. Yuck to those wasps!
It really does. Some nights I’m okay and can use the quiet time, but it’s just been fog and exhaustion this time around. Thank you. <3
I can’t function without a lot of sleep either. Hope you have a better week.
Thank you <3
So sorry to hear about all of your sleep troubles, I have definitely been there and feel your pain.
I do a monthly State of the ARC on the last day of each month if you are ever interested in a way to help keep track of your ARCs!
I am super jealous that you got Jones’ book. I love him so much and it is not available on NetGalley for me.
Happy Reading, hope you get some sleep!
<3 Thank you.
Ooh, I’ll have to take a look at that! I am trying to be careful not to take on too much this go around but it’s always useful to keep track and if there’s community involved, all the better.
Is it not? That’s kinda sad! I’ll hopefully get around to it soon. It’s like 97 pages long so it should be a nice quick read.
Thanks, definitely getting the sleep this week, just at strange hours. π
hopefully your sleep has gotten back on track. i have been dealing with my own sleep issues since the middle of august and can’t get a sleep routine in place.
my post: https://blessedmommysc.blogspot.com/2021/09/a-rough-week-late-af-sunday-post-8.html
It’s getting there, thank you. It’s real tough, I don’t think I’ve had a sleep routine for a couple years now. I hope you’re able to get a handle on yours.
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