What I'm Into January 2014

Linking up with Leigh Kramer's What I'm Into series again. I love this series because it encourages me to remember the highlights of my life the past month, try new things thus making new highlights to write about, and I get to read what many others have found and done, expanding my community, even if only a little bit.

The start of the new year was a somber and contemplative one for me, and January has been a challenge. This month I've been in South Carolina for six months, but everything is still fairly new and most things are yet undiscovered. Friends and family are far away, and I didn't feel much like celebrating on New Year's Eve. New Year's Day greeted me as the something inbetween.

My parents drove into town for a pleasant visit (and we missed getting a picture? hm). It was strange how the move has changed things, and how my family is the same yet also different after so many months of life. I wonder how they thought I had changed? I also talked on the phone with my brother in Oklahoma for his birthday, the first I've been really and truly away for. I wished I could have been there to put up the birthday banner for him.

I'm still taking steps to be who I am and be seen for that. This month I got a pixie haircut and took steps to declutter and simply my closet to make that part of life less stressful. It's easier to like what I see in the mirror now. But I'm still filled with doubt about my choices in general and I struggle to trust my instincts. I want to adopt everyone else's passions as my own and enjoy the same intensity, but as that doesn't work for long (if at all) I'm still determining my passion(s) and my cause, and how I will go about pursuing them.

And that leads me to the most important book I read this month. I finished The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Power of the Enneagram, finally learning, after weeks of uncertainty and doubt, that I am a 9. It's a combination of relief and agony to have that label clear things up. When I read the chapter describing 9s, it was like the author had seen into my soul--I felt all the things described in those pages, and I would have cried if I hadn't been reading in a public place--and then dissected it. Ouch. Of course "there isn't a strong individual self in the 9, and that's the challenge--learning to develop one" - page 163. Of course that's me. (insert self-depreciating scream of rage here. oh, wait, I might have something...)

"9s struggle to have a strong and consistent sense of self." - p 159 Sigh. It's true. Yay, me.
Now that I know, I'm trying to learn, trying to grow, trying to be more assertive and be me, not someone else. But man, that is the challenge.
(...I was going to write a separate post about discovering my Enneagram type, but I think that covers it pretty well.)

Over the New Year's break I read the greatly enjoyable The Runaway King, the second book in the Ascendance Trilogy. I wrote about the first one here. Like the first one, I read the second book in just a few days. I wrote a brief review on Goodreads. The third book in the trilogy, The Shadow Throne, comes out next month! Can't wait.

I have discovered the hilarity, awkwardness, and joy that is the show FRIENDS. How did I miss this? As it's not on Netflix, I'm glad my library has it, because I'm getting in the queue. (...I've been watching a lot of British shows over the last several months. Yes, Sherlock is a big culprit. As is Doctor Who.) I think I enjoy it much more now than I would have when it was on because of how I have changed and because I'm now the same age as the characters.

Also, thanks to the library, this month I learned how to suspend my holds until certain dates, so I'm timing the movies I get so that I can actually watch them before they're due back. I should have a Bollywood romance coming available just in time for Valentime's Day! I consider this the perfect way to celebrate another year of singleness. With some tea or wine, of course.

I watched Bride and Prejudice, and it was amazing. I posted this on Facebook when it was over:

It made me wonder about the impact and reach our creativity can have, now and into the distant future. It makes me hopeful.

I tried some anime shows on Hulu, RideBack and Kino's Journey. Both interesting, for different reasons. Neither quite along the lines of what I usually watch (or read). I finished RideBack. Kino's Journey might be a bit more intense than I prefer, so I haven't watched more than a few episodes so far, but I like the concept. I also watched the first episode of Game of Thrones. Not sure what I think of it, but I was curious and wanted to see for myself what many others have been talking about.

I joined a local writing group. They meet every weekend, but I'll probably only try to join in once a month. I didn't read anything I brought, but we had a fun writing exercise where we had to include five different items in a scene and try to answer the question, Who owns these things? My heard pounded so hard when I read, I had to slow down to breathe, but when I finished, the room was silent. Then the leader said, "Wow. Welcome to the group!" I can tell you, as a self-doubting writer that was what I needed to hear.

My friend Jaimie Krycho released the first in her trilogy Bloodlines of Epheria on the Kindle, and I happily bought my copy. She originally published the story on her website, and I always looked forward to each installment. She had me loving the characters, wanting the powers, and worried about what would happen. Now I'm gonna reread Lorin's--I mean Sifani's--adventure (though I understand it is a little changed from the original?) and eagerly await the next book in the trilogy.

I had the pleasure of joining The Red Couch's book discussion on Jesus Feminist. (Mostly I read, and still am reading, the comments of others.) That book gave me much to ponder and The Red Couch and She Loves magazine inspire me to see a wider world than I can currently walk abroad.

I also signed up for the We Heart Books virtual book exchange. I've been paired up, and it's time to shop!

The other day I happened upon the song "I Lived" by OneRepublic. I love the brief interview on the song here. Adding this one to the list of inpires-me-to-move-become-and-live songs. It's pretty much been on repeat the last, what, three days.


As I was working on this post, my sister-in-law came in and asked if I wanted a chocolate cheesecake beater to lick. This month started rough, but it's ending fabulously.


So, what have you been into?

What I'm Into - December 2013

I don't feel like I was into much last month, but there are a few highlights worth noting. Alas, this is the second time I'm writing this post, as everything was erased, so I'm not going to make it in time for the linkup, but you can check out Leigh Kramer's December post and see the other awesome bloggers who've joined here. It's a good series, cool people, and worth some time.


I like the chance to think over what's been happening over the last month. It reminds me of what my life is, how much has actually happened, and how meaningful what I choose is. It's an opportunity to see where I've been, who I've become, and maybe where I'll be going next.

Last month, it didn't feel like I did much more than work, Christmas shopping and wrapping and shipping, and rest. Once I got past the stresses of being away from home at Christmas for the first time, I quite enjoyed it.

I attended an Episcopal church for Advent and found that I was getting used to the services, and glad for the liturgy. I'm still learning and deciding what to do for church attendance, but there are many things that I find I quite like about the Episcopal church.

So there was Christmas, and there was more, and remembering makes me grateful.

Reading: 

I read five books in December, one of which was the final book in one of my favorite series, The Ranger's Apprentice. Long anticipated, it didn't disappoint. I loved spending time with my favorite characters, meeting a new one, and seeing how time has changed them. Flanagan managed to break my heart and put it back together with laughter and perseverance. The story has a few, deliberate parallels with the first few books, which adds to the nostalgia, yet it is uniquely its own tale. I love these books and the final one was sad but beautiful. (Though I still want to ask "but whhyyyy?")

For Christmas, my sister-in-law and brother gave me the book format of Neil Gaiman's "Make Good Art" graduation speech. The words are inspiring, challenging, and encouraging, and the book is visually creative and fabulous. Neil Gaiman and Chip Kidd certainly made their own rules, and the whole piece is better for it. As soon as I had a solid chunk of time, I read it in one sitting, and promptly pulled up my current novel and risked some wonderful mistakes.

For 2013 I had challenged myself to read 25 books before the year ended. I knew I could read more than I had been, and I wanted to see it happen. I've been enjoying keeping track of my reading progress with Goodreads, and you can find what I'm reading there. At the end of the year, I'd recorded 35 books (five of which were by Neil Gaiman...I feel like a stalker). Nearly all of the children's picture books I peruse on any given day didn't get recorded. I'm not sure why. Some of them are quite fabulous, and should be noted. This year, I think I'll change that.

Listening:

After seeing Frozen early in the month, I just could not get enough of the song "Let It Go" and I'm not sure I would want to. (I actually went to see the movie twice, not something I do often, but Frozen was worth every penny.) Among many and many other reasons, I geek out that the song includes the word "fractals". I mean how cool is that? I love how fiction and song reflect, inform, and inspire real life. There were other factors involved, but it isn't a coincidence that I shared that I am an empath on the same day that I saw Frozen (the first time).

And when my sister-in-law found the Frozen soundtrack at Target, she bought it for me. So the last few days of December to now, I've had the songs dancing in my head quite a bit. So good. There's nothing quite like driving to "Vuelie" surrounding me with the fresh daylight or stunning sunset over the river.

Out and About:

I learned first hand that 3:30am has beautiful traffic, no joke, when I took my friend to the airport so she could go home for Christmas.

Went with my sister-in-law and niece to a local ice skating show. It was like a dance recital but with blades, coldness all around, and, you know, ice. Very neat and I had a great time. Hoping to see Tim Dolensky on the TV for the competition on Sunday. He clearly loves skating and is good at it. I love his choreography and freshness he takes to the ice.

Aubrey and I took an evening and headed out to the Festival of Lights. We saw everything from aliens and the solar system, to the Ravenel Bridge, to an owl peering down at us and a patriotic eagle. We listened to Josh Groban wish us a merry Christmas and chatted as we drove through the display.

Odds and Ends:

I got woefully behind in writing to friends, practiced a bit of honest expression with people I don't know very well when they came to visit, grabbed more books and movies from the library than I can possibly carry at one time, shared my one word for 2013 and chose a new one for 2014. I like my new word for 2014, but it's awfully big.

At New Year's Eve, I had no plans and no party to go to, but that was okay. I didn't much feel like celebrating. 2013 had been good, and in some ways, I was sorry to see it go. In other ways, the new year would just be a continuation of the present. And that brings us to now, to January, to 2014. If I knew a little better where I was going from here, I think the new year would excite me more. For now, I'm content to take it one day at a time.



Have you been into anything this last month that you want to share? Pull up a chair; I've got some tea...