Halfway there

The end of this month marks halfway through the year. I know everyone says it all the time, but I can’t believe how quickly it’s gone. This whole last year has just flown by.

Read on for my monthly recap, where I take a look at the areas of my life that are important to me, that I’m working on or trying to improve.

Reading

I finished five books in June! A couple were really short so that bumped the numbers up nicely.

I’ve started listening to literary analysis podcasts of some of the books that I’m reading. I feel like it will take away from my actual reading time, but it will help me to better retain some of the books that I’m reading. For example, I’m currently reading The Master and Margerita, but I feel like it’s not really sinking in much. By listening to this analysis podcast as I go, I’m understanding it more and remembering it better, as well as getting some different insight into the book.

Finished

• Tribe by Sebastian Junger. This was one of the short ones, it was only about 4 hours long on audiobook. It was really interesting though. I feel like the author makes some conclusions that are applicable to himself and is painting everyone with that same brush, eg, his experience should be everyone’s experience. But it was still really eye opening.
• The Golden Fool by Robin Hobb. Part two of this series done. It’s got me hooked for the third book, but as with the previous series, the main character is starting to grate on me a little. Book two in a trilogy is often a bit of a slump book, so we’ll see how the third part pans out and whether I decide to read anymore of the series set in this universe.
• Heroes by Stephen Fry. Finished this one without really taking much of it in. It’s entertaining in its way. I’ve just found out there’s another one - Troy. It’s not going on my TBR list, but I might end up listening to it with S, as it’s one of the genres we can do together.
• How Proust Can Change Your Life by Alain de Botton. Wasn’t sure about reading this one before I’ve actually read any Proust, but I’m glad I did as I feel a little more prepared for what’s ahead of me. It was a quick read, again about 4 hours on audiobook.
• The Creative Act by Rick Rubin. I felt pretty let down by this book if I’m honest. I’ve seen quotes from it and creative people have talked about it positive ways, but I found it to just be fairly trite and surface level and nothing really of value in there at all.

In progress

• Winter’s Heart by Robert Jordan. Still no progress .
• Gormenghast Trilogy by Mervyn Peake. Still no progress.
• The Master and Margerita by Mikhail Bulgakov. Almost 60% through now. I’m finding this book harder than I expected. I started listening to an analysis podcast and that’s helped me a lot. I’m now more keen to keep pushing though.
• The King in Yellow by Robert W Chambers. No progress.
• Empire of Gold by Shannon Chakraborty. My hold came through on this one so I’m back into it again. I don’t know how it’s all going to wrap up in the space that’s left without some pretty harsh events (read: major character deaths!!). I just hope all this unrequited love gets requited. Is that a word?
• Do Hard Things by Steve Magness. I had to return this one and now it’s on hold again with a wait time of “several months” I’m 15th in line.
• The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C S Lewis. Current sleepy time book. I never read the full Narnia series when I was a kid, so rectifying that now.
• This is Your Brain on Music by Daniel J Levitin. Only a couple of chapters in. Got this to replace my work book after I finished The Creative Act. I have high hopes for this one though. If it’s anything like Hoe Music Works by David Byrne, I’m gonna love it.
• Wizard and Glass by Stephen King. Needed a pick me up so started on this one. Gonna take it slow and make it last though.

Health

Was hit with a head cold in June. I took 3 days of work, it probably should have been 4, plus lost one day of weekend to it. Had quite a few headaches as well.

Mental health has been fine, neither particularly up nor down.

Eating patterns have been fairly stable, no big binges and sticking fairly well to a consistent weekly menu that is reasonably healthy. A fair bit of snacking though.

Weight is probably creeping up again, mostly due to lack of exercise and snacking.

Exercise has been abysmal this month. I did park run one and got my slowest time yet. I didn’t do kick boxing at all because S was injured. I have been looking longingly at BJJ again though. I’m thinking, if S starts rehearsals and it lines up, I might go once week.

Writing

The June prompt was left to even more last minute than usual. I got the submission date wrong and thought I had an extra week, so ended up writing 1200 at work to make sure it was done.

Next month’s is 750 words and I already have a cool idea, so I want to get it done early.

I didn’t go to writer’s group again. It was another workshop with one of the members and I wasn’t particularly interested in it. Next month is reading their competition entries which is always incredibly painful. They are awful at reading their stories out. So I won’t go again. There is another comp though, so I will think about submitting this time.

I have an extra article to stick up on here that’s just about finished, as well. I wrote about some of the newsletters that I subscribe to and why. I also wrote something that I will tell you about in the next section.

Book of Stitches

I’ve been spending a lot of time trying to come up with something on the theme of ‘Blue’ for the next exhibition. I had a great idea, but every time I drew it it just didn’t come out right. I’m really bad at drawing, unfortunately. I’ve finally landed on a pattern I’m happy with, and I’ve started stitching. I’ve already had three false starts with the stitching, even though I did tests first. I think I’ve got it going now though, but I’m going to be much more pressed for time than I had hoped.

Still haven’t updated Etsy, just leaving it to do its thing.

This month’s (last months’s) stats are:

Views: 190 (147)

Visits: 108 (82)

Sales: 5 (2)

On one of the days I was home sick I ended up writing a ‘How to’ guide for cross stitch beginners. I had already been thinking about a blog for Book of Stitches and this would be great to put on it. I just have to get my butt into gear and actually do it.

Finances

Have made some good progress with extra payment and it’s starting to feel like the end is in sight for paying off that cursed credit card.

My debt free date is credit card paid off by 11/05/2026 and all debt by 11/01/2027.

I received a nice chunk of NZ tax back which would actually pay off the credit card entirely, but I’ll wait until my Aus taxes have been submitted for the year, as they might want to take some of that. Anything that’s left I will use to pay off the credit card. I really think I’ll be debt free a lot sooner if I can keep up the frugal living to make extra payments, and nothing unexpected pops up.

I still haven’t started the paperwork for reclaiming our Japan pension money yet, but it’s on my list.

Work

Was going to drop this section but I’m leaving it in one more time because during the month I was contacted by a recruiter looking to fill a role here. It wasn’t exactly the type of job I would normally consider, but the salary had me ready to interview if they still wanted me. Just today I received an email saying they didn’t think my leadership experience was strong enough (why did they reach out in the first place then?). Still, it made me realise that there are other jobs out there and I should keep an eye out as this job certainly isn’t my ideal job, and won’t find my ideal job unless I”m looking.

No specific goals again for next month. Just try and get a bit more exercise in, focus on getting the exhibition piece done and use my spare time wisely, rather than waste it scrolling social media.