New Year's Resolutions 2023

 I'm back with my New Year's Resolutions list for 2023!

1. Get a tattoo
2. Get a piercing
3. Watch 100 films
4. Complete my book resolutions
5. Learn to knit
6. Sew a garment
7. Learn to crochet
8. Write 20,000 words for NaNoWriMo
9. Write 10,000 works outside NaNoWriMo
10. Do a painting
11. Finish 2 embroideries
12. Go on an outing
13. Get a new job
14. Learn to drive
15. Get a new car
16. Decorate the hallway

Book resolutions:

1. Read 100 books
2. Read 2 auto/biographies
3. Read 2 other non-fiction
4. Complete 23 in 2023 challenge
5. Complete Alphabet challenge
6. Read 30 NetGalley books
7. Complete owed reviews
8. Review every book

I want to be more crafty and creative in 2023, I need to learn new skills and I need to make more things with my own hands! I also need to write more, to stretch my brain, I need to finish something!

As explained in my last post I need a new job, why is it so hard to find something that is compatible with my skill set, physicality and mental capacity? As for the car, we haven't had this one long but knowing our luck! LOL! But also it is still a little smaller than ideal, it's nice to dream anyway.

The hallway seems a bit random but it's actually not. It's been needing doing for a while but the council just redid the bathroom and toilet, they look nice on the surface but the paintwork needs an extra coat and their shower was pathetic so we bought a mixer tap shower and paid a plumber to fit it. They also took forever! We were quoted 10 working days, it was about 3-4 weeks in the end. People not showing up, only one person coming in a week etc. It was awful. Anyway now the bathroom has been done the hallway looks even shabbier, especially where they bashed at it bringing stuff in and out, so now it's desperate for redoing. The paint is cheap enough, the big cost is new flooring and we can't skip that because it's already patch-worked from where puppy Forest ripped some back up.

So that's the list. Obviously there are other non-list mini goals as always but whatever to them.

Stef Out x

Resolutions Recap 2022

 Hello and welcome to my yearly resolutions recap where I remind myself what a failure I am! LOL!

1. Get at least one piercing
2. Get at least one tattoo
3. Add 20,000 words to my WIP novel
4. Write 30,000 words for National Novel Writing Month 2022
5. Break in all my Dr Marten shoes properly
6. Get a new job
7. Learn to drive
8. Get a new car
9. Sew a garment
10. Learn how to crochet
11. Learn how to cross stitch
12. Read 100 books
13. Watch 100 films
14. Go to the cinema 5 times
15. Go to Longleat Safari Park
16. See a show on stage

Yet another successful year as you can see! So we ended up with a new car at the end of July. The old one, a Nissan Micra, broke down fatally while we were en-route to go shopping in June (I totally looked back at Facebook and Twitter for the dates LOL!). It started to slow down, the gears went funny and then we pulled over and it wouldn't restart. A policeman wanting to do speed checks pushed us into the car park of a shut down pub. We waited 4 hours for the RAC in the heat, I got sunburn just sitting in the car. It turned out to be the timing wheel. We looked for a new one but in the meantime I was walking to work in the height of summer, ugh. It could have been worse though, the day after the actual breakdown we'd planned to go to the cinema to see the latest Jurassic World film, a breakdown on the motorway would have been hell!

We eventually found a new car within our meagre budget, a Citroen C1. Where it had been sat around a while we needed to get a new battery straight away but it's OK, it prefers going fast to slow. The gears are a bit clunky and the left indicator has just started playing up but it's got it's MOT in a couple of weeks, a tad overdue, oops!

I ended up with a new job at the end of September. I left the old one on Tuesday 27th, started the new Thursday 29th! Things had deteriorated badly at my old job. I was accused of mishandling a donation, suspended, investigated, thought I was going to lose my job but kept it by the skin of my teeth. A lot of the issue was verbal information and an incorrect date given, I remembered the correct date, they found the details and all was good-ish. This was the beginning of September. My manager then sent through the latest rotas and we weren't scheduled to work together at all up until at least November (that's how far it went at that point). She'd also hired a Sunday Supervisor behind my back when our original plan was share the weekends as we'd been doing and get me an extra day a week. Then she started leaving loads of catty notes about the way I work so it was good timing that I left then.

My new job is slightly better but it's not one I want to stay at. Some days there's loads to do, others there's nothing and you end up tidying. Ugh. When I started they wanted me to stay away from the tills but now I have entire shifts covering the customer service desk. The training was abysmal, I'm only just figuring some parts out. Sometimes they moan when I'm not doing something quick enough but I'm helping customers and covering breaks in between doing whatever I'm doing. The foot pain that started in my last job is also getting worse so I end up limping around which isn't great.

Only one cinema trip this year :( Sing 2. We planned on seeing others but finances etc just never work out. I made it to 152 books read though so I'm proud of that. I can't remember the film number and officially there's still a few days of the year left but it is over 100. NaNo was a fail this year, I didn't even reach 5,000 words. I did absolutely no planning and a depressive funk made me wonder if I was even going to attempt at all.

Everything else was obviously finance and time related. And motivation, I've struggled mentally this year, I'm constantly in a low level of I don't care. Hopefully that might improve soon? Please?

Back Sunday with this year's resolutions! (Though I'll write it up now and then schedule it XD)

Stef Out x

New Year's Resolutions 2022

1. Get at least one piercing
2. Get at least one tattoo
3. Add 20,000 words to my WIP novel
4. Write 30,000 words for National Novel Writing Month 2022
5. Break in all my Dr Marten shoes properly
6. Get a new job
7. Learn to drive
8. Get a new car
9. Sew a garment
10. Learn how to crochet
11. Learn how to cross stitch
12. Read 100 books
13. Watch 100 films
14. Go to the cinema 5 times
15. Go to Longleat Safari Park
16. See a show on stage

I also have extra mini goals like getting a bit fitter and clearing my Gmail and Outlook inboxes. Gmail is where Quora stuff gets sent (it was a little bit of an obsession for a while) and Outlook is Pinterest emails. Both require more time dedicating to them than I usually want to spend on them. I have been making progress on the Pinterest ones this week though, no money to shop with (£10 til PayDay) and bank holidays meaning not many working days this week meant I've had a little more computer time, in between colouring my calendar for this year.

Then of course on top there are the extra "need to buy" goals. I need a new laptop, I'd like to go old school and get an old iPod Classic for my music. We need a new carpet in the living room, we need to vinyl in the hallway and kitchen. I need a new desk chair. We'd like to re-replace the sofas for comfier ones. (Background - one of the old sofas broke so they were emergency replaced last September but the only ones we could afford turned out to not be overly comfy.) We both need new beds and probably mattresses.

All in all a lot of reasons to need a new job with more hours/more money. Sigh.

I also need to catch up a lot with my NetGalley books. I've decided to put a pause on requesting for a bit to give myself time to catch up a little, I have over 300 that I need to read and that's on top of my existing reading lists for this year. I've thought up a 22 in 2022 list plus I want to try and read the alphabet as well. Anyway this is long enough now so I'll leave it there.

Stef Out x

2021 Resolutions Recap

 Before I start anything else can I plead with the universe to make 2022 less of a shit show??? Please!!! Although early signs are not hopeful. Onto the recap before I get into that...

1. Get at least one piercing
2. Get at least one tattoo
3. Read 100 books
4. Watch 150 films
5. Go to the cinema 5 times
6. Learn to drive
7. Get a new car
8. Go to Longleat
9. See a show on stage
10. Learn to cross stitch
11. Learn to crochet
12. Write 20,000 words of a novel
13. Get fitter
14. Break in my sequin Doc shoes
15. Keep up to date with book reviews
16. Start to grow my hair out

Well that was a disaster. Coronavirus is still affecting everything massively. As are my pathetic finances. I still haven't found a new job but that is a definite goal for 2022. To cut a long story short my old manager quit with a week's notice so I was running the shop single-handedly 5 days a week from end of July to the beginning of October. I debated taking it on permanently but I didn't decided quick enough and now I have a new manager. It has been... tough. She's lazy and slapdash about everything and has criticised me to my face and it's hard. I've lost all confidence in myself and my ability to do the job because whatever I do it's wrong or not good enough or ignoring something I didn't realise she'd said. I'm just tired of it all.

I was up to date on book reviews for a while but there's one from April I still haven't posted and two that have been hand-written but need typing up. I've decided to stop requesting from NetGalley for a bit, I just have too big of a backlog that I really need to catch up with, plus I have three (!!!) to read that were author requests. On top of that I've created a list of 22 books to read in 2022, plus I want to try the Alphabet Challenge.

Films were a disaster this year for some reason. I got to 95 I think it was and only managed two cinema trips, both in December: A Boy Called Christmas and Encanto. Both were amazing and I've already bought the Encanto soundtrack. We were hoping to see the new Spiderman film but there's just one teensy problem there... The car is broken. It's been making a strange noise when you reverse for a while and then the other day it made a loud clunk so we're thinking whatever it is has broken. It means I'm using foot power to get to work at the moment as well which is fun. Not. Mum gets her money on the 14th so hopefully it won't be too expensive to fix.

Speaking of the car, over the space of a couple of months we bought two new ones and then bought our original one back. The first was an Audi estate which had a broken window and an unfortunate gear problem - it would jump into fourth when you wanted second, not good. Then we ended up with a Skoda Fabia, just getting home was fun with that one, it was running on fumes and the petrol cap was jammed. The first station's attendant couldn't help and they were out anyway but the second managed to sort it. It was an uncomfortable car but it ended up needing to go because it had a habit of just stopping without warning. A tad dangerous. Then thanks to notifications from the DVLA because the logbook hadn't been done we discovered that our original one hadn't been sold yet so we bought it back.

Writing was OK this year, I manged 26,000 words for National Novel Writing Month in November so I'm really pleased with that. Fitness, hair etc, forget it, I kind of forgot about the crafty stuff and I feel guilty about my shoes. 2022 will be the year! I hope...

Anyway that's long enough for now, I will be back soon-ish with my 2022 Resolutions (I haven't even come up with them yet...).

Stef Out x

2021 New Year's Resolutions

So hello and welcome to my 2021 New Year's Resolutions!

> Get at least one piercing

> Get at least one tattoo

> Read 100 books

> Watch 150 films

> Go to the cinema 5 times

> Learn to drive

> Get a new car

> Go to Longleat

> See a show on stage

> Learn to cross stitch

> Learn to crochet

> Write 20,000 words of a novel

> Get fitter

> Break in my sequin Doc shoes

> Keep up to date with book reviews

> Start to grow my hair out

Not listed but are extras/stretch goals are: get a new job, move house, get a new dog, stretch my ears. Mum's knees are struggling to cope with the stairs so she's going to go to the doctors and play it up so she can hopefully get the council to move us to a ground floor flat or bungalow, preferably with a small garden. Then we can get a new puppy and not have to worry about the stairs with toilet training. That's part of why we decided against one last year. As for job I mentioned in my last post about the hours etc.

Things like the cinema, shows, Longleat are me being hopeful about the state of the world and everyone getting vaccinated and things hopefully starting to normalise. My fingers are tightly crossed. Stage shows are actually why the shoes are on there... If you're a long-time reader of this blog then you know I saw Mamma Mia at the Bristol Hippodrome a few years with some peope from work. Ever since I've wanted to see it again (without the annoying work colleagues) and when Dr Martens released the reversible rainbow sequin 1461 shoes I fell in love because rainbows! But I also thought they would be perfect for shows, events etc. However I've had them... A while now and they are proving difficult in terms of cutting into my ankles. A little while ago though I finally got some leather balsam - not the official Dr Martens one because that was more expensive for less than the one I got - and they've now had two applications and I think I'll try the hairdryer thing as well and hopefully we'll get somewhere. It is doable because my metallic pink boots caused a lot of issues at first and now they are perfectly comfy and I can wear them 6 hours plus at work.

Anyway enough typing for now. I've decided not to bother with my film breakdown this year, its just too much hassle trying to work out what genre everything is.

Stef Out x

2020 Resolutions Recap

So that's it. Another year over thank goodness and welcome to another resolutions recap *corny game show audience cheer*.

1. Get at least one piercing
2. Get at least one tattoo
3. Get fitter
4. Sort out my health
5. Draw or write something every day
6. Get a new car
7. Learn to drive
8. Get a new puppy
9. Watch 100 films
10. Read 100 books
11. Go to the cinema at least 8 times
12. Go to Longleat
13. See a show on stage
14. Start to save more money
15. Learn to knit
16. Learn to crochet
17. Learn embroidery
18. Write 20,000 words for NaNoWriMo
19. Get up to date with book reviews
20. Start to grow my hair out

Well thanks to the worldwide hiccup known as the coronavirus or Covid-19 a lot of stuff got cancelled and everything went on lockdown in the UK for several months back in March. We had a second smaller one in November for just a month.

The first lockdown is the only reason I completed any resolutions at all! It prompted me to learn embroidery, I caught up on reading for a grand total of 127 books read this year. Also despite the wealth of stuff on Netflix, Amazon Prime and Sky (I don't have Disney+ yet) I watched a lot of films... 227 to be exact... Cinema trips suffered greatly though. Only 5! Cats, Frozen twice, Sonic the Hedgehog and Doolittle.

In hindsight draw or write something every day was probably never realistic for me...  Not when time-sucking mobile games exist LOL! Fitness went down, health is probably also still not great *sigh*. To save money you need money to start with and since the lockdown work have put a stop to overtime so I'm down to my contracted 21 hours over 3 days where I was doing 28 over 4. I haven't made it an official resolution (as you'll see in my next post) but I think I do need to look for a new job. My manager is draining and I need more hours. Maybe then I'll also feel "right" about growing my hair out.

Anyway this is long enough for now so I will go and be back tomorrow with a 2021 resolutions post!

Stef Out x

New Year's Resolutions 2020

So now I've got 2019's resolution recap out of the way - my film recap will come after this post - I can do the post with this year's resolutions so:

1. Get at least one piercing
2. Get at least one tattoo
3. Get fitter
4. Sort out my health
5. Draw or write something every day
6. Get a new car
7. Learn to drive
8. Get a new puppy
9. Watch 100 films
10. Read 100 books
11. Go to the cinema at least 8 times
12. Go to Longleat
13. See a show on stage
14. Start to save more money
15. Learn to knit
16. Learn to crochet
17. Learn embroidery
18. Write 20,000 words for NaNoWriMo
19. Get up to date with book reviews
20. Start to grow my hair out

So rather a long list this year... Still doable in theory but we'll see how it goes. I actually got books for embroidery and crochet for my birthday last year but thanks to the bought of depression mentioned in the last post I lacked the motivation to do anything with them. I've also seen a knitting book on Amazon that I'd like to get to help with that one. 9 days into January and the draw every day is working well since I picked up a 365 Days of Art book at work.

This year I decided to change my normal 'lose weight' goal to something more meaningful. I want to feel less out of breath when I'm running around work and I need to sort out various health stuff. For a start this dizziness thing I have. I can't turn on the spot without going wobbly and looking a certain patterns makes my eyes go all fuzzy and I can't focus. I'm also type 2 diabetic and while at my last appointment my sugars had gone down to a better range (it was bad enough that I was on 3 month review but now I'm back on 6 month review) I obviously do want to improve it. If I could come off the injectible medication would be great.

Last year I watched 7 films at the cinema so I thought I'd stretch it to 8 for this year and 1 is already done. Cats on New Year's Day, despite the bad reviews I really enjoyed it.

Anyway that's enough for this post.

Stef Out xx

Long Time No See... 2019 Resolutions Progress.

Hello. So the resolution for keeping up with this blog and reviews didn't exactly happen. 2019 was a bit of a crap year. It seems a bit of depression snuck in somewhere and life circumstances around April meant it really dug it's claws in. It still hasn't let go yet. I suppose some people might see a doctor about that sort of thing but I don't have time to wait around. Appointments at my doctor's surgery regularly run half an hour late although recently my mum was waiting about an hour so... I end up avoiding it when there's a small list of things I could do with talking to them about.

Another thing that hasn't helped in more recent months (mid October onwards) is that I got a new job. I'm now Assistant Manager for a local charity shop. It's fun but busy It's - currently - four days a week working 9 til 5, well half-5 by the time you've cashed up and gotten out of there. It's been a massive learning curve and it doesn't leave a lot of computer time. I am typing this on my laptop which is an option but it's big and heavy and awkward so I'd like to get a little Chromebook or something soon. Something light and fast! A Macbook would be the dream but considering they cost more than my monthly wage that's all it'll be, a dream. Even if I had the money an iPad Pro would be higher priority, mostly for Procreate, the drawing app, I follow artists online who use it and it looks epic!

Anyway resolutions. These were last years:

1. Lose at least two stone
2. Get at least one piercing
3. Get at least one tattoo
4. Learn to drive
5. Read 100 books
6. Watch 100 films
7. See at least 5 films at the cinema
8. Write at least 30,000 words for NaNoWriMo
9. Buy a tablet
10. Get a second dog
11. Find a new job
12. Draw more and improve my art

As you can see I did not do very well at all last year. If I recall I lost a bit of weight but not as much as I wanted to, one of those things that depression affected, like my concentration which is why I failed my reading goal. I thought I consistently read above 100 a year but checking back I've failed a few times, 2014 I read 97, 2017 was only 84, 2018 was 91 and last year, 2019, was 92. My best year overall since I started the challenge on Goodreads in 2012 was 2013 when I read 207 but that was due to re-reading my Animal Ark books before re-homing them. Concentration also affected NaNoWriMo, also with that one time was a factor, having only recently started my new job.

Speaking of the job as you know I was originally at Sainsbury's. I'd not been happy for a while but then a bunch of stuff went down in April which led to my mum losing her job which then left me feeling awkward and stressed and extra unhappy. I was planning on looking for something new soon anyway but then I was in the charity shop talking to the manager there who I used to work with at Sainsbury's and she said they had an Assistant Manager vacancy and I should apply, so I did and I ended up getting it!

Now... the dog... That was not great. We'd been looking into adopting a Greyhound since March and had filled out forms with Hounds First and Forever Hounds Trust, it was taking so long for anything to happen we later filled out one with Bath Cats and Dogs Home but later all they could offer was a Yorkshire Terrier, not going to work. We had a meet with a Greyhound from Hounds First but he was an older, slower chap so we didn't feel like it would work. Forever Hounds Trust kept on giving us the runaround but eventually we got told about Stacey, a Greyhound x Whippet. We went and saw her mid August and despite reservations we decided we'd take her home (not helped by the distance and horrible country roads to get to the centre) and renamed her Breeze. Things were difficult from the start. We had to buy her a slow feeder and stand between her and Forest to give him a chance to eat his food. She didn't understand toys, she blocked him from getting on either bed and he ended up sleeping in the kitchen which he'd never done before in his life! She was also a chewer, ate a pair of my shoes and put a hole in my towel. Her training was also non-existent, pulling strongly, barking at other dogs, couldn't walk in a straight line, she also had several accidents inside. Of course this was mostly stuff we could have worked with (except maybe the beds) but then she quickly started to get quite nippy with him and caused a couple of small injuries and so we decided after a few weeks that she needed to go back for his safety and hers if Forest decided to retaliate - being so much bigger and all). We have now decided if we're going to get another dog then another puppy is going to be the best plan for us personally. We need to know a dog's background, Breeze was a former stray so was always going to be a mystery.

The other goals as normal suffered from lack of money. Same old, same old.

Anyway this post is long enough that I will sign off and do 2020's goals in a new post.

Stef Out xx

New Year's Resolutions 2019

Resolutions 2019

1. Lose at least two stone
2. Get at least one piercing
3. Get at least one tattoo
4. Learn to drive
5. Read 100 books
6. Watch 100 films
7. See at least 5 films at the cinema
8. Write at least 30,000 words for NaNoWriMo
9. Buy a tablet
10. Get a second dog
11. Find a new job
12. Draw more and improve my art

Much the same as last year but condensed and simplified. I usually say I want to complete NaNoWriMo but that seems to be un-achievable at the moment so I thought I'll create goals to get closer. Normally I'd say 30k is too high but I want to get a tablet for writing because typing is quicker, the one year I typed my attempt I got to about 29k I think, I think I was a few hundred words off 30k so apparently it is doable for me. I need to continue that story at some point...

Last year I easily surpassed 5 films at the cinema but I though I'll keep the goal at 5 because I don't know what the year will bring and I want to achieve at least one goal on my list LOL! This list was compiled by looking at the Coming Soon section of the Vue cinema website. There were some films that had intriguing titles but no description or descriptions that had me thinking maybe. Those would need trailers to help any decisions.

Films I Want To See:
How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World
A Dog's Way Home
Aladdin
Artemis Fowl
Avengers: Endgame
Captain Marvel
Charlie's Angels
Dumbo
Escape Room
Frozen 2
Hellboy
It 2 (need to watch the first one though...)
Missing Link
Pet Sematary
Rocketman
Shazam!
Spider-man: Far From Home
The Kid Who Would Be King
The Lion King
The New Mutants
The Queen's Corgi
The Secret Life of Pets 2
The Sun Is Also A Star
Toy Story 4
Uglydolls
What Men Want
Wonder Park
X-Men: Dark Phoenix

Other Goals
As well as my official resolutions list I have a list of 'stretch' goals I suppose you could call it that are unlikely but I would still like to achieve.

1. Go to Longleat Safari Park
2. Finish 'A Song of Ice and Fire' series
3. Upload book reviews on time - at the moment I am 14 books behind and 7 of those still need reviews writing, oops.
4. Refine my clothing style
5. Get a Playstation 4 - mostly for the Spyro remake :D
6. Upgrade/replace all furniture needed
7. Get a new car

Longleat has been a dream for a few years now and even more so since I upgraded my camera - still need to learn the focus thing though, fences are a pain - and it's not too far away but it always gets shoved down the list. I don't know what happened with the SoIaF books. I started reading them, got to a Storm of Swords: Steel and Snow and then stalled. Apparently I started reading that one September 2017.

Ah book reviews. Oh dear. If it were just posting them here then I could maybe work out doing them on my phone but it's the posting on Goodreads and often NetGalley as well that make it a trickier process. I only get on the PC a few times a week thanks to work and sometimes I just forget to post as well. I will do one in a minute and post straightaway and then schedule this post for later or something. This is another area that getting a tablet may help, bigger screen to see what I'm doing and a keyboard case for typing.

Clothing style... Rainbow Goth in a nutshell. I love goth style but I also love bright colours and hippie clothing Wicked Dragon and The Hippy Clothing Co. both do the kind of things I dream of wearing, the latter in particular has some epic purple velvet tie-dye dungarees that I love! At the moment the main issue is that the sizes do not quite extend enough on most items to fit me. That is why this is a stretch goal and not a main resolution, because a lot of it rides on me losing a bit of weight, then I can wear the clothes of my dreams.

PS4 doesn't need explaining beyond Spyro being the last straw in me wanting to catch up technologically. Now furniture... Some of it is due to the dog's chewing phase (coffee table), most of it is age and being generally worn out: my bed, cooker, fridge, washing machine, sofas, carpets. It's a big job and will take a while.

And finally the car. Our little Nissan Micra is great and it's in better condition and better to handle than the old Ford Mondeo but while the Mondeo was too long, the Micra is too small and needs a bit more power in the engine, I think it's only a 1.1 or 1.2 engine verses the Mondeo which I think was something like a 1.4 or 1.6, I can't remember now.

Anyway this post is way too long but I can't be bothered to split it, will write soon!

Stef Out x

2018 Resolutions Recap and Film Overview

For anyone that wants a reminder here is my post about 2018's resolutions here and film overview here. I did not do well. Out of 20 goals I achieved 2 and a half. I saw 5 films at the cinema, got a new car and lost 1 stone out of 2. Not great. I even failed my usually faithful book and film challenge. This year I did change my work hours slightly. Friday's I used to do 8 til 1 and then I'd come home and watch a film before walking the dog to meet mum from work because she was doing 11 til 5. But then we realised switching round would be better because it means mum can come home and do things like cleaning or ironing. So we did so that meant bye-bye film Friday.

I will do a post in a few days about this years resolutions, I've just got to come up with them first! Back to last year's recap. Body mods, driving and days out were affected by money. We got the new car in February but then a few months later the clutch went so that needed sorting, plus it's had two tyres done. Forest had his op in the summer as well so no pups for him. Also mum had problems with her Universal Credit stopping, basically her details got deleted when the system changed so we needed to re-set that up. We also did one for me but apparently living at home means I have no outgoings - tell that to my weeping bank account - so I'm not eligible for anything. Sucks. I haven't had the energy to look into anything job-wise so I'm still in retail hell for now. The only drawing I've done all year is two Secret Santa gifts in December. I've really struggled with motivation and concentration this year, with reading as well :( I worked out that for music to play on my phone it needs to be in MP3 format so I'm working on converting my library and I will get a larger memory card for my phone. I do still need to get a tablet for writing though and It'll make keeping up with this blog easier. I can't keep taking months to post reviews...

Films
Now onto the film section! This year I only managed to watch 88 films. That's bad for me. Onto the breakdown:

January: 18 of which 4 were animated, 3 musicals, 3 superhero, 2 fantasy, 1 serious and 5 horror. 4 new to me.

February: 5 of which 1 was animated and 4 were fantasy. 3 new to me.

March: 7 of which 3 were animated, 1 superhero and 3 fantasy. 1 new to me.

April: April was a bad month and I watched no films. :(

May: 4 of which 2 were animated and 2 were superhero. All 4 were new to me.

June: 10 of which 4 were animated, 1 superhero, 1 musical, 1 romance, 1 animal and 2 fantasy. 4 new to me.

July: 10 of which 3 were animated, 3 animal and 4 fantasy. 2 new to me.

August: 12 of which 5 were fantasy, 3 were animated, 1 animal, 1 musical, 2 serious. 2 new to me.

September: 2 of which 1 was superhero and 1 was animated.

October: 2 of which 1 was fantasy and 1 was horror. 1 new to me.

November: 3 of which 1 animated, 1 fantasy and 1 serious. 2 new to me.

December: 15 of which 11 were animated, 3 fantasy and 1 serious. 4 new to me.

33 animated so less this year. 27 new to me films I ended up not tracking re-watches like I planned. I may for 2019, I've started a new notebook which is a little bigger and lined so it may be easier.

Total Cinema Trips: 10
I smashed my goal of watching 5 films at the cinema and went 10 times for 8 films!
The Greatest Showman x 2
Black Panther
Avengers: Infinity War
Deadpool 2
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again x 2
Bohemian Rhapsody
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald

I haven't yet looked at what's out next year but I think that'll come in my next post with the new resolutions themselves as this has gotten a little long.

Stef Out x

Film Overview 2017

One of my New Years Resolutions that I make and DO stick to every year is to watch 100 films not counting re-watches e.g. I could watch Frozen 10 times but it can only be counted once.

This year I thought I'd do something new and do a bit of a breakdown by month. If I was that sort of person I'd probably do genre related pie charts but I am rubbish at maths and numbers and all that jazz so I'll just do a mini breakdown.

Year Total:109

January:18 of which 6 were animated, 4 were superhero, 3 were fantasy, 2 were action, 1 was sci-fi, 1 was horror and 1 was a musical.

February: 15 of which 8 were animated, 6 were fantasy and 1 was romance.

March: 7 of which 4 were animated, 2 were fantasy and 1 was action.

April: 8 of which 3 were animated, the other 5 were superhero.

May: 6 of which 3 were animated and 3 were superhero.

June: 14 of which 12 were animated, 1 was superhero and 1 was comedy.

July: 16 of which 11 were animated, 3 were fantasy and 2 were comedy.

August: 2 and both were animated.

September: 5 of which 4 were animated and 1 was comedy.

October: 8 of which 6 were animated, 1 was sci-fi and 1 was a musical.

November: 3 of which 2 were fantasy and 1 was animated.

December: 7 of which 2 were animated, 3 were fantasy, 1 superhero and 1 thriller.

So out of 109 films 62 were animated. I guess that's my favourite genre... Of course I re-watched 'The Land Before Time' this year and there's 13 films in that series. Well 14 last time I checked but I don't own the most recent one yet... Need to rectify that sometime.

Total Cinema Trips: 4
Beauty and the Beast
Logan
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 - went twice.

For 2018 I have picked the same number to watch - 100 - but I have also added the extra goal of going to the cinema 5 times. Checking my local Vue cinema website I would like to see (in alphabetical order after films that are currently airing):

• Pitch Perfect 3
• The Greatest Showman
• Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle
• A Wrinkle In Time
• Ant-Man and the Wasp
• Avengers: Infinity War Part One
• Black Panther
• Coco
• Deadpool 2
• Hotel Transylvania 3
• Incredibles 2
• Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
• Love, Simon
• Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again
• Monster Family
• Peter Rabbit
• The Darkest Minds
• The New Mutants
• The Shape of Water
• Wreck-It Ralph 2

The sequels are pretty much automatic based on their predecessors. Animated films are almost a guarantee although there were a couple listed that I'd like to see trailers first. Some like 'The Darkest Minds' I hadn't heard of but the synopsis sounds interesting. Superhero is another genre that's almost guaranteed but 'Spiderman: Into the Spider-Verse' confused me in it's title. Is it a proper film? More information needed there, but also why do they need so many spidermen anyway? Just pick an actor and stick to him.

Another thing I want to try and track through 2018 is re-watches. How many times in a year do I watch Moana and the Guardians of the Galaxy films? Probably too many according to some but whatever. Anyway this has gotten pretty long so I will say goodbye and see you next post.

Stef Out x

New Years Resolutions 2018

So I thought last year's resolution list of 22 was more manageable but I still only achieved 6 and a bit. The bit was to read 'A Song of Ice and Fire' and I did start it but I'm on book 3 part 1 so I've put on this year's list to finish the series. The one thing I failed that shocked me was that I didn't read my 100 books! That's something I do every year without fail. I guess puppies take up more time than you realise... So here goes:

1. Lose at least two stone.
2. Get at least one piercing.
3. Get at least one tattoo.
4. Refine my clothing style, focus more on quality pieces.
5. Learn to drive.
6. Buy a new car.
7. See at least one stage show.
8. Got to Longleat Safari Park.
9. Get a second dog.
10. Read 100 books.
11. Finish 'A Song of Ice and Fire' series.
12. Watch 100 films.
13. Watch at least 5 films at the cinema.
14. Complete NaNoWriMo.
15. Finish the first draft of a novel.
16. Learn to draw dogs.
17. Improve my equine anatomy.
18. Buy a tablet.
19. Buy an iPod Classic.
20. Find a new career.

The trickiest things are going to be seeing a stage show, that depends on if there's anything decent on. The annoying thing is Wicked is on from pretty much now until March but we don't have the money for tickets at the moment and if we get the money then they'll probably have sold out so we'll see what happens. Shrek is on later in the year so that's a possible, as is the Take That one they did the TV show for.

NaNo is always tricky (this time I burned out and only wrote about 9,000 words) but I have a different plan in mind for 2018. Google docs or something similar on a tablet with a keyboard case. Hopefully that combination will fix the problems I have with speed and portability/ease. I can type faster than hand-writing but my laptop is a bit big and clunky to be bothered with and slower to start up whereas tablets are pretty much instant.

The other troublesome one is likely to be finding a new career. The thing is I'm starting to hate my job more and more. Retail is killing my soul and I don't know how much longer I can stick it. I'm 27 for Christ's sake this is not where I saw my life being, the thing is I've never had any clear idea of what I want to do. The only possible thing I did think of recently was dog grooming but I don't know if the market is too saturated where I live, are there too many? Are there any jobs? I need to research what's available locally in general - next town over is also possible once I learn to drive - and then see if there's anything that will suit me aka not retail, cleaning, office or reception (I struggle with telephones and 'perky face') that doesn't require masses of expensive training.

I'm shocked that I haven't already learned to draw dogs anyway but this year an idea for a project came to me themed around dogs, and then my brain literally just spoke and said why not do a series and include cats and horses too so that'll keep me busy for a few years hypothetically. Equine anatomy always needs improving in my art, I want dynamic, realistic poses!

I know an iPod Classic is an odd thing to want especially as Apple don't even make them any more but the storage size has always appealed to me. I debated just putting a super large SD card in my phone since my Nano died but the music app on my HTC phone is crap and some songs that I know are on the SD card just won't show up in my library which is weird. I even downloaded a music player thing from the app store and even that's not showing them. I don't get it.

I've already lost some weight but recent health crap at the doctors means that losing some more would be a good idea, also I want more freedom of clothing. I don't want to cross-examine a top or dress and debate whether or not it's going to fit me. I also want to buy more things that suit my rainbow goth style. As for piercings and tattoos they're a constant that keep getting pushed each year. Although saying that I did get a tattoo last year, even if it was only because a friend of mine is an apprentice and was doing them for free, I still love it anyway. It's a mandala style moon on my right shin.

Oh something I didn't put on my resolutions list but want to do is figure out a direction for this here blog. I'm thinking maybe more of a book/film review type thing with occasional writing bits thrown in. I originally started it with the intentions of it being a fashion blog but most of the time I'm in a t-shirt and skinny jeans or jogging bottoms because of walking the dog. I did try and take an outfit photo with my new camera a while back but I couldn't get everything in focus so I'm not sure how people who do it solo manage...

Anyway I've written enough for one day so I will leave it there for now.

Stef Out x

A Small Update Part 2

So this is the promised part 2. This is mostly about my New Year's Resolutions here.

Most of them will not get done and it's all the wardrobes fault. So January we bought the new wardrobes. They're bigger than the old ones which was fine in my room since there was nothing else in the way. But in mum's room there was a bookcase between the wardrobe and the door that would no longer fit. So that led to buying a new bookcase (it was a weird size, 30-something centimetres, so a half one was a bit small but full size wouldn't fit, eBay came up with the goods but it was white so we covered it with beech-effect sticker stuff) for there. The one that was there moved to the corner but there wasn't quite room so that led to a half size one being bought for that space (in our flat if there's a space, there's a bookcase).

With all this going on mum did some rearranging in her room and I did some tidying in mine. This somehow led to buying myself a new bed - which is shorter than average so we're going to buy me another new one and this one will replace her ancient one. Mine was getting a bit old and worn plus the new one/s are divan beds with storage which is good for thick jumpers and seasonal stuff aka Christmas jumpers. A lot of the storage in my room is made up of these plastic drawers. Two side by side in front of the window for leggings, hats, scarves etc, and two on top of each other by my wooden drawers for underwear.

As I'm getting older I'm realising they don't look brilliant so they are being replaced with wooden drawers this payday including one extra for mum. One of the plastic drawers - the colourful one - is relocating to the living room for stationery and art stuff.

So as you can gather a couple of wardrobes have snowballed into furniture in general. I've already mentioned another bed. There's also going to be a big chest of drawers for mum since here's has been crap all the years we've had it. Then there's the new sofas - the others were emergency stop-gaps 4 years ago. Plus I need a new desk and I think mum mentioned something about a sideboard. There was also going to be another bookcase but mum rescued a wardrobe our neighbour was chucking out and she's hand-making one out of that and some other wood. She collects wood. And loves DIY.

I have penciled in getting my New Rocks and a couple of other bits for September and October but otherwise for the most part each payday is taken up by furniture. I did get my new camera February or March (Sony Cybershot HX60) which is awesome. But it means things like piercings, tattoos and learning to drive are getting pushed back to next year.

As for a dog... I'll keep an eye out but who knows. We almost ended up with a puppy but we kept being given the run around about what was available between two different people so we said thanks but no thanks. One's adverts suggested that underage puppies were available straight away and the other turned out to be in an area known for puppy farming. Considering how rare Borzoi are they seem to have puppies available way too often. The decent breeders will only do a litter a year at the most, more likely every couple of years. At this stage if it happens it happens. I'm doing regular checks and I'm going to email a couple of breeders to express interest.

Also in case anyone comes by and mentions adopting. With a dog I am less experienced and unsure of one with an unknown history. Also a lot of rescue centres say no outright to flats or not having a garden whereas breeders are likely to be more willing to work with you. Plus I am supporting a rare breed, and I will know the puppies history and be able to meet possibly both parents and I really like that aspect.

However once I get a dog, rare breed or not she (or he) will be spayed or neutered. I don't support keeping dogs entire unless for very good reason. Too many dogs and breeds are being overbred (Staffies, Chihuhuas, Pugs, French Bulldogs, to name a few).

Anyway this'll do for now. I've got some posts on basic plus size Goth fashion in the works so they'll be up soon-ish.

Stef Out x

New Years Resolutions 2017

Last year I had a massive list of 34 resolutions separated into 3 categories of which I achieved 7 and two of those were halves. *sigh* This year I have a more manageable list of 22.

1. Get my septum pierced.
2. Get my ear re-pierced.
3. Get at least one other piercing.
4. Get at least one tattoo - cover-up or otherwise.
5. Lose at least 2 stone.
6. Refine my personal style.
7. Learn to drive.
8. Get a dog (preferably a Borzoi - to be followed by a Shetland Sheepdog).
9. See a stage show.
10. Go to Longleat Safari Park.
11. Go out for a meal.
12. Read at least 100 books.
13. Read 'A Song of Ice and Fire'.
14. Watch at least 100 films.
15. Buy a new camera.
16. Buy an iPod Classic.
17. Buy some New Rock boots.
18. Buy new wardrobes.
19. Buy new sofas.
20. Finish the first draft of my novel.
21. Blog once a month.
22. Improve my art.

So that's my list. I haven't even bothered to categorise it like last year. I've also left off some of the less achievable things like 'go on a date' XD knowing my history that's kind of unlikely. And things like art goals tend to get forgotten. We'll just have to see what happens.

New Years Resolutions 2016

So I thought I'd post my list of resolutions here just so I've got a digital record. Dunno why, just thought I would. :)

Personal/Appearance

1. Get my right ear re-pierced
2. Get my septum pierced
3. Get my ears pierced at least once more
4. Start stretching my ears (once healed)
5. Get an industrial piercing
6. Get my cover-up tattoo
7. Dye my hair purple
8. Dye my hair with henna
9. Lose at least 2 stone - more like 1
10. Refine/establish my personal style

Finance Related

1. Learn to drive
2. Get a dog (preferably a Borzoi)
3. Buy a laptop
4. Buy an iPod Classic
5. Get Netflix
6. Upgrade the car - battery changed
7. Buy a new camera
8. See Mamma Mia on stage
9. Get Amazon Prime
10. Buy a new phone

General Goals/Aims

1. Read at least 100 books
2. Read A Song of Ice and Fire series
3. Watch at least 100 films
4. Discover 2 new shows
5. Discover 2 new bands/singers
6. Blog at least once a month
7. Do more book reviews
8. Improve my equine art
9. Improve my human art
10. Learn to draw dogs
11. Learn to draw cats
12. Draw a self portrait
13. Finish the first draft of my novel
14. Go on a date

Naturally some of these are more achievable than others. For example the 100 books and films. My challenge history on Goodreads has me at over 100 every year but one where it looks like I didn't set a challenge. In 2013 I even read 213 although it looks like it was a year for short books like my Animal Ark collection (which I did finally let go of last year, at 25 I guess I'm a little older than the target market).

Go on a date seems unlikely but I still wanted to add it. Upgrade the car currently means fix it since the battery appears to have died so depending how things go that may count as that goal being completed.

Oddly things as easy as getting pierced seem to slip furthest down the list. Get my septum pierced has been on my resolutions list since at least 2013 (can't be arsed to check my older diaries) yet I still haven't got round to it. Mum may be tricky regarding the stretching. She's fine with me punching a ton of holes in my ears (almost encourages it) but she hates stretched ears that you can see through. Luckily I wasn't planning on going that big, an 8 or 6 maybe and the only reason I'd actually wear tunnels is so I can still wear my other dangly earrings, unless I just wear them in the next hole up.

Also while it does say about losing weight up there it's not my highest priority. I do want to lose some and I know I need to - my blood pressure has been up my last two nurses visits and while it may be stress related (old awful job the first, starting a new job on Christmas the second and cuffs/machines not working both times) it may also be weight related since I have put some back on. I don't want to be taken of contraception I know works thanks to weight (that happened before at my old surgery). And also I want to wear nicer clothes. I want to fit into Joe Browns main range and all the cool Gothy brands I see around. I want to find the right stuff to be able to wear Dark Mori without looking like I'm wearing a sack. I'm not doing any diets or anything. I'm just walking to and from work and I hope to set up a swimming membership at some point. Possibly around March. Finances should be more free by then. I have a list of books as long as my arm for January and hopefully a laptop for novelling in February. Course it all depends on how much I get and how much mum needs for household stuff.

Pre-Update Update.

I will do a proper update maybe Monday with New Year's Resolutions etc but for now I thought I'd do a quick bullet pointed list of recent stuff:

• Bought some skinny jeans from Simply Be - the Lucy's - they fit perfect.
• Bought a basic black satchel from Zatchels - full review to come when I can be arsed to take photos.
• Changed job at the tail-end of November - I've now been at Sainsbury's for 5 weeks. It's a much better atmosphere, the full story will come in a separate post.
• My aunt blackmailed us into taking on another cat. His name is Tigger and he's a 9 year old tabby.
• I finally got my provisional license last year, now for driving lessons... Eventually.
• I failed my 2015 Goodreads book goal. I only did 125 of 150. I did beat my resolutions goal of at least 100 though. This year because of some longer books in my goals both are 100.
• I currently have a horrendous cold and I almost lost my voice.

New Years Resolutions 2015

Personal - Appearance

1. Lose a bit more weight, minimum 1 stone by moving more and eating better.
2. Get my right ear re-pierced.
3. Get my septum pierced.
4. Get both ears pierced again.
5. Start stretching bottom holes once healed.
6. Put dreadlocks in my hair once long enough - may be extended until 2016.
7. Refine my style.
8. Find a new purple hair dye - my current one isn't purple enough. Feel free to suggest, permanent colours only - less upkeep.

Personal - Other

1. Get my provisional license.
2. Learn to drive.
3. Decide a career.
4. Train for career if necessary.
5. Get a better job.
6. Help mum find a new job.
7. Write (finish!) a novel.
8. Go on a date.

Material

1. Buy new phones for mum and I.
2. Buy an external hard drive.
3. Buy a new desktop PC.
4. Buy an iPod Classic - used since they are now out of production (I hate years of bad finances).
5. Buy a Kindle.
6. Buy a laptop.
7. Upgrade the car.

Goals

1. Read at least 100 books.
2. Watch at least 100 films.
3. Finish the Gossip Girl series.
4. Read A Song of Ice and Fire.
5. Read Under the Dome.
6. Discover at least 2 new shows.
7. Discover at least 3 new bands/singers.
8. Improve my equine anatomy.
9. Improve my humans.
10. Draw a self-portrait.

Update April 2015:

A few things have been crossed off which I'm quite pleased about since we're only a few months into the year.

Update November 2015:
I've managed to cross some more things off but as we are now approaching Christmas I probably won't be able to cross off any others. The frustrating one is the weight loss one. I did manage to lose a bit but I've put it back on plus a little bit I think. *Sigh*