Hello friends, happy Wednesday! I hope you’re all doing well and had a good month! I’m semi-back from my break, I’m hoping to be back officially next week, but for now, May was a whirlwind for me – I did so much, so with that, let’s get right into it!

Currently Reading:

Different Seasons by: Stephen King. I’m just about to wrap this up next week (I’m on the last story now), so I will hold off on any thoughts until next month (my wrap-up for this novella collection should be up next month). What I will say, is this has been such a lovely reading experience, which is unexpected coming from Stephen King.

They Both Die At The End by: Adam Silvera. This has been really fast-paced and I’m enjoying the world that Silvera has created, it’s so interesting, but I also want more from it; I have questions about how everything works and I’m not getting those answers just yet. Silvera has the emotional part down pat though!

What I’ve Read:

55/100

Kat and Meg Conquer the World by: Anna Priemaza. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This was such a cute book about friendship and the power and love of it; I loved these two, they were so good for each other!

Hana Khan Carries On by: Uzma Jalaluddin. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I was blown away by this Canada Reads book. This took on real topics that happen and brought them to light. I also loved the characters they were so fun, highly recommend!

The Three Theban Plays by: Sophocles. ⭐️⭐️⭐️ I’m glad I read these plays. I enjoyed the first one the best, but I also liked the order they appeared so that you could get a better sense of the characters instead of reading them in order.

Visions by: Kelley Armstrong. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This was the second book in her Cainsville series and wow, this was so good and I had such a fun time reading it. We learn so much more about Cainsville and it’s done in such a creative way, I can’t wait to continue with this series!

Trick Mirror by: Jia Tolentino. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This was a non-fiction book on the ways we delude ourselves and I really appreciated the research that went into this. I didn’t agree with everything, but I liked the point of view nonetheless.

Anne of Green Gables by: L.M. Montgomery. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I re-read this because I want to get to the rest of the series this year and what better way than to start with a re-read of this precious book. I loved this as much as I did the first time I read it. Anne is such a beautiful soul.

The Picture of Dorian Gray by: Oscar Wilde. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Another re-read. Like I do every May I got to my re-read of Dorian Gray; I love this story and the character of Dorian, it’s such a great book.

One of Us is Next by: Karen M. McManus. ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 I liked this one a little more than the first one because there was more mystery here than in the first book, but it still was heavy on the drama. But I knew going in this time what to expect, which I think made this more enjoyable.

One Hundred Years of Solitude by: Gabriel García Márquez. ⭐️⭐️⭐️ I read this as part of my classics project because I don’t think I would have read this otherwise. The concept was so interesting, but there were parts that left me really confused, and the characters names are similar or the same. The writing was really good though, just not for me.

Links to my my blog posts this past month:

Links to posts I enjoyed around the blogosphere:

Kyrsta @Pages Unbound talked about tips to crafting engaging discussion questions

Nyx @Drizzle & Hurricane Books talked about what influences her to read a book as a non book blogger

Cielo @Bellrose Reads reviewed her new Kindle Paperweight

This month has started off really rainy and gloomy, but slowly changed to sunshine and hot (thank goodness)! My Toronto Maple Leafs got totally swept in the second round and so now hockey is over for another season. Better luck next year as we always say.

This month has been hectic! I had so much going on, I went on my first real vacation since before the pandemic, which led to a blogging break (which I’m still on as I work on new content), for the first time ever since I’ve had this blog. This month has been full so I hope next month will be quieter… we shall see.

Highlights:

✨Bought myself new running shoes and jacket (I was in desperate need!)

✨Spent the weekend with a friend

✨Went to an open house

✨Went to the Toronto Symphony for the first time ever! It was such an experience. We watched Star Wars, the Last Jedi, while the symphony played the score – so cool!

✨Went out to dinner with the family – we really don’t do that often 😱

✨Worked from the office for a few days (which is completely out of the norm for me)

✨Went out to dinner with my group of friends

✨I ate a lot of shrimp this month (I don’t know if that’s totally a highlight, but I love shrimp!)

✨I bought a dress for my birthday (that, yes I know, is months away)

✨Went on a trip with my mum to Washington D.C. (obviously the highlight of the month!)

What I’ve watched:

First Kill; season 1. I’m so mad that Netflix cancelled this because it’s SO good and we’ll never know how good it could have gotten. I mean, this first season was top notch vampire flick and I loved it. I loved the whole concept of a legacy vampire, like wut?! I love that there are vampire hunters and that the young vampire hunter fell in love with the young legacy vampire. Now we’ll never know if they get together because it was left hanging! I knew this would end on a cliff hanger and I’m mad about that too. I wanted to watch what would come to Eleanore after everything she did; god she made me so angry. I wanted to know where Theo was going to go. Oliver was hilarious and I wanted to know where his story was going to go (although they brought in these cheesy CGI looking monsters so I don’t know where exactly that was going to go or of it’d be any good). So many things left open and we’ll never know! I’d say check it out because it’s so good, the pacing, the characters, even the theme song is catchy as hell and references Edward and Bella 😂, but then you’d be in the same predicament as me, angry that we’ll just never know what we could have gotten. Someone revive this!!

The Good Doctor; season 6. The way this ended made it feel very closed off, like if the show was not going to get picked up, this would be a good enough place to leave it. It didn’t end on any cliff hangers and mostly happy things. First off, Park and Morgan are officially back together, OMG FINALLY! It’s taken them what feels like seasons to get their shit together, but I’m happy for them. Then we have Danny and Jordan who were just going to get back together, but after that explosive accident, he needs time, but I’m happy they’re still in each other’s life. Then Shaun and Lea have their baby! That was so happy, but I am sad that he and Glassman are still fighting and the freakin’ old man is too proud to even go and see them and the baby, bahumbug on him. It ends with Glassman alone and it didn’t have to be that way. I love that Shaun got him a ‘Grandpa’ hat to match the rest of the family, uh! Oh and Andrews quit his job of head of the hospital so he could be with his girlfriend, woah, big move there guy, big move. I really hope that there was more to that decision than just her, like the job was getting to be too much because I don’t want him to then resent her if things go wrong. I guess we’ll see… if there is another season that is.

One Tree Hill; season 6. I’m now finished the Lucas/Peyton era. So, what didn’t happen this season? We start the season with a freakin’ funeral. Quentin is killed (so freakin’ sad!) and we learn how everything is connected between that, Brooke’s attack and Sam. I feel like this season had everything crammed into it because they knew they wouldn’t have Lucas/Peyton after this. They get engaged, married and have a baby all in this season. Peyton also goes through a scare of dying. Lucas goes through this whole thing where they want to make his book a movie. I always love seeing Van der Beek in this role because it’s like a crossover with Dawson’s Creek. Like this is what Dawson became since he wanted to be a director. This is where we meet Julian (which I swear it was season 5 but clearly not). I’ve always hated that Julian dated Peyton first because can’t Brooke just have her own boy! Why do they gotta share all the men? Brooke becomes a foster mom to Sam and I love Sam and wish we got to keep her. The chemistry between Brooke/Sam/Julian was the best, they would have made such a beautiful family, but alas. I also really loved the way Victoria bonded with Sam because it helped bridge the gap between Brooke and her mother. UH why is Sam gone?! Nathan does Slamball this season, but soon makes it to the NBA and Haley starts making music again because her teaching career is going away. I also liked the little Nick Lachey cameo. Mia and Chase are cute, same with Mouth and Millie and the budding romance with Skills and Lauren. Now I’ll be entering the third act of this show where it feels different with practically a whole new cast of characters.

Station 19; season 6. Well then. I’m going to go on the assumption that this is going to be renewed or has already been because what was that ending?! First of all, they ended on a bang… like the floor caved in. I remember there being a news story when I was a kid that this happened somewhere at a wedding and that freaked me out… this plot freaked me out. 😅 They’re at a firefighter banquet and that happens. I was not prepared for Dixon to die… after hating him for seasons, now he’s just dead. I don’t think that’s going to fix all their problems as the system is so broken, Dixon only made it worse, maybe things will get better. The fact that Natasha almost died means she and Robert stopped fighting, which I’m glad because I think they were both getting too proud; they both want to do well in their job, but it’s taking over their relationship… and speaking of relationships, Vic and Ruiz need to separate because speaking of proud… Ruiz is WAY too proud and can’t handle that she’s happy for her friend, but understands his pain… he just sees her taking sides and I’m like, are you 10? Then he goes and makes out with a random, nah get out of here. I like that Jack saw it and was furious, he’s like an over protective brother in a way… but now we have NO idea if he’s going to be ok. He passes out and that’s it. Ugh! Until next season I guess?

Grey’s Anatomy; season 19. Again, I assume this has been renewed for big ol’ season 20! 😱 But before we get there, they took a page out of the Station 19’s playbook because this just ended on a cliff hanger too. We have NO idea if Teddy is going to be ok, she just passes out in the OR. I hope she’s ok, plus we have no idea if the patient, Sam will be ok either. I guess time will tell. Link and Jo finally get their shit together and decide they love each other, holy did they put us through hell. I’m glad it ended up happy! The interns have made watching this show really fun and just a fresh ‘reboot’ without an actual reboot. I loved everything with Adams, even if it was chaotic… I hope next season brings him more peace. I like that Nick took him under his wing though, that was sweet. Simone was a hot mess and not in the good way if you ask me. She’s all about getting married… yet she’s not even sure the whole time. Plus the guy is not that great… he seems like the type to be very pushy and shovey into the things he wants, but makes it seem like you want it too, I don’t get good vibes from him. I don’t like that Kwan put Jules in the position she’s in with her favourite person in the world, the sweetest old lady(!) but I get why he did it… he did it for her, even though that wasn’t what the woman wanted, I just hope she’s ok! I love that Mika is starting a relationship with Helm, they are so cute together! I also love that Helm stood up for her and for all residents because they weren’t getting paid enough. One thing I’ve really been loving from this show is how they have been tackling real issues happening in the US. I just wish real life could get the happy endings too. Now onto Meredith, I 100% think the show is trying to turn her into her mother in regards to Alzheimer’s. She wants to cure it but the way she’s going about it is really frantic and erratic… as if she doesn’t have time to waste… as if she could possibly have it? Who’s to say, but that’s my guess. Bring on season 20, baby!

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine; season 4. This was a slow…Trek to get through. After having such a great season 3… this season was so lacklustre. I wanted more, but I feel like I got less? The plots felt so weak and they kinda dropped the whole changelings plotline for the most part. We got it in the beginning and then it went way for a good chunk of the season and then the last episode they brought it back. It’s like they thought, oh wait we need to gain our viewers attention again, bang let’s do this. The last few epiosdes actually had merit and felt like they could have been in season 3, the rest of the season was boring. Worf joins the cast this season and we spend a lot of time getting used to him on the show, not only as a viewer, but the characters in the show are getting used to him too. Everyone was so awkward, even O’Brian who’s worked with Worf before felt weird and awkward and I’m like what is this? I’m hoping for more in the next season.

Prison Break; season 1. I’ve wanted to start this show for so long, so the fact that it’s on Disney+ makes me happy. I can see why so many people loved this back in the day because wow was this ever intense. Every time I thought I knew what could happen it was always something else. I’m so curious to see where season two goes because this ended on a cliff hanger… will they or won’t they prison break. 😂 I feel like I’m leaning more towards no, my guess was that it was going to take them 5 years to break out of prison, hence all the seasons, but I could be wrong. The whole deal with the Vice President was crazy! Like delusional crazy! Why did she try to make it look (and she tried hard) that her brother was dead and plant it on Burrows… I mean it’s been implied it has something to do with Burrows’ father but I NEED MORE! Needless to say, I’ll be watching season 2!

The Simpsons; season 6. I like that this season ended on a cliff hanger on who shot Mr. Burns… and because everyone hates him it could be anyone. I also like the running gag of Mr. Burns not remembering Homer’s name, but he remembers everyone else in the family… even Maggie who brought his Mr. Bobo back. I’m really having such a good time watching this.

List of Movies:

• Disney Movies:
  • Perri – This is another True-Life Adventure film that follows around one squirrel named Perri, it wasn’t that entertaining, if anything it was long for a movie about a squirrel, plus they tried to mix ‘fantasy’ in with it, which totally turned this off
  • Old Yeller – I finally got around to watching this, I’ve known about this for a long time, but never seen it. I can see why it’s a classic film
  • The Light in the Forest – Another Western starring Fess Parker, I think him in this made it even worse than it was… he’s so dead in this role and I don’t blame him, he’s played the same role for the whole decade
  • White Wilderness – Another True-Life Adventure film, the only thing that was interesting about this was the controversy about it and how they’ve told audiences lemmings commit mass suicide… which is fake by the way
  • Tonka – This was another western where the main character was a horse, more or less. It was interesting but I was bored half-way through
  • Sleeping Beauty – a Disney movie I finally loved! It feels like it’s been so long. This was just pure fun and joy
  • The Shaggy Dog – I found this so hard to watch because of its believability and there were just so many sub plots that it didn’t need to have, which made things really confusing
  • Darby O’Gill and the Little People – for the most part this was funny and entertaining, and relied on Irish folklore which was cool

Apt Pupil – this was a Stephen King adaptation; I liked it a little more than the short story because it was less gruesome, but the plot of this story was still really gross.

Stand By Me – the other Stephen King adaption I watched, just in time for this wrap up! I’ve seen this movie multiple times before (also a few times before I knew it was based off the short story by SK). I forgot Kiefer Sutherland was in this and it just made me laugh. I enjoyed this immensely, just like the story; it’s got good vibes, despite the sad undertones.

Star Wars The Last Jedi – this was a rewatch since I saw it at the symphony, but it made me want to go back and watch all the movies again. Maybe one day when I’m not doing 10000 projects.

What I’m watching:

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine; season 5. I’ve only seen 1 episode and all I can say is that Sisco looks good as a Klingon – that is all.

XO Kitty; season 1. I hope this doesn’t get cancelled because I’m enjoying it so much. I’m about half way through the season and I like how chaotic and dramatic it is. I love Kitty playing match maker and all the secrets and drama that keep unfolding. I also really like that she’s staying in Korea for her mom and not just Dae.

One Tree Hill; season 7. I’ve begun the last era of OTH, the one without Lucas and Peyton. I honestly didn’t remember how chaotic this season is, woof! You’ve got the whole Brooke/Julian/Alex storyline, which yikes, then there’s Millie and her drug problem, Dan’s TV show, Nate and his career, the sex scandal, will he play in the NBA. I’m not there yet but I know Haley and her mom is coming, which I’m so not prepared for. And of course the list of new characters joining the show now that we lost 2 main ones, it’s a lot to take in. Most of them are easy to love.

The Simpsons; season 7. I’m excited to pick this up because each season has been a lot of fun.

Instagram & YouTube videos from the month:

How was your May? Read, watch, do anything interesting? Let me know!