January Wrap-up - 2022 (more, more and more news!) 💻

 

Hello, book dragons! 💻 At the beginning of February I come to the blog with full throttle to present you my wrap-up for January :) This first month of 2022, passed so slowly for me as if I was waiting for it to end for several months. The reason why it seemed so to me is that January was a huge, extreme carousel of emotions for my sensitive soul. So many conflicting feelings filled my body in those thirty-one days, and so many unexpected things happened to me that I'm not sure if I'll only have one post to list, or if I'll even be able to think of them all at once while writing... * shrugs uncertainly but enthusiastically *  But I will still tighten up, put my fingers on the laptop keyboard and happily embark on my story ⇾

Books: 

I've read a total of four books on paper, none electronically, and I'm listening to an audiobook at Storytel, but I haven't even halved it yet. The number seems quite small as I know that some of you boast about reading over 10 books, but this is my pace of reading, which I even think I have the advantage of calling quick. My readings were: the last part of Stephen King's series on "Mr. Mercedes" - "End of Duty", with its pleasant 432 pages, which engulfed me and spat me out in two days; followed by Tonya A. Brown's "Witchcraft" with a modest number of 202 pages, which I enjoyed for two hours before finishing it; the rest of my days, almost to the end of the month, were filled with the adventures of Scarlett O'Hara and all her known and unknown friends and lovers from Margaret Mitchell's well-known dilogy "Gone with the Wind", consisting of an enviable 1,152 pages separated in two volumes. I enjoyed all the works very much and maybe my only disappointment of the month was "Scarlett" by Alexandra Ripley, which I tried to force with Mitchell's creative treasure, but I just couldn't stand it. And the last days of January I met with "David Copperfield" by Charles Dickens, which I 'm still reading. 

Movies and series: 

In terms of series, I can brag that I have finally finished the second season of the thriller-detective series "Cold Case", which was popular among cine-maniacs in the 90s of the last century ; to share that I finally got to enjoy the new season of "The Witcher" ; to brag that I met face to face with "A Wheel of Time" ; and that I tried, but didn't manage, to watch the boring and slow "The Chestnut Man". Movies, on the other hand, I watched many and variety of genres. More than once I even pampered my cinematic soul by going to the newly opened cinema in my city - Pernik, which for over 20 years was no longer able to boast of an object of this kind. I watched the acclaimed "Dune", "Spider-man: No way home", "Scream 2022", "No time to die" and the famous but slightly older "The Girl on the Train" and "The social network". 

Writing: 

I wrote a few chapters from my novel, but since I was quite busy with other aspects of a teenager's hard life, and I was fed up with the stories, in addition to all the competitions I participated in November and December, I left the rest of my work in the background. However, the fact that I was not so purely active as a writer does not mean that there has been no development in my life as an artist. Quite the opposite - there was a lot of development. It was announced that (for the second year in a row) I have qualified for the national in the Bulgarian Creative Writing Contest in English (link here), for which I am extremely happy and proud of myself, as for the first in my high school, someone has ranked in the last seven years. And it was also announced that I won FIRST PLACE in the short story category at the competition of the Chance for Children and Nature of Bulgaria Foundation (link here). 

This is not the end of the incredibly good news of the month and especially for the last competition. * drums * The Foundation informed us that they will publish a collection of works by all finalists !!! I can't be happier that my work will officially be available in paper editions. The date has not been announced yet, but when that happens I will share it with you immediately. 

The other amazing news that I was preparing to share with you, and which I will certainly devote an entire blog post to later, is that I am preparing to publish a collection of all my stories! However, things are still under discussion and consideration. 

Social media: 

Strongly influenced by the festive mood that was everywhere until a few weeks ago, I unknowingly decided to continue my vacation by not taking seriously TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Blogger, Youtube, or Podcast. However, when I peeked behind the scenes of my poorly maintained business accounts a few days ago and saw that they were only going down, I realized that it was time to come back again with full force!

Pets: 

Everything is going well in this area of ​​my life. Eating well, going for outdoor walks, preventive examinations in the doctor's office, belly scratches...

Training: 

I wasn't very serious when it came to home training (who am I lying to, I didn't do it at all), and also - the ice on the roads pretty much hindered me on the subject of running, but at least I was very regular in karate training. In karate, I can brag about two positive things from this month - 1. I officialy managed to wind up my boyfriend to come train with me and he is already part of our club. 2. I'm preparing for the first blue belt, which I will probably take an exam for somewhere in the summer (this is a type 4 level of a total of 8 levels in this sport). 

Learning: 

The first one here is the end of the first term of the 11th grade, which is not so important for me to honestly admit to you, although I always try to keep my grades on the upper bar of success. The other, much more important, new, and interesting thing for me is that I officially decided to start courses for software engineering at SoftUni (link here). I've always been interested in computers and how they work, the applications and the gadgets behind the part that the user sees, so I said to myself - "Why not?". I discussed it with my mother and I did not hesitate for a long time. During the weekend of the first week of February, it all starts. Wish me luck in the journey to what I hope will be my future profession! 

Life: 

There is no need to lie and to not confess to you that this month, like everyone else, had its good, more or less horrible moments when it came to my relationship with my family, my friends, and my boyfriend. I would be surprised if it was all flowers and roses because it is very unrealistic. In fact, however, things could be described in one word - educational. However, the main news of the month is not about outsiders, but about a decision that will change my lifestyle and I could even say that it will "open a new page in the book of my life". And that is that last Friday in January I decided it was time for me to look for my first job ever. I looked at ads for my city on websites and live, prepared my first CV, and went on a tour through the places themselves. Now, just a week later, I have an appointment for my first day. Strange as it may sound, I have this itching feeling that I grew up... 

As a conclusion to all this long description of how my first 31 days of the new 2022 passed, I can only say that I am EXTREMELY SATISFIED with the events I went through, the decisions I made and the results they led me to. If January is Monday of the year, I started strong 😗 

Thank you for staying with me until the end of the post! 

Have a nice day and stay healthy! ❤