(whines)
Anyway (Music) Can you tell I've been back into drinking protein shakes? Ahhhh Welcome to the new vlog. It is Tuesday.
I am about to go on a work call, so I'll speak to you later, but I thought I would say hello. Actually starting on a Tuesday Wow Okay, so for the episode of "TikTok made me buy it". I saw people raving about this, like, pet hair collector thing that's like not battery or not the lint rollers that we use because it's so wasteful and annoying and Apparently, this is amazing. It kind of collects stuff inside here. So I thought I'll give it a go Because I'm kind of tired of living in a constant, like,
cat hair pile. Do I just pull? Or do I roll? I think I'm supposed to roll.
No, I don't know. Dammit, where's the instructions? I'm supposed to go back and forth. That's pretty hard. Okay. It's kind of hard to pull, though, because there's, like, rubber. Oh my god, it works. Okay Can I do it on my pants?
I don't think you can really do it on the pants (Music) I just realized I forgot my sister's birthday I'm the worst with birthdays. I would forget mine if I could. (Music) So McGonagall battled Tonks for the chosen one,
and McGonagall has won by 79.9% That is crazy, but anyway So, I'm going to sit and like make up some questions for a McGonagall quiz. In her honor. Also, I don't know if I showed you. I don't think I did, but I made a cleaning quest because Apparently we can't clean unless it's a quest. No, it's because it's gotten so nasty around here and me And Logan are both very busy and it's just, you know, too much. Needs to be dealt with But yeah, I think that's my plan now.
I've just released the bookmarks, as well So, just making sure everything goes smoothly there. Finished work a tiny bit later as well Very tired already But I washed my hair during my lunch break. So, there's that. Just waiting for it to properly dry before I uncrust it. I don't know if there's gonna be any reading done, today though. Maybe just before bed. That'd be nice I also haven't played Animal Crossing in days Damn. My streak at logging in into the ATM machine.
It's gone through the window. Anyway Ok, so it is 8 o'clock. I've done the McGonagall quiz.
It was really fun. I hope people had fun as well She's such an amazing character. And the, "Have a biscuit, Potter" and the awakening of the statues and getting Snape out of the castle moments
are just so iconic. I decided we should have a sprint before 9 o'clock when I'm gonna go on an Instagram live So, I'm gonna continue with this because it's not quite dark enough for me to read the Astronomy read, which is Check Please. But I can continue with this, which is The Shadows Between Us. And I am on page 110.
Which is here I'm really enjoying it. If you were wondering about my initial thoughts, those were in the last week's vlog So I'm not gonna go over it again because I know a lot of you guys watch the vlogs, like, continuously So I think that is my current plan, and hopefully I can do a little bit of reading during this hour Then have the live, then maybe Read some more? I still also really need to get on with Harry Potter, but worst case scenario I'll just continue with the audiobook because I actually
still need some questions and whatnot But I think I'll have still plenty, even if
I have just like sit down and get them (Music) Hello He's trying to type Ten to 11 already. I have read during that sprint, however. I didn't stop so that's really good. Hello. He keeps rubbing himself Hi.
Aww, so cute. And I've actually managed to read 50 pages, which is great for my usual pace. So, I'm on page 160,
which is here. Then I did the live, and then
I did the Patreon newsletter Chatted a bit more with people on the Patreon Discord. Today is Marina's birthday So, Marina, if you're watching, happy birthday!
I hope it's not too difficult to have it in isolation Anyway, I think I'm gonna go ahead and like, take my makeup off and maybe read a little bit more in bed And try to like, not look at the screens as much I thought I'll update you. Hi. The book does have a little bit of boring bits sometimes, let's say. But because it kind of moves really quickly through everything, it moves quickly through the boring parts, too. So, I don't know. Undecided yet. I'm enjoying it,
but I don't know (Music) I suffered a case of exercise, before I twist you into my face, because I am not one of those people who look cute afterwards. Hello.
Actually, it's alright (laughs) I have, like, a bag of oranges that we kind of forgot and I kind of need to, like, use at least the majority of them like, very soon because they're too soft for our liking. And I don't have a juicer but I do have a NutriBullet Which I make my smoothies with, and I wonder if I just blend them there and then like use a sifter like the flour sifter? To collect the bits when I pour it out.
That should work, right? Might not. But let's see. (Music) Hello
It is Thursday It's coming close to my lunch break, which I think I am going to start customizing the envelopes for the bookmark orders. It's the 23rd of April and I really need to get more reading done, because I'm just... I'm not panicking yet,
but I'm not not panicking. Look what we did I don't know if he would enjoy the pillow.
I think they enjoyed their hammock, but Hi. Are you happy? Are you a happy boy? Aww, hello. They can do that.
Ow! (laughs) Hello? (laughs) He's so cute Logan: The pillow would just raise it up a tiny bit. But I don't know if he would lay on the pillow Logan: It wouldn't be a difference for him.
It would just maybe be easier Logan: It would be easier for him to walk ___ Are you falling asleep? So, basically we have two of these beds because we thought that both of them are gonna use, like each. Like one each But there's only one that they really liked in the bedroom So we kept it there, but we had an extra one and it's been unused because they didn't really take to it So we put it on the window in between the windows So far so good. I just don't know if you can leave it. Not that he wants to leave it now. He's being pretty content with it, but it's just funny. Oh, that's so sweet. Hi. So, it's like, late, but I had to go out of the D&D group because I just couldn't focus Because I just feel so exhausted. But I was doing...
I did customize a hell of a lot of envelopes But I didn't do any reading. And I didn't even listen to Harry Potter. I just put Friends on because I'm just exhausted It's been so, like, stressful at work and obviously OWLs and around this time, like, I'm pretty tired but, like, good tired, but pretty tired. I think I went to bed too late yesterday
and basically just my brain doesn't work So, I thought, like, there's literally zero point
of me trying to read But I'm starting to stress because I really need to get reading. It's, like, almost 11 already, I think So, I'm just gonna go clean my face and
I think just go to bed because Tired Yeah, buddy? (Music) This bed has been a big success You enjoying yourself? Yeah? Awww, yes, you are He's been sitting here all day
Hi I'm gonna read a little bit of this.
Plenty of dark outside (Music) Hello, it is Saturday, good morning I've just done the Saturday livestream on Instagram, which means that it's 11 o'clock I want to go cleanse my face and we're gonna do reading. But we also need to do a lot of other things, so Are we gonna do reading? Well, I did read some of the Check, Please yesterday.
It's basically a story about this guy that moves into like, a really famous college-type of situation and joins the hockey team and We're learning a little bit.
Like the chapters are really, really short So, it's an interesting way to tell a story
because it kind of jumps. It's not very linear Him coming out to them, as well, but it's a very like accepting place. And him being a really tiny person on the hockey team. That's obviously kind of...
You need to be kind of like hulky there So far, not too attached to anyone, but it's a very kind of "bro" talk a lot. Like, obviously, not from him, But from everyone around. Like, I realize people talk like that, but to that extent, it may be a little bit much. So, it's kind of bothering me sometimes,
but on the other hand, it's kinda nice. So I'm not sure just now. He's has been really loving that place. He keeps wanting to be put there. Oh! Ok, so before I begin doing anything else with my day, I thought I'll sit down and read a little bit I'm gonna continue with The Shadows Between Us. I am on page 160. I might do a little sprint on Twitter, too Okay, so there is this band in this book that's basically like a Robin Hood Steal from the rich, give to the poor. And I've had this theory for, like, a little bit after he is introduced Well, it's not really introduced. We just kind of know of him I'm just at the part where we kind of meet him a little bit. And I have a theory of who it's gonna be, but I really, really hope it's not true I don't know why. Maybe because it would be really predictable and kind of like enh So, I hope it's not him. But I'm kind of convinced it's gonna be. So. I obviously can't tell you I'll let you know if I was right or not.
Fingers crossed not This king really needs to stop moving through, like, the doors and walls. Because then I cannot stop myself from thinking that he's Casper the Friendly Ghost.
And it's not sexy Logan, would you like to demonstrate exactly how you ate a Kit-Kat just now? We have these that are double and he didn't separate them he just bit into the thing like a savage I have Momo here and I have Zeus here. I have gone to page 200, I think? Yeah, literally on the dot. So, I'm right here. Oh, I'm gonna drop it. Okay I'm kind of wanting a break from it. I'm not, like, not enjoying it, but there's a lot of talk about, like Who's with who and stuff. We did get a little bit more tension or like, the good kind of tension between the two main characters. So it's all good. I'm not, like, not liking it. It's not like blowing my mind or anything But I am feeling like reading some Harry Potter because I have not actually felt like it for a few days or maybe weeks.
Which is not great So I'm thinking of taking advantage of that. because I obviously need to read this and I need to make notes So, I'm gonna do that and hopefully make some progress. I am currently on page 119 So, we'll see how far I can get with all of the marking questions and making notes and whatnot You're so cute. So I've read... I'm on page 200. So, I've read, like,
90 pages or something And I just got really sleepy. Not because it's not enjoyable, but just because I'm sleepy Just have no energy and I really need to go for a little walk. I think it is time for us to emerge For our daily outside time during this war time regime So, I think that's what we're gonna do. And then hopefully I can do more reading after that Although I should also maybe tidy up a little bit
because it's really just bugging me Like, it's not enjoyable sitting here
because it's all just annoying What was I thinking getting cats? Now everything that I own is just cat fur everywhere. Okay, well, we're back and then I sat down because I'm so low on energy still. I don't know what it is today And fell into a TikTok hole. Thankfully, my
phone was on like three percent So, it's died now. And Logan's cleaning the bathroom, so he's gonna be able to like tick some of those boxes And thankfully again, I'm pretty competitive.
So, I'm gonna go change into something more comfortable and then do some
cleaning around here, I think I've started now. I'm going to sadly start with this.
So, once I'm done with these drawers It'll probably look even worse Because it's a hidden thing, but hopefully it'll help me organize the rest of the mess. Okay, it's five minutes to nine So, I'm gonna stop just before I do my normal self and just continue until I'm like sick after Definitely not one day's job. So, I'm gonna continue tomorrow, but I'm very happy. I've cleaned all of those drawers where you literally can't see the difference from the outside, but believe you me It was such a mess. Such a mess. And there was a lot of, like, paper documents that I had to sort to, like, in proper categorization so I can find them easily. Like a lot of medical stuff and then just a lot of nonsense. And then I also did this. There's a miniature version of that... Harry Potter suitcase that my friend
gifted me for Christmas And it was under the sofa for the longest of time because I didn't know where to put it and I decided to kind of open it up and put books in it because I thought that would be really cute Then I sorted these shelves a little bit and just put some stuff away and and put some books into the Goodreads so I could... And then I sorted this table with a lot of stuff under the table However, most of the surfaces and the floor and a lot of this stuff is still left for tomorrow But I'm gonna stop. I'm gonna be smart, and I'm gonna stop, and I'm not gonna carry on for too long because I have this thing when I do stuff, I do it intensely. And then afterwards I have whiplash and I've learned from the past that that is a horrible thing to do for myself with my anxiety stuff in the evening Especially because yesterday was the first day in forever that I had the evening shakes I don't know if you guys get these if you have anxiety issues, but... Let me sit down. I don't know why I keep walking But basically sometimes when I lay down and about to go to bed, my anxiety peaks then And just starts going out of nowhere, and then my body starts shaking a little bit Not like any type of fit or anything just like, kinda, shivers. I breathe through it and it goes away. Just a little... Not a panic attack, but like a tiny, tiny one. So I had that yesterday, which I haven't had in a long time. I was kind of annoyed about it, But I've been not sleeping that well.
I think I just had a lot on my mind And stars aligned and it happened
but it's all good So just trying to take it a bit easier today. It's 9:00. I'm gonna go and make something to eat and then maybe read some more. Gonna check Twitter, see which house won Let me do that just now, actually.
Did I even tell you where I am in Harry Potter now? I'm on page 200
I feel like I maybe have said But I don't know if I mentioned that it's for my
History of Magic exam. Let's see. Maybe it's not over yet.
Hufflepuff's win, 180 to 40. An hour ago Oooh, oooh, oooh, but wait.
I get to tick some stuff off. Yes! Alright. So, it is now 10 o'clock and I thought because it's obviously dark outside I'm gonna go ahead and do a little bit of reading of Check, Please. Maybe even finish it. I am here. Page 73 apparently And I'm gonna read a bit of more of that
and see how it goes, and yeah Okay, so sometimes it's fine, but then sometimes when you have like this much jargon in there "Your other team manager is mad hyper."
"Brah, Bitty's not a team manager." BRAH I don't know. It's a lot of that. It's like every page.
So it's just a lot of that Okay, it is half past eleven. I'm feeling pretty tired, but I have finished Check Please. I feel like I need to sit on my thoughts a little bit It's definitely not a 5-star for me, but I need to think further of what I think about it It's complicated. I have many conflicting thoughts. I don't know how I feel about it. But um, that's my... Astronomy. That's my Astronomy done. So. Yay. (Music) All right, Happy Sunday I've just sat and like updated everything because I haven't in ages. So I've done my wheel And yesterday... No, I wasn't my record It was a record for how many different books I read because I split it in three parts over three different books Or, read from three different books. I didn't finish them. I did get to color in my Astronomy thingy And I also kind of updated the... how they look like. The colors, like, a little foil and stuff Just because it looked a bit bleak Still need to finish Divination and History of Magic and that will be me for my main ones so if I'm lucky... No, I probably won't finish that today but Could finish Shadows Between Us Today, hopefully So, I updating my CAWPILE spreadsheet as well, and I rated Check Please. I actually did run it by CAWPILE I don't usually do that for comics, but I needed help. So I kind of ran it by it. So Check Please is a story about this boy that was a figure skater, now is moving to university to play hockey Well, to study and play hockey. And he has this vlog where talks about pies and cooking Because he loves baking. We only, in this novel, have bits that are unrelated to cooking So it's just little snippets of him updating about his life So, it's a very interesting format in a way that it jumps between months. Like, it's all linear but it will, like... The chapters are literally 3-4 pages long. So they're really really short considering that this is like 280 pages book Chapters are super, super short and it takes span over like two years, I think And jumps massively sometimes. First I thought it was a very interesting concept and I do still think that But I wonder if it made me a bit disconnected from the story because it didn't... It's all very superficial, as well It's kind of like, you know, snippets of life I thought that it was very chaotic because we would often get parts that are very buzzing with people, because this guy also moves into a fraternity house Which to me is a very foreign concept because that is not how my university worked I didn't even personally live in the halls, because it was much cheaper to rent a flat separately, believe it or not So that was kind of lost on me. Although, like, obviously I'm familiar with the concept. I just don't like relate But more often than not, I'd say 70% of the time, it's like 5 people speaking in one window of the comic And the jargon. At times it was very believable, because obviously people talk like that. There's a lot of swear words. There's a lot of cursing, there's a lot of just kind of like inside jokes and jargon and stuff like that. But at other times, it was just so too much. Because obviously There's downtime in real life and because we're getting these like short snippets of time everything is always chaotic and it's just like jargon after jargon after jargon, and I'm just like...
It's a bit much It's cringe-worthy at some points and there's just, like, a lot of bro moments It was, however, pretty adorable in some parts. And our main character is loveable I didn't feel that connection that I hope I would feel and I didn't really root for anyone in particular There's one character whose nickname is Shitty He's pretty cool. But again, I didn't feel as involved to kind of root for anyone there, really. I liked the Jack storyline,
but I wish we saw a bit more of it I know there's gonna be a second part and I might read it. But I just felt a bit disconnected and When I scored it on CAWPILE the intrigue was so low.
It was at a two. Because at any point, like, I was kind of forcing myself to read because... Because of that disconnect, every story seemed like different story and I wasn't really intrigued by it So this actually... Because the characters were actually quite okay, I just needed more from them. And I needed them... I wanted to see them in a more calm environment. So it's not just parties. Parties are fine, but I wanted to know them from other perspectives, as well Got a six because I liked that a lot of things didn't go well, which I liked. Everything else was kind of like 4 or lower Well, and logic was a six, as well But it just scraped three stars And literally, if I change anything by 0.5 point
it drops into two stars So it just scraped three.
I felt like the artwork was alright, but... It's nothing like crazy for me, but I could not unsee that the main character always looks like this So, to me, he always looks high because
look at those pupils! So, I know that other characters also have big ones, but none have as big pupils as he has That's just like, he constantly looks stoned. Like, the eyes. So I gave it three stars. I may read the second one, but I'm definitely not in any rush Overall, I'm pretty disappointed because this was very, very highly recommended by so many people And I'm so glad that so many people loved it. But clearly it's just not really for me, again So, I'm kind of sad. Very different from Fence, I will say. This is very very more like vulgar And like kind of uni atmosphere. Not very censored, but I don't mind that. I curse a lot. That was just a lot. That was... That seemed a bit forced to me sometimes And I am not a sportsy person. Like, I don't follow real life sports, but I've always been a sucker For a sports themed story. Either a cartoon or a comic. I've always really liked it. No real life stuff, But just, like, cartoon or comic. Or Quidditch. I always really loved that. I had like, an inkling for it. I always want... like, an itch, you know. So, if you know a good one, let me know. Something like Galactik Football. I was so in love with that show. But anyway, I think I'm gonna do the giveaway winners on Twitter just now and then Hopefully continue with this? But that is the update and I shall go. Now. Eat something. Okay, so, I finished the book and I'll let you know my thoughts later, but we're now sitting down to- Hello, Momo. To watch a documentary called Acknowledged which is about a UFO. So that is hopefully gonna be very fun and relaxing, but I'll let you know I think I'm probably just gonna catch up with you tomorrow. Yeah, let's probably do that (Music All right, happy Monday Are Mondays ever really, though? Because I am already done with this and it's only two o'clock. So (whimper laughing) Shadows Between Us, Shadows Between Us. So, I think this week could just be called three star reads Because it got a three star in the end.
I ran it just by CAWPILE and basically, It started really kind of promising. I thought it was kind of refreshing because this is a character that's saying that, you know, they're not to be messed with. They, like, kill kind of willy-nilly. Like, it doesn't really matter Offend me a little bit
YA DEAD So, I thought it's gonna be kind of like, you know, this girl knows what she wants and she takes it And it's not something we should really praise, but it is not praised in the book. It is morally problematic character, it's not a problematic book. But. That kind of really mellowed down fairly quickly. I think by the time that we kind of get into the mansion Well, the palace, whatever, at, like, somewhere around the middle of the book, it just kind of went like... Almost seemed like it just got forgotten and that she's supposed to be this kind of really bad character But obviously, there's romance. And you know from the beginning, like, you know there's gonna be romance So, I wasn't expecting that to be, like, kind of directed towards the king or anything But I kind of expected her to treat others still the way that she was kind of treating people at the beginning But that really mellowed down. One thing I did really enjoy is how this book constantly talks about How the girl should have as much as or as little sex as they want whenever they want before or after marriage, and they should be allowed, obviously, the same kind of expectations as men do without being judged or, you know, being like "not accepted" for future courtship or whatever if they had sex before And that was a big theme, I think, in this book. And it was definitely like very on the nose But it was clear that that is basically the stance of the character and the stance of a lot of others, as well Which was nice to see. I thought the beginning was kind of interesting and I was looking forward to it However, in the middle, I started getting a little bit bored because it did seem to kind of be Slow but fast at the same time. It was like kind of jumpy.
But it wasn't intriguing in the middle that much. I was still having fun though, but it was just definitely kind of an odd one. The ending, I think, was maybe the worst part, however. Because there were so many kind of unnecessary additions to that, I think. It would have been better if they just kept like one of those things Because the way that it was done now, it just seemed to like flip-flop between opinions And who's offended and who's forgiven a little bit too much. And it's either like, I understood why some people got offended. I wasn't happy that it did happen to begin with because they seem to have worked other things out very quickly, but I understand some past stuff making that particular thing a bit difficult to get over with So I understood that. But then there's another thing that happens with that, and it just kind of goes back and forth And I just did not really like that. I thought there were a lot of things at the end. The thing that I was expecting, though, was not true. So I was kind of happy about it. But actually the thing that turned out to be true for the thing that I thought- It was, like, the Robin Hood character - Was very anticlimactic for that one. But the character that I suspected turned out to be something else I'm obviously being super vague because I don't want to spoil it for everyone but if you read this book, You might know what I'm talking about. And it's not like it was all pushed together super close But the last thing kind of was. Say that I enjoyed the book throughout. It was definitely not hard to read Although I will add one thing that did kind of make it hard to read from time to time... or two things I will say that whilst it was fun, I kind of couldn't care less what happened to the characters Other than maybe the king. I was probably the most attached to the king Definitely didn't really care what happens to our main character. Obviously we're not really supposed to like, be rooting for her and stuff. I feel like there should have been more conflict. There should have been more morally gray things in her. But should also have been with like contrast of like why she has those beliefs Because in the beginning it was thrown that she has this because she was always overshadowed by her sister Then it kind of mellowed down and
nothing came out of it But I wanted, like, deeper stuff a bit. And it kind of goes through the whole character line up I think that the characters were not really developed. Neither was the plot. I felt like the book was not really rounded that well at the end of it. I was very excited the beginning and it was kind of fun because it was also quite simple to read So I was just kind of excited to like get into it. And it was definitely still not a struggle, but I will say that I think the writing was not really rounded I don't think that... It kind of read like a debut, but it's not. That sounds kind of rude and also not true, because loads of people write debuts that are amazing But you know what I mean by that. It just seems like one edit round, or like, two edit rounds were kind of missing Or like they skipped it. Obviously they didn't, but to me, the writing seemed extremely simplistic. I like simplistic writing, but I need it to be directional. This one seemed simple just for the sake of simple It was very like, "Oh, I see a mousepad, and a mat. And I am wearing this white jumper and black trousers." And that leads me to one of the most annoying things to me personally about this book and that is clothing descriptions Now, listen, I understand that this lady, like our main character, is a clothing designer And like- Well, she's not, but that's her passion. That's, like, what she does and I appreciate that That makes sense that she would talk
about this quite a lot. But My god I did not care and it got so annoying that basically every chapter, we would get a description of what she's wearing. And it would always be some sort of, like, pant, dress and I'm just like Stop Like, I don't care enough to actually mark it down for that, because I could easily skip the little paragraph about it, but it just stood out a lot because in other aspects, this book was not very descriptive So, just quickly looking at CAWPILE, it still was a 3-star. It was a higher three-star than the Check Please. Check Please came out at 4.71
And this one was 5.57 Still not a high three stars, very, like, middle The highest point by far was enjoyment ,which I gave 7.5 because I still enjoyed it I would never re-read this, but I enjoyed it I enjoyed it as I read. Same with intrigue
I did care, but I didn't care that much. But I gave it a seven. I was kind of being generous, but, like, it's an odd one because I never struggled to pick it back up and read it, but I also never felt like I had to, if you know what I mean. So, it's kind of seven The lowest point was in... Five or lower in Logic, Plot and Atmosphere. Logic mainly for the last end of the book. Last end?
(laughs) The second part of the book.
And characters got a six And writing got 4.5 Overall, it ended up being a 3 star still. Whilst everything was kind of poor other than characters being, like, high mediocre, intrigue and enjoyment really pulled it through to the three stars. I can't really give it any more,
it would not feel right to me. That actually concludes my Divination read. So, the only thing that I really need to finish now is Harry Potter Which I'm sure I will But I need to get on that because it's the 27th,
and I think that's probably gonna be it I think I'm gonna just leave it at that I had the 8 that I needed. Some fantasy gods really need to help me through the NEWTs Because I have way more to do than the OWLs in the NEWTs in my chosen career. So... that might be... something. But anyway, I think I'm gonna finish up on this note because it is Monday already. But let me know how it's going for you. Also Slytherin won the cup yesterday. So congratulations to Slytherin. Well, the Quidditch cup, not the cup cup yet. But they won the Quidditch Cup, so well done. Okay, I'm gonna go. Thank you guys so much for watching, I hope you guys enjoyed it. Let me know what you think, and how it's going, and just chat to me down in the comments I love you so, so much Stay safe And I'll speak to you in the next one. Bye! (Music)
