Scrabbled Journal – September 2018

Hello readers! It’s October, and I am finally starting to breathe again, as the heat and humidity are giving way to cooler temperatures and rain. Like an animal out of hibernation (or a zombie out of the grave), now I feel ready to crawl back to active life, get energised and fill my Scrabbled Journal with interesting points. 🙂

Life Pills

🙂

• The cooler weather 🆒☔️
• Morning walks with the dogs 🐶🐕
• Mum finally having her first surgery (she has cataracts in both eyes) after a bloody 8-month wait (she’s ok, but she can’t visit us at our place for a while) 🙏
• Getting rid of the sofa… looking forward to buying a new, better one

🙁

• Disappointment because my Master’s programme of choice failed to start due to an insufficient number of applicants, and now I have to stay put for a while (though I don’t mind the break) 😞
• Being sick for practically the whole month (got a cold and an intestinal virus, with some of the cold symptoms still persisting) 😷
• The stress of getting rid of the sofa (especially having to call strangers and have them at home… the actual removal was less problematic than I had previously thought) 🚚

Doggie Diaries 🐶

• It’s hard to notice any physical growth in Dash and Rowley right now (although we had to change their harnesses because they outgrew their old ones), but character-wise, it’s a continuous evolution! In the last few days, we’re seeing a change in Dash: he’s becoming more playful and cuddly, just like his old puppy days. We suspect it’s the change in weather because in summer it seemed like he just laid around moping and looking grumpy.
• Whenever I go out for errands or to visit my mum and come back home, I still get greeted with the same excitement. Don’t believe me? Check the latest video I uploaded on Instagram, @dashandrowley!
• Days are becoming less boring now that the weather is cooler. In fact, we’ve added once again a short morning walk to our days. It’s really helping with housebreaking; Dash is good at holding back and doing everything outside.
• And since they destroyed almost all their plushies, we’re seeing how to keep them entertained. We’re giving them bones, but we have to keep an eye on them all the time. Dash is so possessive of his that he doesn’t let us take it from him, he growls and snaps at us!
• They’ve had their second grooming session, and I think they’re slowly getting used to it. Since it’s soon winter, they only need the smallest trim. I want to see their coat growing longer, as it should be!
• OMG! Dash’s first birthday is next month! We want to order a dog-friendly cake and have a small party among us.

Where I’ve been

• Gothic storytelling: I attended two talks by a returning visiting professor on vampire and ghost stories. The second talk also allowed me to visit the exhibition ‘The Other Side’ held at The Storm Petrel Foundation, showcasing collectibles (including precious rarities) related to horror and sci-fi literature and films. If you’re in Malta, be sure to visit, I promise you it’s worth it! (Visit the foundation’s Facebook page for more info and bookings).

What I’ve been watching

• Movies: We watched 26 films this month and, with the exception of the Hallmark film Marrying Mr. Darcy (only for the Cavaliers, it’s not my kind of movie!) and Solo: A Star Wars Story (which I liked, I don’t understand why fans of the franchise have to complain), all of them had something in common.
  • 80’s marathon: Yep, they’re all from this glam decade! I’ve been meaning to watch specific titles, mostly because I see them referenced so often in my favourite shows (such as Family Guy). So it was high time I catch up and watch some cult films, and increase my pop culture knowledge. We still haven’t finished our list, but some of those which we’ve already seen and are worth mentioning are: Alien (ok, that’s from 1979, but I needed to see it) and Aliens, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (with a young, goofy Keanu Reeves), The Breakfast Club and Pretty in Pink (loved them), Top Gun, Raging Bull, Scarface, Rambo: First Blood, Footloose, E.T. the Extraterrestrial (that was a rewatch for me), Poltergeist and the Indiana Jones trilogy.
• TV:
  • Stranger Things: The first days of September, right before we started the movie marathon, were all dedicated to this Netflix show, which I approached with scepticism as I do with all recent and hyped shows. I thought, “Ah, I don’t care about the supernatural, I will just like the 80’s setting, and that’s it”. I was wrong. I was immediately hooked, and now I’m impatiently waiting for Season 3. The best thing, besides the retro vibes, is the cast, especially the kids, they’re all great. And yeah, it’s this show that gave us the idea of having an 80’s marathon.
  • Sick of it: Last week, so at the very end of September, Karl Pilkington’s new show started to air on Sky. He is back to acting for the first time since appearing in Ricky Gervais’ Derek (read my review), and besides that, he is also the co-creator and co-writer of the show. It doesn’t feel acted though, it seems very much like seeing and hearing Karl himself going through scripted episodes. With one difference: he doesn’t appear idiotic like Gervais and Stephen Merchant tried to paint him. I loved it, but I’m sad that it’s only six episodes long.
  • Alex: Channel 4 is showing this Swedish action series starring Dragomir Mrsic (the UK is just head over heels in love with Scandi shows, and it only makes me happy). This show is unconventional because Mrsic plays a corrupted cop. So, similarly to The Bridge, there is no glorification of the police force.

What I’ve been reading

• Back to non-fiction: I was occupied for most of the month with an Italian collection of essays on dangerous women in fiction and the arts. Then, I started the graphic books I bought in the last book sale; finished the one on semiotics and still going on with the postmodernism one. It’s a fun way to revise and learn something new. 🙂 I’m also hoping to find some inspiration for my future Master thesis because so far I’m at a complete loss.

Blogging

• AFK: It’s hard to blog when you spend most of the month away from your computer, right? Yeah… maybe as the cosy season sets in, I will find the desire to cuddle up with my laptop and work on the blog.

What have you been up to lately? Do you have a story, a recommendation or anything to share? Leave a comment on this post or drop me a mail!