Hi everyone! I’m going to be sharing all my hobbies and progress of this month with you. 

Also if this post looks a little strange, I’m trying a new thing from WordPress on writing posts that includes “blocks”. I just saw a thing when I went to write this saying this was coming soon but that I could opt in so I did! How fun!

Okay, so I know it’s about halfway through the month, since it’s only the 18th so I’m rethinking how my layout is since I’m basically wrapping up my hobbies super early. However, since I only blog twice a week, that’s why it’s pushed up so much. 

We’ll make it work though for the time being! Here we go!

---

Books

I finished one book this month! I read Start Your Own Blogging Business by Jason R. Rich. It’s part of a series of “how to” books on entrepreneurship of different types of businesses. I rated the book 2 out of 5 stars as I didn’t really like it. That was for a variety of reasons. One reason was that the book was pretty outdated. It was published in 2010, which was more than I had expected. I had thought it might be older but not that much. Ultimately most of the basics were still helpful but some of the more detailed sections didn’t help anymore. Also, it was pretty basic anyway. I think I would have liked it in college, or at least benefited from it as it’s good for a brand new beginner and published during the time I was in school, so I wish I had had it then! But now I am too advanced (that sounds egotistical doesn’t it? I don’t mean it that way) to get much out of it since it’s literally like “pick a name” and such, which I’m way past of course. 

Entertainment

Movies & TV

The first movie I want to mention is Tomb Raider. I actually saw this in October, but again, this post type is scheduled so early it kind of leaves a sort of weird overlap. Anyway, I hadn’t seen the movie when it was first released maybe a year or so ago? It’s based on the reboot of the video game franchise featuring a young Lara Croft. I had heard it was like the game and that it wasn’t good so I’d been putting it off but finally got it from the library. I have to say, I didn’t really like it much but I didn’t hate it at the same time. I did like the start where Lara is a struggling delivery person for restaurants and terrible at boxing. I enjoyed it basically up until shortly after she got to the island. 
I’m not sure, I liked that the story started in London with Lara in the urban jungle before seeing her in an actual jungle, but the parts of the game that I loved like her relationships with her fellow travelers or the supernatural mysteries she solves were cut. It feels like the development of Lara to her future was given up in order to focus more on her relationship with her past. It was fun, but ultimately disappointing compared to the work that inspired the film. 

I watched Coco again! As many of you know, I’ve become obsessed with Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, over the past few years, and even more so since Coco came out. The holiday starts November 1st, which fell on a Thursday this year, and ends November 2nd. I was talking to one of my bestie’s Erin who said she was going to watch it on the 2nd and so I decided to as well! It was so nice to see and on the holiday itself!

I’ve watched a few more episodes of Designated Survivor on Netflix, which is about a cabinet member who ends up President of the United States unexpectedly. I realize I forgot to explain it last time I mentioned it! I’m nearing the end of season 1 so I’m not watching it very fast, but it’s been fun! 

Lastly I started watching The Apartment which is a reality show/contest that is on Netflix. It’s not the entire show I don’t think since it’s the only season on Netflix and a pair of “winners” from a previous season were featured, which means that there’s been at least one other (I think they mentioned 2 but I don’t remember). The idea is that there are pairs of people, usually couples but also siblings or friends, who compete to design rooms of new homes based on several challenges. Of course, they have limited time, budget, etc. The prize is that they’ll get things like interior design internships, laptops, etc. but the main prize they’ll get is that they could win a house, mortgage free, for the remainder of their lives. It’s an interesting concept! 
So actually the first episode of the show I hated and nearly turned it off, but I wanted to power through at least the first episode. After that, I was hooked! I don’t think there’s enough focus on winning a house, although one of the judges insists that’s the main prize. I feel like the internships seem more like the prize to most of the people competing. Oh, that’s also a thing that caused me to almost stop watching, the people are kind of annoying! One of the judges is way too over the top and the contestants can be so frustrating. They’ll be rude to each other or just not focus and then therefore they end up with an ugly room and wonder how it got that way. The contestants also don’t really seem to know much as one, for example, took a plant out of it’s pot and just threw it up to be a hanging plant, so there was no way to water it! Yikes! It can be strange but overall the ideas are fun.

Those are all the movies and tv shows I’ve watched so far I think so onto the next item!

---

YouTube

The first video on YouTube that I want to mention is Jeffree Star’s video “Switching Cars with Garrett Watts for the Day“. I just couldn’t stop laughing at the video watching Jeffree drive a Prius and then Garrett drive the Lambo. They were hilarious and I really thought that video was so fun! 

Next was the video “Smosh is Homeless” from Smosh. If you don’t know, Smosh’s parent company went out of business, seemingly out of nowhere, and the staff was left without jobs or an office (hence the “homeless” part). Luckily they have control of the channels again and they’ve been posting content they shot before the closure, as well as creating more stuff. All of the staff seems to also be branching out and doing other stuff now too so while it looked like Smosh was going to be over forever, things are looking up for them! 

The next is actually a series so I’ll link the first of three videos. I enjoyed the Dia de Muertos in Patzcuaro series from the Kinetic Kennons. They are an American couple from Texas I believe who have lived in Mexico for two years. Their Day of the Dead series was so fun and I really enjoyed watching it! 

---

Music

The first song that comes to mind is “Thank you, next” by Ariana Grande. I haven’t ever gone through a breakup but it’s such a nice song!

I also really like “Bad Things” which is either Camila Cabello or Machine Gun Kelly featuring the other maybe? I’m not sure but I like the song. 

Oh here’s a fun update! I’m practicing music! I finally got my guitar fixed! I’ve been talking about doing it for months (literally) and I finally got it fixed up so it tunes properly now and sounds great! I think the next thing I need to do is get my flute checked as it needs a good cleaning and probably new pads but depending how much it is I might just keep it as is or get a new one. It plays well right now, so I think it’ll still be good while getting my skills back up. 

So when I got my guitar fixed I picked up a new guitar practice book for beginners, as I’ve never played before. I’m working on through the book pretty fast already. It’s just a matter of building up strength to hold down the strings while playing and then really learning where they are while also not accidentally also hitting the wrong string. It’s not tough as it’s a beginner book though, and I’m starting with notes because that’s what I’m used to, so it feels slow but I want to really build the foundations I need for it. 

For my flute, I was surprised how much I can still remember and do. I played flute for over ten years so I guess it shouldn’t be a huge surprise but I expected to struggle a bit with the fingerings to be honest or at least reading the music. Nope! I mean, I do have a very simple Christmas music book at the same time when I picked up the guitar one and the music was a breeze to read, and I didn’t have to look at any fingering charts to remember how to play. I think it went well, just that I get impatient with how slow the songs can be so I go a bit too fast. “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” sounds less like a lullaby when I play it and more like a rap song. 

---

Games

Once again, I’m playing through Hogwarts Mystery. My character, Ava Samwise Quagmire, is going through her fifth year at Hogwarts. She did a concert with the Weird Sisters, started taking care of magical creatures, and wants to go to Knockturn Alley which sounds like NOTHING COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG. We shall see. 
I can feel my waning interest in the game, finally. It just moves too slowly and there’s too many timed quests now which are quickly becoming annoying. Especially since now energy is needed to look for food for the creatures so it’s spent on that instead of classes or the actual quests that are more interesting to do. 

I haven’t been playing other games but I have been watching Alyce from the YouTube channel Alaska play Red Dead Redemption 2. I never played or watched 1 so I’m a little lost but the game is so fun to watch anyway! 

---

Active Life

So this is a sort of a touchy subject for me right now and I don’t want to go into too much detail yet, but when I can spill the tea I will! Long story short, one of my work besties and I were working out during our lunch time to use the gym in the office building. Due to a series of events we are no longer doing that. We can no longer walk outside as it’s too cold now so this section might go away for awhile. 

---

Creative Life

Writing

So this is one of the most exciting things I’ve done creatively in awhile! I won 3rd place in a short story contest I entered at the end of last month! The contest was held at my local library for both teens and adults (separate categories) so I entered into the adults category with a story I wrote specifically for this contest. I’m fairly certain I was probably one of 3 entries, which led to this since my story wasn’t that great (in my opinion) but hey, I WON! I got an email last week about it saying I won and would be contacted again to pick up my prize. It’s a $25 prize, which isn’t a lot but pretty awesome! 

I just want to know if I can call myself a legit writer now? Maybe not since it’s not published anywhere. Although I was published previously as a news writer at my school’s newspaper in undergrad. Does that count? And can I call myself “award-winning”? Maybe “dramatic” or “big-headed” might be more appropriate though.

DIY

Ah, DIY nights at the library! I have been to two DIY nights in the past month. First, you saw this autumnal wreath in my Autumnal Decor post! I love the wreath, and it was so fun to make. We were given the stick wreath from a craft store, an envelope of leaves and cranberries, boxes were on the table full of acorns, rolls of burlap ribbon, and hot glue guns to get to work! I went for an ombre effect with the leaves, a simple bow, a few acorns, and then the lovely librarian added more cranberries and I loved the result! 

The second DIY item was a framed alcohol ink abstract art. It was fairly easy although it did require some concentration. I did like that my mom joined me this time! I used all the red/pink colors and added a bit of copper on there and I quite like the result. 

---

So those are all my updates on my hobbies this month! I think my favorite thing might have been winning that contest. The email came just when I needed good news, and I’d never won a writing contest before I don’t think! How fun! 

Let me know what kind of fun activities you’ve been up to. I’d love to know! 

Thanks for reading!

Pamela

Follow me on social media!

Instagram | Youtube | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Bloglovin‘ |Pinterest | Email |Snapchat: StarringPamela |