Hello everyone! Today I’m sharing my updates on my hobbies with you!

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I have been busy with travel but got quite a bit in before I left. Here’s what I’ve been up to!

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Book

I haven’t finished a book yet this month! All the travel is distracting but I did make progress on a couple before I left.

Movies

I watched I think another two or three episodes of The Disappearance of Madeline McCann. I think it’s dragging a bit so I haven’t gone back to finish it but I will eventually!

I watched the movie Saving Mr. Banks this month as well. I’d seen it before but I love the story and the personalities of the featured people. Also everyone kept calling P.L. Travers by “Pamela” or “Pam” and that just made me laugh. It’s not a very common name (except weirdly at my workplace) so it’s so fun to hear it in a film.

The next item is a movie of my parent’s hometown annual party. They have a party each year in March for San Jose and they film it both for the memories and for the people who aren’t able to travel to the town to go. It was so fun seeing people I’ve met over my visits and seeing how much they’re enjoying themselves. My grandfather was there with my aunt and uncle at one of the church services (there were 3) and my dad’s aunt with one of his cousin’s children were there as well so we saw them. The child was also one of the featured dancers later on as they have traditional dances as well. He’s such a sweet little boy so it was nice to see him front and center! I really enjoyed watching it and I love to see them all so happy!

TV Shows

I watched a few more episodes of Designated Survivor but haven’t gotten much farther I think I’m onto season 2 or am about to be so I really need to watch more.

I also watched a bit of a bunch of random things in Houston from my hotel room! I watched a bit of shark tank, some HGTV, and a college women’s gymnastics competition. I had already made plans with a friend so I couldn’t watch the entire thing but it was fun! I really wish I had more college sports channels at home as those seem more fun and wholesome. I didn’t really watch much more than that as I didn’t have nearly as much downtime as I have before. I went out more with my coworkers so that’s why!

Musicals

I saw one musical this month! Anastasia is now on tour in the US so I managed to catch it while it was in Chicago. I did a whole review of the show so if you want to read it I’ve linked it there.

Music

Besides the usual Ariana Grande music, I’ve really been enjoying a few other songs!

Most recently, I’ve been really into the song “Hard to be the Bard” from the musical Something Rotten! Basically it’s character Shakespeare singing about how tough his job is of creating amazing literature while being an absolute diva about it and I’m all for it.

I’ve also really loved “Habanera” from Georges Bizet’s opera Carmen. It’s so fun to listen to and watching performances of it is so cool! Also the music and dance to Marius Petipa and Ludwig Minkus’ Don Quixote ballet, based on the novel of the same name by Migues de Cervantes, is fun. I watched the Royal Opera House rehearsal on YouTube of it and I loved the “Cupid” variation!

YouTube

I have to mention Ryland Adams’ “The Story of Our Engagement” where he documents Shane Dawson’s proposal to him. I absolutely love it and it was so, so sweet! I love that Ryland didn’t even see it coming and was so shocked. They looked so happy and it was perfect, even with Shane being on both knees (which he seems so upset about but I found adorable!).

Hannah Witton’s video “Disability vs. The Apocalyse with Jessica Kellgren” was amazing, as well as Jessica Kellgren’s video “Am I Disabled Enough? // ft. Hannah Witton”. I saw Hannah’s video first so that’s why I put them that way but I actually recommend watching Jessica’s video first. I know both of their stories so I wasn’t lost but if these two YouTubers are new to you it’s good to know what both ladies have gone through to “decide” if they qualify as disabled or not. Both express great frustration at the fact that other people will look at them and judge them as not disabled simply because they don’t look disabled, although they very much feel and are disabled. It was really eye opening. Then, Hannah’s video was them deciding if they’e they would survive several apocalyptical scenarios based on their disabilities and what they would need to give them a level playing field. That one was fun!

I can’t believe I forgot to mention this channel! AnimalWonders Montana is amazing! It’s hosted by Jessi, who is a trainer and caretaker of the animals at AnimalWonders. She rehabilitates animals and also travels to show people these amazing animals so that they can learn about them in addition to her videos. I absolutely love the ones with the birds although I’ve also seen the fox she has recently and now I’m obsessed with them too. My sister told me about this channel and I’m so, so grateful because I love this one!

Oh, and do yourself a favor and look up Disney on Broadway’s “5 Year / 5 Genie Medley – ALADDIN on Broadway”. Five Genies take the stage for Friend Like Me and it’s absolutely amazing and so fun to watch how different yet equally astonishing they all are.

Podcasts

I’ve really been getting into the Jenna & Julien Podcast recently. I never really listened before, just mainly watched Jenna’s amazing videos but I’m totally into it! It has actually made me laugh while listening, which is kinda weird because I listen at work so people can hear me but I don’t even care! They’re hilarious!

I also have been enjoying Curious City, which is an NPR podcast that takes questions from Chicagoans and tries to answer them by researching around the city. I love the questions it asks and how the answers are discovered! It does make me feel closer to my city for sure.

Video Games

So this is the usual now, Hogwarts Mystery! Ava Samwise Quagmire passed her OWLs with nearly all O’s and one A in History of Magic. Apparently the amount of time taken to finish counts and I got distracted and put it down for a bit so that’s why. Yikes! It was really strange that the OWLs was a side quest though. I agree with all the social media posts I saw saying the Peeves pranks things should have been a side quest and the OWLs should have been part of the actual story. Very strange! I did max out my acromantula and don’t have enough books to get another animal yet, although I am close to a few. Anyway, I’ve taken the last week off of the game mostly because of my work trip in Houston so I don’t have many more updates!

I also started playing the new mobile Elder Scrolls Blades. This one was frustrating because I first had pre-registered months ago, then they did an “early test” of it and were letting people in early but you had to sign up AGAIN. I did that and then I got a message saying that they were letting people in a bit at a time for the servers not to be overloaded and the game be slow for everyone but then I never got early access of it because then they just opened it up to everyone after all. So annoying! The game itself is okay. The quests are very repetitive, but then again so is Elder Scrolls as a whole with the dungeons and such. It’s fine though and I’ll keep playing, although I had also taken a break of this one during my trip.

And last, I played a bit of Pokemon Go again! One of my new onsite friends in Houston was playing and I still had the app so I joined in! It was fun since there was a Pokestop and tons of Pokemon at the convention center but in my day to day, there’s usually nothing near me so I don’t bother to play often.

Cooking

I’m adding it in officially! I haven’t tried any recipie yet since I’ve been gone and busy with the trip but I can’t wait to try something next month. I looked through Chrissy Teigan’s book and already picked a few I want to try!

Active Life

I didn’t work out again this month but travel takes a lot out of you! Onsite is a ton of walking and my vacay to San Antonio I’m sure will be the same!

Creative Life

This month I had my first guitar lesson! I showed up at my local library and there was a person seated that had an electric bass which caused a slight moment of panic but the event on the calendar did say it was supposed to be an acoustic class. There were two instructors in the class but they were pretty chill about everything. The class was pretty open so all levels of players were there. I’ve noticed that all the adult activities had the same sort of structure. There was some instruction given at the beginning to get everyone started but then everyone was set free to create and learn, with the instructors going around and checking in on everyone to give some guidance or next steps. It’s great! Anyway, one of the instructors started us off with an E minor chord and the other looked up Taylor Swift’s “Love Story” on the app Tabs so I could start learning those chords. In addition to E minor there was C, D, and A minor (I think?) so that was fun. I did look up a few other songs but I should really learn this one first probably!

I also had my first sewing lesson! This was also at the library and was previously only offered to teens (I think? There’s a lot of unknowns this time around) but when I saw an adults class I signed up! There’s only spots for 5 people in the class due to limited machines so the days leading up to it I got 2-3 emails reminding me I signed up and to cancel if I couldn’t go because they could then alert someone else to go to the class from the waitlist. The day of was weird weather, we had snow around midday and then sleet and then it hailed the entire drive home from work (ugh weather). When I left my house after dinner to get to the library it was only light hail so it was so much better and I was there promptly. For about 10 minutes I was the only person there and I chatted with the two lovely librarians who then proceeded to teach me the basics and get me started before everyone else started coming in. It’s quite tricky so it’s perfect that they only have 5 people. I had a great time and quickly picked it up. First I used the zig zag pattered piece to practice and learn what I preferred and then I found strips of fabric that had been cut in rectangles that looked like perfect bookmarks so off I went and started hemming. I quickly learned why people use pins as it was kind of tough without them. The issues I mostly had was running off the fabric on accident and kind of crooked stitches but it was so much fun and I want to buy a machine now. I might take a look at Jo Ann’s Fabrics or something and see if I can find one. The ones at the library I was told were at a price point of $127 and pretty dependable so I might try to find the same kind. If you have recommendations, let me know!

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And that’s pretty much it! What have you been doing for your hobbies? Let me know!

Thanks for reading!

Pamela

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