And there goes February | Weekly Snapshot

Published : 2021 || Format : print || Location : Colombia ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ What was it about the country that kept everyone hostage to its fantasy? The previous month, on its own soil, an American man went to his job at a plant and gunned down fourteen coworkers, and last spring alone there were four different school shootings. A nation at war with itself, yet people still spoke of it as some kind of paradise.. Thoughts : Infinite Country follows two characters - young Talia, who at the beginning of this book, escapes a girl’s reform school in North Colombia so that she can make her previously booked flight to the US. Before she can do that, she needs to travel many miles to reach her father and get her ticket to the rest of her family. As we follow Talia’s treacherous journey south, we learn about how she ended up in the reform school in the first place and why half her family resides in the US. Infinite Country tells the...

And there goes February | Weekly Snapshot

This month sure went by quickly.

Around us

I just want to take a moment and share just how distressed I am reading about the war in Ukraine. I know that feeling is nothing compared to the terror that the people in Ukraine are going through. To think that a nation can choose to attack another, just because they believe the latter is not legit. I have no words. I pray that it ends soon but I also know I will be incensed if Putin walks free after all this.

Meanwhile, nearby in Texas, we have the governor opining that gender affirming care is child abuse.

I don't know if I mentioned this on the blog but a few months ago, my city had passed an ordinance criminalizing abortion. (Thankfully all the proponents of that law got booted out within a month (in last year's elections) and the new council promptly removed that ordinance.

Nation or persons choosing to believe that another nation or person are not legit. This is what comes out of this. Just how long does one have to fight for their rights? Is that even a requirement now to be alive?

Life and Work

Work has been, no surprise, busy again, creeping into my weekends as well. A lot of it is due to my role change two months ago so I am hoping it stabilizes soon. That of course is a big reason for my disappearance from the blog this month. We'll see if it gets better next month - I hope it does, or I'm going to have to re-evaluate how to take this blog forward.

I've also revived my husband's 3DS and started playing a Pokemon game. The last time I played Pokemon, I had just graduated from four years of college. It's certainly been a while but it's as exciting as I remember it to be. This is the other reason my reading and blogging slowed down but I think I needed something very distracting. It really helps with what's going on everywhere.

This will be a birthday week for the husband so we're looking forward to some celebrations.

Reading

I finished reading The Song of Achilles sometime last week. I am glad this book was so beautiful and so well-written or I would have fallen into a reading slump, considering it took me three weeks to read this fast-paced book. I now get why this book was popular and completely agree that it is a must-read. It was worth every bit of high praise it got.

I did start reading The Echo Wife next but I don't think I'll continue with it now. I am still yearning for core fantasy or science fiction so I'll continue down that path. I know The Echo Wife has some science fiction elements but not what I'm looking for at the moment. So instead, I'm (finally) reading The Obelisk Gate, which is the second book in The Broken Earth trilogy. As with The Fifth Season, I struggled with the first chapter but once that was done, it has been smooth sailing. This will probably be my read for the next two weeks.

Watching

Star Trek Discovery - I love how this show has constantly been going to the extremes of space travel all these seasons. No different this time either with the travel to beyond the Milky Way. Cannot wait to see how this is going to end (in 3 episodes). And oh yay, a new season of Picard starts this week! My Trekkie fan is having all kinds of crazy fan moments.

Despicable Me 1 & 2 movies - Last two Fridays, we've watched the Despicable Me movies. I had never watched the movies before so I could not fully embrace the allure of the Minions. But now, I can.