I think it is fair to say that in a lot of ways, I’m not where I wanted to be at this point in the year. I lost a member of my family in May and it hit me quite hard for a variety of reasons that feel a bit too raw to go into on such a public forum.

My yearly goals can be found here and I reflected on them after 3 months here.

Studying and Learning
This has actually been one where I have made some progress on all of the goals I set out to do. I let Wanikani practice slide over the last few months and I debated restarting at a lower level but then spent last weekend working through all my outstanding reviews and feel like I am getting back on track and am now finally making some progress towards completing level 5.

I went on a lino printing 1 day course in June at the Herbert Art Gallery where I made this print of a squirrel. I’m hoping to do some more printing at home (once inspiration strikes)

I’m still having drumming lessons and I’m about to go from having fortnightly lessons back to having weekly lessons which I’m looking forward to.

Travel

This is the area where I have made the least progress. So far, we haven’t booked any holiday or breaks away anywhere and the only cities I have visited are ones I’ve already been to.

Creating

I haven’t done much under this category. I’ve been working on bits and pieces of crochet but I haven’t really made progress of the blanket or jumper. I have done a few more pages in my sketchbook though so that’s something.

Other

I’m making great progress on my Goodreads target as I’ve currently read 54 books out of total goal of 70. I’m pretty confident that I’m going to hit this way before the end of the year as I’m finding reading it one of the few things I have been able to commit to at the moment. Plus kindle sales have meant I have plenty of things to read that take my fancy.

Here are the books that I have enjoyed most in the last 3 months;

 Infinity Net – Yayoi Kusama
 Becoming Betty – Eleanor Wood
 The Upside of Unrequited – Becky Albertalli
 Our Chemical Hearts – Krystal Sutherland
 Beartown – Fredrik Backman
 You and me and him – Kris Dinnison

I actually ended up deleting the FB app off of my phone during the lead up to the election which has had the bonus of cutting down my casual FB browsing time. I’m still using it (and twitter) but not as much I have been so that feels quite positive.

Going forward, I think I want to try and focus on building some positives for this year. I’m still looking for houses but I also want to make sure I have some other things to look forward to whether it’s more day courses, short breaks away or gigs. I’m heading to Manchester this weekend to see Martha play with Joyce Manor.

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