Monthly Blog – August 2024

August was a hectic month. As well as recovering from my operation, I’ve been busy preparing for uni. There’s so much bullshit admin and applying for things, and the uni itself doesn’t help. It just keeps spamming useless emails that don’t tell me anything and make it harder to find the emails I need. But I’m in Birmingham now, and while there’s still loads of stuff to do, I’m feeling energised by my fresh start.

I’ve needed to go to the doctor’s every day for most of the month, including my birthday, to get my dressings changed. The walk hasn’t done me any harm, and it was nice travelling along the canal every day. The canal’s so full of fish, and some are fairly big. There’s herons too, including a few that were in my path and I had to scoot around. Sometimes there were cats too. One of my neighbours also got a new cat, and he hangs out in my garden sometimes. He’s a little bitey, but very playful and silly.

I also got into stargazing after reading some astronomy books. I’ve only ever been able to find the Plough and Orion before, but I was chilling outside and saw what looked like a cross. After a bit of studying, it turned out to be Cygnus, or the Northern Cross. Next to Cygnus was Vega, one of the brightest stars in the sky and part of the tiny Lyra constellation. From there I was able to find Cassiopeia, Hercules, Draco, Corona Borealis, Pegasus, Bootes and the stars Altair and Polaris. 

My birthday was fairly quiet this year. My family all had work, and the only person around was Mum. When I’d opened my presents, she had to work from home, so I rewatched Prehistoric Planet and read I am Kavi. We went for noodles after Mum’s work, so that was nice.

A few days after my birthday, my town held its first ever pride event. Mostly a concert in the park with some stalls. It was a bit too loud for me, but I got to hang out with a bunch of people from sign language and even sign on stage. I signed ‘Fernando’ by ABBA with my teacher and my mum signed ‘If I could turn back time’ by Cher. I actually quite like performing on stage, which is weird because I’m normally so shy. It helps that the lights completely obscure the audience.

The next day, Franck came over to stay for a few days and it was fun getting to show him round town and the other local towns. I mean, most aren’t really worth the bus fair to get to, but one had a museum and nice park. Travie came over for a day too and we went around the big Hobbycraft and B&M, mostly taking the piss. Most of the week was spent doing various little crafts. I was trying to finish a blanket for my niece, who was due in September. More on that next month. I also wanted to get my scrapbook done before uni so it wouldn’t be taking up so much space in my bedroom. A few months ago I went through all the stuff for my travel scrapbook, sorting it into countries and regions for easier scrapbooking, then left it all out in my room for ages because I wasn’t in the mood. So when Franck came over I kinda had to clear it all away so I’d have somewhere to put the blow up mattress. We did some crafts on the Sunday, and I set all my scrapbook stuff up on the table. And during the craft session, I spilt my tea on a lot of my scrap and, more importantly, my mum’s laptop charger. I didn’t realise I’d done any damage until the next day, when mum went to plug in her laptop and tripped the fuses for the entire house. Fortunately, we got electricity back the moment the charger was unplugged, unfortunately, mum couldn’t use her laptop without a charger and lost a day’s overtime waiting for a new charger to get delivered. I feel, so, so bad. 

Still, I thought August was hectic. Just wait until September!

What I watched

Prehistoric Planet

Wow, I actually watched something new! I should’ve got to this years ago. It’s everything I’ve ever wanted in a TV show. As someone who grew up with Walking with Dinosaurs, it’s so fulfilling to find a show with a similar docu-style narrative but with updated graphics and information. 

I’ve always found pterosaurs a bit shit, but PP really gave them a chance to shine, and me a new appreciation for them. And fear. The Azhdarchids are fucking terrifying. 

I get that the show is focusing on a specific, late Cretaecous, timeframe, but I’d love to see something similar for Triassic or Jurassic dinosaurs. I’m looking forward to the new Walking with Dinosaurs next year. It’s something I’ve been hoping would happen since Planet Earth 2.

What I read

Show us Who you Are – Elle McNicoll

I liked this a lot. Like I said in the previous blog, I started reading this during surgery. Or, before and after surgery, I mean. I liked the characters. I liked the friendship between the main two.

I think Dr Gold’s descent into villany after the big reveal was a little too fast. It was going pretty well, with her slowly giving more and more away until Cora essentially forces her hand to reveal herself. Then once Cora makes it back to X’s parents and tells them, Dr Gold appears and is cartoonishly villainous. I dunno, I think it might make more sense for her to try and respectfully appeal to the adults before showing her true colours. And maybe dialling back the evil just a smidge would’ve worked better.

The Observer’s Book of Astronomy – Patrick Moore

This might be a little outdated. It was published in the 60s and speculates on there being vegetation on Mars and wonders if astronauts will make it to the moon soon. It had illustrations and descriptions of all the constellations and their stars, but it wasn’t the easiest to place them in the context of the night sky. When I was stargazing, I was using a map of the night sky, then using the book to study to constellations further. 

The Planets – David McNab, James Younger

This, plus the Patrick Moore book, got me into stargazing. Sadly, this book was published in 1999, so a lot of the information isn’t quite up to date. It’s not as out of date as the one from the 60s, though.

The writing was fun, the information easy to digest, and I learnt a lot. I hope what I learnt is still relevant to the field of astronomy. 

Miss Yuria’s Red Thread of Fate – Kiwa Irie (Volume 1-4)

Big up Surya for recommending this. This was a really fun drama, and I didn’t expect to get so invested in all the characters and their problems. I think Yuria really needs a break, and maybe a new husband. But her husband isn’t entirely hatable, which is nice. I like it when people who do bad things in fiction aren’t just evil with no other motivations or qualities, especially in a story set in the real world with regular people. I also like Yanai. I like it when gay people are terrible. 

I Think Our Son is Gay (Volume 4) – Okura

It’s cute. Kinda interested to see how it ends, if Hiroki will come out and how his dad will react. I know I never have a lot to say about this series, but I’m never sure what to say. It’s a little preachy at times, like it’s more a guide for straight people, but I’m still enjoying it.

I am Kavi – Thushanthi Ponweera

I like this story, and the poems, but I wish it had been a bit longer, maybe exploring Kavi’s relationship with her school friends a bit more. But I liked it well enough. I liked the characters, though I wanted to know more about them. 

The Last Days of the Dinosaurs – Reilly Black

I wish this had been longer. I was going to say the dinosaurs die off too quickly but… that’s what happened. That’s what the author was meant to portray. I dunno, I wish it had focused on the destruction a smidge more, and maybe introduced some more creatures. But, as stated in the appendix, mammal fossils are hard to find, as are fossils from immediately before and after the impact. Also, the point of the book isn’t about destruction, it’s about rebuilding. It’s about how the survivors managed to cling on, and how they went on to repopulate and diversify.