What a busy month. My primary work with Studiosity usually picks up this month, and this year, that was no exception. I’ve been spending lots of time at the computer doing work and playing games, and I’m looking forward to the autumn weather now.

And now, it’s nearly mid-October and the post is only going up. October has proven to be a busy month so far as well. I’ve had this draft sitting for two weeks while I put it off and thought about adding pictures. (I did not add any. It felt more important to just post.)

📚 | Books I Read

I have a few books on the list, but much more on my TBR on my nightstand and in my holds with the library.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, narrated by Noah Galvin

I’m gonna say it: the movie was better than the book. The book was still good, of course, but the story translated very well to a screenplay. (It helps that Chbosky did the screenplay, heh.) I can understand the omissions from the film, even though leaving them out changed some of the plot. It’s no wonder that this book is still incredibly popular with teenagers today. It was really good!

Calming Magic by Nikki van der Carr

I didn’t finish this one. It ended up being lists of rituals and spells. While I think they would be useful, a lot of my witchcraft tools are sparse. I don’t have a whole herb cupboard or different crystals. I think I need to get more sigil magick and cartomancy books, since those are the tools I lean toward. I was hoping the book would be more theory and spirituality.

Archangel’s Consort and Archangel’s Blade by Nalini Singh, both narrated by Justine Eyre

I’m still devouring this series! They’ve gotten much more erotic as the relationships progress and deepen, and I’m not complaining about that. There’s something nice about washing dishes with my eyes wide listening to someone read out a description of shower sex. I can’t help but wonder… Did Justine Eyre, the narrator, need to take more breaks because of the erotic nature of this series? How often was she blushing while narrating sex scenes?

Archangel’s Blade took a step away from the couple featured in books 1-3 of the series, while the overarching plot continued. I was hesitant, because I really loved seeing the relationship progress. This one focused on the vampires in the world, instead of angels, and I ended up getting really into it! It did a great job showing how sexuality changes and heals after sexual abuse and trauma, and it would definitely need lots of trigger warnings (which I’m sure others have put up somewhere). It was also a very erotic book. Chapter 30? Whew. Chapter 30!

October’s TBR

Archangel’s Storm, Archangel’s Legion, and Archangel’s Shadows by Nalini Singh

I got Storm in paperback and the others in ebook, since those were the formats available for these titles. I’ve been enjoying this series on audiobook, so I wish these three were available that way. Titles 8-11 are in audiobook, thankfully, and 12 and 13 are physical copies. The ebook borrowing in Canada doesn’t let me use a Kindle, so I have to use other devices that aren’t as pleasant on my eyes. But I think I’ll manage—this series has completely gripped me.

Witchery: Embrace the Witch Within by Juliet Diaz

Kitchen Table Magic by Melissa Cynbova

Psychology and the Occult by C.G. Jung (from collected works), translated by R.F.C Hull

As you can see, I’m on a bit of a witchcraft binge. I think Witchery will be like the Calming Magic book I didn’t finish in September, but we’ll see what’s in store. I also picked up The Witch Book: The Encyclopedia of Witchcraft, Wicca, and Neo-paganism by Raymond Buckland. It’s a huge volume, so lots to check out.

🎶 | Music I Enjoyed

I’m back into vaporwave! When I last spent time listening to this genre, the music available on YouTube focused more on electronica and epic sounds. Recently, I found a number of more low-key and almost jazzy compilations which were primarily posted in the last 6 months.

They’re in a playlist here. The theme of “mallsoft” really intrigues me. As a teen, I hated going to malls because they had an attitude of being only for rich and popular girls—which I wasn’t. One of the videos in this playlist includes ambient noise, like popular cafe videos sometimes have, with chatter. In my current situation where I barely leave the house and I don’t have many chances to interact with people other than the ones in my household, I really enjoy this video in particular. I am, after all, an extrovert.

🎮 | Games I Played

So. Much. Minecraft.

My room mates and I started a modded server at the beginning of the month. We’ve had a lot of fun using machines! For me, I’ve focused on Pam’s HarvestCraft for farming, and Decocraft to make pretty objects around our base. We have a huge quarry going, and one room mate is working on getting nuclear power going. The other one has started on Thaumcraft, which has proven to be more challenging than expected. We had to clean up a flux/taint invasion. The server also has weather on it, and there have been a few times where the tornado feature wasn’t turned off and the land got griefed. We lost a bunch of animals too, because even though the setting for griefing was turned off, the tornado could still buffet us around and pick us up.

I’ve also had a lot of fun playing Love Nikki: Dress-up Queen. Since I joined a guild with a Discord community, I’ve been playing the game more. After a recent update, I even got to Rank 8 and Rank 4 in two levels! My score will undoubtedly be surpassed as more people complete the levels and we get better guides for top scores, but I still got the two achievements for being in the top 10 of players for those levels.

And just to break up the Minecraft hours, I’ve started playing Super Mario Odyssey. Cappy and the Bonneton are suspicious. I’m only on world 4 right now, but it’s just my kind of game. I love going on treasure hunts and having puzzles to work through to find collectibles. Remember the koroks in Breath of the Wild? Gaming made just for me. Just send me out to retrieve things and explore a world.

🧠 | Mental Health Check-in:

Some breakthroughs:

• My issues with my body come from issues with feeling neglected and unworthy of care.
• Alcohol has negative effects on me regardless of the amount; I don’t need to be drunk for alcohol to impact my mental wellbeing, and so I need to live a sober life.
• I have a lot of coping skills that need to be replaced with more positive and less destructive ones, such as making a calming warm drink instead of picking at my skin when I’m anxious.

⭐⭐ ⭐ 🔳🔳

🏆 | Accomplishments & Highlights

Just one accomplishment: I’ve flossed my teeth every day this month. Feels good to know that I’m trying my best to take care of my oral health.

📋 | October Plans

I love October. It’s my favourite month. It has three of the best celebrations: my birthday (October 6), Thanksgiving (October 11), and Halloween (October 31. In my house, we’re on our third year of a new tradition. Since we aren’t the types to really play horror games, we save the scary or spooky games for October. In 2019 and 2020, the games were Dead Space and Dead Space 2, respectively, played by Jacob. This year, we have Dead Space 3 on the roster, as well as Resident Evil 7: Biohazard in VR played by his brother.

We just finished day 1 of “Spooktober,” as we call it, with the first house in Resident Evil 7. It was absolutely frightening. The Resident Evil games are definitely a bit easier to manage in terms of jump-scares and the overall psychological thriller aspect when they’re in third-person. Since Resident Evil 7 is in first-person (and, in this case, VR…) it’s much more terrifying. I’m managing by looking up the walkthroughs and getting a feel for where jump-scares are so I don’t scream too much.

I want to do some autumn activities of my own, of course. Last year, we went apple picking, but this year, we’ve decided not to because the crop yield wasn’t very good (it was a hard growing season for many farmers here). I’m trying my hand at making a pumpkin pie with fresh roasted pumpkin. I may look into if any of the farms around have their autumn or Halloween themed nights going on. It’s been a while since I’ve done a hayride, corn maze, or haunted barn, and I’d love to do them if they’re being hosted. The pandemic has really fucked up a lot of the activities I enjoy, but these ones should be possible now—they’re typically outdoors and use admission, so social distancing and crowd control are easier than at, say, a concert or cafe.

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I hope autumn treats you well! Do you have any autumn traditions?