Jan/Feb Round Up

How is it March already??

Ah! I’m late, I’m late! For a very important date! (and other things the White Rabbit says)

I feel like I have been dragging my heels so far this year, although I actually have just been very busy! Promise x

Quick rundown of the first sixth of my year:

• I started job hunting

• I got a new job after two weeks and 250+ applications

• I moved 168km North into the Highlands

• Sold half of my belongings

• My mother got her PhD

• Everyone else in my family also started/are starting new jobs

• Sewing machine broke down as I received my largest number of orders in one weekend ever

• Switched to my first ever sewing machine (very slow)

• Broken machine cannot be repaired

• Saw Raye live

• Finished my first two books of the year

• Judged a charity talent show

And probably lots more that I don’t remember!

I am back to working 40 hours in a regular job, plus additional hours doing my own orders. With a few bookings sprinkled throughout the months, I have done a little performing, but irregular enough to allow me to start to get used to my new surrounds.

Anyway, shall we dive right in?

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Watches:

Here are my highlights:

The Addams Family (1964)

I got a notification that this was leaving Prime at the end of the month. I tried my best to get through the 60+ episodes available across two seasons, but I only managed to get to 58 before it vanished… It is still available to buy, but I simply hadn’t the time to catch up.

Watching this series has given me a real insight into the characters from the 1991 and 1993 movies, portrayed by Anjelica Huston and Raul Julia. While I despise the canned laughter of the 60s series, I began to tune it out, and appreciated the often slap-stick-style humour and signature-building idiosyncrasies of the characters. If I could have an updated version of this exact show, I would take it over the Wednesday Netflix show any day.

Sunday in the Park with George (1986)

After the announcement that Ariana Grande and Johnathan Bailey would be starring in the revival of this classic Sondheim, I thought I would take the time to watch it in full and enjoy the magic of the composer.

This televised version features Bernadette Peters (always a treat) with Mandy Patinkin in the titular role of George(s Seurat).

Telling the somewhat fictional/fantastical story of Seurat through a series of Sundays - mainly in a park - and based visually on his most famous painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte.

If you are a fan of Sondheim, I highly recommend.

The Roses (2025)

Great cast, meh story, shit ending. That’s it :)

Reads:

Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin

My god, I cannot believe that I know people who willingly put themselves through this book regularly. What a heart-wrenching classic. My mother told me about how she read it when she was younger, and sobbed at the end. I thought she was just being dramatic.

I finished it whilst sat on the train, and ended up staring listlessly out of the window.

If you have read it, you get it. If you haven’t, I implore you.

Told from the point of view of David, an American who exemplifies the thoughts, behaviours, and attitudes of Protestant North America in the 50s, the book tells the story of a man struggling to connect with… anything. Living in Paris, David is dismissive and detached as his fiancée goes on a two-month trip to Spain. He meets Giovanni, a gay Italian barman in a Parisian gay bar, and a whirlwind romance that grows more arms and legs than, well, the backroom of a Parisian gay bar.

Consider the Lilies by Iain Crichton Smith

A somewhat historically-inaccurate but incredibly emotional story of an old woman in Sutherland during the Highland Clearances. Set in the early 1800s, it follows Mrs Scott, an incredibly religious woman whose husband and son both left her, who is visited by a man on a horse who tells her she must leave her home.

While some of the timelines aren’t necessarily correct, Crichton Smith dives into the emotional and personal side of the Clearances, and more effectively, Mrs Scott addressing the effects of the reformed Church and her strict moral views.

Listens:

Now onto music!

To start off with, Paracosm by Absolutely. This album is genuinely incredible. If you haven’t heard of her, Absolutely is one of the sisters of singer/songwriter Raye. Best believe talent is running in their blood! My favourites off the album are Nowhere to Hide and Elevator!

Speaking of Raye, she released her new single Nightingale Lane. I had the pleasure of seeing her perform this live before the release date, and it was breath-taking. Her new album comes out at the end of the month, and I am so excited to have some new numbers to sing live!

Posts:

If you haven’t had a chance yet, I would love if you could take a look at some of them:

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Thank you for reading! Now, I shall be getting back to writing and sewing and singing and admin-ing my life away! I will be back with some new essays and short stories very soon! In the meantime:

You can read more of my essays here.

You can read some of my short fiction here.

If you would like to buy me a coffee, you can do that here.

Until the next short story <3