monthly wrap up: january ’19

Hello, fellow bloggers!

Today, I’m bringing my first monthly wrap-up. These are some of my favorite posts to read, and I’m sure there are more than a few popping up in your guys’ feeds today, but I still wanted to share one myself.

January has been BURNING HOT in my country. It’s currently summer here, and I haven’t been able to remember what is it like to live off of ice-cream and air fans. Can we get winter here, already?

HIGHLIGHTS

1. I got into my dream university! I took my last college entrance exam earlier in the month, and the results finally came in last week. And I did get in my dream university, studying the one course I was most excited to! It’s a huge achievement for me, because it’s one of the most prestigious institutions in the country. On one hand, it’s been amazing, but on the other, I’m still trying to get used to the amount of people paying attention to me, lol.
2. I’m back into journaling. I finally figured out how I want to documment my new year, and I decided that I’ll be journaling about some of the books/movies/shows I watch in 2019. It was one of my goals for the year to journal more, and I’m excited about it.
3. I watched Black Mirror – Bandersnatch and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. I feel like this is a common trend with most Black Mirror episodes: they’re extremely thought-provoking. But I have never watched the show before, and was only interested in the movie because it was said to be interactive. And now though my first experience was a bit frustrating (I kept choosing the ‘dead end’ choices and I had to constantly go back and make them again), I still felt the need to rewatch it multiple times just to see how many different endings I could get.

WHAT I READ:

January was such an amazing reading month. I read only phenomenal books and couldn’t have asked for a better way to start the year!

• American Panda, by Gloria Chao ★★★★★
• The Way You Make Me Feel, by Maurene Goo ★★★★☆
• Obsidio, by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff ★★★★★
• Aristotle & Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, by Benjamin Alire Saenz (re-read) ★★★★★

WHAT I POSTED:

• DISCUSSION: Diversity within diversity
• TOP 5: My favorite friend-groups
• REVIEW: Queens of Geek, by Jen Wilde
• TOP 5: Books that should be required reads
• DISCUSSION: Writing voices
• REVIEW: The Outsiders, Susan E. Hinton
• A semi-realistic list of 2019 resolutions

LOOKING FORWARD

My classes in university start only at late February, so I’m hoping to take the month to just enjoy my free-time. I plan on reading and blogging a lot, as well as journaling more and dedicating myself to my WIP. I finished the outline in January, but I’ve been procrastinating the *actual* writing process.

How was your January? What are you mostly looking forward to next month? And if you have watched Bandersnatch, which ending did you get the first time around?