Wrap Up | February 2019 + Life Update [CC]

Hi friends my name is Emily welcome back to my channel today I, am refilling. My February wrap-up, because, I lost, the, footage February. Was, a great, reading month in terms, of the quality, of the text that I read not, so much in terms of the, quantity, and I will get to that at the end of the video I'm gonna be doing a little life update and talking, about the things that, I did, in February I am gonna start out by talking about the books because that's what this channel is so, for those of you who haven't been following along February. Was Black History Month and so, I, chose. To read only books by black authors during, the month of February so. I did only managed to read two books by, black, authors so the first one being, the, hundred thousand kingdoms by NK jemisin so this is the first book in the inheritance, trilogy and I did do a whole video giving my thoughts on this book and I will link that in the cards and down below this is the book that my patrons, voted. On for me to read and review and discuss, the, hundred thousand kingdoms is a fantasy, novel I'm gonna pronounce her name wrong because I looked, it up initially, on one, source and then got corrected. In the comments, and I can't for the life of me remember what it is now because in my head it's the thing that I looked up to begin with and that is guitar, that, is what I've been calling her it is, probably. Going to be impossible, to unlearn, that you, pronounce it how, you want it so you Nadar is the, granddaughter. Of the, era, mari king, and she. Is very estranged. From her maternal, family, because, her mother who was the. King. Of the world that is literally, what they think of themselves as the rulers, of the world the king of the world the king of the world's daughter ran. Away from his kingdom and, married. Somebody, from the. Fringes, of society that. Union produced in a and so she's always been estranged, from her, maternal. Family. And then. Shortly after her mother's, death she, is called by her grandfather to. The kingdom and she goes not really knowing what to expect and when, she gets there he, names her heir, the. Catch is she. One of three, heirs now competing. For, the throne and so she ends up thrown into a lot of these really political. Situations. We get a lot of critique of. The. Society, that she finds herself in there's. Also this, like other subplot. Happening. In which the, fallen, gods are, enslaved, to the era, Mari ena, ends, up sort of agreeing, to work with them and. Gets. All twisted up, in their. Plots, and I. Thought it was a really fun novel, I really enjoyed the world-building I know from the comments that's not the case for everybody I like the idea of, gods. Being more tangible. And humans interacting, with them I feel like gods, are something we see a lot of in fantasy, literature and, so to, get. This really. Diverse. Tangible. Cast of gods I thought was really interesting and overall, I really enjoyed the book if you want to hear more of my thoughts on it again, I believe, the link to that video the, other book that I read in, the, month of February, by a black author was, the. Complete binti, trilogy by, nnedi okorafor so. I have read ekkada witch by, nnedi okorafor which. Is young adult fantasy and, I loved it and so I was very excited to, try. Binti, now this is actually a bind up of three novellas, so if we want to count and like. Be generous, I read four. Books binti. Is the, story of this, really, intelligent harmonizer. Who, is part, of a community part. Of a marginalized, community on, the edge of a desert that, is really. Quite religious. And inward, facing when. They experience, conflict or, trouble they turn inwards, and seek the community, opposed, to outwards. What, binti, wants more than anything is, to attend, this, University on another, planet and so, because, she knows her family will never approve she, leaves in secret, boards a ship and begins. The space journey to. The, University, planet and on, the way the, ship, is attacked, by a. Species. Of alien. Called, the Medusa and the are in conflict, with the sort. Of majority, population, on been teased planet the Koosh this is no spoiler it's in the dust jacket the, medusa attack, all the Kushan the ship leaving binti the only survivor and as a harmonizer, she has an ability to connect, with other people and so she ends up harmonizing. And connecting, with the Medusa and acting. As, their. Ambassador. For. When they arrive to this planet.

Negotiating. The, reason. For the conflict to begin with solving, that conflict, and then beginning, life on this planet with a new, Medusa, friend. Much of this book explores, identity. Explores. Culture. Explores. The narratives, that we are told about things and how truth. Often differs, from the. Popular, narratives, so. Binti is constantly. Put, into, situations. That. Allow. Her to grow and develop and think. Differently. And I really enjoyed that in, many ways you can see how this can be abstracted. To. Our own society, and the ways in which, we. Have certain, narratives, baked into us, depending, on where we are in the world who raises us how we grow, up how. We're educated, how challenging it, can be to be faced with the untruths, of these, narratives and how. Important, this. Work is and, so I really. Really enjoyed, binti, I feel, like if you were a Trekkie as I am a Trekkie well. The. Next generation, and voyager i think if you are a Trekkie and you are already. Here. For, narratives. Around. Exploration. Cultural. Exchange. Thinking. Differently, that, sort of stuff. I think, binti will actually, speak to you quite a bit if, you, are interested, in discussions, around afrofuturism, because. This book on university. Courses, is. Included. In discussions of afrofuturism I feel like this could be a really interesting place, to start, thinking about afrofuturism, and, sort of begin your own, research. And reading there I had loved it highly, recommend it. I hope that nnedi okorafor, continues. To write in the space of this space. University, because, like it just sounds so fascinating, and I feel like like, I understand, like each of the novellas, our, little. Contained things in and of themselves but, I feel like there's, definitely room for this to be fleshed out quite a bit and I would so be, here, for it if it were to happen so the third book that I did read is part, of a larger, project that spans, throughout, 2019, for me and that, is the goal of reading, six German books this year that, is one book every two months it just so happened that during Black History Month I finished, deem, it to dare veltz by Andrea Steinhafel. This is a piece, of queer. Young, adult fiction although I feel like when it was published in 1998. Young. Adults didn't exist as a marketing, category in the same way it does now but our protagonist, is a, teenager. And this is about his. Experiences. With love and him becoming, I, guess just more worldly this is the story of Phil, who falls in love with Nicholas, this is the first time that he falls, in love and he falls hard it also. Delves. Into his. Family, life so his mother was. A young mother she came from America, to Germany, to. Reconnect, with her, older, sister, when, she gets there turns out her sister is dead and has, willed.

This Giant, old crumbling. Manor house to, her life glass already wasn't. An outsider enough as a pregnant, American. Teenager, she now lives in this, giant. Crumbling, house on the edge of town much of this is looking. At, the. Relationship, that Phil has with his mother who is somewhat, unconventional so. I've watched the film by. Jakub. And Airbus. I've, watched the film Academy and, I, that's actually how I came to this book I loved, the filmic adaptation, the film, feels like a summer film the, book feels like a winter, book the book is a lot darker. And, a, little bit more magical. And mysterious and, has some really truly, bizarre, and, whore moments. In it like. For, example when, as a child's. Phil's godmother, Teresa I guess I don't know if she's officially his godmother but she sort of serves the role as godmother Phil's, godmother. Teresa, her father passes, away and, he. Is this like, green, burial, nut and he. Wants to be buried in his garden no, casket, no nothing, just him going back into the dirt and that is of course not allowed and, so, after, the body is, embalmed. And set in its casket, Teresa. Glass, and the children because you can't leave young children alone unsupervised. Break, into, the, funeral. Home drugged. The mortician, so that he falls asleep they. Load. The casket, with potatoes. And, steal. Her father's, corpse. To. I guess live out his wish of being buried in his garden and that was just the super, like. Bizarre, and dark moment that I don't think would translate well to film like, at the same time that it was really dark was kind, of hilarious and, absurd, and so. I loved, the book as a reading experience so. I did finish this in the month of February, as well that, is an end to, the update, on the. Books that I read in February so, if you're done with the books you don't care about the life update, let me know in the comments down below, have, you read any of these books what, did you think of these books if, you are interested in the life update. Here. We go in the month of February, I did. A lot of new. Things that, shook, up my routine in, ways. That I hadn't exactly, anticipated. And so February has been about. I guess learning, how to restructure, my time, first, of all I picked, up more shifts at work not, the overwhelming, amount, of shifts that I opened myself up to before when, I first started it indigo I had, complete. Open, availability. Because I. Was trying to pay off my student debt and once I paid off my student debt I never relinquished. That and so would frequently, be assigned, stretches. Of 9, to 11 days straight, I did look it up it is legal, depending. On how many hours off you have before, after, like. A long stretch like that although it is a lot it is legal and so, because I had open availability, and I never said anything I did. Have a lot of long stretches, like that and when you're getting up at 5:00 a.m. every day it, really shrinks, your world you can't do a lot of adult things, you, can't see.

Your Friends, on weekends, really because you don't have weekends, if you work in retail you know that you don't have weekends, you, have a day, off here, a day off there if, you want two consecutive days you, have to book them off that, amount of Labor was overwhelming, and so, I did, reduce. My hours a little bit in an attempt, to, just. Normalize, my life and function. A little bit more like a normal human and so I'm slowly increasing. My hours again not, to the point of unlimited, availability. But to. The point that the work feels, manageable. And then, I can still do things that I'm passionate about, like. Making YouTube videos and one of the things that, I have, also endeavored. To do. Is to. Be, compensated for this work that I do because I feel like maybe, not videos like this but, there are things that I am passionate about that, I would. Love to create like. The Dark Tower series like. Sharing my MA dissertation like, a sex, and why a series, more. In-depth. Discussion, videos that require, more time and more labor I, decided. To, ask for, financial, help with that and so I launched, a patreon, at. The beginning of last month February 1st that went live I did receive, support. There which was wonderful. And, so. Encouraging, so even though my life got busier, in terms of increasing my workload I also, felt, so. Much more motivated. To, know that people were, here for this content, and we're. Willing to. Support. This content, because, the. Funds. Coming in from patreon are not enough to equal, a part-time job but, there, is enough funds at this point to. Allocate. Extra. Hours and justify. Extra, hours to not. Only myself but, to folks around me like I can now put in - making. Long-form content and, doing. Special. Things having. The funds from patreon, is enabling. Me to do things like that on the one hand I am being. Supported, for the work that I do which is excellent, because even though these YouTube videos are monetized, they. Do. Not bring, in consistent. Monthly. Revenue, YouTube, only pays you when, you hit the hundred dollar threshold. And this, channel does not hit a hundred dollars very, often, the downside. To this was, the, learning, curve I have. Never used patreon. It was a lot of like, reading the. Internal, patreon. Provided. Articles, to learn how to do things to learn how to use. The system to my advantage and, to. Make it flow logically. And easily, for my patrons, it was, every time I ran into a problem, like. Googling. And trying to figure out what. Went wrong and like. The amount of time but. That eats up in the initial learning curve was something that I didn't, anticipate so. The first month of patreon, was. A learning curve for me and I, am so thankful for everyone, who stuck, around and, who, continued, their patronage, into March because I feel, like the more I use the system the better I will get at it already, I feel like in March there, is, less.

Random. Hours lost to. Researching. And fussing. Around with patreon, programming, to try and do, the thing that I want to do my hope is that during March with, these, skills sort. Of coming. Together that I will be able to do more reading thank, you for being patient with me and thank you for your, support because. That has been phenomenal, the other, thing that I undertook, in February, is dance, lessons, so, for, Christmas my partner, got, us a, trial. Package, for ballroom, dance, classes, the cool thing about ballroom, is that it is an artistic, activity. That, the two of us can, do together and not, in the way that like taking a painting class is, doing something together sitting. Next to each other and chat in the same space is fun. But. It is very different, than, partaking. In an activity where the two of us are physically. Dependent on, each other so it's. A lot of us learning about, small. Body cues, and small, differences. That. Impact. How we function together as a team and, it's. Just such a unique activity. And such a unique skill that. We. Decided to sign up for a, six, month course, together to. Become social ease dancers. It's exciting to learn a new skill together, it's exciting, to have. This really unique experience and. Again that is another thing that's sort of I, didn't. Anticipate, eating. Into my time but. Like right off the bat they try and put your lessons as close together as possible now. Moving forward, over, the next five months our. Lessons are once a week initially. They had us in like two to three times a week because. They want you to develop muscle. Memory just. Like, in a blink of an eye February. Was over and I mean it Oh February only has, like, three, less days than, most months, and for. Whatever reason, it was just gone. All of a sudden February, was gone the fourth. Thing that I did in March was. Begin, meeting with, a pal, about a podcast, so this is not the podcast that I was planning on I'm, still gonna hold that topic close because, I think when, things sort. Of get into a rhythm with this podcast, I might still, start. Up a second podcast because. Why not, I like, chaos apparently, a friend reached out to me and was, like so I have this crazy idea what. Do you think, and I was like that sounds, like, it might work, let's meet up and discuss this, and so, we. Actually read. A book, we read all my puny sorrows by Miriam tabes and we got together to sort of test, out what, the two of us having a conversation about. A. Text would be like and we've. Decided not to record, that podcast because our discussion, over coffee was, just really organic, and natural and, good and I, don't like, neither of us to force, the. Recreation, of that came up with ideas for what we want to talk about then, met back up again, and. Talked. About various. Episode ideas and what we're personally, interested in and how we can see this working this. Friday. March, 8th. I believe yeah International, Women's Day we, are meeting up to record our first podcast together, I'm just so. Incredibly excited. About this podcast and I know it feels like maybe. Emily you're biting off more than, you can chew I feel, like I am just so excited and, passionate about the things that I'm currently working on like, why not ride, this momentum this. Wave. Of, excitement, about, these projects, while I'm here, write this, wave of excitement, is spilling, over into, everything. I sleep, with a notebook now because I just have all of these exciting, ideas, rolling. Around in my head and I. Need to capture them and like I'm turning them into things and it is. Wonderful. To be in this place like this time last year was. Really. Shitty I'm not gonna lie but I'm in such a different, place such a good place right now, that is the life update thank. You guys for listening to me ramble if you stuck, around do let me know your thoughts on the books the few books that I did read let, me know your thoughts on, any. Of the life update things. How. Is your 2019, going so far before we go I, don't. Know where my chalkboard is oh. Alright. This. Is the only thing that I could find this is actually an advertisement. For feminist. Sex toys. But. It's pretty so I framed it before, we go we have to thank my patrons Thank, You patrons, for. Enabling. Me to do. The work that I do thank, you for your support throughout, the month of February, for being with me through this learning curve, for, being, really encouraging. You have no idea how encouraging. It is to, have, people, say. Yes what, you're doing is worth. It I am. Willing, to support, you with my dollars that is just. Mind-boggling. Thank, guys for, your supports, I am, so excited to continue to make things for you guys I think I've held up these sex toy advertisement.

For Long. Enough yeah if you want to help make these videos possible help, keep these creative, projects, going patreon. Is a great way to do that I personally feel that the arts do have value but it is hard to see that reflected in, the job market so I'm trying to find other ways to do these things if you want to sign up for that I will hopefully have linked it on the end screen here I really got to make an den screen, so, that I don't have to stand here and babble, anyways, I will not delete this footage this time I will. Edit it and upload. It like. The Creator that I am bye.

2019-03-11 22:00

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