It's not about who put you down, but that you got back up again

Forgive me for sounding like a cheesy nineties song (chumbawumba, tub thumping was an absolute classic though) but i have had another setback, which unfortunately has made me into the worlds most unreliable blogger.
And for this, I can only apologise.
But i am alive friends!

So what's been going on? On the bright side...

Well, I went to Reading festival in the summer and i graduated from my masters back in October.

I went on a wonderful holiday to sunny Portugal with dear friends back in September.

And had a wonderful reunion with uni friends in London.

And then I quit my job two weeks ago, which was quite a drastic but inevitable exit. These past few months I've realised that my job had been changing me, creating the person who they needed for the role, but who wasn't really me at all. I mean we all portray ourselves in a certain way at work which isn't exactly our 'true and uninhibited selves,' but when you notice your outward morals at work don't actually match how you really think, i knew it was time to question my role in the company.

I won't go into the details here, as my exit from their employment was dramatic and ludicrous and frankly damaging to me in so many ways that I won't let myself expand on it as it has only been two weeks since my departure. But i officially cease employment with them today, this is my final day of garden leave. So far in my two weeks i have been paid to visit my dear friend and stayed the week with her, gone to a wonderfully dingy gig, read and crafted to my hearts content, finished my Christmas shopping and card writing and now I have secured a new job.

So ta very much!

I don't have a start date, but it's in the pipeline and i am so super excited friends. Stay tuned for more on that another day.

As for my reading list,  i have been keeping up on goodreads while not blogging so i shall update the tab of my 100 books this year imminently.

Some highlights of my recent reading list that you all need to get your hands on:

Marbles by Ellen Forney
This graphic novel was frank and honest and painful and beautiful and i know there is a point at which adjectives don't mean anything if you continue to list them but i cannot give this book enough praise. I loved it.

Only ever yours by Louise O'Neill
Oh this book was wonderful. The concept was like mashing together Mean Girls, The Hunger Games and Margaret Atwood. In a crazy world girls compete for male attention by putting themselves through gruelling school tasks which revolve around male pleasure. Their paths in life only go three different ways after they finish school and it was intruiging and heartbreaking all at once.

The Art of Being Normal by Lisa Williamson
I read this on holiday and it was so easy to immerse myself in. It made my heart hurt how damaged and unsure everyone was. If you need any kind of education in trangender issues, read this. In fact, everyone should just read it anyway to get a general understanding. The characters were complex and broken and scared and it was wonderful.

What's a Girl Gotta Do? By Holly Bourne
This woman can never put a foot wrong in my eyes. This series has made me laugh and cry and broke my little heart. (Books do that a lot, i identify way to much) I shall forever want to be a part of the Spinster club and I will make all my friends read these books so we can discuss feminism over cheese snacks (dairy free for me) and be as wonderful as Evie, Lottie and Amber who shall forever live in my heart.

So yeah, that's all that's been going on.
It's all been a bit much and i have neglected myself massively, but i am back and i shall endeavor to finish off the year how i intended.

Happy wednesday chums.

I leave you with music from the gig I was at the other night:

The Front Bottoms.