It's been a bit! I feel like just talking about little random things in my life, as it's something I'd like to do more often in journals.

My last journal talked about some of the struggles I've been facing lately, especially since mid-December. It's been tough, but I find myself doing quite well right now, too. It feels like I've made a big, scary, important leap forward in my mental health. It's tough to explain it all without going into a lot of detail, but suffice to say I feel like I understand what I've got to work with, more. I'm excited to keep going forward.

I've been cooking more this week; I really adore cooking and learning about food science. The place I live right now has a poor kitchen set up, like it's literally a stover and a sink with no counters, so it's been tough to cook things since I moved in September. But I've figured out little ways to make do, and been enjoying it a lot. Cooking is a form of self-care for me; it's a task I can complete and feel good about, it's creative, and it's a way to nuture my body very directly. I started watching British Bake Off again; last time I watched it was a few years ago, but now I've got Netflix! It really is the ultimate feel-good show for me, ha ha. I enjoy the relaxing way they all speak, the friendly air of competition (nothing like Chopped where they all seem to just hate each other), and especially getting to know all the bakers each season. There are so many kinds of amazing people living their lives in the world, and it's a joy to watch.

Other things I've been doing is reading, reading, reading! Again, due the limited space of the place I live right now, I've had to put my entire library in storage. I was relying solely on my Kindle and library loans for a bit, but then around Christmas I was gifted several books, and the hunger set in, ha ha. I wound up going to the library in person and borrowing a few on some topics I want to learn about, as well as being lent a book by a friend. So now I'm reading:

-The King of Infinite Space by Lyndsay Faye (on Kindle, with library-induced time limit)
-Abarat by Clive Barker (borrowed from friend, who wants to reread it soon so I have to hurry)
-The Big Leap: A Guide to Freelancing for Creative by Martina Flor (physical book, borrowed from library as well)
-An Unapologetic Cookbook by Joshua Weissman (gift from Christmas, I can take my time but I want to read about cooking asap!)

And a few others, but I trimmed them for now to focus on these, ha ha. All in all, a great time! I only wish reading didn't make me so sleepy.

So yeah! Just some nice things I've been doing or thinking about. Thanks for reading, and I'll see y'all around on streams, art comments, discord, etc!