General Update

We have about seven more weeks until summer break, and I am dyyyyying for it. I don’t like the Chinese school schedule. We get roughly the same amount of time off, but it’s distributed differently. I want Christmas break off and I want to get done in early-to-mid June. 😭 (My best friend’s school year is over. After an in-service on Monday, she is donezo for the year.) But basically, things are okay.

I learned that Clown School lost its accreditation. Color me shocked lol. I do feel bad for the families that put their faith in the school, especially the kids who are juniors this year. They will have to find a new school or some other way to get their diploma. They’re pretty much all rich, so I’m sure something will work out for them, but still, it’s not their fault. Well, it’s a little bit of their fault because I think the grift was pretty obvious, and they decided the pain was worth it. But I don’t have kids, so I don’t know what lengths I would go to in order to secure their future if I did have kids.

It’s starting to get too hot and humid to go out comfortably because I get too sweaty, so after next weekend (my friend is coming to visit), I’ll probably go out less, which is fine because I have a lot of books to read, and I really need to deep clean my apartment before I go home for my summer break.

I started and stopped a few dramas — the dubbing was so bad! It took me right out of the story. I’ve been reading more, though. So far in May, I’ve read You’ve Got Mail: The Perils of Pigeon Post Vol 1, which is basically a smutty romance book. I picked it up based on the cover, and wow, it was a lot. 😬 I know I often say I’m not going to finish a series and then immediately turn around and dive back in (for example, I dove right in and read volume 2 of Case File Compendium lol), but the character development is super thin in this book. Like paper thin. It reminded me of why I basically stopped reading smutty romance books — I like a bit of emotion and character development with my sex scenes. 🤷🏻‍♀️

The next book I read was Strange Beasts of China by Yan Ge. It’s kind of a downer of a speculative fiction book. A (crypto)zoologist-turned-novelist writes about all the types of beasts in the city of Yong’an Each chapter documents a different type of beast that lives in the city. They also build on a larger story about the mystery who (what) are the real beasts. It's very metaphor-heavy, and I almost gave up because there wasn't enough plot to drive the story for my tastes, but I held on and the plot picked up. I can't say that I loved it, but I don't feel like it was a waste of time reading it.

I read volume one of the Cherry Magic manga. I'd read it before but I have a few more volumes, so I reread it. I needed something light an fluffy, and so far, it's fitting the bill.

And that's it for now!