That-Very-Brief-Hiatus-That-Wasn't-Supposed-to-Be-A-Hiatus Hiatus.

So for the past few weeks, I've taken an accidental hiatus. Something people don't tell you about moving is that there's a lot of stuff you need to do and a lot of stuff you need to buy.

Example 1: Cooking utensils. Who knew I would need to buy a whisk? And a set of knives? And a grater? Not me, apparently. It's just always been there at home.

Example 2: Internet. My roommate was in charge of sorting out our electricity and gas. I was put in charge of internet. I always thought I was pretty savvy with the computer but one call to The Father proved that I was, in fact, kidding myself.

It's all swell now though. I've got internet. I've got most cooking utensils. I've settled back into uni. Life has settled back down.

So. Apologies.

My next big thing is getting both this blog and my BookTube channel back on track. And schoolwork. Obviously. Because that's important. I mean, it's not like it's my last year of university or anything.

*cue hyperventilating*

BEDJ #11 | Update.

So, the plan for today was originally a review. A review for Gayle Forman's new book,  'I Was Here.' But I've been working a lot more than I'd anticipated, and when I haven't been working, I've been stressing about finding a place to live, and filling out rental application form after rental application form, and when I haven't been stressing, I've been sleeping. So, my time to write and schedule posts has been zero. Nil. Nada.

Instead, you're going to have to get by with a simple, 'hi-de-ho update post.' I hope that doesn't bore you too much.

My life for the past week and a half has consisted of moving from roommate to roommate (because apparently nobody wants to live with me ever), and then, when that miracle finally occurred, trying to find the perfect place to live. Which is difficult. Much more difficult than I'd assumed. It's especially difficult when your to-be-roommate is living in another city and not able to come to inspections with you.

I didn't realise any of this. Perhaps I've been naive towards it all, but I thought the process was pretty clear cut. In case you're a first time renter: It is not clear cut.

I mean, the week in general has just been pretty shit.

I hope everyone in France is keeping safe. It sucks so much that you guys had this happen to you. Australia is giving you all our love. We understand what you're going through. It's still pretty fresh in our minds. The shock doesn't go away overnight.

I'm sorry. This blog has turned into a rant and, when not angry, it is unacceptably sad. Let's talk about other things, like daisies and rain and the possibility of a new tomorrow.

Who am I kidding? I don't really have time to.

I hope you lovely people are enjoying my blogging everyday so far - what have you been your favourite posts?

Hopefully my posts will return to their usual selves tomorrow.

BEDJ #2 | 2015 Goals.

It's that time of year. Yes, my friends. I'm publicly announcing my resolutions because of some inane notion that this will somehow make myself achieve these things. Let's get going!

1. Write A Novel
This is my last year of university. Yes. Really. I'm not coping with this revelation very well, but I digress. I study writing at uni. In order to make myself feel like I've actually put my money to good use, I'd like to finish writing a novel by the end of it. Then, at least in my mind, if I can't get a job, I will have achieved something. Two of my other uni friends have made this pact with me. It's going to happen.

2. Do More Driving (maybe even get my license?)
So, it's gotten to the point where I've had to renew my learner's license. This is actually ridiculous. Enough is enough. I need to get my proper license ASAP. I still don't necessarily want it or need it, but the fact that I'm still on my learner's just annoys me. So, there.

3. Read 60-70 Books
Last year, I challenged myself to read 50 books. I thought this was a good number. Basically, I knew I could easily do it, so I could spend my time on schoolwork. But it was too easy. So, now I'm challenging myself a little more. Still don't know how many books exactly I'm going for, but it's somewhere in the sixty-seventy range.

4. Confidence
It's a thing I'm still going to work on. I'm getting there, but unsurprisingly, it's slow progress.

5. Continue to Develop Blog/Be More Efficient
Procrastination is a thing I need to conquer. In the beginning of the year, I typically do quite well, but by the end of it, my care levels go below zero. We're going to change that.

&&&

How about you guys? What are some of your New Years Resolutions?

BEDJ #1 | Introduction + 2014.

Welcome to my very first 2015 blogpost. How's everyone? Not feeling too different yet, I suppose? Along with this being the first blogpost of 2015, this is also my first blog post for my self-initiated challenge of blogging everyday this month.

Is it going to work? Hopefully. I have something planned for everyday, so fingers crossed, I will be able to streamline straight ahead. Expect a range of posts. This is going to be anything from music-related things, to book-related things, to fashion-related things (yep. that's a thing I'm going to attempt).

What I'm hoping to achieve out of this exercise is some sort of structure to both my blog and YouTube channel. Also, my ability to organise myself. Ok. Now: a big list of thank-you's to some special friends who helped my year be as fantastic as it was.

Thank you to Rachael for being my buddy of all buddies. I don't know why you still cope with me, even after nearly thirteen years of best friend-hood. Going to New Zealand was an experience I'll never forget, and you take all my theories and naivety with great amusement. Thank you for that. Onto our thirteenth year! Next stop: Japan.

Thank you to Georgia. You are stunning in your ability to be there for me. Whether it be because of an ending of a TV show or because I'm stranded or even because I'm upset over a little thing, you are there for me. You forever support me and you are wonderful. Sunshine radiates out of you. This year will be amazing. The drought of our perpetual singlehood will come to an end this year! I can feel it in my bones!

Thanks to Mel for being you. You are the co-conspirator in my neuroticisms, and the continual support despite that is A+. I'm sorry for getting you hooked on shows. But not really. Thank you for dealing with my incapability in communicating properly sometimes. I promise it's a thing I'm working on. You are wonderful, and uni wouldn't be the same without you.

Big thank you's to Dalina. Your willingness to deal with my midnight freakouts over whether I'm actually a semi-decent writer is outstanding. How you respond with amusement over frustration every single time is so totally beyond my comprehension. I don't actually know what I'd do without you.

Final quick thank you to Kristyanna for just being fabulous. I can trust you to make me laugh till I cry. How am I supposed to get through my last year of uni without you?

There are so many other people who I could thank, but this blog post would be utterly boring to everybody who doesn't know me. So, I'll stop now. Here's to a wonderful 2015, and a wonderful BEDJ.

Retail During Christmas.

I feel a little stupid making a blog post about this, but nevertheless I feel like it's an important reminder (or PSA, if you will) for everyone.

Christmas is about two weeks away. This is not the PSA, but it's still very exciting. Who doesn't love Christmas? (Other than, you know, people who don't actually celebrate it)

But a thing that always happens during Christmas is that it gets extraordinarily busy at the shops. And, as a consequence of that, people are more likely to be stressed and/or frustrated. I'm a human, I get that. Lots of people in a cramped space can get ugly.

But please, please, please try to control that stress when you're dealing with retail workers this holiday season.

It's not a big ask, really. But if you can do that, it makes life that much easier for them.

As someone who has worked over four Christmases (each one consecutively busier than the last), I can guarantee that if you're at stress levels of ten, sales people's levels are ten times higher. I digress. This isn't a competition. It really isn't.

I'm just saying that while I know you're in a rush to get your presents, please be aware that along with customer service, retail workers also have to make sure stock is consistently processed and out on the floor.

If someone directs you to the counter because they don't know the answer off-hand, do not take it as a personal insult. We aren't doing it to be rude. We're doing it because we don't know the answer and we don't have direct access to a computer.

Retail workers try to be as respectful and helpful to customers during the holiday season as possible. In return, all we ask is that you treat us in the same manner.

PSA: Done.

NaNoWriMo & Life.

Firstly, apologies (again) for my absence. As I'm sure you've figured out, my 'blog-everyday-in-November' challenge failed miserably. I mean, at first I did really well. But then my exams became my primary focus and I fell behind and I couldn't get back up.

Then, about midway through the first week, I decided that I should just push back this whole venture till January. That way I'd be less stressed and I think it'd just work much better overall. So, come January, expect a blogpost everyday.

I bet you're thinking now, 'Oh, because Jocie let herself go in the blogging department, she must have done really well with NaNoWriMo, right?' Nope. I failed just as miserably at that. I only wrote about 8,200 words. It's a little disappointing, but I am happy with what I did accomplish. I just wish I'd written more.

Despite these disappointments, I did decide to start BookTubing again. I also have the next few weeks of blogs planned out. So hopefully I'll be back on track with things soon.

I will admit now, however, that I might not be as active as I want. Why? Because Christmas is a thing. And because Christmas is a thing, it means retail is in it's busiest time. And because retail is in it's busiest time, it means I'm working a hell of a lot.

But we'll see how I go. Pinky promise to try my best anyway.

Being 19.

Like I mentioned in my last blog post, I turned nineteen a month and a bit ago. The verdict is still out, but right now my feelings on the age are of the 'meh' persuasion. Now, I've thought about why this is. I haven't written his impetuously. I thought long and hard about why I might feel this way. Here they are -

Reason #1: Just in terms of symbolism, there is none in the age of nineteen. Eighteen is the age of technical legality, alcohol, tattoos, and 'adulthood.' You can suddenly do everything by yourself, without any parent's permission. Twenty is the age of 'yay, I actually survived into adulthood. This probably wouldn't have happened two hundred, three hundred years ago.' And then, there's twenty-one. Twenty-one is the age of fully-fledged adulthood. Nineteen is nothing.

Reason #2: Eighteen was actually a really good year for me. I will admit that there's a chance that I'm thinking of 2013 in its entirety as my 18th year, when in fact I'd only turned eighteen in the August of it, but nonetheless. I'd made new friends, started at (a great) uni, figured out who exactly I was. It was great. I worry that with eighteen being so great, nineteen will only be a let down.

Reason #3: I was at uni all day on my birthday. Now, I know what you're thinking. 'God, Jocie, this is just a special type of sulking.' No, I don't agree with that. Sort of. I have no problem with going to uni or work on my birthday - I've had to do it in the past, and I don't like to think I'm spoilt. But the day didn't have that normal-magical-birthday-feeling to it - what if that's an omen for how this year is going to go? If that's some sort of indication, then I am not keen. And

Reason #4: It's one year closer to being an actual adult. I don't want to be an adult. Like, I know when the time comes, I'll deal with it, but not really a fan of it right now. I liked the in-between privilege of being eighteen.

So, yeah. That's my thoughts on being nineteen. Does anybody else feel this way about the age? Or am I just alone in thinking it's a little weird?

Hey, remember me?

Remember when I used to post regularly? Yeah, neither do I.

Apologies are required. So hi, sorry, and I'm back. To be honest, I don't really know where this post is going to go. I didn't really have any aims coming into this. I was just sitting in my room, listening to Taylor Swift (She's like a boomerang. I love her, then distance myself from her music for a little bit, and here I am loving her again), before work on a Sunday morning.

So, what's been up?

Uni. Uni is what's up. I'm on mid-semester break right now, and I'm fully anticipating spending my time reading and relaxing (but that probably won't happen). I have hit the point where my drive for doing schoolwork has gone down the toilet. In fact, I'm writing this right now so I can expressly avoid my marketing readings.

Oh, I turned 19. Yea. To be honest, I'm not really a fan of it. It's just a number - there's no real significance to it. It's a bleh year between 18 (woah, legal adult!) and 20 (woah, no longer in the teen years!). My birthday itself was not exciting. I spent the entire day at uni, so I guess you can get an idea from that.

Apologies for the huge chunk of reviews you got all in one hit. I just hadn't been doing any for a while, and it was getting ridiculous, and I had all these notes about the books lying around, and so I needed to write them. So of course, the obvious response was to schedule five in a row. I promise that there will be more variation in the coming posts.

Haven't been reading anything because again, no time. It's a thrilling life I lead.

So anyway, this is just a quick post saying 'hi,' and I'm back and expect regular blogs once more. Right now, I'm thinking one post a week. Depending on how productive I am this week, that might be upped to the regular two or three. We'll see.

That Time When My Blog Looked Significantly Different.

As I'm sure you're able to gather, I made a few changes on the blog the other night. It all kind of happened at once. This isn't because I was procrastinating either. Oh no, I was actually doing schoolwork. Anywho, the things I changed:

a) The URL. It's a little different now. Before, I'd had it as 'jocieclaire.' It always bothered me that the URL and my blog's name were different. Now it's 'terreritafleurs.' It just makes more sense to me. There's symmetry now, and that makes my inner-perfectionist happy.

b) The general design of the blog is different. I liked it before, but now it looks fancy. There's actual social media buttons, and the pages are centred and I'm just really digging it. And I did it all. By. Myself. Pfft, who needs a degree in graphic design?

I think that's all I changed. I mean, I did a bit of an overhaul of my About Me page, but exactly zero people care about that. Maybe I should just turn this into a general update? Yep. Let's do that.

I'm well into uni now. Already, there is so much to do. I'm feeling good about it though. So far, I've been keeping on top of everything, and I am genuinely enjoying all of my classes. Yes. Even poetry.

The problem however, is that it's left me with not a whole lot of time. I've read little in the past two weeks. I've blogged little in the past two weeks. And on the whole, I just wish readings didn't take so long.

Oh. It's my birthday this month! I'm turning the big 1-9. Nothing too insane. I found it's going to be on a Monday, and on Monday's I spend nearly seven hours at uni. So, basically: It's going to be great fun.

I have to apologise for how ill-written this is. I promise the next few ones will be better.