Challenges

I was making a list today, writing down everyone I had to contact to inform that I am now employed: health care, union (yes people, I joined a union), unemployment office,... If that wasn't already bad enough, I'm also going to change my address again meaning I've got to contact my bank, post office, insurances, everyone who still sends me mail,... and last but not least my internet shopping accounts, very important.

My last week of "freedom" will probably be spent getting all kinds of papers and documents in order which is a very daunting task. I will have to start paying bills which besides my cellphone and Visa I'm not really used to. I've already asked my mother to make a list with all the bills you'd normally get and all the different kinds of insurance that I'd have to take and apparently there are a lot of them. Challenging prospects indeed.

Speaking of challenges I've decided to enter a few reading challenges online. I've been blogging for a year and a half now but I have to confess that I don't follow a lot of blogs myself. One of my new year's resolutions was to do so and I've noticed that a lot of blogs about books and literature frequently have these challenges where you read a certain amount of books of a particular genre, length, author,... and blog about them. Sometimes, there are even prizes to be won. So seeing as I want to become a more "rounded" blogger, I've enlisted in the Graphic Novels Challenge and Feelin' Chunky to begin with.

The Graphic Novels Challenge especially caught my eye seeing as it is a genre that (thanks to my pumpkin) is really starting to tickle my fancy. I've already read one, Black Hole, this year which was rather good and for my birthday I got a graphic novel that has received nothing but praise and prizes since it's publication in 2003, namely Blankets by Craig Thompson. I only started reading yesterday but I have to say that this simple coming of age story (the author's memoir actually) is already heart-breakingly beautiful. The multitude of drawings are magnificent and the story is tender and painfully honest making my levels of compassion reach new heights. I can't wait to read what happens next.

Sadly, I didn't finish The White Tiger although it wasn't bad, I just wasn't in the mood. Although it's becoming more and more distant, Twilight is still a lingering memory that still hasn't arrived!