2020 – rachel hall

2020 Wrap Up

Posted on January 15, 2021March 15, 2021 by Rachel Hall

Hello everyone! I wanted to wish all of you a happy new year! I meant to post this a lot sooner, but wanted to focus one actually enjoying the winter holidays. For the last couple years, the winter holidays have been super difficult for me, and it wasn’t uncommon for me to be in a deep depression during that time. So, I’m happy that despite the pandemic, at least Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years and the likes are getting easier.

However, I did have some trouble with some of my physical issues. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve always had stomach issues. Over the years it has gotten worse and these past few weeks my sleep schedule is all out of balance because of it. I finally went to the hospital around 12-1 AM, tired of being bed bound. Luckily no one seemed to be there besides the staff who were in high spirits. I got home by 5 AM the same day, and several days later I feel no COVID symptoms. Unfortunately, I have yet to find out what is going on with my stomach for it to be reacting in such a severe way over practically any food, but I hope I can find out soon. At this point I am just accepting something is seriously wrong and hoping it isn’t the worst possible case scenario.

The state of the United States certainly isn’t helping things. I’ve been finger knitting obsessively to deal with it, but a part of me is still scared of what will happen once Biden becomes president. Just like New Years doesn’t magically make things better (the Capitol coup proves this) the change of leadership won’t either. I just hope no one gets shot.

Despite the never ending chaos of the world, I do want to share my wrap up this year, just to give myself a pat on the back and not go on another hiatus.

2020 PROJECT PAN

Although I have plenty of lists that show what I need to use up and what I need to restock on, what I didn’t write was how much I used the entire year for #ProjectPan. Of course, since I did the math sort of late in the game, there are certain things I’m not 100% on. However, most of these numbers are accurate if not estimates.A lot of these items are from Bath and Body Works, however I am also a huge fan of makeup and books as well.

Lotions: 12

Old Hand Sanitizer: 5

New Hand Sanitizer: 11

Body Mist: 8

Body Wash: 13

Lip Gloss: 1

Candles: 6

Chapstick: 1

Makeup: ~9

Decluttered Books: ~10

Nothing really exciting looks wise. Any suggestions to make it look prettier or more exciting would be great.

BOOKS OF 2020

If you look at my Goodreads account, I have read a total of 13 books, which is a shame because this year my goal was 20. But doing school while being quarantined, I became my family’s official IT employee, which of course gave me less time to read. I probably should have lowered my goal once I realized that.

I’ve also read a total of 3,801 pages. My average rating was lower than what I remember last year’s being, but right now it’s 3.6 stars. A bunch of the books I read were textbooks, which can be hard to give a rating for, considering how useful a textbook can be relies heavily on the professor.

My top 3 books this year were:

Slay by Brittney Morris
Happyface by Stephen Emond
Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell

The number 2 and 3 spots were completely tied in my mind. Although both books were the complete opposite in terms of genre and concept, I was definitely surprised by some of the twists and turns the authors chose, which is why it was so hard to pick which one was better. (So, I decided not to.)

Any suggestions to fill up that second half of this page would be appreciated.

CLASSES I TOOK IN 2020

U.S. History from 1865 to Present (Spring 2020)	A
Earth Science (Spring 2020)	A
Music Appreciation (Spring 2020)	A
Introduction to Sociology (Summer 2020)	A

GPA	4.0
Completed Hours	41
Required Hours	60

(Keep in mind that I took Fall Semester off rather than Summer. I normally take college classes all year round.)

If there is anything else you would like to see from my 2020 Project Pan or anything related to 2020 or 2021 in general, please let me know! I have a list in one of my journals for blog post ideas, so I do write suggestions down.

Wrap Ups and Challenges

2020 End of the Year Book Tag

Posted on December 11, 2020March 15, 2021 by Rachel Hall

Hello! I have so many ideas for posts this month. However many of them fit better with the middle to end of December rather than the beginning. So I decided to do a book tag that @Inskyreads is doing for their Blogmas posts. Feel free to check them out!

Are there any books you started this year that you need to finish?

According to Goodreads, I have been reading Then She Was Gone for FOUR MONTHS. It’s a very good book, but 2020 has been a mess and caused me to go into a slump and lose passion for the book community and blogging as well. Luckily my break of sorts has rejuvenated my passion so here I am. I have less than 50 pages left so hopefully I can finish it by the end of this week and maybe even post a review! But if I keep getting distracted I did plan specific days to read and if that doesn’t work I’ll post in January. Lord help me.

Do you have an autumnal book to transition into the end of the year?

I am notorious for book slumps just because my health is kind of iffy at times and I tend to get distracted very easily. So whatever I’m reading I read. However, I did originally plan to read The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie once I was done with the book I’m reading right now. However, that may be subject to change. Unfortunately when I did the Olympic Games Readathon (a readathon inspired by Percy Jackson and greek mythology) my health crashed because of college finals. However, I do plan to finish it (even though it’s been long over) just for peace of mind.

Is there a new release you’re still waiting for?

I don’t really look into new releases just because there are new books released every day and I just don’t have the money or time to keep up with them all. I’m super interested in The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd. A ton of other books that I’m interested in aren’t super new releases.

What are three books you want to read before the end of the year?

I’m not going to even answer this one.

Is there a book you think could still shock you and become your favorite book of the year?

Then She Was Gone is getting super intense right now, especially since it’s towards the end of the book. So much so that I have to do deep breathing to get through some of the pages. However, I don’t think it’s going to top Slay by Brittney Morris. It’s a fantastic read and as a writer and reader I wouldn’t change a single thing about it. And that’s saying something.

Have you already started making reading plans for 2021?

I would like to finish the 2020 Olympic Games Readathon (yes I KNOW I’m super late) and just complete the prompts. I also want to finish a combo of older books that are family owned and some that I’ve bought this year. This year I’ve read a ton of more darker themed books, especially surrounding death and murder. So I’m hoping to read more fantasy related books.

If any of you would like to join me in this tag, feel free to tag me in your post so I can read it! If you haven’t noticed, I also edited my entire website as well. It took me a lot of time and effort, so I hope you like it. I’m going to do a few last minute touches soon but for the most part, this is it!

I’m curious though, has 2020 caused you to read MORE or LESS? Have you been more productive because of quarantine? Please let me know!

Lifestyle

Donald Trump and the Case of the Reading Slump

Posted on November 22, 2020March 15, 2021 by Rachel Hall

If you look at my blog posts you’ll notice that my last post was in June. I don’t have a big following on here, or really anywhere for that matter, but for my own conscious I’d like to explain why.

It all started once I joined the online book community. I came in with fresh eyes, expecting that I would be able to share my love for reading and writing and the likes. As I continued on though, it became clear that people would take other book preferences and would rip others to shreds just to get a quick following.

It became worse as time continued on, especially once COVID wasn’t just “fake news,” anymore and people all over the world had to quarantine. The kicker was, when our voices actually mattered, people stayed silent. Stayed silent on Black Lives Matter. Stayed silent on transphobia. Stayed silent on homophobia. Stayed silent on the Trump administration. Stayed silent on so many things that the books we read taught us to fight against.

At the time I felt hopeless. Why is it that so many people are failing at the bare minimum? How hard is it to post some information on these issues? How hard is it to retweet an article?

It was even more exhausting to hear some of these influencer’s excuses. Every day it seemed, the reasoning was worse than the next. I still remember once a bookstagramer saying that having BLM information didn’t fit the “aesthetic,” of their posts.

As time continued I became more aggressive on these issues and day by day, read less, blogged less, and focused more on human rights, especially disabled rights, on social media. I was determined to do everything I could to get Trump out of the White House, even if there was a large possibility he’d get four more years. Even though Biden won, I still hope that we, as people, can continue to call our political leaders out, and not reduce them to the idea that they’re better than the guy we had before.

Now, I realize, as a white woman, there is still much I have to learn in regards to many issues. I do not believe I am some white savior, ready to save the world by doing the bare minimum. But I am happy to learn everyday, and that I shall continue to do.

It became apparent to me then, as I scrolled day after day, week after week, how exhausted I felt reading about author after author, influencer after influencer make manifestos of their hatred or apologies on their iPhone Notes app. Overtime, I didn’t really see the point in the book community, and even books themselves. My passion was dwindling as the world around me became more and more corrupt by the day.

So…I took a break.

Granted, it was a lot longer than I expected, but then again a lot of the events we are experiencing were either deemed impossible or a short inconvenience at the time.

What brought me back though was once Biden won. Now of course, I am aware that things aren’t just going to be rainbows and sparkles and unicorns. The United States, from the very beginning, was as corrupt as they come, and continues to be so. But I think I felt a weight was off my shoulders in the sense that there was hope for at least change. My only fear now is that the change will not be big enough and we as a country are doomed to repeat ourselves.

At my prime though, I was posting around once a week, maybe once every other week. And I hope, since I have this semester off, I can write and read again once more. After all, I am an English Major. Unfortunately, I will have to dig deep and see if there are book influencers who, despite their good nature and content, I may have to unfollow. I too, am a victim of comparing myself to others, which can lead to my number one fear as a reader: a reading slump.

Hopefully as I come back to blogging I will get my confidence back with it. I meant to post this Friday, which is my usual updating day, and ripped myself to shreds when that didn’t work out. I even lost sleep over posting ideas, so you can say I am very much excited to be writing again. What I’ve been writing lately has been essay after essay in the same format, with the approval and stylistic choices of professor after professor, so I’m happy to do things my way.