OCTOBER NOTES
The month of October was rather quiet and I have been enjoying it. Taking it slow, working on a new illustration, reading books, playing video games and watching movies. The chilly autumn is settling down pretty fast, which means that it’s mostly raining, windy and the perfect opportunity to cuddle up at home on the couch. Last year, October was more hectic for me with a few personal changes and working on the Inktober pieces. Even though I was tempted to try it again with a different theme this year, I just couldn’t make it work. At the same time, I am trying to change my mindset a bit and be more mindful of my energy and time. It is a difficult task to accomplish as everything around us prompts you to be more and more productive.
With the coming of autumn and the day getting shorter, a few Light Festivals started happening around the Netherlands. The one shown above, took place in a park in Rotterdam, was fascinating. It felt as if you were in a completely different world. Looking forward to going at more of these kind of events. Next to being on the lookout for interesting events around the country, focusing more on leisure time, meant that the MISC. section is a bit bigger than usual. I hope you will find something interesting from the things shared below.
MISC.
BOOKS: The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a story told through letters sent to an anonymous person. Charlie tells this anonymous person all about his life and what he gets to experience as a teenager. From those letters you can tell Charlie is a bit different than everybody else, however I couldn’t figure out if he was just socially awkward or if he possibly had mental illness. Either way, given his personality he got to have a nice relationship with his family, a girlfriend, be part of cool friendships, which at some points it sounded too good to be true. I wasn’t affected buy this matter, however reality can be way different. Even though it is a rather short book, a lot of sensitive subjects were brought up, yet none of them were discussed on a more deeper level. That could be because we only had Charlie’s point of view. All in all, this book can be a good read for the teenager years. It can make you feel not so alone, especially if you are going through difficult times at that age.
Pâine cu ceva is a Romanian book that presents what people have experienced during the communist era. As described, what the more simpler people had to do in order to survive and take care of themselves. The writing style wasn’t my favourite one as I couldn’t connect with the narrator, it felt more like facts stating rather than a story. However, what was related piqued my interest and wanted to find out more.
A book I did not enjoy as much was How to Make Friends in the Dark, but it seems that I am in the minority. Although the book has as main subject grief, I just couldn’t connect with the main character. I was more involved with the side characters. It also felt like too many things happened at once, without going too much in-depth. Next to that, the book was on the longer side, which made the experience even more dragging.
Pe cine iubesti mai mult? is another Romanian book that I loved so much, cannot recommend it enough. It’s a series of short stories from the perspective of multiple generations, each character going through different situations. Even though the chapters are short, you connect with the characters so easily and sometimes nostalgia trickles in and throws you back into your childhood. If the author decides to write another book, I will definitely buy it.
MOVIES/SERIES: I am a big fan of the Hercule Poirot series. Trying to read more books from Agatha Christie as they are always fascinating and have watched the last two movies, Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile. Recently, A Haunting in Venice was released in the cinemas and had to go watch it as it looked so mysterious and spooky. It did not disappoint and have enjoyed it better than Death on the Nile. The intrigue, the supernatural, the characters all added up to the interesting development of the story.
Belfast has been on the to-watch list for some time and finally got to see it at home. Such a well made movie, but so sad. All actors did such an amazing job to illustrate the emotions and struggles their characters had.
I have enjoyed the first two movies in the Kingsman series, they were fun, full of crazy action scenes, the actors played their part so well. However, I didn’t quite like The King’s Man, which is a prequel. Even though they tried to keep the same style as the other two, everything felt too extra and the CGI sometimes was too much making it look rather fake.
In order to get into the spooky mood of this month, I have watched The Exorcist: Believer. Not necessarily scary, as uncomfortable. The ending felt a bit rushed, with a lot of things happening and then it fell flat. There was also a twist, which I didn’t expect. However all in all, a fun and tense movie to watch, alone or with friends.
MUSIC: For this month, I had a blast from the past by remembering a band I used to listen to when I was younger. The band is called Simple Plan and the album with the same name, is one of my favourites. I still remember all of the lyrics and have a really good time.
VIDEO GAMES: After what feels like ages, I have finally finished Professor Layton and the Lost Future. This entry in the series felt the longest and I also didn’t feel the same pull of the story as in the other two games. Professor Layton’s character develops and we get to learn a new perspective not only for him, but for other characters as well. Not the biggest fan of Luke and rather sad to see Flora being sidelined so often. The puzzles mostly remained the same as concept, with a few new types. This time we had 3 mini games, some being more fun than others. In order to get all of the puzzles and access to the mini games, you did have to backtrack quite a bit, which can become time consuming sometimes. Will continue with the series and hopefully finish all of them before the new one launches.
November (and most probably December) will be odd and frantic, because of various reasons. I am not setting any goals for myself, as I know that it would be too much pressure. However I will try my best to still draw a little bit, to enjoy some books and movies and to possibly delve into a video game, when time allows. The end of the year always seems chaotic and people have many plans at work and in their personal life. Taking it slow and enjoying the small things is what I will try to do. Wishing everyone a good month ahead of you and will see you soon ✨🌿