Journalling

Currently – 14/09/2017

JenniLeave a comment
The view today from my favourite afternoon break spot.

Watching – Lego Masters

Reading – The Cornish Hotel by the Sea by Karen King

Listening – Mary Beth Maziarz

Making – Spring cross stitch

Feeling – Tired

Planning – This weekend’s trip to The Handmade Fair

Loving – All of the students starting to arrive on campus ready for the new academic year

Life

Looking backwards

JenniLeave a comment

I know there's plenty of advice that you should focus on moving forwards rather than looking back behind you, but last Friday I decided to take some time to look backwards. I was settled in London by mid afternoon and didn't have plans until the evening so knew it was the perfect time to pay my old workplace a visit.

It's no secret that I left my job because of its location rather than because of the job itself. Saying goodbye to the amazing team I was part of was incredibly hard, and however welcoming and friendly my new colleagues are they still aren't the old lot. Or at least they're not yet.

I questioned for myself whether it was the right time to go back and see this brilliant group who I miss dearly. I decided though that the opportunity wasn't going to come up again any time soon, so I was going to seize it. I'm so glad I did.

It was a little odd to be back there and to know that that wasn't my place any more. That was completely outweighed though by how brilliant it was to see everyone. It was great to catch up with what had happened since I left, and to be able to tell them a bit about what I've been doing and will be doing.

So should you look backwards? For me it's definitely a yes albeit while moving forwards.

Book Stuff · Geek Stuff

YALC

Jenni1 Comment

This weekend I've been in London at the Young Adult Literature Convention (YALC) which is housed within London Film and Comic Con (LFCC). It's been a brilliant weekend and rather than sit on the idea of blogging about it in a few days I thought I'd forego the detailed post I'd end up aspiring to (and never writing) and instead share a few of my highlights of the weekend straight away. So in no particular order…

  • Spending time with friends – this is, for me, one of the most important parts about the YALC weekend, getting to meet up with people I don't get to see anywhere near enough. I got to speak to everyone I'd wanted to at least briefly which is brilliant. Special mentions though have to go to Keris, Michelle and Donna who I got to spend the most time with throughout the weekend.
  • The atmosphere – being in a space where the focus is on young adult books just seems to foster this incredibly warm, welcoming and friendly space. I've been to plenty of other conventions with different focus topics and they never feel quite like this.
  • The proximity to LFCC – I only visited the main convention once this year but could've spent more time there if I'd wanted to, it's so good to get to go and explore the traditional convention as well as have all the bookish content (plus we bumped into one of my old friends and it was lovely to have a catch up).
  • The panels – this year I only went to two, but they were both very good. I enjoyed yesterday's myth and magic themed panel but today's fandom panel was definitely my highlight.

There's probably loads more I could say, but for me these are the things that made the weekend as special as it was. I'm exhausted now but deep down already looking forward to next year!