I almost want to say it’s been an odd month, but I can’t remember the last time a month felt normal. But this month, as spring has warmed the weather and flowers have begun blooming, has felt like a time of change, like an end and a beginning, like a turning point.
My birthday was this month, and I was able to comfortably and safely spend some time with family and friends. I’ve started making plans for the future that involve being inside the houses of my loved ones, or traveling short distances. One time in high school I lost my wallet while hanging out with some friends, so we had to retrace our steps and scour the areas we’d been over the night, and I was freaking out. But then my friend found my wallet, and the relief that washed through me was unparalleled. I realized that, weirdly, losing and then finding my wallet had made me feel so much happier than I would have been if I’d just never lost it. These days feel like that, a lot - I’m so much more excited at the prospect of things that would previously have been nice, but unremarkable.
I’m also approaching changes in my own life - within the next two months, I’ll be leaving my current primary job and moving out of my current house. I’m still figuring out where I’ll be living come July, a situation which combines my idealistic hope for an exciting future with the nightmare of trying to make it a reality (if you know of any rental opportunities in my area, let me know).
Many things are still hard, or scary, or uncertain, but I am comforted by the positive changes and progress that I do feel.
This month I reread Sarah Dessen’s novel The Truth About Forever, which is probably one of my favorite books. Dessen’s writing has a simplicity and clarity to it, but her stories always have a deep emotional core that draws me in, and characters that are memorable and interesting and fun. It got me excited to read and write more.
I’ve also been playing Hades a lot, which I got into partially because of Jainita’s essay on it, and have now dedicated around a hundred hours to. I’ve completed all of the main story beats of the game, but I keep coming back to it because the world is so enticing and the gameplay is so addictive. I could talk a lot about this game - about how the narrative engages with mythology, both in the story’s content and structure, or how the difficulty of it makes it feel like you’ve truly been through the trials of a Greek hero once you reach the surface - and I’m going to be thinking about it for a long, long time.
I finally finished Ginny & Georgia, a show on Netflix. I started it a couple months ago and then put off watching the final episode for ages, which is a bad habit I have. I enjoyed it overall, and I think it was effective at blending the variety of different tones and plotlines in the story. The storylines about the teenagers were cringey at times but were also good at tackling concepts I haven’t seen in other shows. I was consistently engaged and excited about what came next, and the tension throughout the season was excellent. I’m curious about how it’s going to continue the story, as there are still a lot of unresolved threads at the end of the season.
Lastly, and most notably, I launched this website this month. Thank you so, so much to everyone who has stopped by and spent a few minutes reading something here. It means the world to me that you’re willing to give your time and attention to this little corner of the internet. If you’ve enjoyed anything on this site, please consider sharing it with others - I’d greatly appreciate it.
Love,
Jenna
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