Hi. It’s been a while. I realised, the other day, that I haven’t written a blog post since January! I’m not really sure why that is. No…I am sure. I’ve wanted to write one for a while, but just don’t know what about. I still don’t know.

I could write about my trip to Belfast in March, where I stayed with a good pal for a week and explored beautiful places and ate a lot of delicious Korean food. I could mention how the country went into lockdown just a few days after I got home from Belfast and how weird that’s all been. I could talk about how I lost my job and all of the gigs my bands had lined up for the year, but that, actually, I’ve really enjoyed the enforced time off to do other things and not have deadline pressures and duties to fulfil. Maybe I’ll say something about how I’ve tapped back into my love and talent for art, and I’ve spent most of almost every single day painting and drawing and I think I’m going to open an online store soon to start selling prints and commissions.

Or perhaps you’d like to know about my studies? I’m still doing them. I have one more assignment left before I finish, and then I’ll have to start finding work, which is incredibly exciting and utterly terrifying. Ooh, or how about my slight mental breakdown where I started to feel really old and like really good opportunities had been passing me by recently and how the pandemic has made me realise how fleeting and fragile and uncertain life is, and how I realised perhaps humans need to take more risks in life in order to get more out of it, and how I have vowed to grab life by the balls and am making travel plans for…whenever travel becomes a thing again?

Is anyone interested in my weight loss and fitness journey? Probably not. I’ll probably just sound boastful and annoying anyway. Or perhaps you want to hear some Korean or Icelandic that I’ve been learning? (안녕하세요, 제이입니다. 만나서 반갑습니다! Hæ! Þetta er Jess. Gaman að hitta þig!) Oof that was hard to work out on an English keyboard!

I’m afraid I don’t have any TV or film recommendations, as I haven’t really watched any. And the only music I’ve listened to of late is KPop, (anyone noticing a new, slight obsession with Korea?!) and I’m not sure how many of you will rate that. Specifically BTS, who are excellent and fun and great for running to, or just for a solo dance party. I’ve read a couple of good books. Demian by Hermann Hesse is excellent, and I’m partway through The Plague by Albert Camus, which is also excellent, and draws crazy parallels to today. Vagabonding by Rolf Potts is another new favourite. All about the art of long term world travel. An interesting read, even if you don’t intend to ever world travel.

Hmm…I really can’t think of much to say. Other than, I hope you are all doing well and are staying safe, sane and healthy. It’s been a really strange, scary and stressful time for us all. I, personally have enjoyed the time to myself, but I know a lot of people out there have been struggling, and I send you all love and good vibes. We’re seeing the best and worst in humans at the moment, and I never thought I would live in a period of such uncertainty and confusion. But here we are, trying to make the best of it.

If you’ve done anything super fun, or learned new skills, or started new hobbies or watched, read or listened to anything particularly interesting, I’d love to hear about it. I hope, whatever you’ve been doing, you’ve spent this time in the best way for you. I know social media is full of people putting on pressure to “write that book” or “plan that massive trip” but this is time we never knew we’d have, and only we, as individuals, know how best we can use that time. Be it learning new skills, or catching up on months of sleep lost throughout the rest of the year. Whilst we all need to pull together, self love and preservation are super duper important too. So look after yourselves. Hopefully we’re nearing the end of the worst of it!

See you on the flip side

Xxx