A Visit to the Owl Burrow

*cricket chirping, tumbleweed rolling*

Uh, hello.

I posted here almost a month ago. That has got to be a personal record! In retrospect, I've never really meant to abandon this blog, but here's why I never got around to writing anything.

First, I was dealing with a bit of sickness that made breathing a bit difficult and delicate, so I didn't want to spend time making a blog post because that requires sitting up. Kill me, I know. I'm doing better now and I hope it keeps up, but given my track record with luck nowadays, I'm not looking at the bright side of things. On the bright side, being sick made me take better care of myself and my diet, so it's not entirely a downer.

And secondly, I've been having thoughts about reconstructing this blog. I know I said before that this blog was going to be more art-oriented, but I'm having a difficult time producing art (I will talk about this further in another entry). Meanwhile, I'm really getting into finishing my giant pile of books and my to-read list is ever expanding. Also, my last two entries have been about my monthly reads (March's entry is coming up!) and I think I quite like writing about books. I have a lot of themes and issues that I also want to explore through writing.

So here's what's going on: I'm making The Patchwork Owl a more book-centered blog. I'm going to try and produce art with a theme (book characters and quotes) so I get more motivated. I might also sneak in some photodiaries, but most of this blog is going to be about books.

Someone poke me if I start being an idiot and not posting again!

Spilling the Beans on my Greatest Fear

Today, let's talk fears and courage.

I actually had a bit of a hard time starting with this entry, because I felt like my fear is not that scary compared to other people. I thought that I'd just look like I was whining. However, I think fear is an arbitrary notion and I think I have a right to fear what I want to regardless of judgement. So let's get on with it.

To be honest, I'm not much of a scaredy-cat. I don't easily get scared with horror movies or ghost stories, or scary rides or big dogs (as long as they're on a leash, haha). I'm pretty OK with most scary situations.

But here's the catch: I am deathly afraid of talking to people. 

You probably don't think it sounds so bad: we all have our moments of clamming up when socializing, right? But I take this issue to a crippling degree. When I was in 3rd grade, I remember almost crying because I didn't want to talk to the lunch lady and buy lunch. I remember putting off a phone call at least 5 times because I didn't want to talk on the phone. I remember crying during Foundation Day because I didn't speak up when they were handing out our uniforms, and a girl who was absent the day before took mine, therefore I didn't get to be in the celebration. That's how scared I am of human interaction!

Granted, I am a lot better now than the blubbering, snivelly mess that I was in the fourth grade, but I still have miles to go when it comes to proper human interaction.

My journey towards proper social interaction is a long and tedious one, but I think the event that finally pushed me over the edge and made me embrace my fear is my speech communications class in college.

This is the Year I Kick My Own Ass: Part 2

Ready, get set... GO FOR AN AWESOME YEAR!

 Welcome to Part 2 of my yearly goal-setting post!

I decided to make two separate entries so that you people don't have to sift through every single one of my goals. I didn't want to omit them though, because these are things that I really need and want to do. These are also goals that are either standard in every year, or goals that need to be done.

Also, I've included a section called "notes to self". I mentioned in my previous entry that I've always made goals that weren't tangible or measurable, so I didn't know how to evaluate my success. Thus, I'm not listing them down as "goals" per se, but rather tidbits of advice that I will try to keep in mind to govern me towards a better 2013.

Who says 13 has to be bad luck? With these goals, I'm gonna try and make 2013 awesome.