1. Deep End by Ali Hazelwood, 457p: I love Ali Hazelwood books, it's the only author I truly enjoy in contemporary romance. This one is about college athletes, a competitive diver (Scarlett Vandermeer) and an Olympic medal swimmer (Lukas Blomqvist). I loved the smart banter between them and how there was a lot of talk and support around mental health issues. Also, it starts with mostly a sexual relationship, and the romance builds after that.  It explores power exchange sexual dynamics, and I thought it was interesting to see the connection between the drive for these power dynamics and subjective experiences. I love how this author takes romance a step further with lots of emotional depth.

2. Once Upon a Winter's Eve (Spindle Cove #1.5) by Tessa Dare, 120p: This a novella in the Spindle Cove series and I thought it was okay. It a second chance type romance between with an identity mystery that is quickly revealed (and obvious!) in the book. I didn't like that the male character (Christian) felt so entitled to her (Violet) and initially ignored her feelings.

3. The Vor Game (Vorkosigan Saga (Publication Order) #6) by Lois McMaster Bujold, 346p: Another one in the Vorkosigan series that is super fun to read. It's a mix of great fast paced writing, absurdly fun plots, and excellent character development. Miles Vorkosigan is such an awesome character, I read this book because of him. He just can't help getting into trouble, even though he tries to stay away from it sometimes. In this one Miles is sent to a cold remote military base where he acts as the weather man, but of course shenanigans happen that gets him back at the center of political/military intrigues and the mercenary fleet he once was part of.  It's great fun full of twists and turns.

4. What Fresh Hell is This? Perimenopause, Menopause, Other Indignities, and You—a Guide by Heather Corinna, 332p: I enjoyed how the book maintained a light, humorous tone while still being honest and informative.  The chapters covering symptoms, issues, and expected changes were dense, requiring me to take breaks between reading sessions. It did feel a bit repetitive in the middle. But the author does an excellent job of explaining all the terms and concepts and being compassionate and thoughtful.  For anyone navigating perimenopause or menopause, the book can feel overwhelming at times. In summary, I loved the final message of the book which is to practice “extreme self-care”. All good advice in general: have a healthy diet, exercise, meditate, do yoga, journal, or engage in whatever makes you feel good. Simplify your life, reduce responsibilities, and communicate your experiences with those around you. It's not fun, but we will get to the other side. I felt seen and the book helped me let go of preconceptions about this phase of life.

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By Noisy Deadlines Minimalist in progress, nerdy, introvert, skeptic. I don't leave without my e-reader.

This is going to be another post covering multiple weeks. I realized I did write Week Notes on my private journal on the week of March 17 but I never published them here! So, this is going to be a 2-in-1 post!

Week Notes – Mar 07 to Mar 17 2025

• 🕑 Daylight saving time started here in my corner of the world and I always dread the transition. I felt sluggish and tired the first week, I always do. But my body is adapting to it, so it's okay now.
• 💻 I replaced my monitor stands for my home office and got an under the desk cable organizer. I wanted to have more free space on my desk and my old setup didn't allow me to push the keyboard out of the way, it was a bit tight because of the legs of 2 stands I was using. Now I have one long stand with no legs in between that get in the way. I can push things under it and have a nice free work area. And I put the power bar and laptop power brick in the organizing tray under the desk. I'm loving the new setup.
• 💰 We did our taxes! And it wasn’t that difficult this time. We are getting the hang of it now.
• 🩺 I’ve had a health-related procedure the first week of March and that got me a little bit under the weather while I adjusted to my new medication.

Week Notes – Mar 18 to Mar 29

• 📚 I got into a reading slump and then got out of it. I finished reading “The Vor Game” yesterday. It’s the kind of fun and predictable read only a beloved series can deliver.
• 🧑‍⚕️ In another heath related note, I had a follow-up appointment with my doctor to discuss my endoscopy results and it turns out I have that bacteria H. Pylori which are known to cause acid reflux (and more serious things like stomach ulcers). I started a 2-week antibiotic treatment that is making me feel (again) a bit sick (known side effects of the medication). I’m halfway through. It’s pretty intense with pills I have to take with food and without food plus anti-acid medication, so I set up a schedule on my calendar with reminders. And the doctor also wants to investigate if I have any unknown allergies, so I was referred to an allergist next.
• 🛡️ We had our third Dungeons & Dragons session in our “High Forest” campaign. And we are all Level 02! Now I must choose which style of fighting is going to be my specialty from now on. I haven’t decided yet. Our Dungeon Master finished painting all our character’s miniature figures, they are so cool! We like to stage all our battles in a physical grid, which is cool.
• 🧩 We started a new puzzle: The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild. It’s coming together, we finished the border and Link is almost complete.
• 📚 I saw this Humble Bundle with the Dragonlance books that I added to my TBR. I’ve been wanting to continue reading the Dragonlance: Chronicles series for a while now, so this was a good opportunity to get the classic trilogy by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman plus other oldies from this setting.
• 📖 I read the first chapter of my next local Book Club pick called “The Raven Tower” by Ann Lackie and I’m still processing how to read a book written in second person. I will try it out this weekend, but it’s very bizarre. The last time I’ve read a second person point view book was in the old days of “Choose your adventure” books, which is a completely different thing.
• 📺 I watched a couple of interesting videos related to online algorithms and how they are affecting us: Algorithms are breaking how we think by Technology Connections and Why we can't stop scrolling by Jared Henderson.

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By Noisy Deadlines Minimalist in progress, nerdy, introvert, skeptic. I don't leave without my e-reader.

📚 Whenever I finish a book, I usually have a good idea of what I want to read next. At the start of each month, I brainstorm and list four to five books that interest me. While this list often shifts as the month progresses, it gives me a good starting point.

But after finishing my ninth book of the year, I hit a slump. I looked at my planned reading list, but nothing grabbed my attention. Even “Words of Radiance” by Brandon Sanderson, which I had been working through, didn’t feel like the right choice. I wanted something shorter, lighter—something easier. Since I had only been reading fiction up to that point, I decided to switch things up with a non-fiction book.

I picked up a book on menopause that had been sitting on my Kobo for a couple of months. Yeah, a book about perimenopause and menopause, which was recommended by my friend at my local Book Club. It’s very informative but the topic itself felt a bit daunting given what it means for my future. Still, it helped me get back into reading, but it didn’t make me super excited to sit down to read (mostly because of the topic—menopause can be a very scary experience for some people according to this book 😬).

So, even though I’ve been reading this book throughout the week, it wasn’t exactly scratching my reading bug. I was still missing that feeling of sneaking in a chapter whenever I had a free moment.

Another common tip for breaking a reading slump is switching genres. Lately, I’ve been reading a lot of romance, but I had started and abandoned four different romance novels in a single week. Nothing was clicking. So, instead of experimenting with something entirely new, I turned to a series I already loved: The Vorkosigan Saga. I picked up “The Vor Game” by Lois McMaster Bujold, and just like that—I was back in my reading groove! It brought back that fun I had when reading previously.

Here’s what worked for me this time:

• Sampling different books – Reading a few pages from multiple books helped me quickly determine what sparked my interest. If a book didn’t grab me right away, I moved on.
• Switching genres – Shifting from romance to sci-fi refreshed my reading experience.
• Revisiting a favorite author – Picking up a book from an author I already enjoy meant I didn’t have to worry about adjusting to a new writing style.
• Continuing a beloved series – Familiarity with the world and characters made it easy to dive right in and build momentum.
• Choosing a shorter book – “The Vor Game” is 364 pages—much shorter than the 1,087 pages of “Words of Radiance.” It helps to get that sense of accomplishment when I can zip through a shorter book.

This experience made me think that this year I want to focus more on continuing series I love instead of trying new things.

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By Noisy Deadlines Minimalist in progress, nerdy, introvert, skeptic. I don't leave without my e-reader.

So this will cover 3 weeks of notes!

• 🍵 I have been feeling (more) introverted this winter. I’ve been enjoying quiet activities, such as reading, walking, yoga, meditation, some private journaling. That means I haven’t shared too much online as well. It’s probably the winter vibes when I usually get more introspective, and I search for extreme coziness.
• 🌼 Spring is getting closer and closer (not quite there yet, because I live in winter land, and winter might last up to April/May) but I hear some birds chirping here and there, while temperatures start getting above zero during the day (here and there).
• 📝 Even though I listed “Journaling” above, I’m not journaling as much as I wanted. I had this goal to do longer private journaling sessions once a week for a more in-depth brain dump. But I didn’t. It just didn’t work out for me. On the weekends I’ve been staying away from my computer as much as possible. I just wanted a break. And journaling by hand never appealed to me. I prefer typing.
• 💼 At work I’m still working on a temporary cubicle (while office renovations are ongoing), and I feel like the noisy environment is very distracting to me. Some days I handle it well, and I can put on my headphones with some music and be focused. Some days it feels cluttered and messy. The cubicles walls are super short, so I can see my neighbors monitor screens and vice versa. I find that very distracting. There are still 1-2 more months of renovations, and I’m doing the best I can to manage this work situation.
• 🖥️ My left cubicle neighbor always has a small window with YouTube videos playing while she works. And it’s fine, I mean, she uses it as background noise I guess, but I always wonder how she can get anything done. Sometimes I feel that little screen bothers me. There is no rational reason for it to bother me: she uses headphones, so it’s quiet, it’s small (she keeps it in a small window between her 2 monitors) but when I look left to glance at the window on the far end of the room, I see that screen in the vicinity of my field of vision and I get overwhelmed/distracted by proxy. It’s weird, it shouldn’t affect me at all, but I can’t help it some days.
• ⛸️ Me and my partner went ice skating on an outdoor trail! It’s a place called River Oak Skating Trails. I was excited to try it out, but I wasn't ready for the ups and downs and twists and turns. The trail is not flat (like the Rideau Canal) and I’ve never ice skated uphill or downhill. It’s not super sloped but sloped enough to make me completely lose control before a bend to the left, where I tried to snowplow-style slow down and fell spectacularly. I bumped my head on the ice, and I think I passed out for a couple of seconds, because I remember waking up sideways with my partner talking to me and I wondered where I was. Anyway, I got a tender spot at the back of my head for a couple of days, and a bruised right hand palm, but nothing else. It hurt my pride most of all.
• ⛸️ There is only one more ice-skating class left in this season for me. I made a lot of progress! I can do forward crossovers both ways and I got better at using the blades for tight turns and stops (as long as they are not in a sloped terrain – see above).
• 🧩 We finished the “Tiamat Queen of Dragons” puzzle! 🥳
• 📖 I was feeling a bit tired on the weekends, so I didn’t do much expect for reading (and the usual regular house chores, etc). I didn’t even want to watch anything because screens were causing me headaches most of the time. No video games either. I’m reading Ali Hazelwood’s “Deep End” romance because I just need a comfort read right now.
• 🧘‍♀️ I got a peg board for my yoga space to organize some of the accessories I use daily.
• 📫 I let my Inbox become messy, I skipped several weekly reviews, and that only made me feel more tired and scattered. But this week I managed to process my digital inboxes, update my work notes, revise my projects and next actions and get some clarity.
• ✅ One of the things I realized about my projects and next actions lists in Nirvana is that I have a bunch of stale items in there. I plan to do a much more in-depth review of my system in the coming days. Delete old stuff, move things to someday-maybe, delete items I no longer want to act on, clean up my someday-maybe lists.

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By Noisy Deadlines Minimalist in progress, nerdy, introvert, skeptic. I don't leave without my e-reader.

1. Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries (Emily Wilde #1) by Heather Fawcett, 317p: The faerie lore in this book is interesting, it has a whimsical feel to it but with a more verbose prose. The beginning was interesting: a scholar, Emily Wilde, spends some time in this small wintery village doing research.  She is portrayed as an introvert neuro-divergent scientist, so I liked that part of her personality at the beginning. The winter ambience was nice, it felt atmospheric.  The narrative style starts interesting, with her journal entries. But I thought it lacked an individualized touch. At times it seems like she's writing an academic journal, but she also uses it to write about her day to day, and the language does not seem to be intimate enough for a personal journal. I found the pacing of the book very uneven, and nothing was happening to move the plot for a long time. None of the main characters were likeable to me. I really didn't care about them at all. But I cared about the magical dog, Shadow. 

2. The Bridge Kingdom (The Bridge Kingdom #1) by Danielle L. Jensen, 354p: I was a bit disappointed with this book. It has been on my TBR for a long time, and I finally got a chance to read it. It starts really well, with a gripping opening scene where I saw a lot of potential. I mean, a beautiful princess who’s secretly a spy? I loved that premise. The world building is well done, and the Bridge Kingdom is fascinating. But I thought the interpersonal relationships and the whole forced marriage trope to be weak and not interesting at all. It also uses the lack of communication trope which annoyed me a bit. The plot became incredibly predictable after a while. 

3. Paladin's Strength (The Saint of Steel #2) by T. Kingfisher, 498p: This was a fun read! Lovely writing, great plot, gorgeous romance. The main characters are Istvhan, a Paladin (whose God died), and Clara, a nun, who cross paths and join forces to deal with some evil problems. They go on a long road trip together! I like that the romance is between two people in their 40's and they are both tall, big, and strong. The banter was delicious and funny. Seeing them complain together about their aches and pain was hilarious. The worldbuilding is excellent and makes me want to spend more time in it. It has dark tones, some terrible things happen and there is violence, but the characters are trying to make the world a better place and helping each other. A major plot point that starts in Book 1 is resolved in this book. I want to read the next one!

4. Priest (Priest #1) by Sierra Simone, 371p: This book is not for the faint of heart. It deals with a priest struggling with temptation and sin and the need to control his feelings. The POV is entirely by the male protagonist, Father Bell (no dual POV here, expect for a few confession passages in the female protagonist voice). The whole book could be very cringe, but somehow the author manages to make it beautiful and touching. It's sexual and emotional. It plays with the forbidden love trope with all the struggles these characters felt. The writing is beautiful.

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By Noisy Deadlines Minimalist in progress, nerdy, introvert, skeptic. I don't leave without my e-reader.

• ❄️ We got lots of snow this week. There were two snowstorms of 30-40 cm each. And it was a long weekend, so it was nice to just cozy up inside and read a book. We thought about going for a hike at the trail, but it was snowing most of the time and when the snow stopped it was awfully windy (and cold!).
• 🧩 We did some more progress on the Tiamat Dragon puzzle. It’s time to reclassify the remaining pieces by color and shape. I think we’ve done most of the colorful shapes and patterns, and now it’s going to be more uniform-colored areas left.
• 🛋️We installed some shelves on the wall behind our sofa. We have a plan to add some shelves to other side of the room as well, by the dining table.
• 📖 I am really enjoying “Paladin’s Strength” by T. Kingfisher. I love the writing style, the characters, and the sense of humor on this book.
• 🎧I listened to one episode of this podcast called “D&D Legends and Lore”. I learned a bit about the Legend of Zariel. I liked the podcast quality; it’s storytelling with cool sound effects and background music. Apparently there is a YouTube channel as well, but I’ve only listened to the podcast so far.

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By Noisy Deadlines Minimalist in progress, nerdy, introvert, skeptic. I don't leave without my e-reader.

• ⛸️ This weekend was great to go skating at the Canal again. Perfect -4C with very good ice. I’m still impressed with my pair of skates that are comfortable and cozy. This time we skated around 10km, and I rewarded myself with a classic Beaver Tail and hot chocolate.
• 🧩 We’ve made some progress on our Tiamat dragon puzzle. Slow but steady progress.
• 🤖 We got our first robot vacuum for our house. I’ve never had one before and it does a decent job of maintenance cleaning. The main reason I got one is that every time I vacuum with my old standard one, my low back hurts. So, I want to minimize the time I spend cleaning the house, and the robot helps a lot!
• 🎧 I wanted to find a podcast with a Dungeons and Dragon campaign in which the DM was a woman, and I found one. It’s called Spell Check. It’s not new and I’m going through the archives (it stopped being updated in 2021!). The players are all Young Adult authors, and they are fun. I am enjoying it because it’s simple and unpretentious.
• 🩺 I did another upper endoscopy last week to investigate my acid reflux/stomach issues. This time I finally got an appointment with a gastro specialist, so now we are waiting for biopsies results to confirm the doctor’s suspicions. This time the doctor told me to suspend my stomach medication for a week before the exam, and those were tough days, because symptoms exacerbated a little. But all is good now, back with medication.
• 📗 I finished a book that deep inside I wished I had abandoned it about halfway through, but I don’t regret finishing it (if that makes sense). It usually happens when the beginning of the book is great, but then it starts to drag. And because the beginning intrigued me, I want to keep on reading because maybe it will get better, right? Sometimes that is not true. But anyway, now I know. It was a series that I had on my radar for a couple of years, and now I know I don’t want to continue reading.

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By Noisy Deadlines Minimalist in progress, nerdy, introvert, skeptic. I don't leave without my e-reader.

1. Paladin's Grace (The Saint of Steel #1) by T. Kingfisher, 398p: This was a great read for me! I loved how it played with Fantasy/Dungeon & Dragons elements. An order of Paladins struggles after their God (The Saint of Steel) dies mysteriously. Most of them go berserk and only a few three of them survived. The surviving paladins join the Temple of the White Rat, an order focused on public services such as law and medicine. They aim to stay useful while coping with the severe psychological impact of their god's death. Stephen is one of them, and he just wants to help people, while battling with his depression. One night he meets Grace, a woman fleeing from the acolytes of the Hanged Mother cult. She is an independent perfumer, who has learned to fend for herself. There are also mysterious murders going on, many severed heads, political intrigue and romance. And it's fun, I loved the sense of humour of this book. I want to read the second one to learn more about the severed heads mystery (and the other paladins!).

2. Barrayar (Vorkosigan Saga (Publication Order) #7) by Lois McMaster Bujold, 390p: Barrayar continues right after the events of “Shards of Honor”. Cordelia and Aral Vorkosigan are now in their new political leadership roles in Barrayar. We spend most of the time inside Cordelia's head, and I loved it! She is trying to adapt to barrayaran cultural standard while trying to change a few things. We get a lot more worldbuilding that is expertly done as the story develops. There are excellent interactions between characters: they grow and evolve. There are heart-breaking moments, but also good action-packed scenes. It plays with this duality of technologies of birth and death. But there is so much more: motherhood, cultural differences, warfare, love, vengeance. It was so exciting to see Cordelia taking charge of things in the end and being just bad-ass (that's the scene where she “goes shopping” – if you know you know). It was an incredibly good read for me!

3. Never Have I Ever With a Duke (The Spitfire Society #1) by Darcy Burke, 270p: Cute romance, but I didn't find it engaging. I had issues with the writing style, something didn't click with me. I think the story was too predictable. The dog (Buscuit) was great, though!

4. The Warrior's Apprentice (Vorkosigan Saga (Publication Order) #2) by Lois McMaster Bujold, 372p: This book starts with young Miles Vorkosigan doing 17-year-old shenanigans in space. It's super fun, fast paced with the most absurd heist escapades. I couldn't help but love Mile's “in control” attitude but also internally panicking about the situations he put himself into.  The story includes a lot of military strategy, which is never boring due to its absurdity.  Miles is an engaging character—confident, super smart, and likely has ADHD (super active). We also see him struggling with his decisions and feeling uncertain, making him relatable despite his crazy choices.   He's lucky and always wants to help people, so it's hard not to like him.  Miles has a physical disability and knows his limitations (most of the time), but he never feels like less of a person because of it. Overall, he's a very confident and funny guy. It was a fun read. I want to continue with the series.

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By Noisy Deadlines Minimalist in progress, nerdy, introvert, skeptic. I don't leave without my e-reader.

• 📖 After finishing reading “Barrayar” by Lois McMaster Bujold I went straight to the third book in the series “Warrior's Apprentice” which starts with young Miles Vorkosigan doing 17-year-old shenanigans in space. It's super fun, fast paced with the most absurd heist situations. I couldn't help but love Mile's “in control” attitude but also internally panicking about the situations he put himself into.
• ⛸️ I've been progressing with my ice-skating crossovers. The counterclockwise is still tricky, but the clockwise direction is getting smoother. It's also a bit easier for me to skate backwards but still challenging if I do it it for too long (at some point I get tired, and my balance just gets all off). And I was Finally skating again on the Rideau Canal Skateway!
• 📚 I've been thinking about the books I want to read, and I decided that this year I will focus on continuing some series that I love. I don't want to explore too much. It will a be the year of series.
• 🛡️ We had our first official Dungeons & Dragons campaign session! I didn't expect we would fight 3 bad guys in the first session, but we did. I had lots of fun!

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By Noisy Deadlines Minimalist in progress, nerdy, introvert, skeptic. I don't leave without my e-reader.

⛸️ Today all the 7.8 kilometres of the Rideau Canal Skateway opened! The weather was not too cold (1C) and the ice condition was rated “Very Good” which is not something I’ve seen often. It’s been 2 years since I’ve been there. Last year it only opened for 10 days, and I didn’t get a chance to go and the year before it didn’t even open because of weather conditions.

I went there with my partner, and we skated for almost 2 hours for a total of 13 km! The ice was very good indeed, with just a few cracks and bumps. And I was glad I could happily glide along it. It’s the farthest we’ve ever skated. A light snow started to fall halfway through our route, and it started to get wet, with the snow melting on the surface of our clothes. But we made it back where we started! I was exhausted at the end, feeling like I had run a 10k, even though we took breaks along the way. But it was energizing and fun. I did fall once because of a bump on the ice, but it was very slow motion, and I used all the training I had on how to fall safely. I was okay!

I love my recent pair of figure ice skates; they are comfortable and warm. I finally found ice skates that don’t hurt my feet!

We went ice skating on the Canal in the morning, then in the afternoon we had our weekly Ice-Skating class. I definitely had less energy during the class, but I made it all right. I’m still working on my forward crossovers, backwards skating and 1-foot glides.

The weather forecast looks good for the Canal for the next couple of weeks, so I’d like to skate there again before the end of this winter.

Now I need some hot chocolate ☕.

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By Noisy Deadlines Minimalist in progress, nerdy, introvert, skeptic. I don't leave without my e-reader.