#noura talks mental health

[rig-a-rendal]

periodic reminder that anyone at any age can be suicidal and it's important to cherish the friendships you have with people who are older than you because there's no guarantee you'll get to see them grow as old as they should

[a-valorant-effort]

Omg I am in LOVE with you and your friends ocs!!! Any fun facts or hcs you can share with us??

[Entrapta voice] You’re asking me about my OCs? I’ve waited YEARS FOR SOMEONE TO ASK ME ABOUT MY OCS!

Of course my friend! Here we go—

Aurora (Codename: Northlight)

Aurora needs glasses but does not wear them, she can sometimes be seen bumping into corners by accident

She is a TALL woman. I’m talking like 6’2” but in her boots she’s like another inch taller.

Aurora trained all of the younger agents in Valorant, particularly the duelists. The hardest to train was Yoru because Aurora had to break his ego first.

Aurora will commonly join Astra in meditation

If you stay up late enough, you can find Aurora roaming the halls of the facility, humming to herself an old Polish lullaby.

Aurora dresses very modestly and for good reason— overuse of her abilities cause cracks to form in her skin. She is very insecure about them.

No one knows why, but Aurora HATES Chamber. It seems to be one sided, and Chamber is apologetic.. about what though?

Aurora was very rebellious in youth, she was very outcast and had a small circle of friends.

Aurora’s radiant is probably the strongest in universe, second only to Omen simply because they have had it the longest. They have been able to train and learn new skill sets from their base power

Speaking of Omen, Aurora and Omen are commonly seen working together. Light and dark, their mission success rate is quite high.

Aurora crochets, Omen knits, enough said.

Noura (@lemonssoda’s oc, Codename: Quicksilver)

Noura HATES the ocean. And when I say hate i mean like she REALLY does not like the ocean.

Noura cannot conduct power/energy by herself. So killjoy made her a staff out of a metal alloy so Noura can be more free form with her abilites. It is rare to see Noura without this staff.

Noura is VERY resilient. Both physically and mentally. Physically, because of her radiant body can handle six times the amount of force that the typical human body can. She could jump off of a building, hit the ground, and suffer little to no injuries.

Mentally, when you look at Noura’s personality vs her backstory, Noura has been through hell and back, but continues to smile and keep a good handle on her mental health.

Noura looks very much like her father, the only difference is her having her mothers hair

She also has very small medicinal knowledge because her mother was a doctor.

When given a moment of leisure, Noura spends lots of time in her father’s workshop. Asking him questions about how things work, what he’s been up to, and telling him stories about her mother. Cypher enjoys these moments very much

In secret, Noura is always looking for a way to find her mother. Maybe swiping it from a mission file that looked familiar, or seeing a name of a guy that looks like she’s seen it before.

Noura wears her mother’s wedding ring around her neck and tucks it underneath her shirt

Jett has a one sided rivalry with Noura. She is determined to prove that she’s faster than Noura but all Noura sees it as is a fun game, it infuriates her.

Noura is not technically smart or savvy, but she’s a good listener, so she likes listening to technical mumbo jumbo despite her not knowing a single thing.

Aurora taught Noura a bit of Polish, she enjoys the literature

She likes sour candy

[signourneybooks]

There were some firsts this month which was interesting to say the least. There was also a lot of coughing and overal sickness though so I’m not sure how I feel about January yet.

There are an awful lot of reading challenges down below. For the first month I’m keeping it this way and after that I am going to always have the amount reading challenge and my own. And alternate a bit between the others. I think I’m going to do an update and a wrap up of the harry potter board game over the year instead of taking it along here as there are so many levels and all.

The Numbers

# Read 60 Books Read this month: 12 Total: 12/60

Shadow of the Fox (Shadow of the Fox 1) by Julie Kagawa / 3,5 stars // ARC

The Crown Conspiracy (The Riyria Revelations 1) by Michael J. Sullivan / 4 stars

The Girl in the Tower (Winternight 2) by Katherine Arden / 5 stars

The Winter of the Witch (Winternight 3) by Katherine Arden / 4 stars // ARC

A Pinch of Magic by Michelle Harrison / 4,5 stars // ARC

Cogheart (The Cogheart Adventures 1) by Peter Bunzl / 4 stars // ARC

Wintersong (Wintersong 1) by S. Jae-Jones / 3,5 stars

And the Ocean Was Our Sky by Patrick Ness / 3 stars

Shadowsong (Wintersong 2) by S. Jae-Jones / 3 stars

The Ingenious by Darius Hinks / 3 stars // ARC

Every Heart a Doorway (Wayward Children 1) by Seanan McGuire / 4 stars // Reread

Avempartha (The Riyria Revelations 2) by Michael J. Sullivan / 4 stars

Average: 3,8

Fire Breathing Dragon: 3/20 Prompts Completed This Month: Thief / Fairytale Retelling / Classic Fantasy

Complete Alien: 1/20 Prompts Completed This Month: Steampunk

Generic Robot: 4/12 Prompts Completed This Month: WOC / Finish a Series / One word title / Mental Health

Total: 8/52

Read more about my own reading challenge here.

Level: Mt. Vancouver (36 books) Read this month: 8 Total: 8/36

Rules: Books Owned Prior to 2019 / No Library Books / Rereads can count (but not in the last 5 years read) / I Am Counting My Ebooks and ARCS received before 2019

Level: Elemental Witch  (11-15 retellings) Read in this month: 6 Total: 6/15

Level: 1 (1-10) Asian Authors Read: 2 Total Asian Authors Read: 2

⌘ This month was a bit meh on the health department. It took a month for my voice to be back to normal again and a week later it wasn’t exactly great again but also not completely gone. I also got sick for the 3rd time in 2 months which is just really frustrating. And then on the last day of the month, poof my voice went again.

⌘ As you know I have been working on my depression since the end of last year. I got to the half way point with my one on one appointments and she suggested trying a course as group therapy instead of continuing on like this. I started it this month and have been twice now. There are a total of 8 sessions and we follow a book (with homework assignments yes lol). So it does require some extra work from me, especially on the emotional front again. It was interesting to see I also recognized some thoughts of it as I was reading Shadowsong.

⌘ I managed to burn my hand just below my thumb. Very certain a portion of it is a second degree burn. Fun times.

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A while ago @therealrobinhobb offered to exchange postcards and of course i send her a #dikkiedik postcard. This weekend i got a lovely card back with a bookplate. Thank you so much ❤️ . . . #bookstagram #booksofinstagram #booksofig #readersofinstagram #bookaddicted #booklover #bookobsessed #spreadthebooklove #blogger #bookblogger #boekenblogger #robinhobb #bookplate #foolsfate #thegoldenfool #realmofelderlings

A post shared by Annemieke (@signourney) on Jan 15, 2019 at 12:21am PST

  ⌘ A few months ago Robin Hobb offered on her website (and mentioned on her instagram) that she liked to send out postcards if we send her one. So I did that. And this month I got her card and a book plate. So amazing. ❤

Reviews

⌘ A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer / ARC ⌘ Shadow Captain (Revenger 2) by Alastair Reynolds / ARC ⌘ Pop-Up Guide to Hogwarts ⌘ The Girl in the Tower (Winternight 2) by Katherine Arden ⌘ A Pinch of Magic (A Pinch of Magic 1) by Michelle Harrison / ARC ⌘ The Winter of the Witch (Winternight 3) by Katherine Arden / ARC ⌘ Shadow of the Fox (Shadow of the Fox 1) by Julie Kagawa / ARC

Top Ten Tuesday My 5 and 4,5 Star Reads of 2018 / 2019 Releases I Am Looking Forward To – January to June / New to Me Authors in 2018  / Books I Meant to Read in 2018, but Didn’t… /

Other Posts Dancing Out of December 2018 / Dancing Out of the Year 2018 / My Year in Books 2018 Over on Goodreads / End of the Year Survey 2018 / Trying to Be an Elemental Witch – 2019 Retellings Reading Challenge / 2019 Goals & Intentions for Reading, Social Media and the Blog/ Time to Crunch Some Numbers – Reading Statistics 2018 / Why You Should Be Watching Jordskott / From US or UK Cover to Dutch Cover / Year of the Asian Reading Challenge / Books I Want to Reread This Year

⌘ Justice League / Movie Surprisingly I actually liked this. The plot wasn’t that special but the underlying tensions in the relationships were. I was worried I wouldn’t like the flash since I’m so used to the tv show The Flash. But I shouldn’t have worried. Its Ezra Miller. The only thing I wish that it wasn’t that he endlessly was used for comic relief and that there was more humor for the group as a whole. The flash stood out like a sore tumb because of his youth and because he wasn’t as brooding as the others.  More interested in seeing Aquaman now (instead of just for Jason Momoa).

⌘ Astroboy / Movie I’d never watched this and when I was browsing on demand when I was sick I came across it. I liked it. Its cute. It could have done with some more depth (and poeh certainly some more poc) but overal it was a nice watch.

⌘ IT (2017) / Movie I had some time left over one day and I decided at random to watch this. I’ve never read the book or seen the older movie. I actually liked it. I mean the whole thriller parts aren’t exactly my thing but I enjoyed the characters and their relationships. Beverly ❤

⌘ Scooby-Doo Adventures: The Mystery Map / Movie This might be the weirdest movie of Scooby yet. They were puppets and they were shown as they were in the series a Pup Called Scooby-Doo so children. The plot was all kinds of meh so yeah not a good one.

⌘ Scooby-Doo and the Mask of the Blue Falcon / Movie This one had more of a old scooby doo feeling again. But the plot didn’t really interest me.

⌘ The Passage / Season 1 / Ep 1-2 I was going to try and read books 2 and 3 before I went to look up to watch this show, like in a few years, lol. But then I saw that our Fox also started showing it very quickly after its release in the USA, and here we are. This is really just the set up and it doesn’t diverge from the book that much. Amy however in the tv show is so kick ass. Love her.

⌘ Zoo / Season 2 / Ep 1-4 We finally started this season and it is so weird oh my gosh. And addicting in a way. But so weird. Like a train wreck. You just can’t look away.

Blogs

⌘ Jackie from Death by Tsondoku talks about Jólabókaflóðið. ⌘ CW from The Quiet Pond shares their most anticipated diverse debuts for 2019. ⌘ Crini from All About Books updated her spreadsheet for 2019. ⌘ Noura from The Perks of Being Noura had me in her item The Life of a Reader. ⌘ Kathy from Books & Munches has the fantastic february fantasy themed month. ⌘ CW from The Quiet Pond, Shelea from Shut Up Shelea!, Vicky from Vicky Who Reads and Lily from Sprinkles of Dreams are hosting the Year of the Asian Reading Challenge. ⌘ Jamie from The Perpetual Page-turner talks about how her reading life has become more rich and full. ⌘ Greg shares things he’s learned from Game of Thrones. ⌘ Ely from Of Wonderland shared a list of 2019 Releases featuring disability. ⌘ La La in the Library posted the January Snidget with all the Harry Potter News. ⌘ Shannon from It Starts at Midnight talks about open endings. ⌘ Fadwa from Words Wonders shares why she loves rereading. ⌘ Brianna from Pages Unbound talks about miscategorizing adult books as young adult. ⌘ Have you seen Cait’s cover reveal of her second book? ⌘ Imryl from X=1 has created a recommendations list for my reading challenge. You can find part one here!

Dutch Blogs

⌘ Liesbet from Zwartraafje always starts the new year with numbers from last year. She also shares if she stayed within her book buying budget.

⌘ #SapphicAThon 2019 starts on February 1st to February 7th and I am planning on reading two books for that: Down Among the Sticks and Bones and The Abyss Surrounds Us.

⌘Other than that I want to read my pre orders (King of Scars, Firestart, both arrived way late), some review copies and do my buddy read with La La in the Library for The Darkest Legacy.

⌘ As for the blog, I am going on a Semi-Hiatus to fix some of the broken photos. There are still posts coming along like top ten tuesday and a wrap up post, and some books I read for review. But no more than that. Hopefully it will give me some breathing space to fix the broken photos, even though I really don’t want to spend time on it again. -_-

This monthly wrap up will be linked up with the monthly one by Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction. This so we can blog hop to each others wrap ups easier.

Dancing out of January 2019 There were some firsts this month which was interesting to say the least. There was also a lot of coughing and overal sickness though so I'm not sure how I feel about January yet.

[rcaied]

Remember To Talk

IED Moving Image Design student Noura Nassar has been hanging out with teenagers in Croydon. “I started out working with prisons, and this led to knife crime and gang violence in the UK – specifically how they affect young people, who are most affected. I looked at possible factors behind this, such as institutional racism or jobs – of course there isn’t just one. I started working with Music Relief in Croydon, who use music to talk about issues such as knife crime, which is high in Croydon. The young people I worked with are mostly rappers, and have an audience around the same age – 15 to 19. I also talked to policymakers, who can make a change from the top down.

“I got the kids working with cameras. Together we decided that a good angle onto knife crime would be mental health, because there’s still a stigma around talking about it. We’re definitely not saying that if you have mental health issues, you will be a violent person. But we thought it could address some issues. We tried visualising mental health, and they wrote a song about it. We used an art therapy technique of drawing a line and saying a word that relates to it. I used these to create abstract atmospheres.

“Mále’s Spatial Abstractions workshop was useful for this – I contrasted Brutalist architecture in Croydon with mental health, which you could say is somehow ‘softer’ or more delicate. Hence the concrete block. The students generally find Croydon to be pretty boring, so we went around to find spaces & architecture relevant to them.”