Whipped cream, bubble tea, and Eurovision’s denim egg
The giveaway is ‘Funny Story’ by Emily Henry
I’ve been trying to get my Goodreads profile updated in the last few weeks. (Wanna be friends over there? This is me.)
I didn’t anticipate that it’d become quite such an epic battle.
I wanted to be added as a contributor to some anthologies my work has been published in. At first, I posted an update request in the ‘Book & Author Page Issues’ thread in the ‘Goodreads Librarians Group’ forum. As far as I understood from the guidelines, that was the appropriate place to post, then I needed to wait for one of the volunteer librarians to complete my request.
Anyway, I waited two weeks and nada. Complete radio silence. I *bumped* my post, I messaged the help centre. Still no help.
When I posted asking for advice on social media, someone suggested another avenue closer to home – a request to a librarian in the Aussie Readers group. The brilliant librarian Sandra has been helping me there and springing into action in a matter of hours.
Of course, my being ignored originally was probably a mix of things – bad luck, bad timing, posting a more complex request with several parts that wasn’t an easy fix, etc. I tried to keep the emotion out of the situation, but I couldn’t help taking it a little personally. These things can be so frustrating when ideally you feel they should be simple. Sometimes you just want to cross the darn task off your to-do list and move on, but the universe has other plans.
The upshot? It’s getting sorted now, Sandra’s a legend, and I’m grateful for the advice of kind folk online.
May your week be luck-filled and frustration-free!
News
1. Reading this is your reminder if you’re an Aussie woman over 40 that it might be time to get your boobs looked at. I wasn’t aware of this and I suspect quite a few other Aussie women might’ve missed this as well (or maybe I’m the only one living under a rock) – Australia offers free breast screenings every two years for women over 40, even though the official age they start bugging you about it is 50. More and more women under 50 are being diagnosed with breast cancer and the US is now officially recommending two-yearly screenings start at 40 instead of 50. Australia is currently reviewing our age recommendations, but in the meantime, you can take matters into your own hands to increase the likelihood that any cancer lurking in your sweater meats is caught early.
2. Australian researchers have created a healthier alternative to bubble tea and to this I say: how dare they. I was merrily spending my time on this earth thinking that bubble tea isn’t that bad for you. It may be a good thing, though. Apparently, they’ve found a way to inject some oaty fibre into tapioca pearls to make the drink less sugary overall. Okay, I’m on board as long as bubble teas would still have the same great taste.
Reviews
1. Did you catch the Eurovision broadcast? I saw the second semi-final Saturday night and the final on Sunday (Australian time). I won’t mention who won in case you’ve managed to dodge spoilers up ‘til now and are still planning on catching a rerun of it all, but I thought it was a very worthy winner. We’ll skirt around that issue, but let’s take a moment to acknowledge there was a vein of unpleasantness running through this year’s show – the inclusion of Israel in the line-up, plus the last-minute disqualification of the Dutch contestant after an alleged backstage incident. Well, the show must or, at least, did go on but I’ve gotta say I was maybe not as thrilled as I might’ve been by the array of acts. It sucks that Australia didn’t make the final and from seeing the other acts, I feel like it was a serious oversight. Electric Fields totally belonged in the top 25 but sadly it was not to be.
Anyway, let’s get down to business – I think my favourite act was the absolute queens from Ukraine – Alyona Alyona and Jerry Heil. Fab long hair, a sick beat, and a bad-ass rap is all I need:
My sentimental favourite of the oddball entries was Finland’s Windows95man. A fella emerging from a denim egg, cheeky nudity, and magical cut-off shorts descending from heaven? Sign. Me. Up.
Much was made of Ireland’s screamy entry, but I found it a bit devil-worshippy for my tastes. Frankly, I preferred Norway’s scream queen. What a set of pipes:
2. Drunk Elephant’s Lala Retro Whipped Cream is a pricey $100 for 50 ml at MECCA which seems outrageous to me, but I tried a sample and was pretty impressed (though maybe not would-shell-out-a-hundred-bucks impressed). It’s vegan and fragrance-free and really does deliver on the promised whipped cream texture. My face truly did feel much ,ore hydrated after I used it, although I’d probably save this one for my winter skincare routine due to its creaminess.
What I’m Feelin’ Right Now
Taste-testing all sorts of savoury bagel fillings
Peach nail colours
‘PINKBERRY’ by MAX
Trying my hand at making my own tteokbokki
Pictures of abandoned cities that nature has reclaimed
Banana and coffee fritters
This blouson swimsuit top by Jantzen
A movie marathon of stories set in libraries
Blue and purple and teal together
Giveaway
Last week’s giveaway, The Mystery Writer by Sulari Gentill, was won by Hannah Gee. I’ve sent you an email, Hannah!
The giveaway this week is Funny Story by Emily Henry. Enter your name and email address here for a chance to win.
Playlist of the Week
Eurovision-inspired Swedish bangers:
Great to find you on Substack!