It’s Saturday, so I’m making time to have coffee with you as part of the Weekend Coffee Shares initiated by the lovely Part Time Monster.

If we were having coffee today, we’d have to meet in town as my place looks like a bomb might have gone off in the middle. I’d brave the rain to head out into town to meet you, and then I’d order a very large Latte Macchiato. I really need coffee.

If we were having coffee today, I’d tell you all about #1000Speak that took place yesterday and was a massive success. Bloggers everywhere came together to blog about compassion, love and kindness and flood the internet with all these positive thoughts as part of 1000 Voices Speak for Compassion. I contributed two proper posts, the real story of the homeless man and the pizza, as well as a little something about the healing powers of proper hugs. The rest of yesterday’s updates were two pictures, a “heads up” message that 1000Speak was imminent, as well as a thank you to all participants. If you’re interested in our stories, check out the official 1000Speak Blog Hop.

If we were having coffee, I’d tell you that I feel quite accomplished today. Yesterday I managed to work 3 hours overtime and man the office by myself, researched a university assignment, completed the first-week modules of two of my supplementary courses and still managed to publish all my 1000Speak posts.

Today I’ve so far managed to print out the material for Week Two of my courses, done laundry, been away for lunch, got delayed by the nosy neighbour who just wants to tell you a story, vacuum cleaned the flat and now I’ve just got to finish my uni assignment today and make a start on the new modules. Oh, and tidy up and do the dishes, but I can do that tonight (had to get the hoovering out of the way during daylight hours or my elderly upstairs neighbour would have had a fit).

I’ve also bitten the bullet and bought the premium service for Grammarly. I simply need it too often, and the premium allows integration with Microsoft Word on PCs, which is excellent news for me. I still have many university assignments ahead of me, as well as many a blog post and article so a proper grammar checker is a tool of the trade for me.

At this point I’d order another coffee – cappuccino this time, I think – and encourage you to do the same. My treat.

I’d tell you that I went on an Amazon Marketplace binge the other day to look for books on my 60 Books Challenge List. Those who know me will tell you that the best presents you can give me are Amazon vouchers (or bookstore vouchers). I still had a few saved up and used them to get one DVD I’ll need for my M.A. module (The Breakfast Club) as well as ten books.

The books are:

Downtown Owl by Chuck Klosterman (author with my initials),
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (NaNoWriMo Winner),
The Ruling Class by Peter Barnes (a play),
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs (published by an indie press),
Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (author under 25),
The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (sci-fi book),
The Bookseller of Kabul by Åsne Seierstad (originally in another language),
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (based on the cover),
Mr. Penumbra’s 24 Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan (recommended to me),
as well as a play I was interested in as it’s been recently performed as part of a very imaginative theatre season: East is East by Ayub Khan Din.

Have you read any of them? Can you recommend them? I’m waiting patiently by the mailbox for the postie to arrive. What books have you read lately? Please tell me and get comfy, I could talk about books for days! And are you doing any reading challenges? Do you still need help finding suitable titles? I spent a large chunk of my week compiling titles in the harder-to-find categories, so check out my Reading Challenge Help.

If we were having coffee I’d tell you that on top of all the studying I’m doing (including the extra classes) and my work and everything, I’ve signed up to Transcribe Bentham at University College London. It’ll be going for a while yet, so I don’t have to rush, but I’ll be part of the team transcribing the manuscripts of philosopher Jeremy Bentham  for a new, scholarly edition of Bentham’s Collected Works, and every transcriber will be credited by name. So that’s something cool to add to the CV for a geek like me who likes knowledge and making it accessible.

How’s the coffee (or whatever else you ordered)? I’ve finished mine, and I really needed that caffeine fix.

If we were having coffee, then this would  probably be the point at which I bid you farewell, as I have assignments to finish and would really like a relaxing Sunday for once.

The other Weekend Coffee Sharers are still around though, if you fancy another cuppa!

Thank you for having coffee with me! Same time, next week?