Six reasons why September is going to slaughter me slowly

It’s not even 48 hours into September and I’m already blasting Greenday’s Wake Me Up When September Ends, resisting the urge to lie on my bedroom floor and descend into yet another existential crisis.

I’ve always hated September, but that stems from a prepubescent impatience for a) my birthday in October, b) the end of the school year in December, and c) Christmas – all of which seem horrifically close but oh so far away when September finally rolls around. Plus, here in South Africa, September is technically the beginning of spring, but just as you’re about to pull on your cute flowery dresses and sun hats, a cold front hits you like that freak snowstorm in Frozen.

Don’t even get me started on the pollen that can work its way into your very soul and turn your insides to dust.

But this September is different. This September marks the Beginning of the End.

I’ve come up with six reasons why I might not make it through this month, just in case I suddenly drop out of cyberspace and then mysteriously reemerge as an extra in the new season of The Walking Dead. Then at least you’ll have a list of people to sue (or thank) if I don’t make it.

1. I start my last two-and-a-half months of high school in just under a week. I imagine that this journey will be like that period just before the apocalypse when the sun blacks out and everybody’s panicking and waiting to die (finals), which is why I’ve now started referring to it as “Darkness Rising”. And stage one of Darkness Rising (September) is the in-between phase when, even though buildings are crumbling and people are dying, you’re still expected to go to school and turn in a gazillion projects (but keep in mind you should be studying for finals, too. When? Nobody knows. Find a way to create time).

2. Because I was convinced that some extra-terrestrial force would somehow prevent my school’s reopening next week, I’ve barely started any of the assignments I’m supposed to complete. Even now, when I know I should be working, I’m debating what book I should read once I’ve posted this blog.

3. That’s another issue. I have so much I want to read. I don’t have time for silly mundane things like schoolwork. I have a pile of fifteen books next to my bed that I planned to read before the end of the holidays, and then a whole library of unread ebooks on my Kindle, a couple of ARCs that I still haven’t gotten around to reading, and a bunch of titles I requested on Netgalley.

4. To make it worse, yesterday pretty much every single other book on my TBR shelf was released, and I’ve had to physically restrain myself from running out to the nearest bookstore to spend the rest of my dwindling book-funds on them. Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon, Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas (although I still need to catch up on the rest of the series, preferably before I see any more spoilers online), A Curious Tale of the Inbetween by Lauren DeStephano, Earthrise by Aprilynne Pike… To those authors, do you want me to die?

5. Four words: final music practical exam.

Me, realising I still have no idea what I'm doing after 12 years
of piano lessons.

6. Illuminae by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman comes out in October, and if anything it’s the only thing keeping me tied down to this earth at the moment. But it’s also slowly killing me because I’m so desperate to get my hands on a copy. I refuse to request it on Netgalley because then I know I won’t get any work done. So I’ll just wait here, dodging spoilers from bloggers who’ve read the ARC like it’s my job.

But in all seriousness, from next week onwards I’ll be even less active than usual, so bear with me. I’ll try schedule a couple of posts so that I don’t completely drop off the grid like last time. In the meantime, happy reading to the readers, happy blogging to the bloggers, and to those who don’t do either, happy doing what you do.