felicia day

Book Rec – Embrace Your Weird by Felicia Day

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY, FELICIA DAY!!!

Felicia Day, taken from her book jacket. (c)2019-2023

Felicia Day is Human Extraordinaire. She’s talented, cute as a button, and has the perfect color red/ginger hair that I strive for. I had known her in geek and fandom circles, and then she appeared in my favorite television show of the moment, Supernatural. Her character was the epitome of geek, nerd, D&D master that I grew up with and grew up as. In honor of her birthday, I am recommending one of her books that I am currently reading.

I borrowed her book, Embrace Your Weird: Face Your Fears and Unleash Creativity from the e-library at the end of 2019. I read about two chapters in, and knew that a borrowed book, an e-book would not do. I was expected to write in this book – something both foreign to me and impossible to do with an e-book. I broke down and ordered a hard copy in paperback with my Christmas Amazon money and waited until the perfect moment to start.

One word of advice: there is no perfect moment.

Embrace Your Weird book with my go-to post-it notes
and the pens I bought especially for working in this book.
(c)2023

Some of the tasks are really thought-provoking, and some were emotionally draining, but also exhilarating. I was proud of getting through the tasks thus far. I am not even halfway done with the book. I did put it aside for a time for other (creative) projects, and I’ve picked it up again, and in picking it up, I wanted to share it with you.

There are seven chapters with several parts in each chapter. Each chapter lets you look into yourself and learn what might be holding you back from busting out the creativity and finding your jam. That sentence channels Felicia in all the best ways. Don’t be afraid to try. A lot of the hesitation for me (and for Felicia, as it turns out) is anxiety. Name the monster and it can’t hurt you, or something like that.

The book is go at your own pace, which is why I’ve been able to start it, put it down, and continue it. Notice that I said “continue;” not “start again.” The book, like your creativity, is a never-ending journey that pauses when the need arises and continues when you’re ready. I was ready last week, actually, but the book’s been missing. It was a victim of cleaning for guests, and shoved in a large green tote bag, which I only remembered yesterday morning.

This book breaks two of my rules:

  1. Read and follow the directions as closely as possible.
  2. Write in the book.

Despite my guilty childhood of scribbling in books, writing in books is anathema to me, but I’ve adapted with this special book.

I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I am!

Week 3 – Lenten Labyrinth Journey

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If you look back at last week’s labyrinth and compare it to this week’s, you’ll see what I saw: this week’s is a lot less active than last week’s.

And that’s okay.

Every week, every day is different, and while sometimes we are overwhelmed with activity, other times we are Baby Bear levels of just right (thanks Felicia Day for that description), and often we won’t know how we feel about each until the week is over. That was one reason that I chose to share the previous week’s labyrinth, after the week was over, and I had a couple of days to reflect and process how things went. This is titled Week 3, but I am living in the middle of Week 4.

This has given me a chance to look back and reassess. Am I reading enough? What am I praying for and should I pray more? Should I add people to my prayer list? I began grouping on Monday and this will continue indefinitely twice a month. I was confronted with taking action, and realized that I really do need a little intentional time; time to intentionally spend with G-d, in prayer, in meditation, contemplation, and discernment. That sounds like a lot of work! It can be, but it can also be a time to rest in the spirit, and see things from different angles and perspectives. Rest in the Word and in words.

How is your third and half-fourth weeks of Lent progressing? Are you feeling your way through the desert?

I’ve added another downloadable sheet to the home page. This is the coloring sheet I designed for Gish‘s Book Bash in reference to Florida’s discriminatory law not allowing schools – children and faculty – to say gay. I don’t understand a society that is afraid of a little word. Anyway, it IS okay to say gay, and more importantly, it IS OKAY to BE GAY (or any of the other LGBTQIA orientations and genders).

Lenten Labyrinth. Week 3.
(c)2022

Profile – Perennial Geek Girl Felicia Day

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​Felicia Day was born today in Huntsville, Alabama in 1979. She plays video games and the violin. She is at home in front of the camera and behind it. She’s an actor, a writer, and a web content creator. She is the mother to Calliope who was born in 2017.

I knew her name, I saw her work in places, but couldn’t place her beyond Dr. Horrible’s Sing-a-Long Blog.

I was excited when she joined the cast of Supernatural and her character is almost Mary Sue-esque to both herself and myself. She encapsulates, both as Charlie Bradbury and herself, as the perpetual geek girl. Her Pop Vinyl figure was the first I bought because it was a mini-me – redhead, earphones, cell phone, messenger bag, layered clothes – I related! See?!

Pop Vinyl Charlie Bradbury from Supernatural, portrayed by Felicia Day, my collection. (c)2019


The home page of her website visually shows the dichotomy that many of us women feel, the duality of our lives – on the left, the t-shirted and jeans dressed gamer and geek, and on the right, the polished, professional, dare I say sexy feminist. It is a line that we all walk tenuously, although for us surviving the modern world is becoming more blurred and blended where we don’t need to hide our real selves from anyone else, including from ourselves.
She also has a bestselling memoir out: You’re Never Weird on the Internet (Almost), and a podcast, Felicitations, which I am listening to right now as I type this.

Also definitely check her out on Twitter.