This is goodbye.

Happy 2019~! I’ve got some happy and sad news to share with you all today. It’s January 2nd so today marks my fourth year blogiversary (insane!), but after a lot of deliberation and careful thought for many, many months, I have decided that it’s time for me to retire Xingsings after four years.

Honestly, it feels utterly unbelievable and surreal to even type that since I never thought that I’d be part of the blogosphere for so long.

Many reasons contributed to why I came to this decision-from me knowing that I’ve lost the inspiration and drive to create posts to sillier (and sort of embarrassing) stuff like how I’m actually running out of WordPress media storage space and I’m unwilling to commit to moving onto a self-hosted site. Then there’s also the fact that I’m in my final semesters of pharmacy school and I can’t see myself blogging as I complete my P4 rotations, which are anticipated to be intense and full of high stress. And as much as I try to deny that it doesn’t, the fact still remains that it does really bother me when I leave comments unanswered and am unable to blog hop or visit other blogs like I used to.

However, with that all being said, there were factors that certainly made this decision difficult and encouraged me to want to stay as well. The declining viewership due to my inactivity was evident but it didn’t worry me because I always used this corner of the internet as a personal diary of sorts; I will definitely miss this aspect of blogging once I stop. And, most importantly, I truly believe that it’s because of the warm and kind community that has kept me a blogger reluctant to leave for so long. So I want to say thank you to the old and new friends that I’ve made over the years. I really appreciate all of you, and I can easily say that I consider many my best friends. To those part of the latter, I hope that we’ll be granted a chance to meet in person one day.

Anyhow, I really ought to end this post soon because I’m (for real) getting kind of teary. T_T Through this blog, in these last few years I’ve created a lot of content that I’m proud of, shared so much of my life online, made a lot of of incredible memories, had meaningful conversations with others from all over the globe, and built so many irreplaceable friendships. Thank you for joining me on this crazy ride that was Xingsings. My blog was a mess and had zero focus, but thank you for sticking with me for this long.

Of course, I can always be reached via my other social media accounts such as Instagram (@readxings) and Twitter (@xingsings). So feel free to keep in touch and contact me on those platforms anytime!

I am forever so thankful for my time here as a blogger and, perhaps, I’ll return someday. But for now, this is goodbye.

Love,
Summer Nguyen
xingsings.wordpress.com

P.S. This link might seem pretty random to share but it was one of the very first songs that got me into music in general (and that changed my life clearly since I don’t think I could live without it now). Anyway, this is my go to track when I feel like I’m stuck in a rut. So naturally this was on repeat as I was contemplating what to write for this final post. In true Summer fashion, I thought I would end with one last song on this blog. :’)

Pin Collection

Happy Halloween, friends!

I don’t have a bookish post ready since I seldom read nowadays, but I do have a different and (maybe?) interesting post to share instead: a brief look of my pin collection. I won’t be sharing all the ones I have but here’s a few photos that I shared on Instagram the past few weeks. I have a variety of pins honestly (form K-pop, movie/animation, to miscellaneous).  And I think I started collecting them since 2013 but I’ve only been actively bulking my collection recently.

Anyhow, that’s it for now. Hope that you’re all well! 🙂

Pins from blushsprout, happyhelloart, celestialfox, candycorpse, and cosmicmermaids.

Pins from northernspells, candycorpse, and blushsprout.

Pins from pinsandneedles, sugarmints, ghiblizine, justpetitethings, moonxchu, nicubii, blushsprout, celestialfox, cynthiadesign, and bando.

Pins from blushsprout and northernspells.

Summer

Roses are red,
violets are blue,
Summer has been MIA
but now she’s back with a giveaway.

It’s on Instagram though. I just thought I’d tell you, friends, on here about it, too.

Hope you’re all well and having a great summer so far!

— Summer

P.S. I would advise not missing out because you have the chance to win two of my favorite bookish things: books and HHA bookmarks.

P.P.S. This may be my shortest blog post yet. /proud/ :’)

The Summer Reader Book Tag

Hello everyone! I haven’t done a tag in ages and, funnily enough, I found The Summer Reader Book Tag waiting patiently (since last summer) in my drafts. So yup, today, Summer (🙋🏻) is going to do a summer (☀️) tag before the season ends. I was tagged by Alex Alextheshadowgirl’s Blog, Ashley Dreamingthroughliterature, and Analee at Book Snacks. Thank you, ladies!

Note: I am an award/tag free blog in that after I finish the last few-okay maybe more than a few-drafts of 2015 tags/awards that I was tagged/nominated in last year, I won’t be doing any more tag/award posts.

And here’s a fun tidbit about summer, the season, and me… I probably have mentioned it before but it’s my least favorite season ironically. It just gets way too hot where I live. I also remember spending most of my summers at the salon hanging out (when I was younger) and working (when I was older) mainly because it is the busiest season in the nail industry (with people in their flip flops and in need of pedicures all the time). Haha, good times! 😛

Hate Comments + Taking a True Hiatus (Sort Of) + Dragon’s Loyalty Award

Hi, everyone!

Lately I’ve sort of been feeling really uninspired to blog hence all the scheduled book reviews. Since the end of the semester is slowly creeping to an end anyway and I know that I’ll soon be swamped with end of the course assignments and final exams, I will go ahead and say I’m taking a break. But then again I’ve already been saying I’ve been on a “hiatus” for a while now according to my blog’s sidebar disclaimer, I guess. As other bloggers have pointed out, my breaks are never true ones anyway. But I think this time I’ll be even more absent then usual even for me. I’ll still continue to schedule the usual posts and remain present on my Instagram and Goodreads accounts, but I won’t be replying to comments on my blog until May-ish. And I’ll do the best of my ability to still check in with the blogosphere and leave mini Summer bombs here and there. But those will be sparse, too.

Along with my semester coming to an end soon and the fact that I think I’ve fallen into a true blogging slump, I also got my first hate comment back in February. I created several drafts titled as “Hate” but I never could bear to actually publish them. February was actually a pretty rotten month for me because I wasn’t doing as well as I thought I would in one of my classes (Organic Chem II is just ugh), my speech class gave me so much anxiety, and I had a bunch of family (that I didn’t really like) living with me and my dad. So when my first hate comment showed up on Xingsings it just felt like everything was so wrong.

(I knew it was going to happen sometime along my blogging journey… and it was only one comment… but it was still unpleasant to read all the same. I understand that people will have different views and opinions. But why do they have to word things so harshly? Also, the comment that I got wasn’t even an opinion about my post or the books I talked about in it, but it was about me as an individual. Anyway, enough ranting. Have any you guys received any negativity on your posts?)

Edit: I saw some of the comments you guys have already been leaving. And I just wanted to let you guys know I’m definitely okay!! I don’t want you guys to think I quit blogging for a bit because of that. I love blogging and I’m actually extremely proud of the place I’ve created with Xingsings. So you don’t have to worry or anything. The hate comment was back in February and it wasn’t a big of a deal when I got over it. Thank you all for staying so dependable and supportive. Thanks, as always. – Summer

But, of course, I soon got over all of that. I started doing better in Speech and studying harder in Organic; my family members (there were 4 of them) finally moved out; and I just deleted that hate comment from my blog so I wouldn’t have to see it. But after all this, I think it’s about time I recharged for real. So, in short, I’m taking a true hiatus for a bit (still posting, not replying to comments on my blog, still dropping Summer bombs on other blogs, etc).

Time to recharge! (All credits to the original owner.)

The Blog Most Likely To… Tag

Hello, friends! Today I wanted to share a super cool tag that I think all bloggers should participate in, The Blog Most Likely To… Tag! I was tagged by Joey at Thoughts and Afterthoughts. Thanks, Joey! (By the way… you never suggested a blogger superlative to me… but that’s okay!)

Like Joey explained in his post, this challenge was actually inspired by Huntley Fitzpatrick’s release of The Boy Most Likely To back during the summer of 2015. Like Joey, I haven’t read any of Huntley Fitzpatrick’s work despite having heard so many wonderful things. But I do plan to eventually. My Life Next Door being the one that holds the most anticipation; that premise just appeals to me the most out of the rest of Fitzpatrick’s work.

But anyway, before I reveal what my blog superlative is… I just wanted to let you guys know that early 2015 I also completed the More Happy and Not Tag, which was created by Shelumiel at Bookish and Awesome. That tag was also inspired by a book release, More Happy Than Not. It’s such a feel good post that I also encourage you guys to do if you haven’t already. (By the way, despite all the promises and “I’ll read it soon”s, I never managed to pick that book up in 2015. Sigh. Will 2016 be the year?)

Note: This is a 2015 tag, meaning I was first tagged in 2015. I’m just trying to go through all the awards and tags from my 2015 queue. But I am an tag/award free blog in that I won’t be doing any more tags/awards after I go through the 2015 drafts. Sorry for the confusion!

The Book Courtship Tag

Hi! Tomorrow is Valentine’s day! Any of you doing anything special? If not, be my valentine! 😉 I don’t have many plans tomorrow… I may be baking some chocolate chip cookies since I haven’t done that in years. I’m still going strong with the Decembers sweets ban overall… but my dad loves cookies, so yeah, tomorrow’s batch is for him probably, haha.

Anyway, this Saturday (Saturdays have become my tackling the old tag/awards day) I thought it’d be fitting to complete The Book Courtship Tag. I was tagged by my lovely blogger buddy, Erika at Erika at Bookventureland in early October 2015. Thank you!

Note: This is a 2015 tag, meaning I was first tagged in 2015. I’m just trying to go through all the awards and tags from my 2015 queue. But I am an tag/award free blog in that I won’t be doing any more tags/awards after I go through the 2015 drafts. Sorry for the confusion!

Phase 1 – Initial Attraction: A book that you bought because of the cover?
This was a total book cover buy because I already own it electronically. But the embossing and typography is so beautiful. And the spine is so gorgeous (it looks like one of those vintage classics you see at old bookstores). ❤ Plus, I found this in the bargain section of my local bookstore. It was like $5 for hardcover so I couldn’t resist.

The Queen of the Tearling

The Coffee Book Tag

I was tagged by Shelumiel at Bookish and Awesome to do The Coffee Book Tag back in June and I’m finally getting around to posting it. This tag will sort of be like the Burrito Bowl Book Tag where I didn’t exactly eat burrito bowls (the vegetarian ones aren’t that fun) but could still relate to the bookish questions. I don’t usually drink coffee unless it’s sugared up. Some evidence:

(The middle photo is hot chocolate by the way.) But I haven’t had one of these in a while. After my first cavity in 2015… I’ve completely given up on sweets believe it or not. So yeah! Now, I’ve returned to my bout of excessive tea drinking. I already glanced at the questions and noticed there were some for people that appreciate tea. Hurrah. Oh and before I forget… Thank you for the tag, Shelumiel! (I hope you’ve been enjoying your travels with work.)

Note: This is a 2015 tag, meaning I was first tagged in 2015. I’m just trying to go through all the awards and tags from my 2015 queue. But I am an tag/award free blog in that I won’t be doing any more tags/awards after I go through the 2015 drafts. Sorry for the confusion!

Beautiful Blogger Award

Hi! I hope you guys have been doing well. Lately, I’ve been on a roll with scheduling these 2015 award/tag posts, haven’t I (once a week due to Joey‘s suggestion)? I’m pretty proud of myself actually. Anyway, this Saturday it’s the Beautiful Blogger Award. I was nominated by Alex at Alextheshadowgirl, Erika at Erika in Bookventureland, Nicay at The Nerdy Side of a Queen, Giovanna at Book Coma, Shealea at The Bookshelf Bitch, Yasmin and Paige at The Wild Readers. Thank you for thinking of me ladies!

Note: This is a 2015 award, meaning I was first nominated in 2015. I’m just trying to go through all the awards and tags from my 2015 queue. But I am an tag/award free blog in that I won’t be doing any more tags/awards after I go through the 2015 drafts. Sorry for the confusion!

Your Life in Books Tag

Hello! How have you all been? Today I wanted to tackle another tag from the draft queue, the Your Life in Books tag. I was first tagged by Alex at Alextheshadowgirl’s Blog in May of 2015 and later tagged by Jenna at Reading with Jenna. This seems like such a fun and unique tag. Thank you both so much for thinking of me!

Note: This is a 2015 tag, meaning I was first tagged in 2015. I’m just trying to go through all the awards and tags from my 2015 queue. But I am an tag/award free blog in that I won’t be doing any more tags/awards after I go through the 2015 drafts. Sorry for the confusion!