Alicen

North Vancouver City Library and Vancouver Public Libraries: Part 5 I had a job interview in North Van this week, so instead of making my way to a Vancouver library afterwards, I ended up at the North Vancouver City Library, which was a nice change. Then it was back t...

This week, a bonus library that isn’t in Vancouver. Read here: coffeeshopcynic.wixsite.com/coffeeshopcy...

Vancouver Public Libraries: Part 4 This is now my fifth week doing this. Job hunting is getting exhausting and frustrating, but at least there are still libraries to get through. nə́c̓aʔmat ct Strathcona BranchYeah, this branch is inte...

Part four of Vancouver Libraries: coffeeshopcynic.wixsite.com/coffeeshopcy...

Vancouver Public Libraries: Part 3 This is now my fourth library blog post and I’m starting to lose track of how many I’ve been to and which is which. Kitsilano BranchI actually had a different library planned for this day, but when I got a job interview in the area (okay, not in the area, but a fifteen-minute transit away versus the hour it would have been from the library I had planned), I ended up here. I actually had errands to run after the interview that put me closer to other branches, but alas, this was the only one open

Tired of libraries yet? This one might contain a mortifying story. Read part 3 of my VPL branches: coffeeshopcynic.wixsite.com/coffeeshopcy...

Read part two of my Vancouver libraries reviews here: coffeeshopcynic.wixsite.com/coffeeshopcy...

Vancouver Public Libraries: Part 1 As I’ve finished the BPL branches, I’m moving on to the VPL ones. Today’s post features the two Vancouver libraries I went to last week, both of which I had been to before. Hastings BranchThis was act...

Last week I moved onto job hunting in Vancouver libraries. Read part 1 here: coffeeshopcynic.wixsite.com/coffeeshopcy...

Burnaby Public Libraries This is not the blog post I was hoping to write this month. When I planned my blog posts for the month, I had July marked down as writing a blog post about work because my contract at the Board was up...

I went to all four branches of the Burnaby Public Library and reviewed them. Read here: coffeeshopcynic.wixsite.com/coffeeshopcy...

Why I Love Finch Happy Mental Health Awareness Month! I know it’s almost over, but I’ve been busy with other writing. Anyways… mental health awareness month! Trust me, I’m well aware of my mental health. I’ve done lots of things over the years to try to manage it with various results. I could talk about those for ages but I’m just going to focus on one thing for this post. One thing I’ve found that helps a lot is a self care app called Finch. Finch is an app where you have a bird that you can dress and take on a

I wrote a blog post about why I love the Finch app, that may or may not have been an excuse to show off the art Angela made me. coffeeshopcynic.wixsite.com/coffeeshopcy...

My Journey With Spanish Another month, another insane monthly challenge. This one was probably my most ambitious one yet. I’ve been trying to learn Spanish for years, but with my Spanish class restarting in April, I decided ...

Another month, another goal. Read here: coffeeshopcynic.wixsite.com/coffeeshopcy...

Mirror Mirror Every once in a while I fall down a rabbit hole of obsessing over old pictures of myself. It usually starts innocently enough. I check my daily featured photos on my iPhone for rat pictures to send to...

Just some musings I had about the evolution of my makeup and style since the pandemic. Read here: coffeeshopcynic.wixsite.com/coffeeshopcy...

My Journey With Trich I’ve been pulling my hair for pretty much as long as I can remember. It used to drive my family crazy so I got better at hiding it, but I never stopped. I don’t know when it became my entire life but ...

I’ve been pulling my hair since I was a kid, but this month I was finally able to more or less stop. Read about my journey here: coffeeshopcynic.wixsite.com/coffeeshopcy...

New piece on how hard activism can be: open.substack.com/pub/coffeesh...

FanExpo Vancouver 2025 We had a lot of fun at Emerald City Comic Con last year, but going to the states and staying in a hotel during a con, and having to eat every meal out is so expensive. Plus there’s the whole thing wit...

Well FanExpo Van was a thing that happened this year. Am I over cons? Maybe. Read more here: coffeeshopcynic.wixsite.com/coffeeshopcy...

After listening to Mayhem I just have to say, I think I’m back to being obsessed with Gaga.

I Swear I'm Not Contagious We all have these days, right?

Does anyone else have these days? open.substack.com/pub/coffeesh...

Oscar Death Race 2025 The Oscars are on Sunday, and yet again I did my challenge of watching everything that has been nominated. This year that meant watching 50 films (15 shorts and 35 full length movies). This was one of...

Well it’s the time of year where I depress myself with Oscar movies again. Read my thoughts and predictions here: coffeeshopcynic.wixsite.com/coffeeshopcy...

Abracadabra: The Rise of a Disability Icon When I was a teenager and in my early twenties I was obsessed with Lady Gaga and her music. I just thought she was so cool and different and her music was just so fun. Finding out she was queer was re...

I’ve always loved Gaga but her new video is just so important to me from a disability standpoint. Read more here: coffeeshopcynic.wixsite.com/coffeeshopcy...

I didn’t realize how much I missed writing fiction

I’m officially obsessed with a song by a man… who am I?

Alicen Ricard | Substack Lover of books, all things nerdy, and rats. I write how I feel.

I made a Substack to share my writing: coffeeshopcynic.substack.com?r=8genp&utm_...

Self Compassion For the past few years I’ve been doing Gretchen Rubin’s goal challenge. For example 23 goals for 2023, 24 goals for 2024. But I found after I made the list I was kind of forgetting it existed and not ...

My goal for January was to be kinder to myself. Read about it here: coffeeshopcynic.wixsite.com/coffeeshopcy...

Found out two of my favourite authors have books coming out on the same day, and another favourite author has one a week later. If you need me in June, no you don’t.

Alicen Wrapped: 2024 It’s been a year, that’s for sure. There’s been good, there’s been bad. There’s been a whole lot of obsessing over Taylor Swift. Every year I write a blog post about what goals I achieved and usually ...

Long one but I wrote about what I did in 2024. Read it here: coffeeshopcynic.wixsite.com/coffeeshopcy...

It wouldn’t be Christmas without me sobbing over the Doctor Who Christmas special. Well done, Moffatt, well done.

My coworker is next to me in a meeting, clowning about when Rep TV is coming out and I may have just dumped water down my sweater.

I watched them all so you don’t have to. Read my thoughts here: coffeeshopcynic.wixsite.com/coffeeshopcy...

Have as much confidence in yourself as I did in myself when I borrowed 8 books on Libby at a time 🙃

The Journey to Wicked I remember watching the Tony Awards with my Mom and Grandma in 2004, and seeing Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth sing “Defying Gravity” and being obsessed with that song. I was ten and loved musical...

Well apparently Wicked is back to being my entire personality like it was when I was a teenager. Read about it here: coffeeshopcynic.wixsite.com/coffeeshopcy...

After a week of being so burnt out, it’s great to cancel all my plans and curl up with a book.

Audiobooks count as reading.
Audiobooks count as reading.
Audiobooks count as reading.
Audiobooks count as reading.
Audiobooks count as reading.
Audiobooks count as reading.
Audiobooks count as reading.

Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour is coming to Vancouver in just a few weeks, and local Swifties are hard at work crafting the perfect friendship bracelets for the occasion.

dailyhive.com/vancouver/ta...

I recently attended a workshop at Urban Source Vancouver to learn about the beaded phenomenon.