A Very Soft And Cozy Witch 

last year i used to sleep from 5 am to 10 am every day and it was Not Good for me. i’ve gotten a couple of questions about my sleep schedule so i thought i’d share some tips that helped me adopt a healthier sleep schedule. enjoy 🛏💤

types of dark academia

classic academia: beige trench coats, wool sweaters. plaid skirts. think femme fatale, but educated. sobbing in bed late at night over the secret history or dead poets society. tea with milk and sugar. subsequent tea stains.

darkest academia: running through the rain, dimly lit by streetlights. brown tweed jackets, dress shoes. cold fingers and colder gazes. french-pressed black coffee, piping hot. dark, candlelit rooms with ancient wood floors/walls. 

light academia: white cable-knit sweaters, sparkly eyes and foggy glasses. going to art museums and falling in love with every portrait, every sculpture. caressing the petals of a rose, hearing the crinkle of leaves underfoot.

witchy academia: burning candles while reading or doing homework. black turtlenecks, velvet skirts. walking through the forest in autumn. passing a graveyard and feeling a greyish presence. waiting anxiously for samhain.

romantic academia: writing flowery poetry about someone you’ll never speak to (guilty oops). a cozy alizarin sweater, pleated skirts. slow dancing around your room to the beatles. curling up with warm, pallid cups of tea and a book.

scholarly academia: impeccable notes in class. leather bound bags crammed with textbooks and pens. lots of coffee with scones, and even more late nights. a wide vocabulary (that people constantly comment on). lives in the library.

theatre academia: shakespeare, all the time - quoting, reading, praying for a school production of a midsummer nights dream. or the crucible. memorizing lines in the wings. taking on your character’s traits, even outside the theater.

Until2022′s Guide to Catching Up When You’re Drastically Behind in Study:

I. Assess the damage

The first step in the plan is to confront how bad the situation is and then make some calls about what you can realistically achieve in the time you have left. 

List everything you have to do, down to exact detail - don’t write ‘catch up on readings for Virology’, but instead note down every chapter. This will make it a lot easier to gauge how much time and energy you need for each assignment or exam, and will help to motivate you as you work through. 

Use an Eisenhower matrix to sort these tasks:

Important and Urgent: Any and all compulsory assignments, exams, tests, etc. 

Important but Not Urgent: Lectures for upcoming exams, compulsory readings or labs, etc.

Urgent but Not Important: Additional homework or tasks that are due soon but aren’t worth much, like logbooks or small quizzes

Not Important and Not Urgent: Additional readings, nice lecture notes, and other ‘good-to-haves’

Now cross out everything that you can afford not to do. That’s going to be everything in your ‘Not Important and Not Urgent’ zone, and probably all of the things in your ‘Urgent but Not Important’ zone. I know that it’s annoying not to get everything done, or to sacrifice the 5% that you could have gotten, but unless you can do it in 10 minutes and it’s really worth it you simply don’t have the time to spare here. 

Having said that, if a class has lots of small assignments due, don’t overlook them because they’re not worth much on their own - make sure you take a look at the overall percentage left to go in that subject. If you can dedicate a whole day to just that subject and smash through all those assignments in one, you’re crossing a lot of work off your list. For example, I have weekly quizzes and 2% labs in my Pathology course - if I’m behind, I’ll dedicate a whole day and do all of those assessments. That’s 20% out of the way and a big leap towards catching up. 

II. Tackle the low-hanging fruit

Seeing the product of countless days of procrastination is probably pretty daunting right now. I could offer you platitudes here but it’s a lot easier for you to actually take some action and feel better about it yourself, so:

Do everything that will take you less than 10 minutes to complete. Reply to those emails, the messages in the assignment group chat, upload your peer assessment, do all the little things you need to do for someone else. That should cross out a big chunk of things from your list, and you’ll be left with the important stuff like finishing assignments and studying for exams. 

If you’re panicking (seeing the huge list of stuff which you have to finish in an impossibly short time will often do this!) then try an easy square breathing exercise. Breathe in for a count of 4, hold for a count of 4, exhale for a count of 4, hold for a count of 4, repeat. Splashing cold water on your face is helpful too, as is having a glass of water. Do not use this time to procrastinate! It might sound like a good idea to relax by watching Youtube or Netflix, scrolling through Instagram or playing a video game, but you’re going to be sucked back into the procrastination game that got you here in the first place. 

III. Create your plan of attack 

You’ve left it too late to be regularly revising, so our plan of attack is basically going to be: cram every subject consecutively. This is the best way to get everything done when you’re pressed for time like this - don’t switch tasks or subjects. Interleaving subjects is great when you’re on schedule, but right now you don’t want to spend quarter of an hour getting into the groove of a certain subject and then switching before an hour has passed. 

University is just one assignment after another, no breathing space in between, especially towards the end of the semester. All you need to do is work out what’s due first and what’s worth most, order everything according to those criteria and then focus on the first assessment until you’re done. Once the assignment is handed in or you’ve sat the exam, then you can move onto the next task.

If you have two different assignments due for different classes on the same day, plan ahead so you can dedicate a full day to each subject instead of working on both at the same time. 

Plan out every single day - make sure you’re scheduling in time to eat, shower, sleep, and take breaks as well as to study. Be specific when planning your time out each day as to what tasks you’re hoping to achieve - don’t allocate too much time to any single lecture, but at the same time, be realistic about how much you can cover in one hour. 

Choose wisely based on what you do or don’t know. There isn’t much point in spending this precious time revising the things you already know you’re good at, so suck it up and schedule in the hard stuff first up, but be prepared to move on if you can’t get it down. You’re far better off going into the exam knowing 10 things badly, than 1 thing really well, so focus on the basics and if you have time to learn the more complex details then go back and do that later. 

You also need to be flexible and prepared to adjust - sometimes an assignment will take longer than expected or a day just won’t be as productive as you thought it might be. Don’t panic, just re-plan and shift things around so you keep moving in the right direction. 

IV. Grind it out 

Now that you have a clear idea of what you need to achieve and when, it’s time to get it done.  

For once, you shouldn’t need to worry about simple procrastination. You’re  probably already panicking, so turn that anxiety into motivation which will fuel you and let you focus for long time periods. Fear can be a great driver - when the threat of the exam is looming over you, it’s amazing how well you can knuckle down, assuming you don’t want to fail. 

Pack a bag with everything you need - your laptop or tablet, your charger, headphones, a water bottle and a travel mug, snacks and meals for the day, and anything else you like to have with you when you’re studying. Then take yourself to the library, the local coffee shop, the office - wherever you like to study, but don’t sit at home. There’s too many opportunities for distraction and you cannot afford that right now. Being in an environment where other people are working will motivate you to do the same. 

If you’re working on an assignment, the best way to get things done quickly is to let go of any preconceptions of doing a great job, or having a perfect draft, and instead just focusing on having a draft. Bash out the worst draft you’ve ever written, fill it with run-on sentences and spelling mistakes. But make sure you finish a draft. Then all you have to do is edit it, and it’s a lot quicker to do it this way than it is getting bogged down in the details before you’ve even begun. 

When you’re studying for exams, the number one way to learn is through active recall. There is no point in wasting time writing out a full set of notes if you’re two days out from the test. Even if you feel like you don’t know a single thing, start off straight away by testing yourself - do past exams, drill flashcards, try and write outlines or mind maps and then check your notes or textbooks and fill in what you’ve missed. If you don’t know the answer or you get it wrong, look it up and try to understand it, and then test yourself again in twenty minutes. 

It’s important to strike a balance here: don’t overextend yourself, but don’t continually take breaks. If you think you need a break, you probably don’t. Take two minutes to stretch your legs and drink some water, but do not pick up your phone. If you’re starting to feel mentally fatigued, especially after a few hours, it can be helpful to switch locations - go outside and study on a park bench, or shift to the dining hall. Sometimes the change of scenery is all you need to feel refreshed. 

V. Rinse and repeat

This is your life now. Make sure you stick to a regular sleep schedule - aim for at least six hours a night - because otherwise your fatigue levels will seriously impact your memory, retention and critical thinking abilities. It’s not worth the few extra hours you might get in, and you probably won’t be productive anyway. 

Remember that the advice I’ve given you here is based on what I do when I am severely behind, not how I study on a daily basis when I’m on top of everything. These tips aren’t all great for long-term learning, but are the most efficient way to cram when you’re behind and under pressure. 

You’ve got this. 

Losers/Lovers album by Shark Puppy. This is their second album, which encapsulates their time together in Derry, Maine as children. The band met when they were only thirteen!

1. Welcome to the Losers Club written by All Members. An upbeat tune with a classic rock styling. Vocals on record by Richie Tozier and Beverly Marsh.

2. Rock War written by Richie Tozier. A metal song with lots of guitar and bass. Cool drum solo about 1:25. Vocals on record by Richie Tozier.

3. Hamburger Helper written by Stanley Uris and Richie Tozier. A psychedelic song, slow and mellow, but a sense of urgency begs to punch through. Almost anxious. One of their experimental songs, often forgotten. Vocals on record by Ben Hanscom.

4. Birds at the Quarry written by Stanley Uris. Quiet and peaceful, incorporating bird song and even water sfx. Look out for the sounds of the didgeridoo, played by Mike Hanlon. Vocals on record by Stanley Uris.

5. Skinny Dip written by Beverly Marsh. A sexy song that shouldn't be played with children or parents around. Marsh owns her femininity and sexuality, taking it back from the male gaze. Vocals on record by Beverly Marsh.

6. Kissing Bridge written by Richie Tozier. Tozier plays every instrument in this recording, including strings, mandolin, guitar, and piano. Ethereal, loving, and sweet. It tells of a first love that remains hidden in the shadows, but blossoms within. Vocals on record by Richie Tozier.

7. I Fucked Your Mom written by Unknown band member. The band has hinted that one of their members wrote this about their crush, but they have been coy, not revealing which one wrote it. Fans speculate the slow and sensual love song was written by the vulgar lead songwriter Richie Tozier, but the band persists that it wasn't him, but someone 'unexpected'. Vocals on record by All Members.

8. Sewer Babies (We Were Rebels) written by William 'Big Bill' Denbrough. A punk song about getting in trouble as a kid. Fast, wild, and loose. Vocals on record by Bill Denbrough and Richie Tozier.

9. Derry Free written by All Members. Fast paced, rock song about freedom and the fears of adulthood. Vocals on record by All Members.

10. But It's Summer written by William 'Big Bill' Debrough. It is rumored that Bill really hates summer because of this song. It's angry, loud, and very different from his other songs. Vocals on record by Bill Denbrough.

Bonus:

Blood in the Bathroom by Beverly Marsh. Slow song about the fears of growing up and losing yourself. The fear of adults, of change. Beverly is usually known for her upbeat feminist songs, so the departure was surprising but welcome. She shows a vulnerable side of herself that had not been seen before. Vocals on record by Beverly Marsh.

Paul Bunyan Song by Richie Tozier. Quirky, silly music attached to very dark lyrics. Tozier speaks of toxic masculinity, internalized homophobia. The yodels (by Richie Tozier himself) in the background are threatening and hollow, a strange way to describe a normally silly form of singing, but it works. Vocals on record by Richie Tozier.

Lovers by All Members. A big, smashing love song about friendship, sticking together and never letting go. Vocals on record by All Members.

i don't believe that you become a witch. it was within and around you all along.

every time you'd collect rocks as a child, or spoke to the moon when you needed comfort, or even when that warm, tingling sensation would hit you while walking in the woods. it was always the little things that didn't quite make sense.

it was calling to you, remember that. you're no less just because you figured it out later.

✨Crystal Cleansing 101✨

Reddie: Friends AU

    ↪ The one where Richie kisses everyone

Witchy Self Care 🧿🔮🌿

[via Pintrest & obscureclouds.com]

Orange County

me: trying to do schoolwork

my brain: oofjan stevens