22/9/19 Moving Into Uni!

i feel like the most important piece of wisdom i can impart on teenagers is that no one–no one–knows what the fuck they’re doing

my brother is 26 years old, makes $200k a year, and just bought a house with his fiance. he’s the success story you hear about but never actually meet in person, but it all happened by accident. he wanted to go to college for clarinet performance, but he got rejected from all the top schools. so he decided to major in physics instead, and then went on to get a doctorate to put off being an adult for a few more years. but then he ended up dropping out halfway through the program and accepting a job with google as a software engineer. so to reiterate: my brother majored in something he was not interested in, and then he got a job that had nothing to do with his degree. 

he isn’t successful because he had some master plan he followed, he just stumbled around blindly until something worked out. and that’s what we’re all doing–i majored in political science and now i do customer service for a company that makes industrial-sized gas detection monitors. the marketing director at my company has a degree in biology, and my mom has an MBA and works at a middle school.  no one knows what they’re doing, we’re all just trying different things until something works out.

so if you don’t have a plan, that’s fine. most of us don’t. and even those of us who do, don’t usually end up doing the thing they thought they would. it’s okay to relax and let life carry you wherever it’s gonna carry you. because even though a lot of us don’t end up doing the thing we wanted, most of us end up happy anyway.

13/01/19 - Flying to Berlin

So this trip is an important one for me as someone with major anxiety when travelling. When I got on this plane I was 17 years and 364 days old, it was my first time without family or school and I had only my best friend to keep me company. I planned this and paid for it all myself.

Today it is the 14th January and I am 18 years old today. We have today to explore the city and do whatever we want. I’m going to make this fantastic.

Yes I am anxious, especially about trains because they scared me yesterday. But I know if we stay in well-populated areas and exercise common sense we will be just fine.

11/4/19

Mindmaps make everything look so much more manageable

Today has been really productive. I went to school for two hours for some biology revision and then went to meet a friend for lunch. It was such a lovely day that I chose to walk the hour back home rather than catch a bus so I could listen to the audiobook version of Nineteen Eighty Four. However, as punishment for being healthy, I now have blisters on the soles of both feet :(

Can we talk about how hard it is physically and mentally to take exams with IBS that won’t quit. Would not wish it on my worst enemy - I am exhausted and all I could think about for my six hour stay in solitary confinement was how much my stomach hurt

15/09/18 - 4/100 days of productivity

A bit unorthodox, perhaps, in that I’m not studying today - I’m going to the University of Nottingham open day :)

It’s a low-key kind of day

2/12/18 - 83/100 days of productivity

Whiteboard time! I’m just preparing for my Cambridge interview by reviewing a mechanism I namedropped in my personal statement in the first pic, and then later on I was bored so I decided to see how long it would take me to learn and remember the Krebs Cycle. (Not as long as it looks like it should take!)

I totally should be revising things I need to regurgitate for mocks next week, but that’s boring. You know what’s not boring? Learning how a process that’s fundamental to life works!

TIL!

Nickname

Nickname - “An. Eke. Name”

Nickname is one of those words created by people talking too fast. The original phrase was “an eke name” from “eke” meaning “also” i.e. “Aristocles is my real name but Plato is an eke name” Said fast “an eke name” sounded like “a nickname”, and the phonological word evolved.

05/10/18 - 23 days of productivity

Hi all! Today has been a busy one - I only had one free period today and I was blessed with Doppeldeutsch :D

Chemistry involved revising the very start of AS, which was boring since it encases the very basics that have been drilled into you and used so much since the start of GCSEs that you will never ever forget them. Ever. However, I did get to work with people I don’t normally work with, which was fun.

Biology came second, where we started the topic of neuronal communication (I made the notes last month hehe).

Then I had 2 hours of German, where we did some reading, listening and talked about our individual research projects. I’ve decided on women in the GDR vs the BRD.

And then I got to practise a Cambridge admissions test for the maths practice.

When I got home, I made three quizlet sets ready for next week, finished my German and French homework and then did an end of topic test in maths for proof (which you see pictured).

I’m going to curl up with a book now, and yet another cup of tea!

How have you spent your Friday?

10/10/18 - 28/100 days of productivity

Two days in one

Today has been mad but fun. My lovely biology teacher lent me her old uni textbook because she knows I’m a massive genetics nerd. I can’t wait to get stuck in!

I’m making good progress with maths and am hoping to get some more pure done this evening, as well as lots of stats and mechanics. I started A2 stats and mechanics yesterday, which wasn’t awful. Everyone in classes moan they hate moments, but I find them okay!

I had my weekly Doppeldeutsch lesson with my favourite teacher and we had a lot of fun all round finishing watching The Reader.

09/10/18 - 27/100 days of productivity

Sorry I forgot to post! I fell asleep haha

I did loads of maths in my free, so I dedicated at least an hour to each subject. I’m very happy with my progress so far!