Hi everyone,
How are you?
I'm officially on day 5 of self isolation/social distancing and I think I'm getting used to this new way of living so I wanted to discuss that...
On Friday I took part in a #HamiltonTwitterParty and it was so much fun! It basically involved listening to the Hamilton musical soundtrack and tweeting about lyrics or characters or whatever you wanted to really. Lin Manuel Miranda took part which was awesome!! I ended up being on twitter and texting at the same time because one of my friends said she would do it with me but didn't/doesn't have twitter so we did it via that and it was crazy and all of the good things. We ended up staying up until 1 am, it was totally worth it!
Saturday...I don't even know what the hell was up with that. Let's face it, we're all humans (unless your a bot...that just makes things awkward) so we can't be positive 100% of the time. I was overtired and overwhelmed by the situation so it was just...it sucked. It basically sucked. I did a live-stream for a couple of hours and by the end of it I felt beyond drained. Luckily, my mother noticed and coaxed me into the garden. It turns out that gardens are great places to read. Playing Frisbee is also a brilliant thing to do, the challenge is making sure it doesn't fly over the garden fence. It turns out walking is such a great thing to do so I try and head out to the garden whenever possible. It also turns out that music is amazing at letting you vent or boosting your mood, I sat and played songs on my purple acoustic guitar.
Sunday was a heck of a lot better. I spent a couple of hours making a Victoria sponge cake, it turns out that my baking skill ventures beyond "edible" into the realm of "delicious", not only that but cake is a great home-made Mother's day gift so it was a serious win/win. Afterwards I sat outside for more reading and continued my touch-typing course. The evening was spent watching "Noughts+Crosses" on BBC I player, would absolutely recommend reading the book series first. The show is good but not as accurate as I would have liked.
Monday. I finished my book and said to myself "I'm going to be super productive and get all of last Friday's uncompleted work finished" Big nope. I ended up finishing "diary of a somebody", starting "to kill a mockingbird", continuing typing lessons, watching "crash course" on Youtube, signing up to an online journalism course, basically doing literally everything except that. 1 pm rolled around and I did an online session with a maths tutor for the first time. I would usually rather pluck my eyes out than do maths but things change and he made maths tolerable. Not only that but it ended up putting me in the mindset to actually start my history work, which was a major success as I ended up being able to complete it! I rewarded myself by participating in Sarah Crossan's poetry live-stream and spent my evening chatting to people, writing parodies of poems/monologues and finishing "Noughts+Crosses".
I've been working on this post for a while and since then another major change happened. The UK government says that we are now only allowed to leave the house once a day for exercise (this doesn't include being in the garden as far as I know), this was/is a serious blow for everyone and I totally see the importance of putting it in place but that doesn't take away from the fact that this is difficult for everyone.
So at this point you are probably wondering why I'm just talking about my days? There are reasons, the first being this there is lots to do. This is a really great opportunity to learn a new skill, start a new project, get to know yourself, find good quality films, read, play board games, play any form of game, videochat, live-stream, try baking/cooking, get creative, work on mindfulness, study (I am aware that I sound like a teacher here...who cares? I would very much like to enter that career so best start early lol) etc....
Finally this: even through tough periods, time/life still goes on. We get up and face a world we aren't used to yet but we will get there. It's okay to take time out of social media or just take a break from our attempts to try and live normally because this is difficult. It's not something anyone has ever faced before, so we have been forcefully thrust into the position of pioneers. It's scary, however we will get through this. We will get through this by being kind to ourselves and patient with others, looking after our physical and mental health (I'm sure I've said this before but I'm going to repeat it) and above all else, giving ourselves permission to feel how we need to feel. We can't be positive all of the time so when you don't feel positive, don't try and force it. Feel it, express it in a healthy way: cry if you need to, hit a pillow if you need to and laugh if you need to. It's a shitty situation, we will find a way through it and I can't tell you when it will end but I can absolutely promise that THIS WILL NOT LAST FOREVER.
To you, the reader, I am going to recommend this, imagine what the world will be like when this is over. A truly horrific situation with the most amazing outcome. For me this is imagining the enormous street party that my village is planning on doing to celebrate the end of this strange period. It is imagining seeing my girlfriend face-to-face in person for the first time since February. It is seeing family members in the flesh, getting a Starbucks mocha frappucino and going into an actual bookshop to choose a book or two and it is finally being able to hug people.
Thank you all so much for reading, look after yourself, stay safe and I'll see you in the next post
-Amello
24/03/2020
19/03/2020
Being your own teacher
Hi everyone, welcome to another post.
So a lot has happened since Tuesday, namely college has officially closed! For some people that will be a "Hell yeah, freedom!" or a "Thank God my exams have been cancelled" but for those of us who actually like college this is a serious "I understand why this needed to happen but...HOLY HECK THIS SUCKS!" moment. Fear not dear internet friends, there is a solution: teachers continuing teaching online. Yes, my college has adopted the approach of using emails, moodle and google classroom to enable studies to continue and I can honestly say that I am so grateful!
Pre-warning: this blog post is mostly going to be informative so if that isn't your thing, I understand, I hope you stay safe and I'll see you guys in tomorrow's post.
With that said, the studying itself is up to you, which can be a bit of a problem if, like me, the idea of being cooped up with the same people for who knows how long drives you mad. There are solutions, all of these may not necessarily work for you and that's okay, everyone works in a different way and as we are still in the early stages of social distancing/self isolation, I can't guarantee how long they will work for but I can say that hopefully this will give you some...well hope.
My first tip is to get organised and try to stick to your routine as much as possible. Yesterday I found a grid, which let me split up my day into 4 chunks so that I can be productive whilst giving myself a bit of a break. I planned studying to be in regular college hours so that way I can keep in the routine of being at college despite the fact that I am not "physically at college", it also helps make sure I don't fall behind in set work. I then filled in regular college timetable gaps with homework, any time left over I assigned to being creative or chilling out with a book/film/online theatre production.
My next tip is to arrange group chats with peers if you are able to. I study History and English so I created group chats for anyone who is studying the same courses as me, this way we can discuss topics, come together if we need help with any of the work, chat and generally keep each other company. Creating these group chats also means that people can come and go as they please. If you were wondering if they work, absolutely yes.
Take breaks when you would usually take breaks. For me this meant stopping at 12pm to eat lunch, I also ended up participating in @sarahcrossanwriter 's Instagram lesson. She is planning on live-streaming most days at 12 noon and offers writing/poetry workshops and sets challenges. This week's challenge is to memorise a rap/poem or monologue, post a performance video and tag her in it. In case you were wondering, I plan on learning a monologue from "Othello" off by heart so if you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, keep an eye out for that monstrosity :)
Another thing I did during my break was go for a half an hour walk, if you are on full lock-down I appreciate that this is not possible and I genuinely hope things get better for you. I am lucky enough to not be on full lock-down yet and to live in a rural area with lots of access to the countryside, which means that I am able to exercise whilst still being able to participate in social distancing. Exercise is really good for mental health so I recommend doing some if you are able to, even if it means following along to a home exercise video.
If your studies rely on emails for communication, check your emails regularly! Whilst I was studying today, I set aside a tab so I could receive a notification whenever emails came in. This also meant that it was easier for me to contact my teacher to explain that my work would be submitted an hour or two later than the deadline. Keeping communication open, especially with teachers, is really important! During college hours this means that I have the opportunity to ask questions or just ask for book/further materials recommendations. That being said, teachers are always open for you to ask for extra resources that support their subject but not necessarily the course you are studying, I asked for recommendations for books about literary criticism and poetry and my teacher was kind enough to give me some exciting suggestions.
Music really helps if you are studying alone or helps if your house is noisy. If it's requested, I'll do a whole post about music because my music tastes are a bit all over the place lol.
Another thing which is really good for concentration is a PAID app called "Forest" (this is not sponsored, the app is just useful). Basically you set a timer for how long you want to study for, plant a tree in the app and your tree grows during the set time. If you leave the app, the tree dies and you end up with a dead tree in your forest so the goal is to fill your forest with lots of fully grown trees. If you are a bit sceptical, fair enough, I was too but then I became really attached to my trees and felt really sad if they died. So far I have 2 fully grown trees and 2 dead ones. You can also change the type of tree you plant and earn more virtual coins to buy trees by participating in sessions. In case you were wondering, this isn't one of those apps you can just use for studying, I used it to stop myself looking at every single notification whilst trying to chill out and read.
Stay as productive/busy/occupied as possible. You may be the type of person who can not do much and stay chill during this really uncertain period, I respect that! I just happen not to be one of those people. I generally do well at staying calm during a crisis/strange time so long as I keep myself busy and give myself less time to think about what's going on. To be honest, I keep an eye on the news as a way of seeing how I can help protect myself and others from the virus as well as waiting to hear when this will all be over because this will end eventually. Back to the point, when I'm not studying, I'm doing something that I enjoy to both keep myself happy and distracted.
One final thing I want to talk about. Communication. I know, recently I have gone on about it a lot but it's just so important! I contact people when I feel able to and I respond to messages as soon as possible not just because I am a bit of an extrovert but because I want to help keep communication open/help others feel less alone. By responding when I feel able to, I give myself the chance to have some space alone if I don't have the energy or want a break from social media.
Bit of a longer post today. Thank you so much for reading, stay safe, stay as positive as possible and I'll see you soon
-Amello
So a lot has happened since Tuesday, namely college has officially closed! For some people that will be a "Hell yeah, freedom!" or a "Thank God my exams have been cancelled" but for those of us who actually like college this is a serious "I understand why this needed to happen but...HOLY HECK THIS SUCKS!" moment. Fear not dear internet friends, there is a solution: teachers continuing teaching online. Yes, my college has adopted the approach of using emails, moodle and google classroom to enable studies to continue and I can honestly say that I am so grateful!
Pre-warning: this blog post is mostly going to be informative so if that isn't your thing, I understand, I hope you stay safe and I'll see you guys in tomorrow's post.
With that said, the studying itself is up to you, which can be a bit of a problem if, like me, the idea of being cooped up with the same people for who knows how long drives you mad. There are solutions, all of these may not necessarily work for you and that's okay, everyone works in a different way and as we are still in the early stages of social distancing/self isolation, I can't guarantee how long they will work for but I can say that hopefully this will give you some...well hope.
My first tip is to get organised and try to stick to your routine as much as possible. Yesterday I found a grid, which let me split up my day into 4 chunks so that I can be productive whilst giving myself a bit of a break. I planned studying to be in regular college hours so that way I can keep in the routine of being at college despite the fact that I am not "physically at college", it also helps make sure I don't fall behind in set work. I then filled in regular college timetable gaps with homework, any time left over I assigned to being creative or chilling out with a book/film/online theatre production.
My next tip is to arrange group chats with peers if you are able to. I study History and English so I created group chats for anyone who is studying the same courses as me, this way we can discuss topics, come together if we need help with any of the work, chat and generally keep each other company. Creating these group chats also means that people can come and go as they please. If you were wondering if they work, absolutely yes.
Take breaks when you would usually take breaks. For me this meant stopping at 12pm to eat lunch, I also ended up participating in @sarahcrossanwriter 's Instagram lesson. She is planning on live-streaming most days at 12 noon and offers writing/poetry workshops and sets challenges. This week's challenge is to memorise a rap/poem or monologue, post a performance video and tag her in it. In case you were wondering, I plan on learning a monologue from "Othello" off by heart so if you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, keep an eye out for that monstrosity :)
Another thing I did during my break was go for a half an hour walk, if you are on full lock-down I appreciate that this is not possible and I genuinely hope things get better for you. I am lucky enough to not be on full lock-down yet and to live in a rural area with lots of access to the countryside, which means that I am able to exercise whilst still being able to participate in social distancing. Exercise is really good for mental health so I recommend doing some if you are able to, even if it means following along to a home exercise video.
If your studies rely on emails for communication, check your emails regularly! Whilst I was studying today, I set aside a tab so I could receive a notification whenever emails came in. This also meant that it was easier for me to contact my teacher to explain that my work would be submitted an hour or two later than the deadline. Keeping communication open, especially with teachers, is really important! During college hours this means that I have the opportunity to ask questions or just ask for book/further materials recommendations. That being said, teachers are always open for you to ask for extra resources that support their subject but not necessarily the course you are studying, I asked for recommendations for books about literary criticism and poetry and my teacher was kind enough to give me some exciting suggestions.
Music really helps if you are studying alone or helps if your house is noisy. If it's requested, I'll do a whole post about music because my music tastes are a bit all over the place lol.
Another thing which is really good for concentration is a PAID app called "Forest" (this is not sponsored, the app is just useful). Basically you set a timer for how long you want to study for, plant a tree in the app and your tree grows during the set time. If you leave the app, the tree dies and you end up with a dead tree in your forest so the goal is to fill your forest with lots of fully grown trees. If you are a bit sceptical, fair enough, I was too but then I became really attached to my trees and felt really sad if they died. So far I have 2 fully grown trees and 2 dead ones. You can also change the type of tree you plant and earn more virtual coins to buy trees by participating in sessions. In case you were wondering, this isn't one of those apps you can just use for studying, I used it to stop myself looking at every single notification whilst trying to chill out and read.
Stay as productive/busy/occupied as possible. You may be the type of person who can not do much and stay chill during this really uncertain period, I respect that! I just happen not to be one of those people. I generally do well at staying calm during a crisis/strange time so long as I keep myself busy and give myself less time to think about what's going on. To be honest, I keep an eye on the news as a way of seeing how I can help protect myself and others from the virus as well as waiting to hear when this will all be over because this will end eventually. Back to the point, when I'm not studying, I'm doing something that I enjoy to both keep myself happy and distracted.
One final thing I want to talk about. Communication. I know, recently I have gone on about it a lot but it's just so important! I contact people when I feel able to and I respond to messages as soon as possible not just because I am a bit of an extrovert but because I want to help keep communication open/help others feel less alone. By responding when I feel able to, I give myself the chance to have some space alone if I don't have the energy or want a break from social media.
Bit of a longer post today. Thank you so much for reading, stay safe, stay as positive as possible and I'll see you soon
-Amello
18/03/2020
Handling social isolation for theatre folks
Hello everyone,
Today's post happens to be a request: "Now that the theatres are closed and classes are being cancelled, what are theatre people doing?"
Short answer, people are doing a lot. So let's get into the long answer...
As a theatre lover (although ex-thespian) I naturally turned to social media. The first thing I looked at was theatrical accounts on Instagram, where I found @officialbroadwayworld. Recently they have been posting utterly hilarious pictures of what they call #SocialDistancingMusicals, as well as living room musicals and various virtual things related to musical theatre. It's seriously good so go and check it out if you get the chance. I also follow @londontheatrereveiws for updates about news concerning the west end and @westendquiz for quizzes and fandom related things.
On to the biggest hub (as far as I know) for theatre fans...Facebook. There are so many groups and forums to join!
I ended up participating in an online acting opportunity called "Sofa Shakespeare" as the result of of joining "Shakespeare Forum". "Sofa Shakespeare" is a call out for people to submit 1 min extracts from the Shakespeare play (lines are assigned via email if you chose to sign up) that is selected, everyone's clips will be edited into a full play and then will be available for the world to see i.e. released into the internet jungle. The first play is Romeo and Juliet and the deadline for submission was 4pm UK time today. I played Romeo for the first time and performed lines from Act 5, scene 3 (one of my friends agreed to film it so shout out to her. Thanks for the help, you were ace!). I haven't done any acting whatsoever since November so my performance was mediocre but that doesn't matter because its all in good spirits! It was also really fun being able to perform a monologue outside on a field. Random I know...anyway, I am excited to see how the film works out!
Other theatre related Facebook groups I am a part of are: "Theatre Geeks", "Hamilton West End Community", "All Things West End" and "All Things Audition!" . Each group offers something different so it's a good idea to have a look through the posts and see what appeals to you.
Basically, there's a whole world of possibilities on the internet for thespians to explore so go and have fun with it!
Bit of a short post today because I wanted to stay on topic and hopefully aid in keeping people's spirits up. A lot has happened in UK news today so I'll shed a light on what that means for me soon and how I plan on keeping my spirits up, in the hopes that it may help you keep positive or make you feel less alone during such a crazy period of time.
Remember that it's okay to feel pessimistic and upset by what has been going on but people are here to help, so don't be afraid to reach out to people and professionals on websites/social media/phone calls etc. Also remember to keep in touch with people if you are able to i.e. ask them how they are. Loneliness is an issue but we can help keep each other company. We will absolutely get through this difficult situation together!
If you have any post requests, let me know either on the official Instagram account for this blog @words.ofworlds or in the comments below.
Thanks for reading and I'll see you later!
- Amello
Today's post happens to be a request: "Now that the theatres are closed and classes are being cancelled, what are theatre people doing?"
Short answer, people are doing a lot. So let's get into the long answer...
As a theatre lover (although ex-thespian) I naturally turned to social media. The first thing I looked at was theatrical accounts on Instagram, where I found @officialbroadwayworld. Recently they have been posting utterly hilarious pictures of what they call #SocialDistancingMusicals, as well as living room musicals and various virtual things related to musical theatre. It's seriously good so go and check it out if you get the chance. I also follow @londontheatrereveiws for updates about news concerning the west end and @westendquiz for quizzes and fandom related things.
On to the biggest hub (as far as I know) for theatre fans...Facebook. There are so many groups and forums to join!
I ended up participating in an online acting opportunity called "Sofa Shakespeare" as the result of of joining "Shakespeare Forum". "Sofa Shakespeare" is a call out for people to submit 1 min extracts from the Shakespeare play (lines are assigned via email if you chose to sign up) that is selected, everyone's clips will be edited into a full play and then will be available for the world to see i.e. released into the internet jungle. The first play is Romeo and Juliet and the deadline for submission was 4pm UK time today. I played Romeo for the first time and performed lines from Act 5, scene 3 (one of my friends agreed to film it so shout out to her. Thanks for the help, you were ace!). I haven't done any acting whatsoever since November so my performance was mediocre but that doesn't matter because its all in good spirits! It was also really fun being able to perform a monologue outside on a field. Random I know...anyway, I am excited to see how the film works out!
Other theatre related Facebook groups I am a part of are: "Theatre Geeks", "Hamilton West End Community", "All Things West End" and "All Things Audition!" . Each group offers something different so it's a good idea to have a look through the posts and see what appeals to you.
Basically, there's a whole world of possibilities on the internet for thespians to explore so go and have fun with it!
Bit of a short post today because I wanted to stay on topic and hopefully aid in keeping people's spirits up. A lot has happened in UK news today so I'll shed a light on what that means for me soon and how I plan on keeping my spirits up, in the hopes that it may help you keep positive or make you feel less alone during such a crazy period of time.
Remember that it's okay to feel pessimistic and upset by what has been going on but people are here to help, so don't be afraid to reach out to people and professionals on websites/social media/phone calls etc. Also remember to keep in touch with people if you are able to i.e. ask them how they are. Loneliness is an issue but we can help keep each other company. We will absolutely get through this difficult situation together!
If you have any post requests, let me know either on the official Instagram account for this blog @words.ofworlds or in the comments below.
Thanks for reading and I'll see you later!
- Amello
17/03/2020
The last day of true freedom (for a while)
Hello Everyone, Amello here!
Today felt like what I imagine the last good day before the apocalypse would be like. Weird. We all kinda had a feeling that the UK would eventually go into preparation mode but we weren't sure when exactly that would be. Well folks, as the result of yesterday's news about not going to all of the exciting places like theatres and pubs, we are officially in prep-mode. So what did this mean for me? Making the most of my last day of actual freedom. Yes, I said to myself "if today is the last day of freedom for a while, not only am I going to prep but I am going to socialise and have a lot of fun!"
So I didn't come to college via public transport for the first time in...how long? I got dropped off and it felt weird but on the plus side, it gave me a good hour to listen to quality music in the form of: Cavetown, Lady Gaga, Sara Bareilles, the strike, Panic! at the disco, Brandi Carlile and the &Juliet cast recording. A bit of everything but screw it, a good song is a good song no matter the artist (she says as she has just listed artists, much irony).
I ended up getting to college 2 hours early because my driver (otherwise known as a parent because I haven't got my licence yet) couldn't drop me off any later. Fear not, I had things to do. Namely homework that I spent the weekend productively procrastinating. I have decided that productive procrastination is a thing as I ended up DIYing a denim jacket. Feeling a bit too cocky, I put my book on the side thinking that I wouldn't need a full 2 hours to complete the reading/note taking homework. I was so wrong. It turns out that anything written by a literary critic needs to be translated into English. Basically, at the end of 2 hours, I traipsed over to Early Modern History with a page yet to be translated.
Student teachers are always interesting. I have to admit, I felt bad for the guy because he told us that he only found out that he would be teaching the lesson an hour before. Fun times! We spent the best part of said hour making mind-maps in groups about either the peasants or the upper class, focusing on what impact the French Revolution had on them. My group were assigned the peasants and not only did we make a mind map but we ranked the gains and losses in order of significance. Riveting stuff I know but try to contain your excitement because it gets so much better. The sub didn't come with puns and jokes like we are all accustomed to but he was nice all the same, if a bit quiet. That being said, I respect the quietness. It must be truly terrifying to not only be teaching 6th former's but winging it with a lesson plan you've only recently received, well done sub! You did yourself proud. Bonus: we left class at 11:30!
I spent my extra time in the library, trying to translate the dreaded page and make notes in half an hour. Success! I even had enough time to borrow 5 books (Lord of the flies, The perks of being a wallflower, To kill a mocking bird, One flew over the cuckoos nest and The colour purple) before meeting up with a friend and discussing life stuff. I might start calling Tuesday lunchtimes "life lunches" because we always end up having deep conversations (which I thoroughly enjoy). Although he is interested in a local eco-club so I might have to re-think the re-name if I decide to join him. Lets face it, I probably will.
Then along came English and thus came the exclamation of "fuck me" under my breath as I realised that the homework I spent all morning doing and all weekend procrastinating, wasn't due until next Friday. Well done me for mucking up timings yet again! I love studying "Othello" but I must admit, a romantic comedy would do a better job at keeping everyone's spirits up i.e. "Much ado about nothing" or better still "A midsummer nights dream". Just saying. Anyway English was as awesome as usual #favelessonoftheday . To be fair, I wouldn't have picked it if I didn't like it...moving on to the actual prep-part of my day...
I decided to make the most of the fact that I am currently still able to leave the house by walking all the way into town. It took me an hour and my fingers went purple, it was so worth it!!! Of course I did what any normal person would do to fix the hand situation, I bought a bottle of mango juice because logic. I had been lucky to have been kindly gifted enough money to get 2 books so I made a bee-line for waterstones. Upon arrival, I rushed upstairs to the sci-fi section (I've recently become obsessed with dystopian fiction) to find THE BOOK. They had it! I got my mits on the last copy of "The library of the unwritten" having looked for it for the past 2 weeks. Once I got out of fangirl mode, I picked up a copy of "Aristotle and Dante discover the secrets of the universe" and headed over to Krispy Kreme.
They are now selling smiley face doughnuts because apparently Saturday is world happiness day, I'm wondering how exactly that one's going to go considering things. Put it this way, I plan to spend the day either reading or doing a time lapse of a painting, which is in no way going to look as artistic as I think it will because I am a hobby artist. It will be fun either way!
Back to the doughnuts, I devoured the smiley face doughnut whilst simultaneously sinking my teeth into the book I bought last Friday: "Diary of a somebody". So far I've read up until March, its damn good and freaking hilarious. The poetry is brilliant!
I then had the sudden impulse to walk along the seafront so I did that. I am based in a land-locked place so the sea feels like a refreshing sight. Suddenly I had the realisation that my bus was due to leave (today I could only be dropped off one-way so I had to get the bus back) in 10 mins so I soniced up to the stop and spent the journey reading with my headphones in. It sounds like a stupid decision but busses make me sleepy so the music helps me stay awake and reading defeats the object because it makes me zone out. Either way, I've only screwed up my journey 6 ish times by doing this so...I'm going to keep doing it. What's the worst that could happen? (famous last words but that's besides the point)
I think that was a pretty decent way to spend the daylight portion of my day, as I'm writing this, I'm thinking that I will be productive and read something "useful" like an article about literary criticism because my English teacher converted me into a potential non-fiction reader. Actually no, that's not true, he's sparked my interest in literary criticism and I need to remember to ask for another book recommendation at some point. I'll say that and completely forget because I'm me. Yet another tangent, wow!
Knowing me, I'll spend my evening on social media and watch a few baking compilations until I fall asleep. On that note "knowing me", do I know me? Existential crisis point reached, I'm tired lol.
So that's all for today, thanks for reading and I'll see you in the next post.
Today felt like what I imagine the last good day before the apocalypse would be like. Weird. We all kinda had a feeling that the UK would eventually go into preparation mode but we weren't sure when exactly that would be. Well folks, as the result of yesterday's news about not going to all of the exciting places like theatres and pubs, we are officially in prep-mode. So what did this mean for me? Making the most of my last day of actual freedom. Yes, I said to myself "if today is the last day of freedom for a while, not only am I going to prep but I am going to socialise and have a lot of fun!"
So I didn't come to college via public transport for the first time in...how long? I got dropped off and it felt weird but on the plus side, it gave me a good hour to listen to quality music in the form of: Cavetown, Lady Gaga, Sara Bareilles, the strike, Panic! at the disco, Brandi Carlile and the &Juliet cast recording. A bit of everything but screw it, a good song is a good song no matter the artist (she says as she has just listed artists, much irony).
I ended up getting to college 2 hours early because my driver (otherwise known as a parent because I haven't got my licence yet) couldn't drop me off any later. Fear not, I had things to do. Namely homework that I spent the weekend productively procrastinating. I have decided that productive procrastination is a thing as I ended up DIYing a denim jacket. Feeling a bit too cocky, I put my book on the side thinking that I wouldn't need a full 2 hours to complete the reading/note taking homework. I was so wrong. It turns out that anything written by a literary critic needs to be translated into English. Basically, at the end of 2 hours, I traipsed over to Early Modern History with a page yet to be translated.
Student teachers are always interesting. I have to admit, I felt bad for the guy because he told us that he only found out that he would be teaching the lesson an hour before. Fun times! We spent the best part of said hour making mind-maps in groups about either the peasants or the upper class, focusing on what impact the French Revolution had on them. My group were assigned the peasants and not only did we make a mind map but we ranked the gains and losses in order of significance. Riveting stuff I know but try to contain your excitement because it gets so much better. The sub didn't come with puns and jokes like we are all accustomed to but he was nice all the same, if a bit quiet. That being said, I respect the quietness. It must be truly terrifying to not only be teaching 6th former's but winging it with a lesson plan you've only recently received, well done sub! You did yourself proud. Bonus: we left class at 11:30!
I spent my extra time in the library, trying to translate the dreaded page and make notes in half an hour. Success! I even had enough time to borrow 5 books (Lord of the flies, The perks of being a wallflower, To kill a mocking bird, One flew over the cuckoos nest and The colour purple) before meeting up with a friend and discussing life stuff. I might start calling Tuesday lunchtimes "life lunches" because we always end up having deep conversations (which I thoroughly enjoy). Although he is interested in a local eco-club so I might have to re-think the re-name if I decide to join him. Lets face it, I probably will.
Then along came English and thus came the exclamation of "fuck me" under my breath as I realised that the homework I spent all morning doing and all weekend procrastinating, wasn't due until next Friday. Well done me for mucking up timings yet again! I love studying "Othello" but I must admit, a romantic comedy would do a better job at keeping everyone's spirits up i.e. "Much ado about nothing" or better still "A midsummer nights dream". Just saying. Anyway English was as awesome as usual #favelessonoftheday . To be fair, I wouldn't have picked it if I didn't like it...moving on to the actual prep-part of my day...
I decided to make the most of the fact that I am currently still able to leave the house by walking all the way into town. It took me an hour and my fingers went purple, it was so worth it!!! Of course I did what any normal person would do to fix the hand situation, I bought a bottle of mango juice because logic. I had been lucky to have been kindly gifted enough money to get 2 books so I made a bee-line for waterstones. Upon arrival, I rushed upstairs to the sci-fi section (I've recently become obsessed with dystopian fiction) to find THE BOOK. They had it! I got my mits on the last copy of "The library of the unwritten" having looked for it for the past 2 weeks. Once I got out of fangirl mode, I picked up a copy of "Aristotle and Dante discover the secrets of the universe" and headed over to Krispy Kreme.
They are now selling smiley face doughnuts because apparently Saturday is world happiness day, I'm wondering how exactly that one's going to go considering things. Put it this way, I plan to spend the day either reading or doing a time lapse of a painting, which is in no way going to look as artistic as I think it will because I am a hobby artist. It will be fun either way!
Back to the doughnuts, I devoured the smiley face doughnut whilst simultaneously sinking my teeth into the book I bought last Friday: "Diary of a somebody". So far I've read up until March, its damn good and freaking hilarious. The poetry is brilliant!
I then had the sudden impulse to walk along the seafront so I did that. I am based in a land-locked place so the sea feels like a refreshing sight. Suddenly I had the realisation that my bus was due to leave (today I could only be dropped off one-way so I had to get the bus back) in 10 mins so I soniced up to the stop and spent the journey reading with my headphones in. It sounds like a stupid decision but busses make me sleepy so the music helps me stay awake and reading defeats the object because it makes me zone out. Either way, I've only screwed up my journey 6 ish times by doing this so...I'm going to keep doing it. What's the worst that could happen? (famous last words but that's besides the point)
I think that was a pretty decent way to spend the daylight portion of my day, as I'm writing this, I'm thinking that I will be productive and read something "useful" like an article about literary criticism because my English teacher converted me into a potential non-fiction reader. Actually no, that's not true, he's sparked my interest in literary criticism and I need to remember to ask for another book recommendation at some point. I'll say that and completely forget because I'm me. Yet another tangent, wow!
Knowing me, I'll spend my evening on social media and watch a few baking compilations until I fall asleep. On that note "knowing me", do I know me? Existential crisis point reached, I'm tired lol.
So that's all for today, thanks for reading and I'll see you in the next post.
16/03/2020
I'm back!!!
Hi Everyone,
so as you all probably know, the world has gone into shut down mode as the result of a deadly virus. Fear not! My blog is back and I am back online to keep you company.
This blog is getting a bit of a re-vamp, not only will I be talking about theatre books but now I will be talking about...everything.
Basically this blog is going to become more of a life blog so enjoy!
I am going to be posting more regularly as I have now found myself with a fair amount of free time so that's also awesome news!
If you have any suggestions for posts or if there is anything you want my opinion on either leave it in the comments below or hit me up on my social medias.
My twitter is @bookish_hound
and
the Instagram for this blog is @words.ofworlds
I will be doing a poll somewhere in the future to decide whether or not to keep the name of this blog.
See you in the next post
-Amello
so as you all probably know, the world has gone into shut down mode as the result of a deadly virus. Fear not! My blog is back and I am back online to keep you company.
This blog is getting a bit of a re-vamp, not only will I be talking about theatre books but now I will be talking about...everything.
Basically this blog is going to become more of a life blog so enjoy!
I am going to be posting more regularly as I have now found myself with a fair amount of free time so that's also awesome news!
If you have any suggestions for posts or if there is anything you want my opinion on either leave it in the comments below or hit me up on my social medias.
My twitter is @bookish_hound
and
the Instagram for this blog is @words.ofworlds
I will be doing a poll somewhere in the future to decide whether or not to keep the name of this blog.
See you in the next post
-Amello
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