Thoughts from the hippie

 

 mmmmhhhmm.

Thoughts from the hippie

What Have I Done Today?!

A few blog posts ago I wrote about how I was going to try to motivate myself in everyday life by simply writing down "What have I done today?" and "What do I want to achieve tomorrow?". Overall this simple technique has been very successful for me.

I've finished uni for this semester, I have a month off and I want to feel like I'm actually doing something everyday rather than just simply work and laze around the house. So by writing down and asking myself "What have I done today", even if it's just playing music, reading or practicing Spanish, for me that makes me feel like I have done something rather than lay on the couch on the internet or watching TV until I have to go to work that night. 

So far this week I have been to the gym everyday, cleaned up around the house, gone rock climbing, practiced Spanish, started writing again, playing music and caught up with a couple of friends. Over the weekend I'm checking out a gig I won tickets to for Saturday night, having my Spanish lesson, hanging out with a friend on Sunday and hopefully doing anything else that comes up. So although these aren't any major exciting thrilling things, I find just doing at least one productive thing a day makes me feel a lot happier with myself and with life, that I am not just wasting my time.

I'm sure after a while I'll stop writing things down as I more or less make more of a conscious effort to do more in my life, but for now this is working for me and I'd recommend doing this for anyone who feels that they're just not getting enough out of life.

On another note, not only finishing uni for the semester I have also completed my 3 month Hello Sunday Morning. Hello Sunday Morning is simply an opportunity to take a 3 month/6month/12month break from drinking. I didn't have a drinking problem, for me this was just another experience, and at the end of it all, an extremely positive experience which I'm happy I did. Here's a link to my page on Hello Sunday Morning with my blogs from my experience http://hellosundaymorning.com.au/members/rhiannonrymer/.

To finish this post off, a quote from Jimi Hendrix,
"All I'm gonna do is just go on and do what I feel"
yyeeeaaaahhhh

Thoughts from the hippie

Pandas are just so damn cute!

Thoughts from the hippie

Thoughts from the hippie

Thoughts from the hippie

Taking a break from studying I thought I’d use this time to get a few thoughts down about what I’ve noticed about the dreaded uni exam weeks. For those of you who don’t know, for the University of Queensland at the end of each semester there is a week called SWOTVAC which is simply a week with no lectures or tutes which you’re meant to spend studying for the coming two weeks which for a lot of people is filled with four or less exams spread out over these two weeks.

For myself I have three exams this week (today, tomorrow and Thursday) and my final exam the following Thursday. During this period of SWOTVAC and the start of my exams here is what I have noticed:

1). I seem to be hurting myself a lot. Seriously, you should see my left knee…. it has three bruises and a scratch. Nothing to complain about or anything, but my hands have also been the victim of random scratches and marks nearly everyday and I have no idea how I’m managing to do this!

2). Nutrition and exercise seems to go out the window. I have been trying to stay healthy so I don’t put on weight, which I do very easy, but when you’re studying I find it’s so easy without even noticing to just snack and snack and snack. Luckily I haven’t gained weight yet, but these past couple of days I’ve eaten too much without noticing until that night when I think about what I ate during the day.

3). Facebook, facebook, facebook! Even if I don’t check Facebook for an hour or so while I’m studying, I still have it up in the background. I have no idea why I do this either. Whenever I go on Facebook for an actual reason, it won’t take me longer than 10 minutes and I’m done, but come exam time and it’s constantly up on my computer background when I’m not even on it that much when I don’t have exams, why do I suddenly turn into a crazy facebook person?!

And finally

4). The day before an actual exam is when I get the most productive study done. Not the morning of the exam, not the whole week before the exam, but the day before. During SWOTVAC I did take that week off work so I could study, which I did everyday, but a lot of the time, certain things just wouldn’t sink in and at the end of the day, even though I may have spent the whole day at uni with my notes, going through lectures and past exams, a lot of the time I still felt like I had achieved nothing.

So this blog entry is nothing overly interesting, just a few of my thoughts which have been floating around tonight. The exam I had today went great! It was a statistics exam and there were only a few surprises, but I still managed to answer everything and I feel completely fine with it and really happy of the effort I put in for it. My exam tomorrow is on chemistry, Thursday’s exam is all about soil and the following Thursday my exam is about environmental management and resource planning. Chemistry and soil I’m not confident at all with and I’m extremely worried. The one on the following Thursday should go alright, so I’m not worried there.

The other day I went to grab something to eat from this vegan place in the city I go to a lot, VegeRama. I was talking to the guy about feeling kind of stressed about my exams, his response was: “You’re always so happy and smiling all the time, so don’t worry, you’ll do fine with your exams!”

If only all it took was a smile and happiness to pass exams!

Thoughts from the hippie

Thoughts from the hippie

I don't think any other musician or band affects me as emotionally quite like Justin Vernon does. Every time I listen to his solo music or Bon Iver, it stirs something up inside of me. I've just finished listening to Bon Iver's new album 'Bon Iver, Bon Iver' and I think it is pure perfection. Here's a link where you can have a listen to it too: http://6thfloor.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/09/listen-to-the-new-bon-iver-record/

Can't wait to buy the album!