Genius. :)

last 5 days of June 2023

had a whole caption for this with what I'm up to, but I'll let the pics speak for themselves (other than the lower left one, that's homemade coffee jelly with home made, manually whisked whipped cream, hahaha)

but instead, i've been thinking of things to do for this gap year (not in order of priority)

learn spanish – suddenly thought how none of us spoke Spanish anymore, my grandmother on mama's side is 1/2 Spanish, I think she was the last to speak the language. ik i have a loooong way to go wit Korean, Japanese and Mandarin (actually ... i think i just forgot all i learned w mandarin from how a lot of things are happening at once ??) also this would most likely be easier than the ones i started, according to mama haha

get part time job/s – this girl needs money for books 😮‍💨 i'm not much of a spender but uni requires so much so this time i want to buy something non-academic ??

read lots of books again !!!

learn sign language – something i feel is very important.

consistently work out + eat healthier this time please – lowkey want to start befriending my enemy: cardio

appreciate more, wake up earlier again

be more consistent with my quiet and prayer times.

do lots of volunteer work

improve on my lacking areas (eg social skills 🥸)

spend more time with my family and pets ofc, something that's 10th here but is top priority before i start internship

with those tho i'll be allotting study times respiratory therapy related. very grateful to have found a mentor at this time, sometimes having someone such as your prof tell you they believe you can do great things is very heart warming, inspirational and makes you really go for that goal or more !!

anw tho its 1145pm at the moment, haven't finished working out but very determined to better myself — new month, new week, new opportunities and beginnings.

runnning lowww on serotonin

girl in red aka marie ulven ringheim <3

been vibing to this song lately and i think im absolutely in love with her because of the way this music is produced and the lyrics (after referring to genius).

i dont like all the artists working or producing music for mental health/highlighting mental issue but i really love GIR because -

that is a GIRL

that is MARIE aka GIR (loml)

these two reasons are enough?

but jokes apart, i really love the way she works on her music and delivers the exact message and the feeling we are supposed to be feeling after listening to a song by her which is really tough in today's time. its said that music is a time capsule and besides this it has the power to make every individual feel something different and hence a bunch of feelings projecting out from a single song??? wohooo powerful, no? YES!

(bts - i relate/ used to relate to music which talks about mental health and feeling low and similar stuff. i have been there so maybe thats why? and ofc i still think about this question that "am i really supposed to be feeling this way? or am i just being too much?" so i try to suppress my feeling and in turn i gift myself a breakdown. we are dealing with something, isnt it? we got this! it gets better. trust me.)

<8

ok so hear me out.

i was watching reels on instagram and then this reel pops up it says "when is something that you do for yourself?"

i ask this to myself or simply answer it like it was meant for me. i say "photography" and the last time i did it was this morning when i woke up to a beautiful sunset and i rushed to capture it because it was different of orange and brown (picture inserted).

my answer is followed by a thought in my head which brings me to tumblr because i wanted to save it here. it says that i clicked the picture and sent it to a friend or two and while i rushing to take the picture of the sky in the back of my mind i had this thing that they like the pictures of the sky and cloud and this sucks. not that they like but that SOMETHING THAT I DO FOR MYSELF - PHOTOGRAPHY is linked to someone now! i am destroying my art. my creativity. i feel so ashamed and embarrassed because i should have never done this in the first place. i was doing one thing for myself and i linked it to someone now and its not for me anymore?

i sincerely apologise to my art. ill be very attentive from now on and what follows my thought cause seconds thoughts are always important and its important to know whats going on in your brain. so just take a look at your brain like you are peeping out of your window and you can see the road? the buildings? the stuff going on there? and all.

wanna recreate this irl.

㋡🥀

Five Quick Tips For Better Notes

Preview the reading. Spend 1-2 minutes and skim through the material. Look at headings to see what the major concepts will be. Use these to help check your understanding by turning the heading into a question.

Jot down facts that are new to you. (terms, dates, names, etc.). By making a short note of these you are actually building yourself a custom study tool to work on memorization for the exam. If you don’t make note of them, how will you ever know what you need to memorize?

Look for cues in the text. Words like “3 steps to…”, bold words, or italicized words can indicate important information.

Make note of questions you have about concepts. Just make a note, flag it as a question, and keep moving. This keeps you from getting stuck on one thing for too long, but you also won’t forget it was fuzzy. You’ll be able to come back later and decide if it does make sense after reviewing more of the resource or if you need to dig back into the area.

Build your notes in question/answer form. Use the objectives and/or headings to give you some starting questions and work to answer them in your own words. These also convert really well on quizlet.com for easy review.

Try It Yourself: 30-Minute Challenge

Grab your textbook, notebook, and a pen.

Do a quick 2-minute preview to get an idea of what is covered in the upcoming chapter.

Using the other tips above, take notes on the chapter.

Review your notes. Are they short? Will they help you to study for the exam a couple of weeks down the road?

Free MIT online courses that sound interesting

Arts & Literature

Introduction to World Music

Reading Fiction

Literary Interpretation: Virginia Woolf's Shakespeare

Introduction to Photography

Foundations of Western Culture II: Renaissance to Modernity

Studies in Poetry - Briths Poetry and the Sciences of the Mind

Studies in Literary History: Modernism: From Nietzsche to Fellini

Screen Women: Body Narratives in Popular American Film

Studies in Poetry: "What's the Use of Beauty"

Queer Cinema and Visual Culture

Monteverdi to Mozart: 1600 - 1800

Writing and Experience: Reading and Writing Autobiography

Advanced Topics in Hispanic Literature and Film: The Films of Luis Buñel

Major Authors: Rewriting Genesis: "Paradise Lost" and Twentieth-Century Fantasy

Arthurian Literature and Celtic Colonization

Contemporary Literature: Britsh Novel Now

Studies in Poetry: 20th Century Irish Poetry: The Shadow of W. B. Yeats

Writing About Literature: Writing About Love

Introduction to European and Latin American Fiction: Great Books On The Page and On The Screen

Popular Culture and Narrative: Use and Abuse of the Fairy Tale

Victorian Literature and Culture

Reading Poetry

English Renaissance Drama: Theatre and Society in the Age of Shakespeare

Introduction to Fiction

International Woman's Voice

Major Authors: Oscar Wilde and the "90's"

Prizewinners: Nobelistas

American Authors: American Women Authors

Shakespeare, Film and Media

Japanese Literature and Cinema

Woman's Novels: A Weekly Book Club

Classics of Chinese Literature

Major English Novels

Topics in South Asia Literature and Culture

Introduction to Literary Theory

History & Social Studies

American Classics

The Middle East in the 20th Century

Africa and the Politics of Knowledge

The Rise of Modern Science

European Imperialism in the 19th and 20th Century

Philosophy of Love

Human Rights: At Home and Abroad

The Nature of Creativity

Introduction to Comparative Politics

Riots, Rebellions, Revolutions

Introduction to the History of Technology

Ancient Philosophy

Youth Political Participation

give up on me (don't)

sometimes talking really helps. like you can talk to the person who you think is not interested in talking to you. and you can surprise yourself by getting this answer that you were never bad or irritating to them and in the end, you are left with this question "you really wanna be friends right?". lol. ofc yes. love. no. no. this is a crime. and again im tangled up in my thoughts. i don't wanna be here (in my head is what i mean). i like talking to you. thank you. im grateful so ty and here we are with "don't be" and "don't".

thank you lol.

(to that constant person of my life - im not givin' up, im not givin' up givin' up no not me, even if nobody else believes, im not goin' down that easily..... i will fight. i will fight for you. i always do until my heart is black and blue.)

why do we even need brain to write and tell stuff when we are sad. why cant we just copy paste our emotions right in the chat or blog whatever.

im so excited for fall semester ⏳🧸💌

all pictures are from pinterest!

yooo how do u email a prof for a recommendation letter?

Hi Professor!

I am in the process of applying to ____ and they require letters of rec. I sincerely enjoyed your classes, and felt that they gave me a particularly good chance to display my strengths, such as ____ [class participation, writing, etc.] and would love for you to write me a letter, if you’d be willing. The due date is ____, and I can send you further instructions for submission later if you accept.

Attached to this email is ____, the piece of work I did in your class which best showcases my abilities, as well as my current CV [or resume]. If you agree to write me a letter, soon I will also send you drafts of my ____ [statement of purpose, personal statement, application essays, other relevant material] for my application to aid in your writing. I am also happy to meet in person to discuss this with you.

I want to stress that this application is quite competitive, so if you feel you will not be able to write me a strong letter then I completely understand - but please let me know. Thank you so much for your time!

Sincerely, ____

—

a few notes:

- you should have all your relevant materials (app essays, etc.) sent to them *at least* a month in advance to give them ample time to write the letter

- thus, your initial email asking them if they’d be willing to write a letter for you should be sent *over* a month in advance. professors are busy

- if you are applying for a really prestigious position/scholarship/fellowship, or grad school, it’s best to have at least a majority of your letter writers be professors (rather than adjuncts or post docs). ideally you’d want them to be full/tenured professors. in lots of cases, especially academic ones, *who* writes your letter matters - not just *what’s in* your letter

- the reason you send them the piece of work you did in their class that you are most proud of is to remind them of your abilities as a student and the quality of the work you produced for them. they have lots of students. sometimes they need a bit of help jogging their memory of exactly what you did in their class.

- the reason you send them your other application materials (personal statement, statement of purpose, CV) is so that they have information to draw from when writing your letter. they know what you’re passionate about, what you hope to do in the future, other experience you have, and can use this information when writing your letter

- on a similar note, this is also why you’d want to list the strengths you displayed in their class

- basically, you want to give them as much information as you can about your strengths, goals, and intentions - give them prompts they can use to write your letter

- the bit at the end about asking for a “strong letter” is important because some professors can only write you mediocre letters (e.g. “this student was always on time to class and gave their undivided attention during lecture” - what does this tell admission committees? well, it tells them that the professor has nothing positive to say about your *academic* abilities and so they’re resorting to other strengths. it’s a polite way of saying “this student was okay, but not spectacular in any notable way”. big red flag for admissions committees.) if all you’re going to get is a mediocre letter, you might as well not get a letter at all

- if the professor you ask accepts, then be sure to send them polite reminders as the date approaches. (i usually send a reminder at the 1-month-till-due-date mark when i send the other application materials, and then again at the 2 week and 1 week marks, and, if necessary, every day after the final 3 days leading up to the due date

—

i know this was a lot, but i remember being in your shoes and being completely lost when it came to applying for stuff so i know how daunting it can be. i figured i’d just throw all this information at you to be of as much help as possible.

for reference, i’ve applied to graduate programs, fellowships, and scholarships. i have been accepted into several of the top 10 graduate programs in my area, as well as received multiple scholarships and a fellowship, and received honorable mentions for some of the most competitive fellowships in the US. i have also worked with the admissions committee at my graduate program to organize multiple informational events for those interested in applying to graduate school and, in the process, have learned a lot about what makes a strong application.

so while you should absolutely take my advice with a grain of salt (different circumstances call for different standards), i do have quite a bit of experience with applications and what makes a strong letter of rec.

i hope this helped! best of luck with whatever you’re applying for :)