September 21 2017

so, you're taking a class and you hate it: how to make a bad class suck less

as i struggle through my spring quarter classes, i thought i may as well make a post about something currently relevant to me: taking classes that you don't like.

maybe you're taking a degree or distribution requirement; maybe you signed up for a class because it's exactly in your field of interest, but the professor is a really bad lecturer (not that this is personal experience or anything); maybe, you just...........don't enjoy your class for whatever reason.

so, you have two options: drop the class, or continue on.

since you're reading this post, i assume you can't drop the class for whatever reason—something from above, or maybe something else. i'm not going to judge you! but here's some things that, in my experience, have made bad classes, well, less bad (in no particular order).

one: find ways to make your time before and after the class in question as enjoyable as possible. likely this class drains your energy horribly—so doing something that makes you happy or calms you down before the class, and something to destress afterwards, you'll feel a bit better almost immediately. this can, in my experience, take me from hating an entire day of my week, to being frustrated but able to deal with it. examples of things i do, depending on my energy levels and time:

take a nap

read some of a book

draw

take a walk

write

two: schedule your week so you finish everything up until the day of the class (both for that class and your others) before the day of the class. for me, there's nothing more stressful than getting out of my second to last class, and realising i still have to do five types of homework before i can even think of relaxing or calming myself down about the class i'm dreading—assuming i even have any time to do so! this is a more long-term strategy, so if you can, you should start to do this as soon as possible. for me, this looks like making to do lists on my blog to keep myself accountable, or setting alarms to remind myself to do things (since i'm not very good at keeping a planner).

three: talking to your friends or family! the power of complaining before or after a really draining experience can be very cathartic. oftentimes, your friends or family will be very sympathetic to your frustrations. they can also help distract you if you need it!

four: somewhat similar to one—reward yourself for making it through the class! on wednesdays after my dreaded class, i buy myself a cookie and watch bad book reviews, because i am both food- and gossip-motivated.

five: keep on top of classwork. if nothing else, you have to make sure you don't fall behind in your least favourite class. it'll make everything feel fifty times worse. if you have a required presentation and a final project, start working on them or thinking about what/how you're going to do them as soon as you find out about them. get these done as soon as possible, or at least start working on them, so that when the due-date approaches you don't panic.

hopefully my experiences will help you!

Dealing With Executive Dysfunction - A Masterpost

The “getting it done in an unconventional way” method.

The “it’s not cheating to do it the easy way” method.

The “fuck what you’re supposed to do” method.

The “get stuff done while you wait” method.

The “you don’t have to do everything at once” method.

The “it doesn’t have to be permanent to be helpful” method.

The “break the task into smaller steps” method.

The “treat yourself like a pet” method.

The “it doesn’t have to be all or nothing” method.

The “put on a persona” method.

The “act like you’re filming a tutorial” method.

The “you don’t have to do it perfectly” method.

The “wait for a trigger” method.

The “do it for your future self” method.

The “might as well” method.

The “when self discipline doesn’t cut it” method.

The “taking care of yourself to take care of your pet” method.

The “make it easy” method.

The “junebugging” method.

The “just show up” method.

The “accept when you need help” method.

The “make it into a game” method.

The “everything worth doing is worth doing poorly” method.

The “trick yourself” method.

The “break it into even smaller steps” method.

The “let go of should” method.

The “your body is an animal you have to take care of” method.

The “fork theory” method.

The “effectivity over aesthetics” method.

Korean Self-Love Quotes/Proverbs & Life Lessons

남의 떡이 더 커보인다.

Literal Translation: The other person’s rice cake is bigger than yours

Meaning: don’t compare yourself or your life with someone else’s

Life Lesson:

Especially on social media, you only see the parts that other people choose to show - the highlights, but not the behind the scenes. You’re life is not better or worse than another persons. The grass always looks greener on the other side, but you never know what that person is going through behind the scenes. Don’t try to trade your life in for another person’s just because of how things appear on the outside.

Vocab from proverb:

남 - another person, stranger

의 - possessive particle (‘s)

떡 - rice cake

더 - more

크다 - big

아/어 보이다 - to look, appear, seem

엎질러진 물이다

Literal Translation: It is spilled water.

Meaning: There is no use in crying over spilled milk.

Life Lesson:

A lot of things in life aren’t worth crying over, especially if it’s something that happened in the past. The past is the past and we have to learn to let go of the past. If you dwell on your failures, your shortcomings, your embarrassing moments, or any other terrible things you may have experienced in the past - It will keep you from living in the present. You Can Not Change The Past - no matter how much you think about it, so there’s no use “crying” over it. Don’t let the past determine who you are today. Whenever you catch yourself worrying too much about a past occurrence, tell yourself, “It already happened and I can’t control that, but I can control what I do today”.

Vocab from proverb:

엎질러지다 - to spill

물 - water

똥이 무서워서 피하니? 더러워서 피하지.

Literal Translation: you don’t avoid poop, because it’s scary. You avoid poop because it’s dirty.

Meaning: you should avoid certain things and people in your life, not because you are scared, but because it will disrupt your peace and happiness.

Life Lesson:

If at all possible try to remove or minimize contact with toxic people in your life - even if that just means distancing yourself from them mentally. Also avoid overtly negative and toxic situations whenever you can, because it can improve your mental health and overall happiness. Holding on to grudges, anger, sadness, etc. can also be harmful to your mental health - It may be hard to hear but some things you have to let go of. For yourself and your peace of mind. Forgive yourself of any past mistakes or failures and allow yourself to move forward.

Vocab from proverb:

똥 - poop

무섭다 - be scared of

아/어/해서 - because

피하다 - to avoid

니? - informal question ending

더럽다 - to be dirty

지 - shortened form of 지요 / 죠

(when speaker confirms something they thought the listener already knew)

말을 냇가에 끌고 갈 수는 있어도 억지로 물을 먹일 수는 없다

Literal Translation: You can lead a horse and go to a stream, but you can’t make it drink water through its own will

Meaning: You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink

Life Lesson:

You can’t force someone to do something that they don’t want to do. You can’t change someone who isn’t willing to change. You can’t save someone who doesn’t want to be saved. You can’t help someone who doesn’t want to be helped. There are many ways to say it, but the overall message is the same.

On the opposite side of the coin, It’s a great idea to be open and willing to positive changes and to growth. In life you want to always be growing and not static - unless your perfect (which no one is). Sometimes we may feel static and like we are going no where no matter how hard we try to move. In those cases, either you need to make a change and do something a bit different or you are moving forward but it’s just so slowly that you don’t notice it - taking a step back and looking at your situation objectively can sometimes help.

Vocab from proverb:

말 - horse

냇가 - stream (of water)

끌다 - to lead

고 - and

가다 - to go

ㄹ 수 있다 - can do

아/어도 - even if

억지 - force

(으)로 - by (explain methods)

억지로 - by force

물 - water

먹이다 - to feed, make eat/drink

ㄹ 수(는) 없다 - can’t

(the 는 adds emphasis)

That's all for this post! Which proverb is your favorite?

it’s already february 🌾✨

And what about japanese? Can you recommend some accounts that study japanese?

I know there are a lot of great accounts that are learning Japanese, but I’m not familiar with a lot of them, since I’ve never studied it myself! 

@jibunstudies has a lot of great Japanese masterposts, and I think that @gloomstudy was learning Japanese at one point, but I don’t know if she still is! 

Please feel free to recommend any other blogs that study Japanese! 

my masterpost | my studygram | ask me anything

[click images for high quality]

Other advice posts that may be of interest:

How To Stop Procrastinating

How To Study When You Really Don’t Want To

My Experiences With GCSEs

I have no idea how to upload a better quality gif on tumblr. 😅 Instagram | YouTube

How to Handle Having TOO MUCH To Do

So let’s say you’re in the same boat I am (this is a running theme, have you noticed?) and you’ve just got, like, SO MUCH STUFF that HAS to get done YESTERDAY or you will DIE (or fail/get fired/mope). Everything needs to be done yesterday, you’re sick, and for whatever reason you are focusing on the least important stuff first. What to do!

Take a deep breath, because this is a boot camp in prioritization.

Make a 3 by 4 grid. Make it pretty big. The line above your top row goes like this: Due YESTERDAY - due TOMORROW - due LATER. Along the side, write: Takes 5 min - Takes 30 min - Takes hours - Takes DAYS.

Divide ALL your tasks into one of these squares, based on how much work you still have to do. A thank you note for a present you received two weeks ago? That takes 5 minutes and was due YESTERDAY. Put it in that square. A five page paper that’s due tomorrow? That takes an hour/hours, place it appropriately. Tomorrow’s speech you just need to rehearse? Half an hour, due TOMORROW. Do the same for ALL of your tasks

Your priority goes like this:

5 minutes due YESTERDAY

5 minutes due TOMORROW

Half-hour due YESTERDAY

Half-hour due TOMORROW

Hours due YESTERDAY

Hours due TOMORROW

5 minutes due LATER

Half-hour due LATER

Hours due LATER

DAYS due YESTERDAY

DAYS due TOMORROW

DAYS due LATER

At this point you just go down the list in each section. If something feels especially urgent, for whatever reason - a certain professor is hounding you, you’re especially worried about that speech, whatever - you can bump that up to the top of the entire list. However, going through the list like this is what I find most efficient.

Some people do like to save the 5 minute tasks for kind of a break between longer-running tasks. If that’s what you want to try, go for it! You’re the one studying here.

So that’s how to prioritize. Now, how to actually do shit? That’s where the 20/10 method comes in. It’s simple: do stuff like a stuff-doing FIEND for 20 minutes, then take a ten minute break and do whatever you want. Repeat ad infinitum. It’s how I’ve gotten through my to do list, concussed and everything.

You’ve got this. Get a drink and start - we can do our stuff together!

new city // new study spot // august 22

managed to grab a nice spot in my school’s library before i went for training!