Well, wasn't that fun.

I used to be an avid fan of the show 'Charmed' but in recent years have grown a bit disenchanted (no pun intended) with it. Still, my brother showed me this video and I thought it was funny and well made.





Maybe I'll revisit the series and give it another chance...

My technique for writing essays

1. Deliberate over which question to choose (if there is a choice of more than one), then just choose the one you think would be easiest.

2. Attempt to be organised and find research sources as soon as you can. Leave these on desk or saved on computer for about a week.

3. After that week begin to read relevant part of sources in painstakingly slow manner, making sure to have ample distractions nearby so that as soon as your mind wanders you can speed up the procrastination process.

4. Reading of source should take 1-1.5 weeks, allowing time for highlighting of good points.

5. Put off the writing of the essay until you have a day that provides enough time to get the essay started. This is often the most painful process.

6. Once you have reached the day of your choice, gather all your sources, spread them all over your work area, have word processor ready. For 10 minutes stare at screen and cursor (delusions of persecution may occur at this point, depending on due date) until introductory sentence is started.

7. This day may or may not be productive, depending on: mood, weather, quality of sources, number of distractions. For me, I can usually get a good 500 words down, which always makes me proud. I also find it best to not block any procrastinative tendencies. They're going to come out somehow. (Like in writing this :P)

8. For a few more days the struggle to write should continue, until you come across the 'Day of inspiration' when you are suddenly filled with an impulse to finish the essay. This is a good day.

9. Hand in essay on due date, with significant sense of relief.

My New Mantra

I do the best I can, given my circumstances.

I do what is appropriate for me, at this time.

Headphone has arrived

So that headphone came today, and I have to say I'm impressed. I can already tell that I'm hearing a much richer sound (and the equivalent of both channels!). Now I'm going to be all fanatical trying to pick out little nuances in songs that I've never heard before.

Small things for small minds I suppose.

I may have found a solution (well, sort of)

I'm completely deaf in my left ear, which obviously makes some things a little more difficult for me. For example, I don't catch a lot of what people say to me unless I'm in the right position to hear them. Anyway, I've been like this since birth, so I've gotten used to it, but lately it's been bothering me again, especially in regards to music. Listening to music mixed in stereo with headphones means I only really get half the experience.

But I just found something that's made me a little excited. A single earbud that combines stereo into one channel (from this website). This will mean that I'll be able to hear the full mix in one ear. Here's hoping it'll work properly :).

I'm so over it

I'm sick of making an effort to greet people only to get a grunt or no reply at all.

I'm sick of having to work alongside incompetent supervisors who think they rule the roost, but in reality probably couldn't run a chook raffle efficiently.

I'm sick of the stupid demands people make.

I'm sick of being expected to be a mind reader and the source of answers to all the world's questions.

I'm sick of having ridiculous expectations placed upon me.

I'm sick of my having a day off or taking holidays being a big deal, when others can guarantee their holidays a whole year in advance.

I'm sick of working in a badly run, understaffed, understocked, out-of-date workplace.

Well, glad I got that off my chest. No use whinging, nobody's listening :D

I don't care what anyone says...

...Lady GaGa is the best thing to happen to mainstream pop music in a long time.

Download The Fame Monster if you haven't already.

I have an addiction...

To last.fm, and watching how many songs I've listened to and seeing my favourite artist plays go up. I get annoyed when I see Tori Amos has about 1,000 more plays than Kate Bush and she has about 800 more plays than The Beatles. I'm working on it though. Sick, I know but I can't help it. And at least I admit it.

Oh, for those who are unaware, last.fm is a website that lets you keep track of the music you and your friends are listening to through a process called 'scrobbling' and then suggests music to you based on your current musical preferences. Join and see if you're not addicted to getting 20,000 plays before anyone else in a months time.

Unfortunately, Blogger is not co-operating with me at the moment so I cannot put the last.fm recently played chart that I intended to in the top right-hand corner of my new blog. Bah! I hate technology sometimes...

A New Year. A New Blog.

So I've done this whole blog thing previously and to be honest, I got sick of it after a few months. I wrote some good things, I wrote some not so good (i.e. shit) things and then I sort of ran out of things to say. My life isn't the most interesting and my opinions certainly aren't the most important or groundbreaking, but I've decided that I might give it another go. Call it a New Year's Resolution I suppose, although I don't believe in New Year's Resolutions. Why set yourself goals that are just going to be broken. Seriously, how many 'resolutions' have you actually resolved to keep after a few months, weeks or even days? New Year's Resolutions are fraught with unexpected barriers from the get go. Bet you didn't realise that gym membership would cost so much. Bet you didn't think you'd have to actually not smoke at all to quit smoking. Bet you didn't realise you actually had no time at all to take that night course you always wanted to do.

I sound really bitter and pessimistic, but I'm not trying to be, honest. I just don't see why you shouldn't make resolutions to change your behaviour at other points in the year. New Year = New Life, would be the main argument for New Years Resolutions. That symbolic transition from one set of 365 days that maybe weren't so great or in which we didn't really achieve everything we had wanted to, into a new set of 365 days that have promise of greener pastures and finally realising that lifelong dream. But then the days start slipping by and you still haven't moved very much closer to what you wanted in the first place.

So, no we won't call this blog the result of some New Years Resolution. Nor will we call my recurring desire to learn the piano a New Years Resolution. It's just something I would genuinely like to do and hopefully will if I can get motivated to. 2009 was the year I fell in love and then out of love and then just got very freaking confused about women in general. 2009 was the year I suffered grief for the first time, and its not a feeling I want back anytime soon. 2009 was the year I discovered great music, films and books and in doing so expanded my artistic horizons. 2009 was the year I started a blog, packed it with crap and then gave up on it like so many other things. Even if I'm not a great believer in Resolutions as such, maybe I can get behind the whole new year, new beginning thing and aspire to be a little more steadfast in my commitments (definitely not only in regards to the blog) and aspire to be a little more adventurous in my life.

Heh, we'll see how long that lasts...