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Devious Journal Entry
2 min read
Currently immensely distracted from everything by everything. *sigh* I'm fed up of stuff for uni, stuff for home, stuff for my writing, games I'm playing, books I'm reading, and I really don't know why. I wish I'd get over it, though, because it's a bloody nuisance. Pretty much the only things I can be completely focused on at the moment are dance and Old English. I want to be able to be so focused on everything else I'm doing, too...I just can't seem to figure out how to go about it. I'm just apathetic about so many things right now, and if I have trouble it seems so much easier to just give up rather than work at it. Gaaah.
There's a couple of big things going on at the moment in my life. The first is that I passed grade 7 ballet with distinction, which I'm kind of astounded at, but also incredibly pleased. Secondly, at uni I have to decide on my subject for my dissertation next year and do a survey of recent critical material on my topic...on the one hand, it's pretty interesting, but on the other it's a lot of work and it's starting to drive me slightly nuts. A couple of my friends are having a hard time with their topics and they understandably complain about it a bit, but I've got so fed up with everything I feel kind of irritated from even hearing a little bit about their problems. Which is totally stupid, because that's just being unpleasant and unsupportive, and I really don't want to be like that with them. Aaagh.
Lastly, I'm working on some fanfiction for the first time in absolutely ages. At first it was great to be writing again, and things were coming along slowly and surely, but I keep getting blocked by really simple things now I've got the whole thing plotted out, and I keep thinking the narrative voice fluctuates a lot even though it doesn't and getting paranoid about it. It's pretty frustrating.
Hopefully I'll be out of this slump soon.
Ria~
There's a couple of big things going on at the moment in my life. The first is that I passed grade 7 ballet with distinction, which I'm kind of astounded at, but also incredibly pleased. Secondly, at uni I have to decide on my subject for my dissertation next year and do a survey of recent critical material on my topic...on the one hand, it's pretty interesting, but on the other it's a lot of work and it's starting to drive me slightly nuts. A couple of my friends are having a hard time with their topics and they understandably complain about it a bit, but I've got so fed up with everything I feel kind of irritated from even hearing a little bit about their problems. Which is totally stupid, because that's just being unpleasant and unsupportive, and I really don't want to be like that with them. Aaagh.
Lastly, I'm working on some fanfiction for the first time in absolutely ages. At first it was great to be writing again, and things were coming along slowly and surely, but I keep getting blocked by really simple things now I've got the whole thing plotted out, and I keep thinking the narrative voice fluctuates a lot even though it doesn't and getting paranoid about it. It's pretty frustrating.
Hopefully I'll be out of this slump soon.
Ria~
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Merry Christmas~
2 min read
/Happy whichever wintertime festival you happen to celebrate. 
Welp, my attempted activity boost crashed and burned thanks to a rather unpleasant family issue that meant I just stayed away from anything creative and spent several days solidly reading or playing Pokémon or Spyro. After Christmas I've got to get to work on my Old English essay, so little time for arty things, I'm afraid.
Though hopefully I'll be able to get some more preliminary work done for this project of mine and finish it up in the new year. I have everything drawn out, and just need to start on the papier maché...
Also, I just watched the last ever episode of Merlin and I CRIED SO HAAAARD.
Series 5 has been a very mixed bag, but the Merlin team really pulled out a good last couple of episodes to finish the show. Sure, it's still hokey and silly in places, but it had emotional pull at the end and I'm glad it's finished (and finished in a good way). If they tried to pull the show out any longer it was going to collapse under its own weight, and five series is a very respectable length, especially considering how bad the show was at the beginning. (Very. Veryveryvery. 
)
But yeah, Christmas Day tomorrow. Hope you all have a good rest and relax this holiday, and best of luck for the new year.
Also, my friend Megan is awesome because she bought me a Torchic doll as part of our secret santa this year. TORCHIC. EEEEE.
Her name is Ashken and she is ADORABLE. And I can carry her in the collar of one of my jumpers.
Welp, my attempted activity boost crashed and burned thanks to a rather unpleasant family issue that meant I just stayed away from anything creative and spent several days solidly reading or playing Pokémon or Spyro. After Christmas I've got to get to work on my Old English essay, so little time for arty things, I'm afraid.
Though hopefully I'll be able to get some more preliminary work done for this project of mine and finish it up in the new year. I have everything drawn out, and just need to start on the papier maché...Also, I just watched the last ever episode of Merlin and I CRIED SO HAAAARD.
Series 5 has been a very mixed bag, but the Merlin team really pulled out a good last couple of episodes to finish the show. Sure, it's still hokey and silly in places, but it had emotional pull at the end and I'm glad it's finished (and finished in a good way). If they tried to pull the show out any longer it was going to collapse under its own weight, and five series is a very respectable length, especially considering how bad the show was at the beginning. (Very. Veryveryvery. )But yeah, Christmas Day tomorrow. Hope you all have a good rest and relax this holiday, and best of luck for the new year.
Also, my friend Megan is awesome because she bought me a Torchic doll as part of our secret santa this year. TORCHIC. EEEEE.
Her name is Ashken and she is ADORABLE. And I can carry her in the collar of one of my jumpers.
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Term's over~
3 min read
So, it's kinda been a while since I was around on dA, but now my university term has ended I'm going to be doing some more stuff. I'm finally going to start a Golden Sun-related project I've had on my mind for a couple of years, which will involve lots of papier maché, paint and messing around with old shoeboxes, and will probably take bloody ages to complete. But hopefully it'll pay off in the end.
The term's been full of ups and downs. My timetabling needs quite a bit of work...I keep slacking off when I should be working, and then writing my essays in a few panicked hours. Let's just say it doesn't always lead to good results. That said, I feel like I've done reasonably well overall - I've had two essays come back marked provisionally as firsts, which is great, and I've really enjoyed two of my main modules (Old English and Writing Society) this term. Generic Transformations was alright, but I take issue with early prose fiction and Paradise Lost. Hacking the Book...eh. The less said about that, the better.
Let's see...I took my Grade Seven ballet exam recently, which went pretty well except for the part where my character shoe flew off in the middle of an exercise and almost hit the pianist. The other dance grades I'm working for are pretty hard, especially Advance 1 modern and Grade 5 tap, but Intermediate theatre craft isn't too bad for the most part and the Grade 8 ballet stuff we've done so far is really nice to dance. I also started doing pointe work again in September, and so far I've come to the conclusion that I really need to work on my posé turns (particularly on my left foot), and that I should practise in ballet tights more often, because OW. At the show I realised that I hadn't danced pointe in ballet tights for ages, and let's just say it's pretty different - i.e. more painful - from doing it in socks. Still, it's nice to being doing it again, and it gets me into a larger class for a bit; most of my other classes have between two and four people in them, so a class of six or seven is a nice change.
Ah well, whatever the case, time to sit back a little further and do some fun reading, then some uni reading, and finally make my way through to the last gyms on Black 2.
Ria out~
The term's been full of ups and downs. My timetabling needs quite a bit of work...I keep slacking off when I should be working, and then writing my essays in a few panicked hours. Let's just say it doesn't always lead to good results. That said, I feel like I've done reasonably well overall - I've had two essays come back marked provisionally as firsts, which is great, and I've really enjoyed two of my main modules (Old English and Writing Society) this term. Generic Transformations was alright, but I take issue with early prose fiction and Paradise Lost. Hacking the Book...eh. The less said about that, the better.
Let's see...I took my Grade Seven ballet exam recently, which went pretty well except for the part where my character shoe flew off in the middle of an exercise and almost hit the pianist. The other dance grades I'm working for are pretty hard, especially Advance 1 modern and Grade 5 tap, but Intermediate theatre craft isn't too bad for the most part and the Grade 8 ballet stuff we've done so far is really nice to dance. I also started doing pointe work again in September, and so far I've come to the conclusion that I really need to work on my posé turns (particularly on my left foot), and that I should practise in ballet tights more often, because OW. At the show I realised that I hadn't danced pointe in ballet tights for ages, and let's just say it's pretty different - i.e. more painful - from doing it in socks. Still, it's nice to being doing it again, and it gets me into a larger class for a bit; most of my other classes have between two and four people in them, so a class of six or seven is a nice change.
Ah well, whatever the case, time to sit back a little further and do some fun reading, then some uni reading, and finally make my way through to the last gyms on Black 2.
Ria out~
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This Summer.
2 min read
Firstly, holy crap. As I am writing this journal entry it is 10:40 AM and it's really dark. The sky is various shades of grey and the rain has been slamming on the roof, against my windows and on the ground for about an hour now. Thunder rolls almost continuously, and I keep seeing bright flashes out of the corner of my eye I can only presume are lightning. I mean...yes, this is England and it is June, but I haven't seen weather like this for years. We get thunderstorms occasionally, but they never last this long. It's a little unnerving.
Moving on from the unusual and somewhat frightening weather, I'm going to be quite busy this summer. Aside from the things I promised myself I'd do but have yet to act on, I've managed to get a summer job at a local school uniform shop. Apparently I might end up working almost full time on it once schools break up because I'm basically doing an office job rather than manning the shop, and said office work involves lots of paperwork that really piles up in July and August.
What else. I'm currently participating in
's summer art event, the Colosseum, so at least some of the stuff I submit this summer will be to do with that. I'm in Team Mars, and we're currently working out how to organise our first submission. Yay Adept Olypmics! So much more interesting than the actual Olympics.
O_O Bloody Hell, I think the gutters are overflowing there's so much rain. I just saw several large chunks of water spill into the air from just outside my window.
Err, what else. I finally got my hands on a copy of Snuff, which was a very fun read, I'm looking forward to Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 being released, some CDs I ordered arrived and they are awesome, I finally watched Spirited Away, and there was just a very very loud thundercrash so I'm gonna sign off now and go cower under my duvet for a bit.
Moving on from the unusual and somewhat frightening weather, I'm going to be quite busy this summer. Aside from the things I promised myself I'd do but have yet to act on, I've managed to get a summer job at a local school uniform shop. Apparently I might end up working almost full time on it once schools break up because I'm basically doing an office job rather than manning the shop, and said office work involves lots of paperwork that really piles up in July and August.
What else. I'm currently participating in
's summer art event, the Colosseum, so at least some of the stuff I submit this summer will be to do with that. I'm in Team Mars, and we're currently working out how to organise our first submission. Yay Adept Olypmics! So much more interesting than the actual Olympics.O_O Bloody Hell, I think the gutters are overflowing there's so much rain. I just saw several large chunks of water spill into the air from just outside my window.
Err, what else. I finally got my hands on a copy of Snuff, which was a very fun read, I'm looking forward to Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 being released, some CDs I ordered arrived and they are awesome, I finally watched Spirited Away, and there was just a very very loud thundercrash so I'm gonna sign off now and go cower under my duvet for a bit.
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Holiday nonsense.
3 min read
Hi guys! Hope you've all had a decent Easter and are enjoying the holidays. I've been alright so far, but I haven't really done anything yet and I should be revising for my exams next term or writing that essay. Meh.
So far this holiday, I have read eight volumes of manga and five novels (four of which were about 400 pages long), and I'm most of my way through a collection of short stories. Some of the stories are pretty good. Some of them are just okay. One of them randomly decided at the end that it was an origin story for Arthur Conan Doyle's idea that became Sherlock Holmes, which pissed me off because it was completely random and implied by a single throwaway line. That is not how to handle such a thing.
In other news, I'm going to start playing piano for a ballet school in the next couple of weeks. I'll only be playing for the Grade Four and Grade Eight classes at first, but I may end up getting some more work over time. Of course, this means I've been leaning the piano music for those two grades, and...well...let's just say that the music for the Grade Eight - the higher grade - is easier to play than the Grade Four music. It's very frustrating. Oh, and my brother has decided to pick up said music and play it occasionally, which is quite possibly the most annoying thing he could do, especially considering that the piano is right underneath my bedroom and he has no idea of how to play quietly. It's almost as bad as him playing the saxophone at all hours of the day. Yeesh.
I also now have a copy of The World Ends With You, which is, quite frankly, awesome. The battle mechanics were a little hard to work out at first, but I think I've got the hang of it now. I really like the art style and the music.
Oh. And I somehow managed to stub my toe on an Easter egg this morning. Yeah.
...yeah, I really don't have anything interesting to say at the moment, but I felt the need to update my journal. Sorry guys.
Holiday Booklist:
Read
Mastiff (Tamora Pierce)
Songs of the Earth (Elspeth Cooper)
Boneshaker and Dreadnought (Cherie Priest)
My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece (Annabel Pitcher)
Reading
The Mammoth Book of Steampunk (various)
To read shortly
Les Liaisons dangereuses (Choderlos de Laclos, trans. Parmée)
The Reeve's Tale (Geoffrey Chaucer)
Emma (Jane Austen)
Un Lun Dun (China Miéville)
Ship of Magic (Robin Hobb)
The Night Watch (Sarah Waters)
So far this holiday, I have read eight volumes of manga and five novels (four of which were about 400 pages long), and I'm most of my way through a collection of short stories. Some of the stories are pretty good. Some of them are just okay. One of them randomly decided at the end that it was an origin story for Arthur Conan Doyle's idea that became Sherlock Holmes, which pissed me off because it was completely random and implied by a single throwaway line. That is not how to handle such a thing.
In other news, I'm going to start playing piano for a ballet school in the next couple of weeks. I'll only be playing for the Grade Four and Grade Eight classes at first, but I may end up getting some more work over time. Of course, this means I've been leaning the piano music for those two grades, and...well...let's just say that the music for the Grade Eight - the higher grade - is easier to play than the Grade Four music. It's very frustrating. Oh, and my brother has decided to pick up said music and play it occasionally, which is quite possibly the most annoying thing he could do, especially considering that the piano is right underneath my bedroom and he has no idea of how to play quietly. It's almost as bad as him playing the saxophone at all hours of the day. Yeesh.
I also now have a copy of The World Ends With You, which is, quite frankly, awesome. The battle mechanics were a little hard to work out at first, but I think I've got the hang of it now. I really like the art style and the music.
Oh. And I somehow managed to stub my toe on an Easter egg this morning. Yeah.
...yeah, I really don't have anything interesting to say at the moment, but I felt the need to update my journal. Sorry guys.
Holiday Booklist:
Read
Mastiff (Tamora Pierce)
Songs of the Earth (Elspeth Cooper)
Boneshaker and Dreadnought (Cherie Priest)
My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece (Annabel Pitcher)
Reading
The Mammoth Book of Steampunk (various)
To read shortly
Les Liaisons dangereuses (Choderlos de Laclos, trans. Parmée)
The Reeve's Tale (Geoffrey Chaucer)
Emma (Jane Austen)
Un Lun Dun (China Miéville)
Ship of Magic (Robin Hobb)
The Night Watch (Sarah Waters)
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