No Burn Out

It seems that nearly ever time I go to write this blog I'm moaning about my lack of motivation. I'm hoping that for this academic year at least I won't be doing it again.

It's getting towards the sprint at the end of the year now. The most dangerous time for either total lack of motivation or complete burn out. I'm hoping to stay in the middle and get neither of these.

I have 3 weeks left of placement, a week of revision, presentations and deadlines, written exams, a fortnight off and then practical exams. Apart from feeling a little overwhelmed at everything I have to do, I'm trying to make myself an anti-burn-out plan.

Maybe stupidly I have a lot of social stuff lined up in the next couple of weeks too, so I'm really going to be juggling work and play.

Wish me luck!

Lily xXx

AMAZING weekend.

I think the capital letters say it all.

So far I have had an amazing weekend.

Friday I celebrated my birthday. It was all a bit upsetting at first when I got stuck in a traffic jam for 3 hours on the way home, but I managed to while away the time playing Trivial Pursuit with some nice randomers. Thank you randomers for cheering up the traffic jam :)

I then got home, had a delicious dinner cooked by my Dad and met my friends for drinks. Unfortunately drinks meant I control myself when it came to making the most out of my birthday present from my Dad. The worlds best camera.

It's a Canon Powershot G10. It's breathtakingly fab.

Saturday was a friend of mine's Hen Night. We went to see Legally Blonde the musical. You'd expect it to be completely awful, but it was brilliant. Light humoured, witty, funny and entertaining. Much better than I expected, although to be honest I'm not sure what I expected. After that we went to the ice bar. I made sure I got my money's worth and ate half of my ice glass after I'd finished my drink. We then wrapped up the evening by hopping in our limo home... luxury.

I think I'm going to need to sleep the rest of the day to recover!

Lily xXx

Kylie's Birthday

In just over an hour it's Kylie Minogue's birthday....

... it's also mine!!

23!!

I've been out for dinner with the girls tonight, and after uni I'm having lunch with madsadgirl and then I'm off home for dinner with my Dad and drinks with my home friends. Hurrah!

I'm planning to take my spangly new laptop home with me for the weekend to do some work, so hopefully I can blog a little update on my celebrations.

Lily xXx

Tweet Tweet!

So I've decided to give Twitter a go. I'm already a facebook addict, so what is one more internet addiction?

If you want to see the pointless minutae of my day, and hear the strange things travelling through my head then follow me. I'm "studentdocdiary".

Also if you're on Twitter let me know as it doesn't look that fun a thing to do if you're not following people.

Lily xXx

P.S. Yes I should be doing work rather than making Twitter accounts, but shhhhhhhhh!

I Got Sunshine

I love the sunny weather. Things never seem to be able to get me down as much when the sun is shining. Along with feeling happier, somehow the sunshine makes me more motivated. It's probably because I know that if I get my work done I can do and sit outdoors and enjoy synthesizing a little vitamin D.

I met the deadline I had last week, so now I've got to try and keep up the momentum so that I can keep hitting deadlines. I've also got 7 sign ups in my log book. As well as all of this I've prepared the next 3 out of 4 presentations I have to give this academic year.

Hopefully now less is hanging over my head I can chill out a bit and lose the stress spots I've sprouted. I'm even taking the time to read a novel which I started in the sunshine over the weekend. I'm also piling in the fruit in and veg in preparation for exam stress... although my now gurgling tummy has told me that maybe I've eaten too much veg!!

Lily xXx

Sitting Pretty

I was on the train yesterday. I got on at an earlier station than normal so I got a seat and gladly got comfy in it. We pulled into the next station and a pretty large group of people piled on. I was happily reading my newspaper when out of the corner of my eye I noticed the man opposite me looking up worridly every 30 seconds or so behind me. Being the nosey person I am I turned around and saw a lady with a baby bump. It was a pretty tidy little baby bump and hidden by her coat mostly, but there was no doubting it with the way she cupped one hand under it and rubbed it with her other hand.

Without thinking I automatically sprung out of my seat, tapped the lady on the arm, apologised for not noticing that she was behind me and offered her my seat. She deserved it, I can't imagine carrying around a baby belly is very comfortable. It's tough enough carrying around my pizza belly.

There were two points to this that really annoyed me. Firstly that the man opposite me had clearly clocked her but didn't offer her his seat. This was probably because I was a couple of inches closer, but the simple fact is he saw her. In fact all the people sitting down were around me, and at the next stop I had to actually ask one of the men to give up their seat for an old lady who was struggling to keep upright. Where are their manners?

Second point. The pregnant woman was clearly in discomfort and was really relieved when she got to sit down. Why didn't she just ask someone? She was wearing quite a baggy coat and if she hadn't have been so slim otherwise I would have probably just thought she was tubby. TFL are giving out great "baby on board" badges for mums-to-be, but sometimes I think if people just asked it would be easier. Same for older people. I know they shouldn't have to, but if the general public don't have the manners to offer a seat, then why stand, struggle and complain about it later when just asking would do?

This isn't the first time I've been on a train and noticed that everyone either has their back to a pregnant lady, or is busy reading a book or the Metro. They aren't not offering seats often because they don't want to, but simply because they haven't noticed. I know if I am ever pregnant and I want a seat, I'll be a little bit cheeky and ask someone.

Lily xXx

Ostrich

I am very tempted to bury my head in the sand and hope everything goes away.

My SSC is sooooooooooooo difficult. Now I've found papers I don't really understand them enough to get the results out of them, let alone comment on how good or bad they are.
Emailed my superviser for more help but seriously doubting that I'll have anything good to hand in by first draft day on Friday.

Thank goodness I have all of tomorrow off to just sit and work at it all day. I think the fact I'm so tired after uni isn't helping. Also feeling incredibly ill today so I think I will write off this evening and go to bed now, hoping I'll be better tomorrow and able to blast through my work.

On the plus side next week should be relatively laid back ssc-wise, so I should be able to use the time to prepare 3 unrelated presentations I have to do this term. It also means I can go out and celebrate my birthday... woo! After that I'll have to get back into super-gear as loads more ssc deadlines come up and then scarily exams! Eep!

Lily xXx