Know your onion!

And God said: ‘Let there be madness.’ And there was exams.

Oh, sorry, did I get that wrong? From my point of view: No.

Fortunately, I’m not terribly affected by the pre-exam stress. Unless you count insomnia and fasting as symptoms, I’m doing pretty well.

I had my first study “group” today. Three of us girls got together in the library to study for the exam. So, naturally, we spent half an hour discussing the exam and four hours talking about boys. An afternoon well spent.

Spaghetti bolognese and a glass of wine goes a long way after a long day of – uh – gossiping. It’s such hard work.

Add music according to taste. Mix in someone to chat with on any kind of social media, and the night is almost complete. Casually round it all off with a couple of hours of studying, and you’ll avoid the madness.

(And if you happen to react to cutting onions like I do, pour a bucket of water over your face before you attempt to get any reading and/or note taking done.)

Hard at Work (Yeah, Right)

 

I’m still procrastinating. I’m a little pleased that I’m able to find other ways (besides Facebook) of procrastinating, though. I just tried this whole ‘enter-your-name-and-let-me-tell-you-everything-about-you’ thing, just for fun, and then I nearly choked on my wine when I read the result. It’s like reading my own thoughts out loud! Here’s what I got:

(leaving out my name for privacy reasons)

There are 30 letters in your name.
Those 30 letters total to 146
There are 10 vowels and 20 consonants in your name.
What your first name means:

Norse
Female
Lovely goddess.

Your number is: 11

The characteristics of #11 are: High spiritual plane, intuitive, illumination, idealist, a dreamer.

The expression or destiny for #11:
Your Expression number is 11. The number 11 is the first of the master numbers. It is associated with idealistic concepts and rather spiritual issues. Accordingly, it is a number with potentials that are somewhat more difficult to live up to. You have the capacity to be inspirational, and the ability to lead merely by your own example. An inborn inner strength and awareness can make you an excellent teacher, social worker, philosopher, or advisor. No matter what area of work you pursue, you are very aware and sensitive to the highest sense of your environment. Your intuition is very strong; in fact, many psychic people and those involved in occult studies have the number 11 expression. You possess a good mind with keen analytical ability. Because of this you can probably succeed in most lines of work, however, you will do better and be happier outside of the business world. Oddly enough, even here you generally succeed, owing to your often original and unusual approach. Nonetheless, you are more content working with your ideals, rather than dollars and cents.

The positive aspect of the number 11 expression is an always idealistic attitude. Your thinking is long term, and you are able to grasp the far-reaching effects of actions and plans. You are disappointed by the shortsighted views of many of your contemporaries. You are deeply concerned and supportive of art, music, or of beauty in any form.

The negative attitudes associated with the number 11 expression include a continuous sense of nervous tension; you may be too sensitive and temperamental. You tend to dream a lot and may be more of a dreamer than a doer. Fantasy and reality sometimes become intermingled and you are sometimes very impractical. You tend to want to spread the illumination of your knowledge to others irrespective of their desire or need.

Your Soul Urge number is: 5

A Soul Urge number of 5 means:
The 5 soul urge or motivation would like to follow a life of freedom, excitement, adventure and unexpected happening. The idea of travel and freedom to roam intrigues you. You are very much the adventurer at heart. Not particularly concerned about your future or about getting ahead, you can seem superficial and unmotivated.

In a positive sense, the energies of the number 5 make you very adaptable and versatile. You have a natural resourcefulness and enthusiasm that may mark you as a progressive with a good mind and active imagination. You seem to have a natural inclination to be a pace-setter. You are attracted to the unusual and the fast paced.

You may be overly restless and impatient at times. You may dislike the routine work that you are engaged in, and tend to jump from activity to activity, without ever finishing anything. You may have difficulty with responsibility. You don't want to be tied down to a relationship, and it may be hard to commit to one person.

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http://www.paulsadowski.org/Numbers.asp – the website, if you want to have a go. Seriously, I’m a little freaked out now. But also pleased that my parents clearly gave me my right name.

 

On a side note, I have pretty much finished my film essay. At least I’ve finally cracked the 3,000 words mark – I’m now over the maximum limit, in fact. But I’ll do some pruning today and tomorrow. It’s easier to cut back on words than it is to conjure up new sentences…

Something I’m really looking forward to tomorrow though is going to the rally to support filming of The Hobbit in New Zealand. Hoping to catch a glimpse of some of them Weta people…

I thought I just heard some fireworks go off down the road. Hmm, am I hearing things? Too much wine, perhaps.

A Simple Life

 

Disclaimer: This has absolutely NOTHING to do with Paris Hilton or Nicole Richie.

At 8pm last night I deactivated my Facebook account. As the final moment drew closer, I was in anguish. Have you heard about the scene in the new film 127 Hours by Danny Boyle (out in November 2010), based on the true story of Aron Ralston, where the mountaineer’s arm gets stuck under a boulder, and he cuts it off to save his life? Yeah, that’s how I felt as the time to click the ‘deactivate’ button approached, and I realised that it was going to be a relief to get it over with. Especially because I was silly enough to let the tension build up for a good 36 hours beforehand. I took a long, hard look at myself then, and saw how pathetic it was of me to feel so connected to a website. It shouldn’t control my life, yet it does. Or, no, it did. At 8pm I vanished from Facebook, and at that very instant I felt more free than I have done in years.

Originally the plan was to get straight into my final film essay once I’d abandoned Facebook, but then one of my friends offered to come round to my place to watch a movie, and of course I felt like I deserved that, so I agreed. Funnily enough, we ended up watching Into the Wild (one of my favourite movies). So if I’d been feeling a bit sad about amputating a good 50% of my online presence, that feeling changed over the course of the evening, into that of shame; shame at thinking that what I’d done was something extraordinary, when this guy, Christopher McCandless, aka Alexander Supertramp, gave up everything to live a more simple life. Every time I watch that movie I feel so inspired to go and do the same thing; just give away my money, burn my ID papers, strap on some good tramping boots and a backpack and just go for it. I’ve always had a desire in me, deep down, to do just that, and watching that movie brings those feelings to the surface, making me want to leave on the spot. I’m not the biggest fan of society, I’ll tell you that. To quote the amazing Lord Byron: “I only go out to get me a fresh appetite for being alone.”

Of course, today I was expecting to be madly wanting to check my Facebook profile, but so far whenever the thought even just pops into my head I think about all the things I want to achieve in the near future (especially passing my exams, which demands a fair bit of studying beforehand on my part), and the knowledge that Facebook would distract me from achieving those goals makes me a little furious and strengthens my determination to place all thought of Facebook in a tiny, dark space at the back of my mind and throw away the key. (Wow. Long sentence.) The only thing I’m struggling with is finding other ways to procrastinate when I need 5 minutes to consider what more I’m going to say in my essay. So, as you can see, the lack of Facebook is doing me nothing but good.

Being Saturday, I also have a wine glass and a bottle of wine (Chardonnay, today) standing next to my laptop, on call to be opened after 5pm (I’m practicing self-control – so far this week I have failed miserably every day). Not that there’s anything wrong with drinking – to quote my man Lord Byron again: “Man, being reasonable, must get drunk; the best of life is but intoxication.” (My only concern is the cost of it.) Also, to justify writing essays under the influence of alcohol, here are a few well-chosen words, from the great Ernest Hemingway: "Write drunk; edit sober." Wise man.

I must say I really am enjoying the Facebook-free day I’ve had so far. It’s forcing me to look elsewhere when I want something “fun” to do, thus causing me to think creatively once more. And lo and behold, there’s another blog entry being written. Not to mention that I’ve written a lot more on my essay. Feeling just a little cut off from the rest of the world feels, in a single word, great.

“There is a pleasure in the pathless woods;
There is a rapture on the lonely shore;
There is society where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar;
I love not man the less, but Nature more…”

- Lord Byron