A Short French Lesson: Les Negatives

I love my bookmarking system on ao3 because i see this kinda thing

and i go "OHHHH this one must be good"

How To Stay Motivated (from an unmotivated person)

Hello Wonderful Humans,

I see you have returned back to my page, good, very good. Keep up the good work.

Today, I woke up quite early than I like to because my sister decided to blast music through the sound system in the living room. Her taste in music is crappy so, I had to get out of bed, take a long walk to the living room from my bedroom, and slam a pillow across her donkey face. I asserted my dominance in the house, ETHINA RULES MUHAHAHA

After getting the peaceful and quiet environment of the house back, I wanted to go back to sleep but, I couldn't sleep anymore because I don't know why. Therefore, I thought, why don't I try to stay motivated today and see how it goes?

Yes, I woke up and chose violence.

Here are 5 tips I used throughout my day to stay in a good mood and be productive:

TIP #1 PLACE YOUR ALARM CLOCK AWAY FROM YOUR BED this kitty banner is cute tho

If you want to spend a motivated productive day, the first step is to get out of bed. How the heck are you going to get work done if you don't get out of bed?

If you keep on saying your alarm "5 more minutes" and snooze it like me, you need to keep your alarm away from your bed so you have to get out of your bed to shut the screaming phone off.

Turn on the lights right after you get out of bed and turn off your alarm. This way, your brain will know it's already morning and stop being lazy.

If you are still feeling sleepy, go take a cold shower to wake you up (a hot shower will make you more sleepy as it relaxes your muscles). Trust me, the moment the ice-cold water will hit your skin, you will feel more alive than you ever felt.

TIP #2 MAKE A TO-DO LIST (IT HELPS) this white aesthetic is hurting my eyes

After you are done with your post-shower rituals (yes, rituals) make yourself a healthy breakfast (don't eat the leftovers from last night, start your day with a fresh meal.). While you are eating your delicious first-meal-of-the-day, get a notebook, diary, or whatever you write your nonsense in and make a to-do list.

I write what I want to get done throughout the day. Keep it as detailed as possible. This way, you are letting your brain know what you want to do today thus, you know EXACTLY how you want to use your day.

TIP #3 FIND SOMETHING YOU LOVE minimal art supremacy

We all have that special something that we love to do, be it watching K-Dramas or watering plants. Ask yourself, what is that one thing that you love to do and lowkey wished you didn't have responsibilities to carry so you could do the thing you love carelessly.

Let's take me as an example. I love food and food is equivalent to life for me. I don't give a damn about the nuclear explosion, I just want my fried chicken with barbeque sauce.

I say myself, Ethina, if you finish studying for all your tests, we will take a ride to your favorite chicken place and buy fried chicken with barbeque sauce. We will also get croissants.

I love my friend chicken with barbeque sauce, I also love my croissants. I am very dedicated to food and if getting food means studying, I AM READY TO SACRIFICE MY PRECIOUS SLEEP FOR IT.

When I am done with my goal, I simply get my dad to drive me up to my favorite chicken place and buy me what I have promised myself.

TIP #4 SET A TIMER calming water aesthetic banner lol

Admit it or not, we all feel like we studied for 5 hours after barely studying for 5 minutes. Every time I open my Higher Mathematics Edition II Algebra Volume, I forget everything I ever learned. I start messing up simple problems like "2+x=4"

Setting up a timer will help you keep track of how much time you spend studying. You will know that you didn't study for 5 hours when you sat in front of your study station and stared at a blank wall for 2 minutes.

I highly suggest the Pomodoro Technique. This time-management technique was developed by Francesco Cirilo in the late 1980s. The technique uses a timer to break down work into intervals, traditionally 25 minutes in length, separated by short breaks.

I set my timer for 30 minutes and break down my to-do list into small parts to complete within this 30-minute time period. Then, I take a 5-minute break which I use to walk around the house and check on my family (what if a mafia gang attacked my family?) after which I set a timer for 30-minutes again. After studying for 1 hour productively this way, I take a 10-minute-break for treating myself with food and start studying again.

You can customize the timer according to your need and you can even use a online Pomodoro timer like Pomofocus and apps like Forest.

I could study for 6 hours today and finish all my tasks on my to-do list without feeling fatigued, I am sure you can do it too! Make sure you stay hydrated during your study session, let's get that clear skin while we study!

TIP #5 LISTEN TO MUSIC THAT PUTS YOU IN A GOOD MOOD oml look at the floof banner so cuteee

We all love music. At times when no one understands us, music lends their comfortable shoulder for us and lets us cry our heart out. The true potential of music to communicate with people of all walks of life is truly amazing.

Listen to whatever music makes you happy. Don't pay heed to other's opinion about your music taste (even if someone slams a pillow on your face like me). We can listen to whatever artist we like, and if someone tries to stop us from doing so, gurl the Earth before and after your opinion is the same.

I like listening to classical music (those dark academia classical playlists on YouTube are bop) because they don't have any lyrics which might or might not take away all my attention. If I get tired of classical music, I just listen to orchestral versions of my favorite songs.

Music helps you to concentrate better, it also helps you to stay in a great mood (unless you are listening to breakup songs lol). I personally believe that music increases productivity even though everyone has a different opinion on this.

this banner doesn't go with this blog's theme but I like the feel of it so I am using it

If you are still here, congratulations! You survived my nonsense blabbering and I am sure you will survive life too! :)

I hope the tips above will help you become a better version of yourself!

A like and follow will be appreciated.

I've never seen a cishet dark academic bitch like are yall real??? honestly??? are you hiding from us???? I promise we don't bite, we're busy chewing the homophobes and transphobes

-intelligent, creative, accepting

are you bored yet?-wallows

bookcase-oliver daldry

the book of you & i-alec benjamin

constellations-the oh hellos

dissolve-absofacto

elizabeth-the airborne toxic event

equation-camille

flesh & bone-sammy rae

forever-billy raffoul

five-sleeping at last

green-cavetown

honey + tea (acoustic)-mōzi

minimum-charlie cunningham

mr. know it all-young the giant

older-ben platt

the scientist-coldplay

simplify-young the giant

skyscrapers-ok go

symmetry (dark version)-syml

welcome to wonderland-anson seabra

I am an engineering student who is also obsessed with dark academia and honestly it’s a lifeline at this point. Romanticizing education helps me deal with the stress of it all and makes me not wanna unaliven’t myself 😃

Here are some things I enjoy about being a STEM major (idk if these classify as dark academia but we’ll go with it):

-First and foremost, Vivaldi. Specifically, Storm. Listening to that piece while doing your work will make you feel like a mad scientist.

Pouring over math, pouring over biology lab work, practicing on a cadaver, anything.

Put that song on and bam, pretentious mad scientist whose on the brink of discovering something that will shatter the scientific community, or quite literally, shatter the world. I never said they were a good person, did I?

- Starting different journals for different subjects. Anatomy, botanicals, chemistry, biology, quantum physics, anything. Just writing, drawing, and sketching and genuinely enjoying learning about all these topics. You never know when it could come in handy.

-Wanting to become the Tony Stark of our times (not the war crimes but the innovation and knowledge) and always daydreaming about creating something magnificient. Maybe you could create an iron suit one day, a real life, fully functioning one.

-Continuing with wanting to become Tony Stark, obsessing over electrical engineering and astrophysics. Learning about flight, the atmosphere, how to build and create flight vehicles, and having millions of sketches of aircrafts on your desk and all over your walls.

-Talking about flight, can we talk about Da Vinci? Growing up obsessed with him and pouring over his artwork and scientific studies. You felt and still feel understood by him. He combines your love for the arts and your love for science beautifully. Wishing you could live in the reinassance era, being a pupil, studying under all of these talented people.

Btw, you’re still obsessed with him. Yes, till now.

-From Da Vinci, discovering Galileo, Michelangelo, Raphael, Donatello, and falling in love with their works. Eventually developing an obsession with the reinassance era in its entirety and basically memorizing the entire timeline and historic events of that time period.

-Visiting as many libraries as you can with the countries you visit. Personally, the most magnificent library I’ve seen is the Bibliotheca Alexandrina.

-Having an ancient mythology obsession. Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, Ancient Persia, Ancient China, Norse mythology, anything you could get your hands on. These stories shaped your childhood and are still very dear to your heart.

-Hating the idea of monolithic religions from a young age (mainly because of religious trauma) and deciding to rebel by praying to ancient gods. Nothing big.

For me personally, it’s Greek gods. A small prayer to Athena when I’m cleaning or using olive oil or crocheting. A lil prayer to Aphrodite when I’m doing my makeup or skincare. A lil prayer to Artemis when I go shooting. It’s an act of defiance and makes me happy. What’s better than that?

-Also, hating the academic world yet wanting to participate in it. I mean you honestly hate the world at this point but let’s just focus on this. It’s so pretentious and exclusive and misguiding/misleading most of the time. Also, the fact that white, old men are at the top doesn’t really help.

-From that, having an intense hatred for the collegeboard. Going on rants about how pointless and stupid these standardized tests are. I mean, what’s the point of it? Give me one solid reason we take them. Go on, I’m waiting.

-Taking programming for the first time and just simply hating it but also secretly loving it. I mean, there’s nothing more satisfying than submitting your coding assignment and getting an A but those goddamn punctuation signs (idk what else to call them).

Imagine finishing your code then running it and it tells you there’s an error. You search for hours and hours and then finally realise, you wrote ‘}’ instead of ‘]’. A breakdown is on its way.

This just a huge rant lol. It’s what I’ve been doing for the past month so idk? Let’s hope this is relatable. Also idk how to use tags someone pls teach me 😃✋

I don't even like yellow why tf is my tumblr full of yellow

Affirmations i use to study/get things done!

"You've prepared the whole year for this. Don't let it go to waste." "I can and I will." "It doesn't matter how hard it takes to reach my goal." "It doesn't matter if the other person is more talented than you. There's no rule for them to work more harder than you." "You can wake up anyday and decide to change the person that you are." "Who cares if I'm pretty if I fail my finals?" "One day, you'll leave this world behind so live a life that you'll remember." "If it's a million to one. I'm gonna be that one.” "You can't be perfect. No one can. But you can try to be the best." "Failure is a part of success. Use it in the best way possible." "You are more than capable of handling yourself and your textbooks." "Study like you haven't prayed and pray like you haven't studied." "You came this far only to come this far?" "There is no way I'm going to come back with something I don't like." "Study because learning is better than being ignorant." "Grades aren't everything but they do make your life somewhat easier." "I know more than i think I do." “There are no shortcuts to any place worth going.”  "Progress > Perfection." "You're doing this for you. Only you. Don't forget that."

not me taking a break from instagram and accidentally getting addicted to tumblr

not me

run bish

I JUST CAME ACROSS IT AND I WAS SO SO CONFUSED AHAHAHABBA

I can’t believe Simon Fairchild made a tumblr back in 2012 just to make the “do you love the color of the sky” post and harvest the low-level dread it brought for years. 

Energy Management

A human-based organization method

click on images for better resolution; images also available here (link to google drive)

Other posts that may be of interest:

Getting stuff done: How to deal with a lack of motivation

Flexible time-blocking: A more breathable way to get things done

The ABCDE Method