make a list of things to look forward to doing post-exams

1. Start conquering my “Books one must read before they die” list.
2. Go on a Roadtrip with my friends, money and music.
3. Start the vampire baseball league.
4. Lie on the grass with everyone eating popsicles.
5. Go see Dara O Brian live!
6. Have a non-mocktail cocktail.7. Get me out of bed before 9 am.
8. Join a boxercise class (Like we said we would do for more than a year now)
9. Have Flaming Craigs on the Rocks
10. Sex each other up at Gay Bars!
11. Find hot guys and take their pictures before the end of the night to remember what they looked and judge them without our beer goggles.
12. Sort out our trading of our 5 men.
13. Stampout the use of ‘lol’ worldwide.
14. Teach ourselves to have fluent Irish, go back to Mr.Behan in september and talk with him in Irish. Visit the Irish bar in town.
15. Pole fitness class!
16. See each other, out of the house, at least once a week.
17. Cycle somewhere.
18. Join a gym and go!
19. Find more hot barmen.
20. Kill the matchstick man, forever.
21. Go to the beach, in our swimsuits and make men drool.
22. Go to the pub quiz again, aswell as other ones!
23. Make parody videos, trailers and films!
24. Teach Lorr how to work Ebay.
25. Go to England to visit Robin Hood places.
26. Bring everyone to Edinburagh!
27. Go to Boda Borg!
28. Go see New Moon in November!
29. Watch the EIP Twilight spoof on the 3rd of August.
30. Get a good tan!

I do, y’know. In fact, I love learning new things – the possibilities, the huge range of subjects! Maybe that’s why I get so frustrated having to cram things into my brain before exams: no time to appreciate the learning, and usually it’s stuff I don’t entirely have an interest in. B2B trading hubs? Urm, not really!! And while I’d love to learn JavaScript, the brief mention in the course notes and lack of time means I really can’t even scrape the surface – so once again, it’s something to add to the list for after the actual course. Tch!!

Oh, that list! All the sexy, useful sounding stuff, that I feel the actual degree is keeping at arms’ length right now! The more time I spend learning about spiral models and certification authorities, the more I gnash my teeth at the lack of applicability! There are people out there just throwing websites together, experimenting with Python and PHP and JavaScript, and here’s me trying to remember the layers of the OSI-RM model!! O.o

I have another year or two of ‘must focus on what we tell you to focus on’ type stuff, but even in that there are areas I can enjoy. And then – the world!!

Having given myself the day off today, I find myself in a position I can barely remember: I can do anything I want right now! There’s no negotiating between a little bit of fun until I start studying, no limit on how long I can crash in front of the tv, and absolutely nothing stopping me getting caught up in something that’d take longer than I feel I have to spare!

It’s just for today – but even though I have to buckle down again for a bit, soon all this will be mine! :)

Whoot! How could I have missed this one?! :)

Everything is booked already, so it’s a case of the rest of the organising – what to take, to wear, etc etc. And enjoying every minute of anticipation in the 5 week countdown (which is what it’ll be after the exams – to the day!)

I’ve actually probably been watching more TV than usual of late, when my days consist of study study study watch tv sleep rather than work ‘net sleep, but they still feel like guilty snatched moments, or lame attempts at relaxing at the very least. So, post-exams I rather fancy the freedom to spend all weekend or at least all evening, vegging out guilt-free in front of the TV. No ‘pooter, nothing I should go and get done… lovely! I can finally finish watching Firefly, and M’s Cold Feet discs, and everything else!

There will also be cinema binging, reading binging, listening to (non-classical/soundtracky) music, and stupid amounts of Risk and maybe even Cluedo. God help me, I might even break out the Monopoly! O.o

Hugely inspired by Ira, I’ve come to realise that not only am I itching to stop messing with the theory and get on with the practical, but that I need to start with something… playful. A space to just much about, try anything and everything, rather than setting out with some big goal I then struggle to reach.

Actually looking forward to it a lot! :)

Urm. Well ‘looking forward’ to the result, rather than the effort, even more than the losing weight one! O.o

However, this is something I’ve wanted to do for ages now, and it makes sense (in my head) to have some time focused on improving my physical fitness after all of this mental working out right now!

Okay, let’s be a bit more positive: I am looking forward to getting to a place where I can enjoy physical activity. I love reading all the C25K stories where people get into the zone of running, and I want that!

I also want to be able to keep up trailing ‘round half of Cornwall this summer, in the first instance!

Hoping to be able to start this just after my exams, and more importantly keep it up long enough to start seeing results for a change!

I appear to be in spring cleaning mode – not inappropriately, just, can it wait a few weeks to get really stuck in, please?! Yesterday I cleared half a kitchen cupboard (and it felt goooood!), but the bigger plans seem to be about those books…

I am vaguely considering new bookshelves – maybe. If they would fit, hold everything, and not bankrupt me! On a slightly less scary scale, I’ve reached the point of not being able to find books that I know are in there – and it’s not like I’ve got rooms to rake through!!

So thinking… keep the sorted-by-size that I have (it looks so much neater, and I can cram more in! ;)) but add an alphabetisation. Yeah, I know. But the vague half by genre, half by if I’ve read/will read again method just obviously isn’t working – I mean, Dune is in there… somewhere! O.o

Gosh, really? Yup, really! O.o

I’ve been thrilled so far with the results from sticking to my Sparkpeople goals, and following the 4DW. However, I’ve finally reached that point where I just don’t care/have the energy – I’m cramming chocolate in my face even when I feel a bit queasy at the thought of eating, ‘cos… well, ‘cos that’s what I do when I study! At this point, I’ll take any fake-helpfulness to get me through things…

Of course, doesn’t help that SparkPeople seems to be down, and that I just don’t have time or energy to follow the 4DW exercises (if I had time for food-mood-brood journals, why am I not writing about OSI-RM instead, hmmm?!)

So, shelving this – quite deliberately – pre-exams; but looking forward to having the mental space for it again soon – and the added motivation of a nice holiday countdown :)

I never seem to have any time for this at the moment, having made all of one card this year. Sigh. For one of my study breaks today, looking for something away from the ‘pooter and not tv, I started flicking through my card making magazines and oohing and aahing over all the pretty bits’n’colours :)

It’s too tough to do anything right now – my study space and card making space are the same! – but I’m looking forward to some pressure-free playing with paper and glitter post-exams. I’d like to try several variations on any theme I come up with, build up a little stock. And make good on all those promised ‘New Year’ cards – sorry, guys!!

Heck – I could even get an early start on the Christmas cards, right?! ;)

edit
Spending the day with my sm yesterday – and receiving a lovely Easter card! – has just totally fired me up for this even more! Pretties!! :)