#slayinnthetags

[saturdaysolaces]

Friday, 14th June, 9:50 pm

currently listening to: Given It All – Hayley Kiyoko (aka lesbian jesus)

To say I’m pretty tired is truly an understatement – I’ve spent the past couple of days in a constant state of exhaustion and haven’t really gotten anything done even though I’ve tried to get through the bio units I scheduled to be completed. I took some time today to just relax and plan because my life is a huge mess atm and it needs some serious organising. Also, I just happened to realise that I have around 50 days until school starts again (ikr, I’m thinking about stuff like this, no wonder I’m so stressed constantly) which doesn’t seem that short but to me, who was planning on getting through her readings in a few weeks, it’s a predicament.

I finally got some English revision done (I migrated some vocab to quizlet, which I find is a v purposeful tool for learning a plethora of new words). I’m starting off with vocab (the other thing being grammar), as it requires much more time to get fully incorporated into my writing. Also, it is a prevalent part of my final exams since we have sections from reading comprehension to a written assignment, and from my own experience I can state that teachers appreciate the usage of big words.

Tomorrow’s to-dos:

finish revision timetable

units 6 and 7 of bio

set goals for summer break (in terms of reading etc)

English idioms (a list)

print out some diagrams on alternation of generations etc

[saturdaysolaces]

jan 7 2019: first day of spring term, the library and coffee

here’s day 7 for @advice-to-revise ‘s new year challenge! the first layout (green post-it) is of my chemistry notes from april/may, and the pink-themed ones are of clinical psychology (probably from march?). The blue-themed notes (biology) are the most recent of this set, from the start of second year. I’m actually quite amused by how much my note-taking has kept changing throughout my time in high school. i am not able to keep a consistent method because i tend to get bored quite easily and i haven’t found one yet that combines both efficiency and aesthetics (tumblr needs lol). also, my notes vary style-wise a lot between subjects as some require more dense and detailed notes where others don’t have that much content etc. 

to summarise this day: went to the library after school with a friend. i’m happy how much stuff i got done today! 

[saturdaysolaces]

Friday, July 5th at 9.31 pm

[listening to: 美しい火 (Beautiful Fire) – THE NOVEMBERS]

Another one of these today, I guess. I haven’t had an amazingly productive day today (which is fine), but at least got some stuff I’ve been putting off out of the way! Finally starting English exam prep with grammar exercises makes me feel rly accomplished c: although the first half of the material I reviewed was on a very easy level (not a surprise as it is the first course of English you take in high school) and I think I handle it pretty well so far. I didn’t complete everything, but I’m hoping to do so soon nonetheless (at the end of this week, perhaps?). 

I finally got out of the house today, though! I went and bought some quite over-priced iced coffee to treat myself, and also had the initial idea of purchasing some manga but I sadly didn’t find the ones I was going after and searching for new stuff made my indecisiveness kick in, so I pretty much left empty-handed. Anyway, taking a break from intensive studying whilst listening to SUPER BEAVER and Indigo la End was definitely not time wasted.

Since I got home, I have not really advanced with anything except some biology. I am tackling the fluid mosaic model of cell membranes atm with an extremely slow pace bc I get stuck on every tiny detail again... especially the classification and definitions of different transport proteins and whether uniporters are only related to either passive or active transport... having to self-study all of this sucks bc I have to triple-check everything and it seems as though every source is at odds with some other article/paper. My teacher has this biology dictionary which I trust a bit more than the internet, however I still have to wait for quite a bit before I can ask to look at it. Well, for now I just have to carry on regardless. I also have accumulated a hefty list of questions I’m going to bother my teachers with when I go back to school – speaking of it, school starts in around a month which is a bit crazy (it has taken me a whole month to revise 2 courses of bio so how the heck am I supposed to read through 11 more while also taking dozens of practice papers at the same time??)

Well, all I can do now is just plan well the next four/five weeks. I think that’s what I am going to do right away, actually. I fell a bit behind in revision today, but I love cell bio sm that I think I can manage to catch up tomorrow. If I do, I am going to be halfway through the course, what? Taking into consideration that it took me nearly 3 week to finish course 1, this has to be a new record for me – half a course in 3 days. 

Tomorrow’s to-dos:

cell membranes and signal transduction

cell organelles

protein synthesis + regulation

i.e. bio, bio and more bio

ps I woke up at 6 today bc a wasp had somehow gotten into my room at some point during the night, I have no idea how though bc my room is virtually air-tight and I’ve barricaded myself in??? Well, consequently my sleep patterns are disturbed yet again <:

[saturdaysolaces]

Sunday, 30th June at 1.52 am (because, well, I clearly don’t have anything better to do)

You know the drill: here’s a recap of the past two days. Friday was decent, I was out of town until quite late in the afternoon so I fell behind in my readings a bit. I’m going to let it slide since I have made some notable progress and so far followed my plans quite punctually. Second, I’m on summer break and thus not supposed to be studying in the first place... I’m about 1 1/2 units behind, but I’ll probably get on track soon enough (and heck I am so excited to move onto cell biology because ecology is exhausting af and the material I have to use to study currently seems to be insufficient).

Yesterday was mostly spent with relatives so I didn’t get much stuff done. Today we’re traveling back home and I can finally start my English revision (and hopefully see some friends). Expect to see more odd sentence structures and vocab (I am experimenting, if you can say so).

Oh and the unfinished drawing is of Dia Kurosawa aka best girl from love live sunshine bc I’m a sucker for cute girls

xx

[saturdaysolaces]

Wednesday, 26 June at 8.17 pm

It has been ages again since I posted but here I am! I’ve been quite busy with studying and running on three hours of sleep because they started construction near my house and I wake up to the drilling sounds at 7 am every morning...

On a more positive note, I have made some progress. Around two weeks and half a notebook later, I finished course 1 of biology last week and I can’t describe how accomplished I feel rn although I’m yet to do most of the conclusive stuff to review everything and summarise even more (I’m at my summer house again so I don’t have the chance to do that until next week but I’m fine with it). The aftermath (see above) was close to 50 pages of notes and a substantial number of bookmarks and tabs. Now I’ve (finally) moved onto the next course, which covers ecology and conservation. Those being my least favorite topics of all biology, I’m not expecting to get through it too quickly but my schedule certainly is strict. So far I’m nearly five units in and I’ve scheduled two units per day to hopefully have everything finished by next week’s tuesday, but we’ll see how everything turns out. I also managed to revise some English in the meantime. I’m planning on doing some more reading sometime this week again and start the more official/proper revision next week.

The evening skies have been astonishing lately btw. I really enjoy being away from all the hustle for a little while.

xx

[saturdaysolaces]

jan 5 and 6 2019: physics past papers and a writer’s block

i happened to miss @advice-to-revise ‘s new year challenge day 5 yesterday so this is to compensate for that as well as today’s challenge. 

jan 5 was flashcards, so above is a photo of a set i made for chemistry in first year. i don’t have any more recent ones, mostly because i’m not just an avid user of them. this does not necessarily signify that i don’t like using them, it’s just that the method of revision i usually stick with is making mind maps, and i really haven’t gotten round to trying something else because i find they do the job quite well. also, i haven’t found any pre-cut flashcards in stores and because my lazy/busy self doesn’t want to cut them, i just opt out. 

i do use quizlet for any vocab i come across in my language studies but that’s about it. 

for jan 6, my absolute favourite book (or series, should i say) ever is probably, to no-one’s surprise, the Harry Potter series (especially chamber of secrets!). I also really enjoyed reading the hunger games and never let me go (by kazuo ishiguro)! i have to say though, i haven’t been reading a lot of fiction recently since my interest has drifted towards non-fiction (to all of you interested in biology/biochemistry, i really recommend works by nick lane!). 

as a side note, school is kicking off again tomorrow and i’m really excited to see all my friends! i am determined to make the most of the spring term c:

[saturdaysolaces]

jan 3 2019: friends, cafés and shopping

about 2/3 of today was spent going around town with a good friend of mine. i managed to invest in a new skirt, an agenda, a pair of earrings and a hoodie, all of which i’ve been wanting/needing for a while (usually i’m just too indecisive to buy anything). 

i didn’t do any genuine work today except some planning for the upcoming days. tomorrow i’m trying to finish the darn biology unit because i’ve been working on it for too long...

@advice-to-revise ‘s new year challenge for jan 3: i can speak 3 languages. i’m (kinda) fluent in two of them, finnish (my first language) and english, and i am at a decent level in swedish. all of the latter are mandatory subjects i have to take in school although we have some freedom of choice in deciding how many courses we want to take. i’m also currently self-studying japanese and french because one of my long-term goals is to visit japan and french is just a very appealing language to me vv

[saturdaysolaces]

jan 4 2019: biology, biology and more biology

for @advice-to-revise ‘s new year challenge (day 4), i’ve picked my absolute favourite jams from last year that were of humongous influence. the first one is leisure club’s hollow heartbeat (though i also loved TV shows), and the second sobs’ girl. i’ve played them on repeat literally for days on end and even though i only found these gems (and bands) at about halfway through 2018, they probably come close to being the most played songs on my playlist. 

as stated by the title, i finally finished the biology unit i’ve been trying to avoid. the only con is that it took the whole day (although i woke up at 1 pm woops). now i can take a few days off from studying bio before i have to start grinding again because holy hell is this course crammed full with minuscule details (especially when it comes to the 11 million enzymes we have to learn.. or should i say i have to learn because i’ve brought this on myself by self-studying stuff. to make matters worse, i have 5 exams in 3 weeks’ time)

tomorrow i’m going to an escape room with my cousins, and after that i was planning on doing some physics recap for an upcoming midterm.

xx

[saturdaysolaces]

@advice-to-revise ‘s new year challenge: jan 2 2019

i can’t help but wish i was actually able to maintain a tidy desk... i cleaned it just for the occasion :v also included an appreciation post for little witch academia of akko and lotte (sucy in the background is a mood) because it warms my cold dead heart haha

as for the things i’ve done today, i spent the whole day going around shops, and for my luck found a new school bag (it’s a tad large but at least i won’t have trouble fitting all my books in and worrying the shoulder straps will break). i am planning on tackling the biology unit i started yesterday – probably not finishing it today though as it is getting late and i am too preoccupied with admiring diana cavendish 

*edit* can we also talk about the fact that lotte is finnish??? i had no idea until the episode where akko and sucy meet her parents and they dine together and eat hapansilakka... my initial thought was that lotte had swedish or icelandic roots because of her last name but naniii

xx

[saturdaysolaces]

saturday, october 27th

i decided to change my username! (previously @/slayinnschool)

you’ll find my older posts under #slayinnthetags. idk if i’ll create a new tag for them in the near future. 

xx

[saturdaysolaces]

11/7/2018 wednesday a simple and tiring day today but i guess it’s necessary for my sanity to just have those idk days sometimes?? anyway, i was supposed to go out with my dear friend today but sadly she had to cancel which is perfectly fine bc we moved our date for tomorrow! at least i had something to do for the day; i tackled some maths again, working my way through the last unit, and i’m pleased to exclaim that i’m only like 4 exercises away from completing the whole textbook, and then i can happily check that out of my to-do list for the summer (kinda sad though bc i really enjoyed it even though it’s v v challenging!!). also got some reading done today too (and my daily evening walk) and it finally starts to feel like i’m getting back into reading!! i have so many intriguing books to cover during the rest of the summer c: on the negative note, i apparently have had a migraine (and still have) for the past day and a half and it irritates me to the point i can’t really focus on anything. let’s hope it goes away soon... tomorrow’s to-dos: - go to the city (and purchase physics textbook!) - finish reading? - some math exercises if i find time

[saturdaysolaces]

Tuesday, October 9th

Today’s accomplishments:

• swedish homework

• planning for a presentation about black holes

• brainstorming chemistry research project ideas

haven’t done a lot today tbh but I got the most urgent tasks out of the way so I guess I’m still barely on schedule (which is unheard of). I might try to solve some math exercises before I go to bed though. Loved my math class today, we were learning about conic sections and parametric equations of circles, ellipses and hyperbolas! Also had a fun time with friends again ♡

[saturdaysolaces]

4/7/2018 wednesday

(happy fourth of july!) heya! a pretty chill day today, been in bed almost all day because my eyes felt droopy and my head was a bit cloudy, mostly because of pure tiredness. i got about 5 hours of sleep last night which is definitely not enough for me – i kept changing positions and rolling around in my bed like a maniac for about 4 hours, from 1:30 to 5:30 (am). i watched the sun rise at 4 and i just said to myself, heck, i’m not sleeping today – i just can’t fall asleep in bright light and i had no way of covering my windows (i have white, quite see-trough curtains). fortunately i’m on break, hah. 

i also watched doctor strange on netflix (it was so good let me tell you)! today i’ve been working trough some math exercises (derivates) and i feel like i’m finally getting on top of the topic. i’ve still got a few units to go in biology but i really need a processing break from all the info so i’m moving back to daily maths for now. went for a refreshing walk today too (something i’ve included in my routine recently).

i think part of the reason why i couldn’t sleep is that i went to my school’s website yesterday to check if my courses for second year had changed with the intention to do some planning. bad, bad idea; the courses i had chosen were basically no more, i had been thrown off many courses and almost every teacher had been replaced with another. i don’t know what’s going on since i checked the teacher listing and didn’t recognise half of the people?? one thing is that i choose my courses according to the teachers because of course everyone has their preferred ones; i’ve noticed how much teachers affect my motivation and i don’t want to be so dependent on specific people but i have found the ones who i learn from the best, and it has become v important for me to get into their courses. dumb, i know, but that’s part of the reality. so, long story short, almost every teacher has changed to someone i have never heard of and i am extremely sceptical because i just want the trusty old teachers who are unquestioningly good in what they do. my courses are a catastrophe, heck idk what to do. i kept thinking and stressing about this for the whole of yesterday and it frustrates me because i’m being so franticly keen about things i shouldn’t even be worried about right now and losing sleep because of that... ugh. rant over.

[saturdaysolaces]

photos from 15-17/7/2018 [as i’m writing this, 21/7 saturday] 

been MIA for a few days but i’m back now!! first things first, our “week” at our summer house kinda flopped; we drove back home on wednesday. we were supposed to stay until saturday but for a couple of reasons we had to leave a few days early; firstly, my headache is still not gone (so it’s been about a week) and at this point the possibility of it being a migraine is quite minuscule even though that was the first thing that i though it was. it is unilateral and around my eye, the pain itself isn’t that bad but it keeps persistently bothering me and i worry a lot (again, one of the infinite cons of overanalysing everything). also, today it switched sides, and the pain is exactly the same as with the other side. 

so, we left mostly because we didn’t have proper doctors at the town we were staying in (or even nearby), so the only option was to drive home and get it checked there. we went to the doctor on thursday morning and the doctor came to the conclusion i had a very general manifestation of tension headache. i immediately felt bit sceptical because i have had my neck jammed a million times before and never felt anything like this, but i went with it and have been stretching for a few days now. hope it’s just that and that i don’t have to pay another visit to the doctor’s office.

the second reason is that my headache combined with unbearable heat (it is 32 degrees celsius rn) and myriad mosquitoes isn’t really great in the context of getting sleep; i’ve had like 3 hours of sleep per day for the past week and i keep waking up at 5 am. plus, i have 2-degree sunburns on my upper back and shoulders which made finding a good sleeping position impossible because of the horrible pain. they don’t hurt anymore but itch like crazy and my skin has cracked and is still very red. i haven’t had a good night’s sleep at home either though because during the car ride home i got sick and had a bad fever for a few days. combined with that i seemingly caught a cold/flu again, my throat is quite sore and i woke up today with what seems to be either an ear infection or just excess earwax accumulating in my ear canals (i assume all the latter had something to do with us swimming a lot).

the body is an odd thing, but fortunately i’m still on holiday and have some time to spare, even though i hate being ill (especially because i get sick very rarely and when so happens it can last for a month – i had what doctors suspected to be mono but never diagnosed for 3(?) times?? idk if that’s even possible)

anyway, the photos above are from the days i spent at my summer house. on sunday me, my sister and my cousins went swimming and picnicking to the beach for a few hours (super fun!) and went for ice cream afterwards. the next day was spent in terms of food shopping and swimming again, and on tuesday we mainly tried our hand in sudoku and played some card games. i wasn’t bored which i’m glad of (i even got some biology done!) but my tiredness just got in the way, what can you do.

at this point i’m really looking forward to school beginning again, even though i have some things that i’m v stressed about. i just want to see my friends again and really just be the normal, productive and busy me, because i’ve found that i’m the happiest when i’m somewhat doing something meaningful. at the same time though, contradicting this feeling, is the fact that i do not want to go to school just yet. i thing 19 days is just perfect to get my mind and stuff organised and prepared but also have a few days just to lay down and sleep off my sleep deprivation. i managed to cram in about 4 units of physics today, and if i’m keeping up with the pace i might be finished in a few days (although i’m not in a rush!) because the units, at least compared to biology, are short in length and thus have little to take notes on, mostly just exercises that i mainly try to solve.

haven’t read for a while though because i’m trying to avoid bad posture and positions that might have contributed to my headache (if it is really tension-related, then i suppose my bad reading positions might correlate with it). for now, the main aim and focus is to get rid of my headache and then we’ll see what i’ll do.

hope you are feeling well! i am pushing through :>

[saturdaysolaces]

7/7/2018 saturday

first and foremost, i suppose i failed the 10 days of gratitude challenge as i once again completely forgot to post, which makes me two days behind. i think i’m going to leave it here for now and continue it when i actually remember, because it’s almost 12pm again and with a tired soul i can’t give my full passion and heart to the challenge which i really want to do because it is a gorgeous idea and really gets you thinking!! i will attempt it again in the near future, hopefully before school begins. please, give it a go yourself! .*+. ´*

i spent most of the day shopping which i didn’t take into consideration in regards to the challenge. but, i had a nice day nevertheless, me and my sister were going around stores in an attempt to find something formal for ourselves (she has her confirmation soon). i actually found a dress, a cream/sky blueish striped that almost goes to my ankles with buttons going down the skirt portion.

i also bought a t-shirt and another dress, but most excitingly, i got myself another book about brains (lol)! it’s more pictures than text as it is about the anatomy of the brain and some of its functions (sounds pretty basic, but it goes into amazing detail; i wouldn’t have bought a book that showcases only the “big picture” (as in the central areas like hippocampus, hypothalamus etc that every hs textbook has) as i have studied it quite a lot already). a few of the fancy pages of the book are pictured above (showing the circle of willis) next to my (old) psychology notes and math stuff. 

we also had a filling lunch/dinner (i had tofu and sweet potato fries, yum). the evening was spent walking around and doing math problems (again) – didn’t get the whole unit done though, so i’ve got about 2.5 units left until i’m finished, yay! i’m a little worried about how well i will be able to recall all this stuff in school though as there is still a month before it begins again, but i thought that since our textbook has a portion with “revision” exercises that i could attempt to do them somewhere along this month and if i don’t succeed, it’s time to go through the units again :D 

also, i’ve kinda acquired a daily routine of some sort which is good. i have a more specific morning routine (like skincare stuff and coffee) and i try to take a 2-4km walk every day at 8-9pm. 

tomorrow’s to-dos:

- tidy up

- math units 4.2 and 5.1 

- idk(i should plan how i’m gonna spend the rest of the month though)

xx

[saturdaysolaces]

@rosiebeestudies ‘s 10 days of gratitude

day 2 | 10 people in your life who you are grateful to have met

*note: i am using mostly letters whilst listing because i feel it’s a bit too invasive and this is generally for my own purposes sooo*

1. Em. we haven’t been friends for too long; we met on the first day of high school (we are in the same class) and begun talking and hanging with each other soon after. i would say our first biology course was the “beginning of it all”; we worked on group projects together and had a mutual fondness for sciences, and i guess that was something that contributed to out friendship. she’s a know-it-all like me and i adore absolutely everything about her. we are not the closest as friends, but she’s a person i trust and have fun with and i couldn’t wish for more. love you! <3

2. JJ. also met her on the first day of high school and i think our friendship got its start on that particular day too. she moved here about 6 years ago from china and has had to learn finnish from scrap – and she has come astonishingly far. she doesn’t speak finnish perfectly but she just happens to be in one of the highest-ranking high schools in finland and get better marks than over half of the people in our finnish class (which is known for its cruel grading). also, she’s something of a language witch; she has taken courses from 7 languages so far, and she won an international writing contest. she is extremely hard-working and a huge inspiration for me, and also an amazing friend. we usually complain to each other and talk about how different our cultural backgrounds are.

3. N. we have been good friends for over 13 years now, from kindergarten. sadly, we don’t spend much time together as we followed our paths to separate schools, but whenever we see each other it’s like nothing has changed. i still love her and she will forever have a place in my heart.

4. I. also someone whom i’ve known for about 9-10 years (since first grade). me, I and N were a super trio all the way to ninth grade with our dumb fights, crazy cooking attempts and harry potter pretends. we’ve distanced a lot during the past year since we go to different schools but we still do the same stupid things. 

5 & 6. my cousins. i have two cousins who me and my sister are really close with. so many happy memories with them, we are just a bunch of goofs.

7. E. she’s my biology/geography/health ed teacher, and honestly she deserves her nickname (you’d know if you know me). she’s literally one of the sweetest and most kind-hearted people i’ve met and and so skilled at what she does. something that i really appreciate about her is that she listens. we have talked multiple times about stuff i’ve been going through and i’m always worried that i just complain (which i do) but she reassures me that it’s more than fine and i need to thank her for that. she’s a huge support.

8. A. what a lovely soul she is. been friends for about 2 years and we’re not the perfect match in terms of interests but she’s a goof and i love her so that’s enough for me. she’s the positive one and brings good vibes.

9. S. another teacher i admire enormously. i genuinely aspire to be her; so real with herself and everyone else, very outspoken but hilarious. she makes my finnish classes seriously fun and she gives amazing critique in a way that is actually purposeful.   

10. L and X. both amazing people. we have known each other for a very little while but i’m still glad i’ve met them because now i finally have a study buddy at the library and someone who loves getting philosophical (hah)!

xx