Tag: revision

Posted in Lifestyle

To Do Today

Posted on by ktkinnes

Okay so I’m already behind on today’s to do list as this was meant to be posted at 11am today but shh, we’ll just let that slide. Hello everyone! I’m sure many of you will see this and wonder why on earth I’m posting this but I ran a brief poll on twitter last night to ask if people would be interested in seeing today’s to do list and it came back as a unanimous yes, so here goes!

 

  • Write at least one blog post for today
  • Schedule or at lest draft posts up until Friday of this week
  • Order some prints from the lovely Tarnya (@sweet_allure)’s etsy site – honestly you should have a look at them!
  • Tidy and clean my bedroom. With being ill yesterday (and yes, a migraine counts as being ill), I was a bit of a slob and just left things lying.
  • Finish cleaning the flat (again, was ill yesterday so didn’t finish this)
  • Go to the gym or at least get some fresh air
  • Do at least 3 hours revision for my final resit
  • Look into classroom assistant jobs as I think I’ve found a course I would love to do!
  • Speak to family back home. This happens that regularly I often forget that I’m not actually with them. Think we spoke 4 times yesterday?
  • Put a wash on and actually deal with it before the 4th spin. We don’t have a tumble drier so I tend to over spin things
  • Finish reading The Cursed Child
  • Look at other jobs and courses that I could do instead of being at university.

 

Wow okay there’s a lot there to be getting on with, I’d better hurry up and get started! What are your plans for today?

 

Have an awesome Sunday, folks!

 

Ktkinnes xx

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Posted in Lifestyle

Monday Morning Musings

Posted on by ktkinnes

Well firstly, I’d like to thank The Tab on Facebook for getting The Vengaboys stuck in my head this early in the morning (it’s 5am by the way, I’m writing this at 5am). Good morning! How was your weekend? I’m alright, thanks, just a bit sleepy. Rachel’s flight is at 7am so she wanted to leave here early enough to give herself time for breakfast at the airport. It was a good weekend but I’m actually now looking forward to getting some serious revision done! Once I wake up again because let’s face it I’m about to go back to sleep. 
As is my normal routine, I looked at my Timehop today and realised that 6 years ago I was writing in slang constantly – no wonder English wasn’t my strong point! My musings of this morning, however, are when did I resort back to actual typing? Yes, I still use some slang when on Facebook messenger or texting, and who doesn’t shorten words to make your tweet the right number of characters on Twitter? Our generation get slated for our addictions to technology and social media. While I can admit that I have a small addiction, it’s not only our generation. My 60 year old Dad spends hours just scrolling through Facebook, unsure if I shared something or just liked it. My 75 year old granny has a better laptop than me and is always on her iPad, checking the weather and, again, browsing Facebook. So when did it become a crime to use the technology given to us? 
I love my phone and my laptop. My life wouldn’t stop without them, but they are now an integral part of my day to day life. It’s why I don’t feel guilty for being away from my blog or Twitter on Saturday. I was with family and enjoying a family day out. Didn’t even have headphones on in the car!
What’s your opinion on the whole technology/social media debate?
Ktkinnes xx

Posted in Lifestyle

Honestly….

Posted on by ktkinnes

Honestly, today hasn’t been the productive day I was hoping for. If you’ve been following my blog or Twitter recently, you may have noticed that I have resits coming up. These resits decide whether or not I get to continue university and become a teacher – the one thing I’ve thought about for years. And yet, here I am with absolutely no motivation to revise or be proactive about it. In fact, the only thing I can build up the energy to do today is eat, watch Netflix or blog. None of these are what I’d planned.
I came back to the flat last night and the place needs a good clean. Then again, what do you expect when the people living in it are in work during the day and crash into bed the minute they come back? When I saw it last night, my immediate thought was “right, I’ll clean first thing in the morning”. Still hasn’t happened. 

I wanted to blast through my notes for Wednesday’s exam so that I can dedicate my time tomorrow to Tuesday’s paper. The notes are in front of me but I can’t get past the first page. Hell I can’t even bring myself to read The Cursed Child which arrived today in the post! What sort of Harry Potter fan am I?
The final, and probably biggest, disappointment is that I want to be healthier. I want to look at chocolate and crisps and takeaway and say “no, I’m not having that” but instead I’ve binged out and already ordered dominos for 6pm today. Is this just because I’m having a lazy day or is it I’m simply a lazy person?
I think it has to be the latter unfortunately. I’ve always known I lack the get up and go gene that my sister has but I’ve never really accepted it. I’ve found myself today looking around my bedroom in the flat thinking about how to personalise it and make it somewhere I actually want to live. All of this probably isn’t helped by the fact it’s cold and grey outside when all I can think about is the heat and sun of Ibiza, my mind going back to this time last week. 
If you have any advice on what to do or how to sort my life out, I’d really appreciate your help. Anything is better than sitting here wallowing in self pity for a situation I’ve got myself into.
Ktkinnes xx

Posted in Lifestyle, Sunday's Summary

Hello from The Island!

Posted on by ktkinnes

Hello my lovely friends! How are you all? If you haven’t already guessed – I’m in Ibiza!  Well I’m actually not there yet, I’m scheduling this post in case I get too tired and fall asleep without blogging tomorrow… But by the time you’re reading this I’ll be in Ibiza!

Unfortunately, I didn’t win the euromillions on Friday night so after 11 nights I will need to go back to Northern Ireland again. But enough of that, I’ve only just arrived and I plan on making the most of this holiday. So instead of boring you with why I want to stay, shall we have a look back at the last 7 days?

Sunday, Rachel returned from Romania and woke us all up around 4:30am when she arrived in with her McDonald’s cheeseburger and fries which she proceeded to eat in front of us, offering us a bite while we were still waking up. No thanks. To mark her return, and the final of Wimbledon, Granny H came up for dinner and a good night. We were fed and watered before settling down to watch TV – Dad watching the football, Mum and I watching Les Misérables. Could there have been a more perfect way to end the week? Oh! And I almost forgot, I actually managed to take part in the Teacup Club’s Twitter chat on Sunday! 

Monday, I did a bit of revision before going on a shopping spree in Boots for some last minute holiday purchases. Would you like to see a haul post from it? Monday was quite quiet. I can’t really remember it all that well to be honest! Can’t have been anything important.

Tuesday marked the 12th of July, something of a public holiday here in Northern Ireland. To celebrate the Battle of the Boyne, there are parades and marches and the like and so we made our way down to watch them for half an hour or so. We got a good walk though, and it was a lovely warm morning. Considering I have something against loud noises (always have, always will. Couldn’t even have windows open while someone was cutting the grass) half an hour was long enough for me to cope with the Lambeg drums and loud music. Rachel’s boyfriend and his mum came around for an all afternoon barbeque, even though the rain was pouring down, and it was actually a good day. 

On Wednesday we took a road trip up to the north coast, Portrush and Port Ballintrae, for a different afternoon. It turned out to be a glorious day, and we finished it by having dinner in the Ramore Wine Bar. 


Thursday was spent revising, cleaning, and packing. Rachel was at her boyfriend’s, and I ended up having an argument with Mum so sat in my room the majority of the night.

Friday I saw Granny B and said goodbye to her before the holiday. The rest of the day was taken up with making her a list of instructions for while she’s cat-and-dog-sitting, teaching Mum how to download podcasts, painting nails and collecting our travel money. 

Saturday, holiday spirit began to take over. The kitchen was cleaned, Rachel went to her first “day” of work (it was only 3 hours and she complained after that she was exhausted – come back to me when you’ve worked 3:30-11:30pm one night and been back in 6:30am-3:30pm the next morning). The afternoon was spent at Granny H’s house before she took us out for dinner at a little restaurant on the Lisburn Road. It was lovely but boy does she talk… I swear she didn’t shut up for longer than 30 seconds in the 6 and a half hours we were with her. We went home and I curled up in bed to watch The Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest. Love it.
And that brings you up to date! I’ll probably blog about our travels while we’re away so keep an eye out for my posts!
Hope the upcoming week is good to you all!
Ktkinnes xx

Posted in Lifestyle

Accidental rambling

Posted on by ktkinnes

So I’m currently attempting to revise but my mind isn’t focusing at all as sitting behind me is a nearly packed suitcase! Ibiza isn’t far away and I’m desperate to get away now. 

I seriously cannot settle down to do any work and I’m beginning to worry. How am I meant to pass these resits if I can’t focus for more than a couple of hours at a time during the day? I mean, I could stay awake at night but that makes the day time work ethic even worse. Any suggestions?
Today’s thought for the day is 

Judge a man by his questions, not by his answers.   

– Voltaire          

So what does that mean for us? To me, especially today, it implies that an intelligent person doesn’t boast of his intellect through his answers, rather he asks the right questions at the right times. 

This week has been an interesting political development, probably one of the bigger ones of my lifetime. As we all know, the U.K. voted to leave the EU at the end of June. As a result, David Cameron resigned as prime minister and we now have Theresa May. Now, truth be told, I know very little about her, her policies or her intentions for the country. However, I am slightly wary of her for the simple reason I was unaware of her before this parliamentary shuffle. Is that wrong of me to say, especially when women should be rejoicing at this supposed win for feminists around the globe? I don’t know. All I do know is that it’s time I took an interest in the politics of the mainland and left behind the politics of Northern Ireland.
Whoops, I somehow got off topic. I actually came on here to talk about my summer reading list and how I’ve just downloaded Pokemon go! But I’ll save that for later. So call back tonight for this summer’s reading list and any other ramblings I may have!
Ktkinnes xx

Posted in Lifestyle, Sunday's Summary

Sporty Sunday

Posted on by ktkinnes

Hello one and all, once again it’s Sunday and I’ve actually been doing things this week! I’ve a few blog post ideas today so please be patient and I’ll be posting them throughout the day. Maybe I’ll be back to my normal blogging routine soon…

To start with, we have the usual Sunday Summary of the week. Monday, which was also Baron’s birthday, involved a trip into town and the start of Operation Rachel 18th Birthday. Dad and I had a visit from Granny B and my Aunt and we spent almost 2 hours trying to fix problems they had with their e-tickets for an upcoming trip to England. Somehow,  my uncle had spelt the names wrong on the tickets and had forgotten to add luggage and special assistance that was required and so that took up the majority of our morning. When we finally finished that, Dad and I took a drive into Lisburn City Centre. I left him to do his own thing while I bought a candle for my cousin and a few bits and pieces for my bedroom. I’m hoping when I get back from Glasgow to make my room more ‘me’ and a few other things I have in mind but more about that later. We then spent the rest of the day around the house, me revising and Dad cleaning and gardening. That night we got a phone call from a rather homesick Rachel. We’d been keeping up to date with the Habitat team in Romania through the blog the teachers had set up, which can be found here for anyone who’s interested, and so knew some of what they’d been doing but of course you can never be fully prepared for some of the poverty seen and so Rachel was quite upset. Finally, we watched Brief Encounters on ITV at 9pm. It was a great first episode and I really can’t recommend it enough! It’s light and different and definitely worth watching.

Tuesday brought about a morning for going through my summer holiday clothes and deciding what I was taking in case it needed washed. That took up the majority of my morning somehow and so in the afternoon I did some revision before ironing clothes and heading to a barbeque at my granny’s fold. It was a pleasant night and I had a few good chats with some of the other people living there. Overall, Tuesday was a dull day.

Wednesday, I headed to Kesh for a couple of nights at my cousin’s. With everything that’s been going on here recently, I was dying to escape the house and the people in it and so, as getting to Kesh is cheaper than Glasgow, I chose to visit my family. I got down to Omagh around lunchtime and spent a couple of hours shopping with my cousin before going on to her house in Kesh. We had lunch before organising her back room into a spare room, something she’d been trying to do for a while now but needed help to move the furniture. That night we got a chinese and chatted while watching Pretty Little Liars – I love it! I’ll have to watch it before Ibiza next week….

Thursday morning, we went to Castle Archdale in Fermanagh to walk the dogs and get some fresh air. My uncle came down to see us and of course he and my cousin argued the whole way around so it wasn’t exactly fun. However we then went out for lunch and then onto his friend’s house where we chatted together for a while and actually managed to have everyone being pleasant for a while. That night, we watched more Pretty Little Liars and moved some more furniture around before attempting to have an early night.

On Friday, I came home again and went to visit Granny H to help her with her new phone and some other technology problems she’s been having. We finished the night by watching tennis and having a barbeque in the garden.

Yesterday, we went to St George’s Market – an indoor market in Belfast City Centre. It was good fun to have a look around the stalls while listening to a traditional Irish band, but it was nothing compared to the markets you get abroad – another reason to be excited for our holiday! We did a bit of shopping around the city centre before having lunch out, and then came home where we watched yet more tennis.

 

Today is the final day of Wimbledon and so I’m about to go watch TV – hopefully see Andy Murray win! I’d better actually get going now as they’re about to start the game. Enjoy your Sunday and I’ll hopefully get talking later!

 

 

Ktkinnes xxx

Posted in Lifestyle, TV, Wishful Wednesday

Wishful Wednesday and other such news.

Posted on by ktkinnes

Okay before I begin tonight, I just want to apologise for my complete lack of posting over the past 2 weeks. Again, there’s been no real reason for it except I’m revising for resits and too lazy to write the posts earlier. Although I suppose when I first started out blogging I never intended to blog every day unless there was something worth saying.


So once again, sorry! Especially if you’ve been looking for me recently. I’ve recently started watching Scandal, especially when revising. Mary kept telling me to watch it, especially since I love Greys Anatomy and How To Get Away With Murder. How right she was! Kerry Washington stars as Olivia Pope, a so-called lawyer who acts as a “fixer” for the rich and famous (sometimes infamous) of Washington D.C. It’s a great show and I can’t honestly think of a show I’d rather be watching. 

If I’m being honest, my love for all things presidential at the minute definitely adds to the reasons I’m enjoying Scandal. However, I love seeing actors and actresses from other shows that I’ve watched appearing in different roles. An example of this would be Jeff Perry. He’s a fantastic actor. I enjoyed watching him act Thatcher Grey in Grey’s Anatomy, but now I adore him as Cyrus Bean in Scandal. I don’t want to give anything away really but Cyrus and his husband are so cute together and Jeff’s acting moved me to tears today at a certain point in season 3 – no spoilers from anyone who’s seen it!
Now that I’ve covered my TV addict’s part of the post, I thought I’d move onto Wishful Wednesday. Unless you’d rather I stopped that? Again, I’m not really sure if you’re enjoying it so please please please send me some feedback! 
It’s been a long week. I’ve started revising morning, afternoon and night, with very little time for sleep or anything else for that matter. So for today’s Wishful Wednesday, I choose to pass these exams and graduate next summer. For obvious reasons (I hope) I want to pass these exams. After the exams, I will progress onto 3rd year. My desire to be a teacher is still going strong. Will I have to change the theme of my blog if/when that happens? Who knows. We’ll cross that bridge when it comes to it.
The past 10 days or so, as I’ve said, have mainly been spent revising. After a few days at the library, I switched to revising at home. Rachel finished her exams and to celebrate we had an Indian takeaway and watched The Lady In The Van. Now my rating of this isn’t very high, it was good but I’m not quite sure if it was good enough to deserve all the awards and praise it received. Definitely would rather have been watching Scandal. Rachel then went camping with Cameron for a few days in the rain, while the rest of us here in Lisburn went out for dinner which resulted in a rather interesting Sunday morning. Have I told you my uncle is living with us at the minute? I can’t really go into why or how at the minute so if I remember I’ll come back to it another time. 


Finally, it’s 17 days, 17 hours and 50 odd minutes until we set off for Ibiza! I’ve never been so excited to go on holiday. Brief throwback to this day last year when I wrote Packing. Can you believe my blog is 2 years old? However, please ignore the adds at the top of the picture. It would be a miracle if I was pregnant! 

I can’t believe it isn’t even 10 o’clock yet, I’m exhausted! Except before I go to sleep I still have some more revision to do. Blogging is a nice change. If I’m lucky, I’ll be going to sleep around 12:30am and get up again at 7ish to start over again. Why do I do this to myself? I swear to whatever anyone believes in, I will work even harder next year. I need to. 
So goodnight! Wish me luck with Nuclear and Particle Physics… Maybe it’ll send me to sleep 😂
Happy Hump Day!
Ktkinnes xx

Posted in Lifestyle

100!!!!

Posted on by ktkinnes


Yes yes yes I am revising but I just got this notification so had to come say a massive THANK YOU!!!
I’m so excited! This has to be the best motivation to continue with revision, and I promise I will do something to celebrate! Let me know if there’s anything you would like to see!

Ktkinnes xxx

Posted in Book reviews, Lifestyle, TV

The West Wing, Carol and more

Posted on by ktkinnes

Hello again everyone!

It seems tonight, sleep is eluding me. So what better to do than to talk to you all? Except it seems that for the first time in a while I am having bloggers block. Yes yes I should really be revising if I can’t sleep but it’s getting harder and harder to concentrate as time goes on. So tonight I am taking the time to just ignore exams!
Today I finished The West Wing and am no longer sure what to do with myself. It was a brilliant series with some of the best actors and actresses I’ve come across in it. Even made me contemplate moving to the States just to try and get a job in the White House! What do you think, would it be worth it? Either way, give the trailer a quick look! Apologies to anyone who also follows me on Twitter (@kvburton657) for the ridiculous amount of tweets about this phenomenal show but I simply can’t get enough of it. Even my flatmates are getting tired of me talking about it!

If this trailer doesn’t persuade you, maybe this one will:

I also decided to do some reading during my “me” time. While I understand Carol by Patricia Highsmith has been highly praised, and I’m sure the film is worth watching, I am seriously struggling to warm to this book. With less than 70 pages left, I will be glad when I finish it. Proper review to come when it’s finished but for now all I will say is I have no idea what Therese sees in Carol.

After my (possibly exam related) breakdown yesterday, I slept like a log until 8am when I woke up and started straight into revision. One of the most useful revision tools I have discovered is the Forest: Stay Focused app. You set a timer on the app and get started on whatever you want to focus on. At the end of the session, if you haven’t been on your phone, a little tree appears on a grid. Seeing how many trees are there at the end of the day can actually be quite motivating! Here’s my week’s trees so far:


Not as good as I would like but at least it’s a start. Who knows, tomorrow could be the day I find the motivation to work all day with no interruptions.

Posted in Lifestyle

What makes you an “adult”?

Posted on by ktkinnes


This thought crossed my head while I was reading The Signs Of Having Your Sh*t Together by Lexilife95 earlier tonight. Brilliant list and excellent blogger, give her a read and see for yourselves! But she got me thinking, at what point do I have to accept that I’m slowly yet surely entering adulthood?


Student life is that in between stage where you’re independent (well you’re meant to be anyway) but not a fully fledged adult with horrible things like council tax and everything else that comes with leaving university. I mean yes, I pay rent, I pay bills, I’m responsible for my own actions, and I don’t rely on my parents for anything. Except my phone bill. Only reason for that is they can claim they only pay it so I’ll keep in touch with them. 

Take today for example. I woke up at 10:30am and had a sudden panic that I’d wasted a morning of revision time. Instead of breakfast, I started straight into 90 minutes of physics ahead of next Tuesday’s exam – terrified! I know so little for it! Following that was lunch, a pre-made  lunch of soup I cooked last week and defrosted overnight. Then I forced myself back into revision mode. Another break at 3:30pm for coffee and a chat with my flatmates, before another half hour’s revision and then I gave up. I watched The West Wing, I phoned home about my EHIC card (European Health Insurance Card – another reason the UK should stay in the EU), and then eventually cooked a chicken pasta bake. After dinner, Mary and I chatted for a while and then I scrubbed the bathroom from top to bottom simply for the sake of it.

So until half an hour ago, I felt quite responsible and mature. Then I realised, if I was really an adult I would be at work and having to get up earlier. I’d have more responsibilities to take care of before I could sit here and write this blog. And I’d certainly be trying to get to sleep before midnight! Another thing I rarely do.
I suppose everything is relative. Having done 4 hours of revision today, I am considering doing another hour before bed. Or I could tidy my room. Another alternative would be to read and relax. Which of these is best? Who knows!
The real question I want to ask though is what makes someone an adult? Is it their age? The way they act? Their responsibilities?

If it’s age then why are there different ages for different things by law? Legally in the UK you can have sex at 16 or get married with parental permission. However you must be 18 or over to drink, vote, share/own “explicit images” of your partner (on the condition they too are over 18), and so much more. Yet at the age of 18, you’re still a teenager – still restricted by life’s obstacles. The majority of 18 year olds go to university, and so aren’t working or as responsible as someone who does work full time. So is it when they graduate? Because again this differs according to course and university.

Is it the way someone acts? I’ve always been told, from a young age, that I act older than I am. Not always a bad thing in my opinion. However this didn’t make me an adult. And a childish adult is still an adult.

As I sit here writing this post, it has occurred to me that “adulthood”, whilst influenced by someone’s age, mannerisms, and actions, is a state of life that we choose to enter at our own pace rather than at a set stage in life. 
Sorry for the slightly more sobering post tonight, but now I shall have to go do a bit more revision! Thanks again for reading!
Ktkinnes xx