Bullet Journal June 2017 Plan With Me (Minimalist and Aesthetic) // Planning
Click Here if you want to see how my Bullet Journal for 2017 looks like (setup)
Click below to see my video! (:
Tuesday, May 30, 2017
Click Here if you want to see how my Bullet Journal for 2017 looks like (setup)
Click below to see my video! (:
Friday, May 26, 2017
The ULTIMATE Study Routine to ACE Your Final Exams in High School (How I Study) + Tips // Miscellaneous
Hey, guys, I put up a new video on my YouTube channel today. You can see it above, I'd love if you check it out!
Disclaimer: The following routine is more constructed for A-level students than for other boards, however, if you are provided with a syllabus from your teacher/from the board and have past papers then you can totally do this routine. You are the best judge of what your teacher tests you on and what the difficulty of your class is, so if needed, you can always change up the below routine. For example, you can rely more on the textbook or materials given by your teacher if you know that most of the questions on the test will come from there. Continue reading! :)
Here is an overview of how I study for finals:
1. Light studying (done a long time before finals are close):
- Reading the textbook
- Skimming through study material
2. Heavy studying (I start doing this about a month or two before my exam)
- Going through the subject/paper syllabus
- Reading study guide/study materials provided by the teacher
- Making notes using at least 2 study materials (e.g. a textbook and a study guide) and the syllabus
- Revising my notes and any other pages in the textbook/guide that I have made a note to refer to
- Solving past papers (leaving one - you'll see why as you read)
- Writing down or copy-pasting important questions and their answers from the past papers I solved
- Revision two days before the exam, solving the past paper I left out as a test one day before the exam, and then one final revision a day before the exam and/or the day of the exam
Tips!
- Keep a water bottle/snack/both near your desk so you don't have to get up every time you are thirsty or hungry. This will just disrupt your flow and concentration
- If you have trouble focusing for too long, try out the Pomodoro Technique, click here to go to the post on my other blog about the technique if you don't know what the Pomodoro Technique is. Personally, the Pomodoro technique didn't work for me, click here to see what I thought were the pros and cons of the technique.
- Make your notes neat and clear so that when you are revising, you actually feel like studying.
- Make your own notes if you have time! Writing your own notes will help you understand better and remember better compared to just reading online notes or someone else's notes.
Wednesday, May 24, 2017
New Bullet Journal Setup (2017) // Planning
To see how my Bullet Journal looked in my first attempt click here!
I kept the first page the same because the sticky note has some ideas for future monthly spreads and the key was already the second attempt - I'll just make my next journal better oh well.
I messed up my 2017 overview page so much I just had to change it up. I made it simple, only added the months that were left of the year, and combined it with my future log because I didn't feel like wasting pages on an element I didn't use much (I'm pretty much jobless till University begins)
I added a new element for when my University begins - Class schedules for each semester. I also kept two blank pages (not shown below) in case I need them for anything college related and want it handy.
Next is my June spread. I decided to make a big calendar since I have an exam around mid-June and want to assign specific studying checkpoints to each day and also want to maintain my blogging and YouTubing schedule. There's also a page dump for the month because sometimes this girl just needs a space for some messy planning to get things in order.
I also have monthly goals and Social Media stats since I want to keep track of the growth of my blogs, Instagram, etc.
This last page is just a place to note down a few recipes for the occasions when I like to cook.
That's all I have for now and I'm hoping to make my journal look way more pleasing now than before. However, I do plan on getting a better quality bullet journal once college begins because honestly, this journal was just lying in my house and it kinda sucks. A lot of normal ink bleeds through sometimes and the pages aren't bound together properly. For now, though, it'll work...
I hope you guys enjoyed this post! Make sure to see my first youtube video above and don't forget to subscribe and all that :)
Happy Planning!
Monday, May 15, 2017
DIY graphic tee // DIY
This is a quick and mini blog post for those of you who love quick DIYs!
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The first step is to buy T-shirt transfer paper. I got mine on Amazon and you can just look at the types and choose which one you think is great - I don't think there are major differences between different brands though.
The next step is to make a document with quotes, images, etc. (really anything you would like to have on you t-shirt/shirt) Print the document on the transfer paper and cut out your texts and/or images. Don't forget to flip the images/text if the instructions for your transfer paper say to do so.
Next, it's time to prep your t-shirt. All you need to do it is find it, and then iron it. Afterwards, figure out where you want to position your cut out(s). If you have text, you can use a ruler to make sure the word(s) are lined up.
Next, follow the directions on the package in which you received to see how you need to iron it. If there aren't clear instructions then take the safe route like I took below and keep a very thin piece of fabric in between your t-shirt and iron just in case.
And that's all you have to do! Just print and iron on!
Disclaimer: depending on the quality of your paper and inkjet printer (usually I've seen that the instructions tell you to use inkjet only) the quality of your overall t-shirt with the graphics may vary. In my experience the quality isn't always as good as store bought t-shirts but it is satisfactory and cheaper than a lot of store bought t-shirts. Also, it is a great DIY if you want a very specific quote or graphic - it makes a great gift too!
Hope you liked this quick and easy DIY!
Wednesday, April 19, 2017
Concrete Jungle // A photography album
This photography album is something I never thought I would do. I usually like shooting nature, animals. etc. I hate when I can see a telephone pole in a perfect view or anything human-made for that matter. In a nutshell, I love when I can shoot anything without any unnatural elements. However, in this album, I wanted to try something different and push myself out of my comfort zone. The following is a compilation of pictures that do in fact contain man-made structures.
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Concrete Jungle
I wanted to give this album a story line or some kind of order if that makes sense. As you scroll down, you will see the progression of this hypothetical 'Concrete Jungle'. First, the territory is established (the first picture) and then gradually the destruction advances to bridges and buildings.
It's sad to think that this album is just a dramatized depiction of the actual world when in fact this is almost as true as the reality. Construction and human activities have already taken so much from wildlife and still are. Habitats are being destroyed every day and species are being lost forever at a faster rate than ever. The pictures below have been edited or have had some kind of effect used on them so as to make them fit in the theme, however, if destruction of nature continues to happen faster and faster every day, then it won't be long till we won't be required to apply effects for pictures to look like the ones below.
This self-designed project was a good change for me and I really hope you see the story the way I see it and that my pictures are able to narrate the story to you.
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FYI
Picture 1: Flag of Pratapgad Fort in Mahabaleshwar, Maharashtra, India
Picture 2: Near Lingmala Waterfall in Mahabaleshwar, Maharashtra, India
Picture 3: Construction happening at a local school in my area
Picture 4 and Picture 5: Buildings near my area
Tuesday, March 21, 2017
Laptop apps // Miscellaneous
There are so many apps online, and variations of the same kind of app. It can be hard to judge which app is the best. You may also not know which apps exist that could potentially change your life. Here are a list of apps that I've recently come across - some I love and some have been a disappointment and you could save your time by not installing them. I've divided them into categories to make it easier for you to know which app might just be for you!
--- Disclaimer: This post is not sponsored by any of the below mentioned application companies but gurll do I wish it was sponsored ---
College Apps
1) OneNote
There have been so many posts about this application on the internet already, but I thought it was worth mentioning. It's great especially for tech-savvy people and for people who don't want to use notebooks to take notes during classes. You can quickly type the notes during your lecture and you can create folders to segregate notes for different classes. Other features also include adding files like images (just like in any word processing application). It's advantages are easy listing/check-listing options and folder segregation/ It's mostly just liked Microsoft Word. However there is one feature that stands out, that would probably be useful especially for taking down diagrams (i.e. if you are using a tablet-computer or have a stylus as it'll take too much effort to try to draw with your touch pad), which is the draw feature:
One thing I feel it misses out on is the feature to record audio and insert it into your notes like Evernote can. Nevertheless, if you're looking for a free app that does the job, this is it.
It is pre-installed if you have Windows 10, but if you don't have it, you can download it here: https://www.onenote.com/download
I rate this app a 8/10
2) Grammarly
You've probably seen Grammarly's ads around the internet, but it is quite cool. It corrects your grammar so 1) you don't make a fool out of yourself while writing important essays or emails and 2) so you can possible get a good grade in English. The only catch is that the free version contains only basic grammar correcting features so if you want the whole deal you have to pay. In fact the free version gets pretty annoying if you make "advanced" grammatical errors as the app will only tell you you've made them but you have to pay to know where they are in your write-up and how to correct them. But other than that its pretty cool because you can use it online anywhere you need it and you can even add it to other softwares like Microsoft Word.
I rate the free version of this app a 7/10 and the full version could possible be a 9 or 10 out of 10 (but I haven't used it yet)
General Study Apps
1) Super Simple Highlighter (Google Chrome extension)
This is a great app and I love it. It basically lets you highlight anything on any web page you want to. You simply just have to select the text, right-click and select what colour you want that text to be highlighted in.
The highlights get saved so every time you go on that web page, the text you highlighted previously will still be highlighted. You can see what pages have highlights in the options setting for the extension
If you've highlighted a lot of text on one long webpage, by left-clicking on the extension icon, you can see all texts that have been highlighted with their respective colors and you can search sentences/keywords/etc.
This extension is amazing if you are making summary notes off of one or more websites.
I've also used it a lot of times when I have to send a long reply to important e-mails and don't want to miss out on the important points I want to revert on. I just highlight the points that concern me/I want to address in the email I have received and use it to make sure my e-mail contains all the points I want to include. This app has been a life savior and there are so many uses for this app. The only one flaw I could take out from this app is it's appearance (it doesn't look modern) but that's just a small personal opinion that is irrelevant to its function
I rate this app a 9.5/10
2) Forest: Stay Focused
If you like little cute rewards for being productive/focused this is the app for you. In the app you get to plant a seed and then all you have to do is not stop studying till the timer ends. If you manage to do that, your seedling grows into a tree and stays alive in a forest (all your trees get added to your forest). It's a nice little way to keep you productive and determined to study till the timer ends. However, I like the phone app better than the pc app for some reason. Probably because you get more stats in the phone app and a lot of stats just hits me in the right place (can anyone relate haha). The app lets you black list websites. Now the first time I used the app on my phone, I couldn't go off the app even if I needed another app while studying (like say some important image with notes on it in the gallery) but I'm pretty sure you can now whitelist apps on the mobile app.
This is a simple but effective app...unless you have no will power at all and you keep killing your trees, then it's just straight up frustrating.
I still feel there isn't much to this app and isn't as functional as the rest on this list unless it reallyyy works for you (which doesnt do much for me, it does okayish)
I rate this app a 7/10
Other shizz
1) Instapaper (Google Chrome extension)
Okay, so I saw this on the main page of the Chrome Webstore and I don't know where this app (/extension) has been all my life. It says you can save your links offline to read later. Now I know I'm probably the only one who was impressed by it but it made sense. Especially if you take your laptop to college every day and don't have access to wi-fi (and say you don't have internet data on your phone or your data is up). It could also useful if you're travelling and need to read stuff online on the way. Once you have this app on your laptop all you have to worry about is your laptop battery. At least that's what I thought. After downloading the extension, I realized you do need an internet connection to open the saved links...so basically its just a bookmark which makes no sense at all. However, it does have a phone sync option which I will check out later and maybe this can make it on to the "good apps" list on the phone apps post I will be posting later. The only useful feature I see now in the laptop app is the speed read feature, so you can use this app to increase your speed of reading. The visual interface is nice, the website has a minimalist modern design. The app has a highlighting feature but it's something like 5 highlights free per month. This was kind of a disappointment for me but hopefully the laptop-phone syncing option will make it more useful (?)
I rate this app a 3/10
(You could pair this app with the highlighter app mentioned above to give it more functionality and use it like a bookmark app to easily find your highlighted pages, but on it's own my rating above says my opinion).
2) myTaste Browser Button (Google Chrome extension)
This is a good extension for those of us who see all those mouth-watering recipes online, save them in a random bookmarks folder without noticing which folder it was, losing that recipe link, and forgetting that recipe for the rest of our lives. You can say this app is like a specialized bookmark app for recipes. There's nothing else to it but I think it's pretty useful to keep your recipes in a single place and have folders segregating the type of recipes (e.g. deserts, lunch, healthy, etc) without having a million bookmark folders in our browser and losing track of all of them amongst the other folders. However, you could just save your recipes on Pinterest too. So this again is kind of an okay-okay app
I rate this app a 6/10
3) Instant translate (Google Chrome extension)
This app is basically an easier version of having to open a new tab, typing translate.google.com, selecting language and then translating whatever you have to translate.
you can instantly (like the name suggests) translate anything. This is great for you if you are learning a new language too, especially if you are too lazy to open google translate again and again.
Nothing much else to it but personally, since I've been learning Spanish, it's been a useful app to have around when I'm curious what a particular word or sentence is in Spanish
I rate this app a 7/10
Tuesday, March 7, 2017
DIY Ripped Jeans // DIY
The method of making ripped jeans is quite simple, as there are only a few steps and you can't really go wrong - it's kind of like an abstract painting - just make a few slits where ever you want them to be and start distressing. However, there are some things you should keep in mind. Continue reading to know how to make ripped jeans easily...
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1) Marking your jeans
The first very important step is to mark where you want your holes/slits/distressing.
Note: It is very important to put on your jeans so you don't end up cutting holes too high/at the wrong places. If you're using a permanent marker, place the lines/marks a bit lower than where you'll actual cut your jeans so you can get rid of the markings and don't have to cut higher in order to do so.
2) Cutting
For the next step, first, take off your jeans and choose a place to dedicate to the future mess. Cut slits if you want to distress the denim and holes if you (wait for the obvious....) want holes. You can use an X-acto knife or any other sharp-bladed object (but be careful and make sure to insert a cardboard or any kind of thick sheet in between if you are using a x-acto knife/cutter!)
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| Create whatever sized hole you desire but stay at least a little bit away from the border/seam/whatever you call it |
Note: You can use an uneven surface like your bed, it doesn't really matter because you will usually find it comfortable to hold the part of the fabric you are cutting/distressing. I personally recommend you sit on the floor as while you remove the fabric threads, the threads will end up everywhere and trust me when I say this, there will be a lot of threads. Everywhere.
3) Detailing holes
Making the holes look messier is quite easy. Once you've cut them out, just take a pair of tweezers and slide it across the edge while applying pressure - this will loosen up the threads at the edge (see bottom picture). You can further pull on either the white (horizontal) strings or the blue (vertical) strings according to how you want your hole to look. Tug on both or just tug on whatever comes in your way if you just don't care...but don't tug on the other side of your jeans!
Note: I've read some blog posts that say rubbing pumice or other hard materials (can't remember the other "hard materials" because I didn't really pay attention) on the edge of the cut helps to loosen up the threads, however, that didn't really do much for me. I think just using a tweezer to tease the edges works just fine and you don't have to look for a pumice stone or whatever.
4) Distressing
Distressing is quite simple too, once you get the hang of it. All you have to do is cut two horizontal (and parallel) slits as long as you want. Then just pull the blue (vertical) strings carefully and the white strings will start to reveal and stay put. You have to be kind of careful with this if you're using sharp tweezers (which you will need if you don't want to take forever) or else you will end up pulling on and breaking the white strings.
Note: You can break the white strings in between or randomly after you pull all the blue strings out, that is up to you. You can even make an extra slit under or above an already cut out hole and distress there to make your hole look distressed.
Note: You can practice distressing on the big fabric scrap piece that you have as a result of cutting out a hole (great especially if you cut out a big knee hole or something like that) and you can find out what size of distressing you would like (you get the idea).
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I really like how my jeans turned out. This is great if you love ripped jeans and love being asked if you can't afford normal jeans because now you can say "Yes I can't and I can't afford ripped jeans either, that's why I DIY'd them" and then continue to get weird looks :D (jk, but not really though).
This is really easy but I'd say it is kind of time-consuming (or maybe my jeans were just really stubborn because it took me forever to get the threads loose at first). The DIY is still great and also it's also great if you have old jeans that you want to re-vamp or have a stain on your jeans that you can't get out but only wore the jeans twice and you want to still wear them (like I did from dropping acrylic paint on mine). Kay, Bye!
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| How the jeans finally turned out! :D |
Wednesday, February 22, 2017
APPLYING TO UNIVERSITIES + ORGANIZATION TIPS AND TRICKS // College Talk
Note: This post is for those applying to universities in the USA, however, the first few paragraphs can apply to anyone applying anywhere as they are generic tricks I have used to organize my lists.
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I have begun applying to several Universities and I have found different tricks and tips to keep the process organized and make sure you don't miss the deadlines.
(Even if you have a counselor these methods can be useful for you)
You should start the process before/around the time applications open for your desired semester (e.g start in August if you are applying for the fall semester for the next year) if you want to be considered for scholarships (there is a better chance of getting scholarships when you apply before the 'Early Decision' deadline)
So the first, very obvious step is to shortlist your universities. The easiest way to do so is to first write down your requirements/factors in order of priority. Let's say you know what you want to major in, then your first priority will be whether the university offers your major, and then you can work out the rest of the factors. Here is an example list:
1. Major/Degree
2. Tuition/Total cost of attendance
3. State/Cost of living
4. Online rating/ranking of University
5. Percentage Acceptance
I followed the same process as above and then further reduced my list to get around 10 universities. If you are okay with applying to 10, then you can skip this paragraph, otherwise, continue reading. After I shortlisted 10 universities, I further shortlisted them based on tuition (as this was my main priority after 'Major'). My tip is to use a spreadsheet software like Microsoft Excel to type down all your universities in rows and the different categories in columns. Putting all relevant information in an excel sheet (i.e. in one place) can help you further decide which universities you are more inclined towards.
This is what your shortlisted "University" Column would look like:
The next step (optional: i.e only if you want to make it before the Early Decision deadline) is to add an extra column (preferably just next to the University column) with the application deadlines.
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| Ignore the numbers in the brackets, I've done that to calculate how many credits I'd have to do per semester to finish my selected course in 3 years |
As you finish applications and send the required documents by mail to the universities, you can update your sheet like I have done so above. I used a light gray cell fill to indicate applications submitted and dark gray cell fill to indicate that I have sent my documents (Key shows the same below - Add a key below your main table so you don't forget what different colors mean!)
The deadline column will ensure all your cells are filled with dark gray fill (or whatever color you choose) before you miss the deadline.
You can also set reminders a few days before the deadline on your phone or your computer to make sure you submit your application on time.
I also recommend creating organized folders on your PC to segregate documents for each university and make sure you have all documents necessary in each folder.
e.g. of inside a university folder (CL = covering letter)
How I've organized my universities folder
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Just in case you don't know, the documents that you will be required to send to the universities will be:
1. High school transcripts
2. Marksheets
3. Certificates (if you have already graduated)
4. Resume
5. Statement of Purpose Essay (a.k.a Personal Statement Essay)
6. Recommendation Letters from 3 of your teachers
You may also have to send a copy of your passport
If you are a non-citizen, you will have to send some documents showing that your parents have enough funds (Financial support document, affidavit, etc) but your counselor will be the best to assist you with all of the above-mentioned documents (your counselor will also help make covering letters and labels so your documents can be couriered in the correct way).
You will also have to send your ACT/SAT scores to each university you apply to
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Once you have finished all of the above, you can do one last thing while you wait for your letters.
Rank your universities so that if you get accepted in more than one university, you know which one you prefer over the other.
This is what my excel sheet looked like after rating and the corresponding key:
(column D in the above excel sheet image is the scholarship I have/will receive(d) from the universities. As of now, I've received an unofficial acceptance from Truman State University.
So that's about all I've done so far to keep my universities organized and make sure my applications have been submitted on time.
If you have any questions be sure to leave them in the comments below!
Friday, February 10, 2017
Night Photography // Photography Album
[Miniature series]
I enjoy both pitch-darkness but also minimized contrast/extreme fadedness, I like sharpness/clarity but also blurriness. So I put together a mini night time photography session I did including all the elements I mentioned above.
(To be honest, I was just bored so I took out my DSLR and took some random pictures at night from my window. Here are some random images - not even photography exactly)
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