Tag: study

procrastination

As I’ve mentioned before on a previous post, I am terrible at doing revision. A good example to help elaborate how bad my problem is that in less than a month I have my first GCSE exam and I am currently sitting in my father’s office with all my books in front of me, writing about how to not do revision. Now that you know that reading this is probably not in your best interest, continue reading.

  1. Start a blog

If you’re still reading, then my first idea on how to procrastinate is to start a blog and just write about whatever comes to mind. I’ve written almost all of my blog posts during “study” sessions as I simply find it more interesting to write about myself or things that I am thinking than reading textbooks, taking notes and doing tests. I understand that this isn’t a perfect solution for everyone since it still does involve you requiring some mental capacity, but it works for me.

2. Watch Something

This has got to be the most obvious option available to you if you’re revising in a closed environment like your room. You can watch anything whether it be on YouTube, dailymotion or Netflix. My personal favourite is starting a tv series in the middle of a revision session because once I’ve started I won’t stop till it’s finished. YouTube is good if you’re looking for something short or funny; my personal favourite is watching FailArmy or vines. If this is your option though, you must become adept at using keyboard shortcuts for switching/closing tabs and making sure you don’t look like a frantic monkey in the process.

3. Read About Something Actually Interesting

Like the blogging idea, this isn’t something that will tickle everyone’s fancy. I do actually enjoy reading (I know I’m a weirdo), just not plain facts from a textbook that I have to remember. For me, I might read an action/fantasy or romance novel. Strangely enough, reading “She jumped from a cliff, catapulting herself forwards towards the hovering blimp. Knives in each hand, she stretches her arms out and the blades lock themselves into the hard balloon,” keeps me more interested and involved than “In an experiment, comparing temperature against pressure for a fixed volume, we can see a proportional relationship.”

4. Doodle

This is probably the most common way I enjoy to procrastinate during lessons. In lessons you may find some difficulty in being able to watch a video or write an electronic blog when you’re only being provided a pen and paper. I found that the best technique in being able to accomplish procrastination is through using these tools to release your inner emotions and thoughts. This doesn’t particularly have to be through doodling since you can also scribble or even do origami if that helps you. Should you do this during lessons and you have an attentive teacher who likes to stalk the classroom, make sure that you have an extra piece of paper to hide your art when they come around, not that they should be suspicious since it does look like you’re writing.

I’m not going to say that I hope this was useful to read, because really, it’s the opposite. If this was enjoying to read though, make sure to read my other posts and give the post a like. You can follow me on Instagram @anothernormalboy.

more about relationships

If you’ve been reading my previous blogs, you’ll know that my name is John and I am 15 years old. This means that I am in school and in fact in a very important year for any British student of my age because of the looming GCSEs that coming in June. About 2 weeks ago I had these practice examinations called “mocks” that we do in order to get a taste for how GCSE exams are and what the marking scheme is like. I’ve already gotten these results back and from them, it is obvious that I have not studied enough (some were good, though most were borderline acceptable for my parents and teachers). This leads me to the question: how is it that I manage to avoid/ignore all revision opportunities and advice that I have? The simple answer is distractions. I pride myself on the extent of movies and tv series I’ve watched as this means I can typically chip into any interesting conversations about most of them. It’s become an addiction however that is interfering with my studies. It probably sounds stupid to call it an addiction when there are more serious cases of it with alcohol and gambling, but I’m serious as it can simply take me over during boring revision. One minute I’m doing a practice Biology paper and the next I’m watching the latest episode of “Riverdale” or watching the new Netflix movie that I know isn’t that good but can’t help myself.

Another important (maybe not as significant as the last 😉 is the dating/meeting up of two of my closest friends. These are not the ones I talked about in one of my previous blogs. This is a relationship that would make my heart melt if it succeeds. He is Jim, a tall half-asian half-brit, strong and muscly and one of the best swimmers in the school who is in my house (the school is separated into multiple “houses”) and been my friend since we met over 2 years ago. She is Lili, short, funny and compelling in a way I can’t explain and sometimes the reason I’m scared that maybe I actually haven’t fully discovered my sexuality. I’ve known her for a year longer than Jim, but only became proper good friends last year whilst attending the same art class. They are 2 of the 5 people I’ve told that I’m gay and I might go as far as saying that I love them (in the friend way). The weird thing going on between the two is something that’s been going on since the night I told Lili about my sexuality about a month ago. We were going on a walk through town on Saturday night, talking about our lives and stuff and I had been trying to tell her that I was gay for about a week but never found the right moment. We were walking down my house’s street and I can’t recall exactly what we were talking about but I decided it was time and told her I had something to tell her and that it was important and immediately she cut me off saying “Let me guess, you’re gay?” in a jokingly way. I’d like to say that I was stunned by the straight forward guess, but I’ve found lately that this is what most people strangely think of when someone says they have something important to say and it’s kind of annoying because although I did call it something important, it shouldn’t really be the immediate assumption. That’s not important though. Whilst asking me she was looking at me and the look on my face must have shocked her because she mustn’t have been expecting me to not deny it. She first asked me if I was joking or being serious, but upon confirmation she smiled at me and said, “ok”. We then resumed our conversation of favourite Riverdale moments and characters. Jim, I had told the week before and he too was completely unchanged in his attitude towards me afterwards; it was almost as if they already knew (they have however confirmed that they had not suspicions of me being gay). 

I love that the thing between them could be something more and I am somewhat largely involved in getting them together, but at the same time, I have a weird feeling inside me that heavily counters my newfound sexuality’s characteristics. One of the main things that this includes is the longing to be with Lili and talk about everything (perhaps boys, because I know so much that I am attracted to men). I’ve considered what this could mean and come to the conclusion that it is more of a brother-sister feeling that I’ve got with her and me being protective maybe, hopefully.

The thing is that I know myself and I don’t like women, but Lili did throw my feelings off balance for a while. As I’m writing I get the feeling that it has been almost therapeutic; releasing my raging emotions and feelings has allowed me to think properly about them for real and know that I’m not a liar when I’m talking about my sexuality. 

I’m really hope that this was somewhat entertaining or nice to read about; it doesn’t matter whether you only read this because you were bored, it’s nice to know that I can share my secrets and stories with everybody in the world (or at least those that have access to a computer). Please contact me or leave a comment for any feedback or suggestions on future topics for blogs and remember to follow me on WordPress and Instagram @anothernormalboy. Also, tag anything you feel is related to me or my life or sexuality with #anothernormalboy. 

Thanks for reading, John.