Confessions of a Procrastination-aholic

Hello! How are you all going? Missing me? I actually did miss you guys, but I'm back now so it's all good :).

Exams finished last Monday, but I wanted to relax, then on Tuesday and Wednesday I made dinner and so obviously couldn't write anything! On Thursday I had sport, on Friday I decided Howl's Moving Castle took priority and then on Saturday I was unwell and had better things to do (like listen to Hamish and Andy while attempting to play the Mincraft demo) but you finally get something today! Now, Philosopher suggested the Story of Exams in gif form because "Everyone likes gifs" but I decided that

http://forums.allkpop.com/threads/when-a-song-isnt-your-cup-of-tea.61288/

so you get this instead:

I'm terrible when it comes to procrastination- I know that's a common illness but I thought I would share my own little anecdotes that you can read whilst procrastinating! Procrastination for me goes in one of two ways: either super (paradoxically) efficient or super inefficient.

Both are equally well travelled!

http://elderhsworwood.blogspot.com.au/2011/10/fork-in-road.html

Pathway One: Instead of actually completing anything productive I organise myself. And then organise a little more. And then reorganise. Repeat process three times. I mean I couldn't possibly ever write ay blogs without an extensive list of topics, with cross-referenced topics, nor could I ever do any study if I didn't have three highly detailed study plans that took an hour to make. And just imagine doing any work without first spending an hour researching and reviewing productivity apps! 

I only own two of these. Better get researching!
http://thelearningexplosion.blogspot.com.au/2011/08/28-productivity-apps-and-tools.html

Pathway Two: Instead of actually doing anything productive I do pointless things. Why would you study or complete homework when you could roughly sketch new designs for the UN website, or make pompoms, or woollen dolls, or gift tags? And looking at hundreds of craft blogs is so much better than commerce could ever be, even if it does make me feel like a 40 year old full-time mother. 

Mine didn't look quite this good :).
http://bleubirdvintage.typepad.com/blog/2009/11/diy-pom-pom-wreath.html

In conclusion, I often end up doing the second half on assignments the night before and writing daily drama reflections on the bus in the morning. I probably should work on these habits, but because I still get good marks and don't get (too) stressed- I only have crying breakdowns about once a term- I've never felt particularly motivated to change; however I know I need to before it's too late and I fail the HSC and Uni. Oh! One more little anecdote: Instead of writing Chapter 4 of GP(our book, for any newcomers), I put together a soundtrack for it, consisting of our characters favourite music O_O. Oops.

Anyway, moving along.... 

Word of the Week is Idiographic:

Relating to, or involving the study, of a specific case or event

Goodbye! Love and hugs to you all! Go and listen to some of your favourite music, while dancing around wherever you are -yes, even in public. Now, let me go do my commerce homework.

xx

Confession

P.S Subscribe!

The Philosophical Vacancy

[Okay, evidently I conveniently FORGOT to tell you that, like Confession, I had to take a hiatus. Oops. I was going to write a post consisting of a giant, size 99pt "DITTO" but then Confession posted again... so that wouldn't have made any sense... and now we're here two months later. I applaud you for sticking around this long. Anyhoo. Onwards!]

As most of you lovely internet ladies and gents will know, the glorious J.K Rowling has released a brand new book. It's called "The Casual Vacancy", and it's effectively Harry Potter without wizards, magic, Hogwarts, evil armies of Death Eaters, and with a big ol' booster shot of REAL LIFE.

Basically, nothing like Harry Potter at all. "The Casual Vacancy" is a book for adults, and J.K. has said that right from the start. She said herself that she wouldn't let anyone 8 or under read it. Does it sound like the wonderful wizarding world of Sir Potter? Not to me. 

I've dived into "The Casual Vacancy" with a healthy pinch of salt. I'm not trying to compare it to Harry Potter; because, personally, I think that's unfair to Miss Rowling. And personally, I like it. It's well written, and even if she wasn't such an amazing part of my childhood, I'd still have bought the book.

 Use hefty pinches of this when reading 'The Casual Vacancy'

And it seems that a lot of critics have also taken my detached attitude to reading- but others, frankly, should not be writing reviews. Feast your eyes upon a selection of the critics, choicely chosen from Wikipedia.

Lev Grossman, for Time: "It's a big, ambitious, brilliant, profane, funny, deeply upsetting and magnificently elegant novel of contemporary England, rich with literary intelligence, and entirely bereft of bulls**t." [say NO to naughty words. Say YES to happy asterisks!]

David Robinson of the Scotsman said: 

"It is far grittier, bleaker (and, occasionally, funnier) than I had expected, and- the acid test- I suspect it would do well, even if the author's was not J.K. Rowling"

The Wall Street Journal, the Guardian, the Daily Mirror, The Economist- all of them had various degrees of positive reviews.

But it seems some reviewers approached The Casual Vacancy without the oh-so-important pinch o' salt. Some reviewers pulled out the forbidden words; HARRY POTTER

THE LOS ANGELES TIMES wrote: "it fails to conjure Harry Potter's magic" while Jan Moir for the Daily Mail said it was "500 pages of relentless socialist manifesto masquerading as literature"

"magic" "magic" "magic"

WHERE IS THE MAGIC? All of these deluded critics cry! 

I respect their opinions, and think it's important to give a balanced view on the novel. But what people HAVE to remember is that "the Casual Vacancy" is not magical. It's not a book about good overcoming evil. It's not a fairytale, or a bedtime story. It's a book about real life, and real life is not magical. It's gritty, and bitter and sad sometimes. There are a lot of things that we don't do right. 

But you know what? It's books like these that inspire change. It's books that SHOW us all the things we're doing wrong- all our mistakes and errors and the lack of magic in our lives. "The Casual Vacancy" isn't there to sugarcoat real life. It's there to present it in the most stripped-back way possible- and to inspire us all to start doing things RIGHT.

So, if you dare, pop down to the local bookstore and buy a copy. Read it, study it, make a judgement on it. Put it on a bookshelf if you like it. Put it in a golden display case if you REALLY like it. Rip it up and use it as toilet paper if you're not so keen.

Wonderful literature? Or super soft, flexible, 2-ply bog roll? You decide!

Well, this post has taken a suitably solemn and, er, vaguely depressing turn. I'll sign off before I start sobbing all over the monitor. 

with lots of casually vacant love,

Philosopher