This is the first year in a long time that I’ve started the summer without much of a change in routine – because I’m no longer in full-time education. At school and uni there is the stress of the impending exams and the hibernation period building up to it, but studying part-time and working part-time means submitting the final assessment and back to work. Perhaps it feels anti-climactic because I wasn’t under so much stress that I didn’t get the wave of relief when it was lifted.
Regardless, with me being me, I’d already set up a plan of Summer Study in order to catch up/get ahead of the second year of work after they released the assessment requirements for next year. It’s what I do, and it’s exciting that I am able to plan ahead and buy myself more time to work on the assignments, but I had to admit that I was burnt out. In academia, it’s too easy to keep pushing through tiredness, bad-moods, and pain, and often we commend ourselves for the all-nighters and the lack of decent meals in place of study snacks – but it’s neither healthy or sustainable! So we need to have a break. For me, that happily meant taking on extra shifts at work and throwing myself into my new responsibilities in my role – admitting and being aware that I am capable of doing the job, and wouldn’t have been given the chance if I hadn’t had the potential to do well.
I’ve been tired, but a good tired. An earned tiredness. To fall into a dreamless sleep and get up the next morning to do it all over again – and it’s this practice that builds experience. Thanks to that, and living at home, I’ve been eating less but better food – actual meals – and being on my feet and often walking home from work means that I’ve been losing weight and building muscle. I may not have time to always go to the gym, but even when I had all the time in the world I often didn’t have the motivation to go – now it’s part of what I do.
In my downtime the last few weeks, I’ve been trying to finish Assassin’s Creed Origins. I got it upon its release last October as an early birthday present, but then fell away from it for a few months as I juggled working and studying. However, at E3 it was announced that the next AC game would be released this October (AC Odyssey) and set in Ancient Greece, as a chance to see the era from the Greek point-of-view to contrast Origins Egyptian POV. Well what can I say? It’s pulling all my nerdy interests together in one package, my inner classics and archaeology nerds are glomping my video gaming nerd in thanks as I hover over the pre-order button on PSN! I’m excited, in case you can’t tell. Plus, finally you are able to play as a female assassin from start to finish without affecting the gameplay. I’ve loved all the characters since the beginning of the franchise but I’m glad they’ve finally given up on the ‘female characters are too difficult to render’ thing.
I usually get a bit blue around the holidays, probably had too much chill time and I’m in desperate need of structure and projects! Speaking of which, I’ve been blocking and plotting out a revamp of an old book I started when I was 15. It’s YA, topical, set in Glasgow but set in a high school which I haven’t attended for 12 years and most of my original draft featured things about livejournal, msn messenger, and people buying CDs from shops.
I’m late to the Camp Nano game this month but I’m hoping to draft some of the first book for this new series over July but I’ll probably need to update my high school knowledge, anyone willing to help me with this? (Must have attended high school within the last 3 years).
This should be fun.
e x
