things I do to avoid studying...

You know, like, updating this blog :)

After almost a year of use, my beloved Uniball Clipturn FREE GIFT pen looked like it was running low, which might sound like a trivial and, to be brutally honest, somewhat boring fact - but if you know me well enough, you'll know is a SERIOUS CRISIS of ULTIMATE SEVERITY to be dealt with as soon as possible, IF NOT SOONER, AND NO THE CAPITAL LETTERS ARE NOT UNNECESSARY. *ahem*. What I mean is, I would be slightly inconvenienced if I didn't have it refilled in time for exams. beginning in exactly five days? aaaaaaaaaaaaargh...

Naturally, I followed the link for refills from the Uniball website, and spent the next hour or so ogling pens on the Cult Pens website, which looks a wee bit scaffy but is actually pretty awesome. I started out sensibly, just looking at what I needed - then I thought, it's better to buy in bulk - and from there it was like, dude, spend a bit more and you get free delivery - and then somehow I started looking at £200 Porsche pens.
Don't worry though, I'm not daft enough to buy anything like that! (...yet)

I did, however, get some AMAZING new Pilot Parallel calligraphy pens... just in case the stash I 'acquired' from my dad and sister wasn't enough. But seriously. These things are crazy fun to play with. They come with 12 colours of ink! And you can blend the colours!!

taken from a great review I read here

Unfortunately, this has resulted in me spending an awful lot of time playing about with them, and practicing my lettering, and looking up part time courses in calligraphy, than actually studying. Ho hum, this happens every year. One year I made a papier-mache chicken instead of doing studying for standard grades - but dude, they were standard grades. That's GCSE's for any non-Scots - basically the exams you get around age 16 to check you haven't fallen through the cracks and can actually read and write somewhat competently :P (apologies to GCSE-taking readers - but guys, don't stress! I didn't study, and I'm doing okay! This cardboard box I'm living in is reeeeally roomy.)

I'm kind of losing the plot now (if I had it to begin with) - but basically, what happens to me around exam time is I start planning new hobbies, or courses, or even careers - and I'm absolutely positive that I'm going to pursue it all right up until summer holidays actually start, whereupon I vegetate in the house for a couple of months then wonder where the time went :-|

Here's my list for this year:
- Learn to juggle (yes, I know this has been on my list for the past 5 years - but so has most of this other stuff)
- Skip for 45 minutes a day I've been reliably told by my physiotherapist that I'm unfit :(
- Start cycling, and perhaps cycle-commute to Uni next year (this one has my dad worried. He says "99% of drivers are sensible, but it's that 1% you should be scared of... can't you just cycle round cycle paths where no one else goes?". I know he's just being protective, and I do agree with him, but dad! At my age you rode a motorbike! In Pakistan, where there's no road safety laws! Even the traffic direction is a suggestion!
- Learn to sew
- Go horseriding
- Go to Go Ape (again!)
- Start a calligraphy class
- Find some kind of.. part time illustration class? If they exist :/
- Go to Morocco and do a kick-ass elective project treating kids who are too poor to go to a normal dentist

If you think that last one seems a tad out of place - it's because it's actually planned out, booked, and going to happen (inshallah!). I can't wait!

...Just have to get through exams first...