Saw This Tweet Today And It’s Perfection

P R I O R I T I E S

Viktor and Yuuri before the Halloween Ice Gala 🎃😆

MY study tips!!!

I think it’s time to share with you what I actually do when I study. Here’s a list (non-exhaustive) of the main tools I use before an exam. Enjoy! 

I read my notes consciously, then I hide them and try to write down everything I remember. Then I’ll take my notes again, and look for what’s missing. Not only it permits me to see what I still don’t know, but it also consolidates what I already know. This one really works if you have to learn pathways, key concepts, etc. Re-write as it comes to your mind, make a mind-map, use arrows, etc.

Once I identified what I don’t know, I’ll just put a mark on my notes, so I know that this specific part needs to be more reviewed.

When I feel overwhelmed by all the stuff I have to review, I’ll just divide it into sections and create a study plan! 99% of the time, this makes me realize that it’s not that terrible and I can get through this! I feel much better then!

The Forest App. I don’t use it systematically but it really helps me keeping distractions away (AKA my phone) and in the end, I can have a little peek view of my study session!

Whenever I’m reading something important that I know I won’t automatically remember, I write it down on a piece of paper. Indeed, I always use a bloc-notes when studying, so I just write down important points. By doing this, I become more active when learning and actually remember better! And sometimes I keep those pieces of paper so I can re-read them just before the exam.

I try to stick to a memorization routine. For example, if it’s the first time I read a specific topic that I have to memorize, I’ll re-read it 3 days after, then again a week after, then 10 days after, etc. This is the best way to memorize: « repetitio est mater studiorum » as my anatomy teacher says.

When reading your notes, always try to think about what could be the possible questions that are “exam askable”.

If you have any specific topics to learn about the same main subject, try to summarize each topic on only one paper sheet. It’s been proven that we tend to memorize more when we see the information only on one paper than many. For example, I’m currently preparing my microbiology exam, so I did a sheet for each virus or bacteria and put them in plastic sleeves and store them in a binder. By doing this, I’ll be able to re-read them all the days before the exam and retain the most important information! 

The textbook is cool, but sometimes I’m in a rush and summaries made from previous years students will do the job. Of course, I make sure there’re no mistakes inside. And it can actually help with difficult subjects. 

I only use flash cards for vocabulary (my dear Spanish!) or pharmacology. They are the PERFECT way to memorize some things by heart!

I multitask intelligently. For example, when I workout I listen to audiobooks or watch medical-related videos on youtube while walking on the treadmill 

I test myself. I take online quizzes, I ask some friends or my boyfriend to interrogate me so I train my brain to see the problems differently and learn more! 

STUDYGRAM 

I want to apologise to

- Britney for making fun of her when she had her breakdown

- Monica Lewinski for judging her when she was a 22year old temp sexually assaulted by the most powerful man in the world

- Ke$ha for ever thinking she was trashy when all she wanted to do was make party music

- Kristen Stewart for ever thinking she was dumb when she’s actually one of the coolest people ever

- Megan Fox for ever thinking she was just a slut when actually she was an actress being harassed by her employer. 

- Hating all the women who made a career out of having a hot body. Being is shape is hard, beauty is a weapon and auto promotion is hard work. 

- All the Mary-Sues, who exist because young girls everywhere want to be part of a story they love so much

- All the female characters I ever snobbed because they got in the way of my ship.

- Hating the color pink during my teenage years, when it’s actually a lovely color and what I resented was society’s pressure to perform femininity. 

Cleopatra

I saw this meme today: 

It’s of course a play on another meme (which is literally the meaning of “meme”): 

I found that meme on Instagram and broke the cardinal rule of social media: never read the comments section. I was rather surprised at how many people not only bought into this, but didn’t know that Cleopatra was:

-Macedonian (not Egyptian, not Greek, not Roman, not Persian) -not beautiful

I wanted to make a post about this to explain these misconceptions and where they (likely) came from.

Cleopatra VII the Macedonian

Cleopatra VII was part of the Ptolemaic Kingdom in Egypt, and the Ptolemys were Macedonian. They had taken power in Egypt after the death of the famous Macedonian, Alexander the Great (who likely died from alcoholism and/or malaria at age 34, just a fun fact). Many people mistook Alexander the Great for a Greek, but there’s a reason for that: Alexander the Great was a Greek fanboy. He started something called a “Hellenistic Period”…you know “period” is “length of time” and “Hellenistic” means “Greek-like” or “inspired by Greece”. It would be like if famous otaku Baron Trump married one of Japan’s princesses, then went into Mongolia to take over and implemented a bunch of Japanese culture…then, a couple thousand years later, some people might think that Baron Trump was actually Japanese because why on Earth would he implement Japanese rule? It’s not really common to assume that a leader is a mega fanboy, but that’s what happened here. I cannot confirm whether he had a Greek goddess body pillow, but can confirm I made this sweet meme in Paint for my PPT: 

The Ptolemy rule came to an end shortly after Cleopatra VII’s rule ended, and it was Rome that had ended said rule. This might be why Cleopatra VII was thought to be Roman by some people in the comments section. 

Cleopatra VII was Not Classically Beautiful

We may not know exactly how Cleopatra VII looked, but we can say she wasn’t a beauty queen (and there’s nothing wrong with that unless you’re in a job being judged on how well you fit in with that standard). How can we be sure? Here is how she’s depicted on her coins and in stone reliefs from the time:

Some sculptures have been made based on these:

I wouldn’t go as far as to say she looked like someone we would consider “ugly”, but she’s definitely not someone I’d be captivated by based on her looks alone. If that’s the case, then how did “She was so beautiful!” start as a rumor? It had to do with the fact that she was able to impress two other leaders. Some of the people in the comments section mentioned her “several affairs”, but we do know that she was involved with two other leaders: Julius Caesar and Mark Antony. The tales of her seduction, as told at the time they happened, involve her wit. Accounts of Cleopatra VII describe her well-educated (including that she spoke seven languages) and very charismatic. Combine this with her being the leader of a kingdom, and she suddenly becomes a very attractive prospect for sex, both in terms of sexual interest and reproductive interest. It appeared to be a mutual attraction for her, as she sought to expand her own power and interact with men who were intellectually, militarily, and politically on her level. In other words, she did was literally every other royal has done in history: had sexual encounters with other royalty for the purposes of strengthening political power. 

So if everyone who knew her knew she wasn’t gorgeous, then why did this myth start? 

After the death of Cleopatra VII and Mark Antony, a rumor had been started by this guy with a long birth name we eventually came to call Caesar Augustus. He and Antony, along with another Mark, were part of this three-part ruling structure called a Triumvirate. The other Mark (Marcus Lepidus),  was exiled, leaving just Antony and Augustus to lead the Roman Empire. Augustus’ great-uncle was Julius Caesar, and his co-regent was Antony, and both of these dudes had been with Cleopatra VII, producing children that could potentially try to claim/take power from him…especially relevant since both of these dudes were dead. He basically had launched a smear campaign against her after her death that talked about her as if she’s a gorgeous, deadly, conspiring woman who seduces powerful men with both her charm and her beauty. 

Writers of the time jumped in on this, and some called her a lot of really crappy things. One Roman historian referred to her as “a woman of surpassing beauty…with the power to subjugate everyone.” 

Kind of reminds me of Rasputin, who was creepy and smelled weird but utterly captivated women. Women explained that it was his intense gaze and what he had to say that kept them interested, but upon his death what did the murderers do? Pulled down his pants, cut off his dick, and preserved it, studied why it could be so appealing to women (they claim the girth and wart near the head are a factor). It’s like “He’s interesting” wasn’t good enough…must be dick power! In the same way, “She’s utterly fascinating, charming, and educated” wasn’t good enough…must be a sexy pout and perfect tits!

As I tell my students: history isn’t just some old collection of names and dates, it’s human drama that still happens today. 

LET’S GROOVE! an ode to unsettling dance scenes

some thoughts on ONE and his themes

i’ve been sitting on this for a little bit bc it’s a more personal thing and super tough to articulate besides, but here goes.

Most shounen mangaka center their stories around superpowered teenagers and children, which is just fine! I like wish fulfillment just as much as the next person. But I have to give a shoutout to ONE for doing what I haven’t yet seen another mangaka do, and capturing the particular mid-to-late-20′s sort of mini crisis a lot of people get after college, where they’ve been working justt long enough that they’re starting to stare down the barrel of “is this what i’m going to do forever and ever until i die oh god” and “I have a job and checked off all my ‘accomplishment’ boxes but now am floundering without the structure of childhood and academia”. As someone who went through a complete 180 career change in my early 20s, it means so much to me to see a young-20s character like Reigen, or Saitama, be disillusioned with their careers and switch tracks, or be depressed and unable to find fulfillment in their “same-old” routines, and have that be an important, central point of the story. I relate painfully to Reigen sitting at his desk and thinking about how he was bored and unfulfilled at his old job, and i feel like I can really appreciate the fact that he left it and made a change for himself. I relate to Saitama, if not to his godlike powers then to his feeling of “is there all there is to life? what is there to live for besides just my accomplishments?” It sounds dramatic, but it’s easy as a young adult, especially a financially struggling young adult, to ‘work to live’, and neglect everything else to the point where when you finally stop to take a look around you, you realize you’re not sure what you’re actually living for. What did you dream of doing as a child? What do you want, on your deathbed, your life story to be? your memories to be? 

What does fulfillment even mean? 

With Saitama, ONE answers this question first by pointing out that challenges and obstacles give life meaning. When we watch OPM, we’re not rooting necessarily for Saitama. We root for Mumen Rider, or Genos, or any of the myriad other heroes that we know don’t stand a chance. Saitama’s punch might give catharsis, but the pathos is all in the side characters. And Saitama knows this! the manga is all about Saitama struggling to find meaning in a world without those obstacles. And this leads to ONE’s second answer, through King: life is not just about maxing out your level- it’s also about exploring the game. it’s about collecting every outfit, or talking to every NPC, or befriending all the companions, or completing every side quest. ONE shows us that once you look up from your single minded drive to climb the ladder, there’s a ton more to see! friends to make! hot pot to cook! cool new stuff to investigate and explore with those friends! And this is so comforting to me, as a young adult, to have a piece of media show me that not only is struggling okay and good, but that it doesn’t and shouldn’t consume everything and that there’s more to explore.

With Mob Psycho- god, where to start with Mob Psycho. First of all, I was expecting a typical ‘everyone’s 12-14 years old and OP as fuck’ shounen. I was not expecting one of the central characters to be Reigen “I’m almost 30 and I’ve switched careers and am not succeeding in the traditional sense” Arataka, or that another central character would be Serizawa “I AM 30 and I  d e f i n i t e l y  switched careers and have doubly not been successful in the traditional sense” Katsuya. Both these characters struggle with the same question in different ways. Serizawa has a more straightforward narrative: he shows us that it’s never too late to turn your life around. At 30, socially anxious and with nothing on his resume besides “dropped out of middle school to become a terrorist”, Serizawa gets a haircut, gets his act together, goes back to get his degree, and by the end of the manga is not only well on his way to academic success but is really becoming his own person, with a supportive friend group, self confidence, and his own hobbies and interests. Reigen struggles to find meaning in his life beyond just being a boring salaryman - to “become someone” - and eventually through lifting his head up from the daily hustle and opening himself to others, realizes that he HAS become someone, though perhaps in a different way than he expected: he has become a very important person to all of the esper kids and to Serizawa, and through influencing them he becomes the backbone of the manga itself. Reigen shows us that personal growth can be nontraditional, and responsibility can be scary, but both lead to fulfillment. 

I never truly thought about these kinds of things when I was younger, because I wasn’t living them. and the beauty of it is that both OPM and MP100 can be read by an audience without them; they can be enjoyed just for their comedy and their crazy nuts action scenes. But ONE put in characters struggling with these young-but-not-SUPER-young-adult issues, and it makes me, at least, feel seen. It makes me feel like I’m not alone in worrying about these things, in fearing the mundanity of routine, in struggling to find meaning in life while I’ve got the strength to grasp it. And it makes me feel like becoming an adult doesn’t have to be such a bad thing, after all. 

ATTENTION ALL ACOMAF FANS. THIS BOOK IS WHAT YOU ALL NEED. IT IS SO SIMILAR TO ACOMAF IN SO MANY WAYS. 1. RES IS THE KING OF THE NIGHT COURT. 2. THE BOOK BEGINS WITH A BARGIN. 3. RES BARGINS CASSIE TO LIVE WITH HIM 4. SO MUCH MORE BUT I DONT WANT TO SPOIL 5. HE HAS WINGS. I REPEAT HE HAS WINGS.

“In 2020, feminism is as simple as buying the right products. It requires no thought, no critical analysis, and no changing any other behavior of your own. When everyone is a feminist, no one is. And the fallacy of empowerment basically stuck a whole generation of women with the idea that being hot is the same thing as being powerful, without realizing that if your power goes away as soon as men don’t want to fuck you anymore, it was never yours to begin with.”

- @kendallroy, this post