1 Dec 2012

november review!

November has been a mixed month of doing a lot (seeing friends, cramming as much activity in pre-op as possible) and doing very little (post-op recovery which involved a lot of sleeping, resting and eating). However, I still managed to cram in a few things that I could not have lived without this month - things that kept me sane through the few days where I was incapable of doing anything.

1) Comfy PJs and Knitted Socks



These two sets of flannel PJs from Primark (where else? Cheap and cute PJs for £7 a set, bargain!) have seen so much use this month. From being in hospital for two nights and having been housebound for about a week after, I have been living in PJs, loungewear and tunic t-shirts and dresses. These two are my cutest ones so I thought I'd merge them into one image to double the cuteness!

2) My Journal and Notebook


Having this time off and to myself allowed for a lot of self-reflection. Like a lot of people my age and so fresh out of university, I think that feeling lost is quite a natural feeling. Where do I go from here? I don't think further study is for me at this moment in time, and although I'd quite like to be a doctor, I'd equally quite like to work within the creative (i.e. marketing/advertising/PR) industry too. 

So, I took this time off to keep a better journal and to also plan out my life. I'd been thinking for the whole summer about where I wanted to go and I think I know what direction I should be going in now. The world is my oyster and I even have contingency plans for each stage if they don't go as intended too! 

An organised life is a better one, right? 

3) Mandarin Dictionary!


As most of you know by now, I've been self-teaching myself Mandarin Chinese. Having a Cantonese Chinese background certainly helps, and with my Dad speaking a Chinese dialect called Hakka (which sounds very similar to Mandarin), I've found the learning pretty simple. My listening, reading and writing have all improved (previously, I could only write colloquial things in Cantonese, but now, I've made a lot of progress in recent months) but the speaking part is the hardest part to practice.

Neither of my parents can speak Mandarin so I've taken to just speaking to myself. Lucky my family already know I'm weird, eh?

4) NaNoWriMo


This November, I took part in National Novel Writing Month. One of my '101 things in 1,001 days' was to 'write a novel' and now, I can tick that off - two years ahead of schedule! It was hard - writing 50,000 words in 30 days is no small challenge but although I had a few days where nothing was written, I also had many days where a lot was written. In the end, I finished it early on the 27th of November and so, I thought I'd show off my badge of honour :)

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So, this was my November! It involved a lot of writing - something I'm always trying to improve and something that I think would help my blogging! I've also been trying to improve my own set of skills (though self-teaching of Mandarin Chinese and also through Coursera). Sadly, earlier this month, four and a half years of volunteering came to end due to this operation. I'm in no fit state to go back and help out as it sometimes involves heavy lifting of donated bags of goods and I can't quite do that yet so I'm currently on the look-out for new opportunities and just taking my time to learn more about myself and improve who I am, as a person :)

How was your November? Did you find yourself reliant on Starbucks or Costa Coffee Christmas cups? If so, I wouldn't blame you as they are so pretty! With December officially starting today and Christmas drawing ever closer, I wish you all an organised month with minimal stress :)

6 comments

  1. Ah, fresh out of University...I remember those days. It was scary and exciting all at the same time. Enjoy that in-between time as much as you can. I wish I had enjoyed it more, perhaps even spent the time traveling, instead of worrying about "what's next?" and working. All those things (a career, professional life) eventually fell into place as they always do. :)

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    1. Definitely scary and exciting! I can't do anything properly yet til January so eagerly waiting for the next month to arrive :D And I guess you're right; what's meant to be is meant to be. I guess our lives are already mapped out for us (to an extent) so I'll just let life happen naturally :) x

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  2. Congrats fellow nanowrimo winner! I also finish 50,000 words, but not necessarily the book. I got about two chapters or so until it's finish. I printed out the certificate and it's hanging on my message board. :D

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    1. Hehe it feels great doesn't it! Are you going to publish your book at all? I'm definitely not publishing mine as I'm pretty sure it's written very badly hehe x

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  3. Well done on NaNo! I failed horrendously :') <3

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    1. Thank you! There's always next year :) and to be fair, at least you gave it a shot! It definitely wasn't an easy thing to do x

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