Personal Blogs

TMA 04 was horrible; I did not enjoy it. I wasn't the only one either: people on the AA100 Facebook group also thought it was horrible. But it's over now, gone. Hopefully, the next TMA is more interesting.

I'm always obsessing over routine. At one point I was setting a 90 minute timer on my phone and doing whatever work I pleased within that time. It was good and I was more productive, but sometimes I would work on things that weren't as important as something else. So my new routine focuses on prioritising. I've made a list of everything I need to do and I've ordered them. Here's the list, beginning with what I consider the most important: writing, uni work, learning Italian and Greek, and reading and learning something new.

I really hope this routine works, as I feel I'm nowhere near accomplishing my goals. University, of course, will take time, but the writing and learning of new languages and new things is totally up to me. I've read that some people can learn a tremendous amount in three months when it comes to language learning. I've been learning Italian on and off now for... well, I don't really want to say. I think I just need to stay focused and stick with my new routine.

By the way, these are my goals: get a degree, be a traditionally published author, be able to speak Italian and Greek (and maybe another language), and to have bought my own home. I'm 30 now, so I believe accomplishing all this by the time I'm 40 is more than doable. I hope.

I'm still waiting for my assignment to be returned. The wait is almost killing me. I'm very eager to know how I did and what I can improve upon in the future.

I've fallen a little bit behind the study planner, but that doesn't bother me too much. I'm currently reading up on Stalin. I can't make up my mind about whether he was a smart man or not. If he was smart, and his intention was to cost millions of lives, then he's probably more evil than we thought. If, however, he didn't plan those deaths and he genuinely believed his collectivism and other beliefs would work, then he was well and truly a moron. But does being stupid release him from being labelled "evil", or could we spare him that and instead go with "incredibly incompetent"? I say this because I wonder if you can be evil without being intelligent. I think that's an interesting idea. 

I've just finished reading the chapter on Paul Cézanne in Reputations. I found most of it interesting, especially the practical aspects of paintings and the brief history on still life. I always wondered why still life paintings were such a big deal and now I know. 

Take a painting of an apple. This could be an allegory for life: when we are ripe we're at our best and most beautiful but we eventually rot away and die. It could be a religious allusion to Adam and Eve. This mixes beautifully with the allegory of life and death: once Adam and Eve ate the apple and became aware of their nakedness, God ended their time in paradise and sent them into a world where they'd inevitably die. The apple representing life and death is also philosophical, with existentialism springing to mind.

I do appreciate Cézanne's work a little bit more than I did before. At first I didn't like it. I still prefer the 'conventional' paintings, though.

Next, I'll work through the online activities related to Cézanne's chapter and see how I get on.