No work and all play makes Ben a dull boy...

I never thought I'd say this but... I wish I had some schoolwork to do.

I find myself sitting here at the computer, totally and utterly bored, quite simply because I've finished all my assignments, exams, and major works, with only the HSC left to worry about. I'm left with an abundance of free time and nothing to do with it, no goals or hobbies or anything to retain my interest or give me some sort of goal to work toward.

Ok, I lie, it's not like I don't have the odd hobby and such. I mean, I was playing the Wii for a good portion of the afternoon, but there's only so much "enjoyment" I can take. With so much time to spare, these little pockets of time that I'd normally treasure between turning to the monotony of working have just become annoyingly pointless. They don't exactly give a sense of achievement either.

Even more annoyingly is that basically everyone else still has work of some description to do. I'm basically only writing this blog post because everyone else on my MSN list that I'm talking to at the moment seems preoccupied with their own remaining work, so the conversations aren't exactly *lively* or anything.

Seriously, I never thought I would actually wish I had more work to do. I went *looking* for homework and was actually disappointed that I couldn't legitimately find any... Without that sense of time pressure and something to work toward, everything has just gone a bit 'bleh' right now and I'm struggling to find some method of entertainment that I don't tire of quickly.

Writing this blog entry was one of those, though I've basically run out of anything further to write as well. God dammit. I'm going to die of boredom after the HSC when I have 3-4 months of nothing. Never thought I'd appreciate school so much.

Adios.

The Payoff

BOTH MAJOR WORKS AND TRIAL EXAMS ARE NOW COMPLETE.

Just had to get that out of the way. All the hard work finally paid off, despite the fact my hand feels like it could probably just fall off right now. I was drawing from 9:00 AM Sunday until like 2:30 AM Monday morning... and basically only stopped for meals. Holy crap.

Finally managed to clear up my little Art corner that looked like a felt-tip bomb hit it. Counted up all the pens I've used up... and the grand total is... *drum roll*

95 FELT-TIP PENS. Wow...

It's raaaaaining pens, hallelujah!

Working on those drawings for so long... all the earlier procrastination just made this last weekend a stress-induced hell where not finishing had become a legitimate possibility. Basically it made me realise the importance of long-term vs. short-term rewards, heh. It was either "play TF2 (Team Fortress 2) right now" or "bust your ass drawing for a few days straight and enjoy yourself later", and to make matters worse I'd just bought Punch-Out for the Wii on the weekend. A brand new game... sitting there... fully wrapped... taunting me day in and day out.

Admittedly, I didn't exactly stick to the whole "long-term is more important" ideal for the entire weekend... seeing as I kind of bludged off all of Saturday to go to UTS and attend Shuang's kickass shin-dig. Soooooo much free stuff, and I ended up with three new shirts at the end of the day! (Unfortunately, one of them didn't fit, bah. Oh well.) Still, as much as I wanted to just game for awhile and collapse on my bed after that long day, I *persevered* and drew well into the night, and the entirety of the next day, heh.

Reminds me of this thing I saw on TED.com (and yes I *know* I reference it a lot, but it's a damn brilliant site), based around showing the long-term vs. short-term enjoyment and goals notion through presenting some toddlers with a marshmallow.

Basically, for those of you who can't be bothered watching (even though this is a LOT shorter than the rest of the TED.com videos I've linked), the experiment showed that, when presented with the option of eating a marshmallow now, or waiting some amount of time to get the original marshmallow and a second one, that based on this decision it showed how well these children would cope with the long-term vs. short-term decision later in life. Those who waited to get two marshmallows generally had good grades and some degree of success, whereas the majority of those who ate the marshmallow and didn't restrain themselves and wait ended up... well, in less than optimum circumstances for the most part.

The amount of times I had to turn down playing TF2 or just chillaxing with some anime over the last week to get this art major finished... I'd like to *think* I would've been one of those kids who managed to wait the duration to get the second marshmallow. At least that would mean I'll be successful later in life, if the statistics are to be believed, heh, even *if* I do indulge in the occasional period of procrastination. Pseudo-restraint is enough restraint for me.

Still, the relief of having all my majors completed now, rather than a few extra games of TF2 earlier and then being riddled with stress at the moment as I'd be forced to draw until all hours of the morning... it's definitely worth it. All in preparation for hopefully getting into Vis Comm at UTS - it shall be worth it eventually.

Guess that's it for now though.

Adios.

Trial Period Has Expired

Freedom.

Oh how sweet it is.

That is all. Adios.

Trivial Awkward Post Ahoy!

Should be doing Modern History right now. Don't particularly want to as YouTube keeps stealing away my attention. It's becoming quite problematic and my Modern History rank is probably going down the toilet with each video. Wonderful.

Still, I'm finding this girl quite hilarious - Bernice linked me to one of her videos awhile ago - and I can't stop going through her archive. Behold... The "We Just Touched Awkwardly" Song!

Guess I should go back to studying South African politics now. Although, I'm already essentially doomed for this exam. Ah well. Also, I'm currently holding a slinky, and you are not. I know how jealous you are.

Adios.