nothing more than molecules

  psych/neuro student UK // just trying to make some sense of the world  // personal /studyblr  // all content my own // reblogs at academicaesthetics

[neuronspaghetti]

Sunny morning outside All Souls College / St Mary’s

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Holywell St., Oxford

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Autumn rays

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Cyanotype prints by Rosalind Hobley

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28.05.20 // Been really busy with planning my final research project of the degree. It’s really exciting to be fully in charge of the design, but it’s also kinda scary. Still in lockdown but have been enjoying the balcony in full bloom.

I don’t have a tablet so when I feel like scribbling without wasting paper I have to use my full-on graphics tablet. Feels a bit silly using it to draw diagrams and mindmaps in OneNote but hey it works!

[neuronspaghetti]

I’ve seen a lot of negative posts and articles lately about how people are finding it really disheartening and hard seeing others being productive whilst they’re struggling to read even 5 pages, or complaints about how there’s more to life than productivity and I totally understand where they’re coming from but I’ve gotta say... When I’m having a low day and can’t seem to get my head straight I come straight on here and feel so inspired by these posts of people working hard, pushing themselves, and maybe even being pretty aesthetic whilst they’re doing it. It makes me want to do better.  So, thanks all you studyblr people who keep passing on that motivation and positivity. I hope we all get where we want to be!

[neuronspaghetti]

--- O nata lux de lumine ---

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07.05.20 // Trying to get out more often. Was rewarded with wildflowers on the normally trimmed verges.

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- A city of aquatint - 

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05.05.20 // Another sunny day in lockdown. Starting to condense the reading I’ve been doing lately - I like to work with slides as ‘note cards’. It forces me to only keep the essential info, but I can still edit and refine them as I go (unlike paper cards; plus they’re easier to organise and flip through). Also started using my moka pot again so I can make nice coffee at home!

[neuronspaghetti]

03.05.20 // Just a lazy day hanging out with my plants

[neil-gaiman]

Hi, Neil! How do you stay focused while writing? For some reason I am having a very hard time not being distracted when I try to work on a story- even with this ridiculous amount of Quarantine Free Time. Any advice?

Pretty much everyone I know (including me) is dealing with the gulf between “I suddenly have all this time, whee I am going to write all the things,” and “why aren’t I getting everything written? Why am I confused and distracted and worried?”

And all I can say is, you aren’t alone in this. Be kind to yourself. Nothing quite like this has happened in living memory, we don’t know how it’s going to end, and the world is unsafe and different. All of that takes headspace. More if you’re mourning people. 

So forgive yourself, be kind to yourself, and look out at your world from the place of “ANYTHING I get written during lockdown times is a small (or not so small) victory”.

[neuronspaghetti]

01.05.20 // On the morning of 1st of May, Magdalen College, Oxford, hosts their choir at the top of the Great Tower to sing Eucharists and madrigals in a 500-year old tradition. The singing starts at 6am, so there are parties all night the night before, and beers on the bridge by 5am. After the singing finishes, the Green Man marches through the centre of the crowds, the pipes and fiddles start up and the Morris dancing starts! The clash of traditions on what’s essentially a spring festival is pretty magical.

Obviously, this year none of this is going to happen. The college choir will be streaming a lockdown-edition performance at https://www.magdalencollegechoir.com/ , but there’ll be no ales for breakfast and no fiddle music and I’m so sad about this. This photo was taken at last year’s celebrations. I hope we’ll all make up for lost celebrations once this is all over!

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30.04.20 // I’m here to take notes and drink coffee

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29.04.20 // Coffee houses: a lamentation.

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28.04.20 // Sometimes I need to remind myself that it’s okay to take your time. It’s been a slow day today, but I’m slowly getting there.

[neuronspaghetti]

- It’s later than you think, but it’s never too late -

View from Harris Manchester College, Oxford