Star’s Studyblr

Notes from My Desk #18 | 13/7/26

Today I finished the theory for one chapter of one of my two social studies courses, so that was some progress. I also checked the instructions and intro for one of my chemistry courses again, because i had to switch to the updated course to have enough time to complete the course (which is literally the same, except a few lass graded assignments, which are now replaced by a 30 minute exam at the end of the course. sounds like bs to me, but okay).

Kind of a hard day focus-wise, I didn't study as long as I hoped or should have. Some positives though: I finished one of the Thomas Mann novellas I was reading for a few days, and I added some new words to my Greek vocabulary on Anki, because I ran out. I have like 5,000 words in queue, but it takes time to add them to the database, and it's just going to be a long project.

On the subject of Greek, I'm also powering through the anthology I'm reading. I'm halfway the notebook I'm using right now, and after finishing it I'll go through it again and add the translations I need. If you guys are interested I can make a flip-through after it's done!

These past days I got addicted to sudoku again, and also codeword puzzles - that's a new one! I wasted a lot of time on these things, that granted I enjoyed, but didn't really want to spend my time on. Also the weather just doesn't get good here this July apparently, it's just constant low pressure area.

Thank you everyone for interacting with this blog and keeping me coming back! Some days get a bit overwhelming so I don't always manage daily posts, but it's the goal, the dream, and I'll keep coming back to it eventually every time.

Studies (1h 56m): 🟢 instructions for course 2/2 🟡 finished notes for "The Finnish Society" 🟡 goals and contents for course 2/2 ⚪️ 96 flashcards reviewed (10 min.) ⚪️ 91 new flashcards added to vocabulary ⚪️ 1 anthology text finished

Highlights: ⭐️ Finished notes for a chapter ⭐️ Finished reading a novella ⭐️ Made spicy chickpea snacks ⭐️ Fell asleep in fresh sheets, ahhhh

Tomorrow: ➡️Continue with more introductions and theory ➡️Write at least 1 learner diary entry ➡️Some self-care I've been pushing off

💭 Thomas Mann is wild describing some of his characters... like, bro, I can't believe you said that about him...

Notes from My Desk #17 | 7/7/26

I just couldn't get started today. I literally spent the whole day not studying, because I just couldn't get started. I returned a book to the library, and because I am addicted, I brought 2 back home with me. I have given myself a loaning ban until I return my current 29 loans + the one I've reserved for one of my courses.

I started reading If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies. I only read the introduction, so I can't say for sure if it's good or not, but it's an important topic - the dangers of AI - so I'm hoping it'll be educational. I have a literary work I could do on the topic as well - this book doesn't qualify for reading, because it needs to be in Finnish, but maybe I get some original ideas to refer to. Or otherwise, just reading for fun and interest is good, too.

I opened my courses at 10 pm, because I refuse to let the entire day slip away from me. I only wrote notes for about half an hour, but the important parts was just getting back into it after having a hard day. I don't want to let myself down. Hoping for an easier start tomorrow.

Studies (55 m): 🟢 intro for "Safety in Chemistry" 🟡 notes for "The Finnish Society" ⚪️ 233 flashcards reviewed (23 min.)

Highlights: ⭐️ New book, new me ⭐️ Reading something quote worthy again ⭐️ Decided to put my French vocab on hold and focus on Greek

Tomorrow: ➡️Pick up where I left off with my studies

💭 On hard days, it doesn't matter how fast you get up. It only matters that you do.

Notes from My Desk #16 | 6/7/26

I got right into my studies and got a lot done today. I had 21 tasks planned for the day and 21 tasks checked off in total, even though I moved some tasks around and some were tomorrow's task. But technically on track for day one.

In the morning I picked up a package for my mom from the corner store, and bought some chips. After "studying" for half a day, aka spending hours on annoying setup work and introductions, I went on a jog and afterwards I focused on writing some of the learner diaries (with the power of the forementioned chips). The first entry for the first course took like an hour, no kidding, but the next 2 I wrote went much faster. It was already late by then, so I decided to call it a day, and not burn myself out on the first day.

My evening routines these past days have included flashcards, journaling and reading.

Studies (4 h 59 m): 🟢 learner diary starter entry 1/2 🟢 updated schedules 2/2 🟢 intro for the introduction 🟡 learner diary starter entry 1/2 🟡 updated schedules 2/2 🟡 intro for the introduction 🔴 updated schedules 6/6 🔴 intro for ch. "Introduction to Literature" 🔴 looked through the course reading 🔴 got introduced a 3-assignment literature work 🔴 intro for the introduction 3/3 🟣 learner diary starter entry 1/2 🟣 updated schedules 2/2 🟣 intro for the introduction 🔵 updated schedules 2/2 🔵 intro for the introduction 🔵 intro for ch. "Everyday life in an English-speaking country" ⚪️ 316 cards ( 35 min.) ⚪️ read 2 pages of the Greek anthology

Highlights: ⭐️ I'm noticing my focus building up consistently ⭐️ I'm finding small moments to enjoy the summer

Tomorrow: ➡️Continue the introductions to several courses ➡️Some actual theory finally ➡️2 practice exercises and 1 graded one ➡️Return a book to the library

💭 I feel like I'll miss out on the summer if I don't make time for it...

Notes from My Desk #15 | 5/7/26

I finished my study plan! It's kind of front-loaded, so the day still looks very long.. but not all tasks are big, so I need to remember that. Anyway, this way I have room if some tasks don't get finished in one day, to move them to the next one, and I'm thinking on Sundays I'll reschedule properly for the next week. Sounds simple, but it gets difficult when you have to be responsible for it all by yourself, for me at least.

I mentioned 7 courses before, but I'm doing 14 different courses with the latest deadline I set for myself to better spread the tasks out. Still the same 5 subjects though, so I think from now on I'll just post about them by subject, and whatever tasks I do under the subjects in general. Here's my colour coding if anyone's interested:

Chemistry → 🟢 Social Studies → 🟡 Literature → 🔴 Mathematics → 🟣 English → 🔵 Other → ⚪️

That's why you see me mark my personal studies with the white ball every day. Speaking of which...

Studies: ⚪️ studied 285 flashcards (30 min.)

Highlights: ⭐️Journaled a whole page, when the goal was 3 sentences ⭐️ Took a walk in the drizzle, it was fun! ⭐️ Finished reading Tosi kivat juhlat by Tuomas Kokko ⭐️ Did full body IPL, now I won't have to worry about it for a couple of days

Tomorrow: ➡️Get right into it with my studies ➡️Spend more time with language studies if I have time

💭 I feel like a lady-in-waiting, except the princess is just me receiving self-care.

Notes from My Desk #14 | 4/7/26

It felt like a first day of an era - I was doing things from the second I woke up... until after lunch when I felt like crashing cause I guess the recent poor sleep decided to catch up right at the moment.

Anyways I did a lot of reading and taking notes and then I felt like I slept my eyes open for a few hours, and luckily the thunder passed by 5pm so I still had time to drag my reluctant body out on a jog/walk. Did my hair routine and rescheduled IPL, and I journaled a few pages, because the day felt like a turning point despite it looking like a pretty normal day. Ended the day with Anki and some more reading and for once got to sleep on time-ish.

I've been putting off my studies for so long now, I'm at a point where I need to reschedule them to make the daily work amount a bit easier, because I just can't do anything if I wake up and see my to do list is 6 feet long. And it's not a procrastination issue, it's that I failed the planning a week ago.

Studies: ⚪️ studied 283 flashcards (35 min.) ⚪️ read 1 text from a Greek anthology collection

Highlights: ⭐️Despite the challenge, I'm enjoying reading in Greek ⭐️A weirdly fundamental day

Tomorrow: ➡️I will reschedule my studies, to not feel like I want to throw up every time I open up my courses, you know, so normal ➡️Huge self-care time slot

💭 Making the most of weather windows and forgetting the plank that Absolutely Did Not Matter Today

Notes from My Desk #13 | 3/7/26

Today I bought this colouring book. I'm not sure why. Childlike whimsy?

💭 Too tired for reflection... Updates tomorrow again.

Notes from My Desk #12 | 2/7/26

Finished chapter 3 from my French study book, and studied some flashcards. These past couple days I've realized at 11pm I haven't studied my flashcards, because my mornings keep being full of everything else.

I started reading an anthology of short texts, poems etc. directed for the 1st-2nd grade Greek students. I decorated one of my notebooks just for the translations. A tiny shoutout to @beelearnsfinnish for inspiring me to do translations, I always see you doing that and decided to put some effort in it myself, too!

I spent a lot of time finding an issue and fixing my Anki vocabulary, because pasting from a spreadsheet added some very fun HTML to the flashcards that was messing with the alphabetizing...

Also stil reading Murakami's After Dark, (I might finish it tomorrow) and I'm happy I started when I did, because it's due on the 8th, and now I still have time to take notes on quotes and enjoy reading. Pairing it with this ambience video of Mr. Kitty's After Dark has been insane, btw.

I feel like I keep doing things in the name of productivity, that shouldn't be a priority at all, but I think maybe this week has been a lot more about getting into the rhythm and relearning how far my capabilities stretch, and I can start directing that energy into the most important things first, if that makes any sense.

Studies: ⚪️French revision: the stressed personal pronouns, the negative clause ⚪️ reviewed 248 cards (30 min.)

Highlights: ⭐️ Really excited for the decorated notebook for some reason? ⭐️ Also really excited for actually reading Greek! It's getting easier?! ⭐️ Absolutely in love with reading, I hope this spell never breaks

Tomorrow: ➡️Grocery shopping and chores ➡️Organize my thoughts and studies some ➡️Finish After Dark if I have time

💭 I'm a consumer - I devour, I read, I remember, I blurt it all out - where are my original thoughts?

Notes from My Desk #11 | 1/7/26

Yup, the inconsistency in my notes is just me trusting my intuition every single time I'm formatting. Anyway, I spent about 1h 45 minutes actively studying French, and 40 minutes on flashcards. I continue adding cards daily, as well.

Today was a bigger reading day, after days of reading barely 10 pages, today I got to 50+ pages. I also decided to take hand-written notes on my books again. I have a digital book note archive, but I haven't been taking any notes on my reading lately, so I fugured this will get me to do it currently. Not a huge deal to copy it to a digital format later on.

Studies: ⚪️ French revision: articles, plural nouns, thematic vocabulary - school subjects and counties/languages/nationalities ⚪️ 274 flashcards reviewed (40 min)

Highlights: ⭐️ I've built up my daily study time to 2+ hours ⭐️ Can't believe how well I know French even after a years' break ⭐️I looove the current book I'm reading

Tomorrow: ➡️finish chapter 3 (French)

Notes from My Desk #10 | 30/6/26

I know I said I'd get a lot done today, and I vacuumed, okay? And I picked up the last reservation from the library. Another fun walk.

Then, I gotta be honest, I don't know what happened. A side quest emerged. Spent 7 hours creating a French set up on Anki, so I won't have to put that much effort into revising French in the future, and finished the 2nd chapter the study book I'm revising currently.

Not an unproductive day, but oh boy, do I let my focus run into things that aren't priorities. Also still very happy about how relatively easy it is to study Greek vocab on Anki - the problems are mainly that I'm not that familiar with the words yet, so I tend to make mistakes because of that. But time and exposure will fix that, I believe.

Studies: ⚪️ 282 flashcards reviewed (39 min.) ⚪️ French, finished chapter 2

Highlights: ⭐️ Felt like a productive day, all things considered ⭐️ Wore a pretty dress at the library ⭐️ Ate a ton of ice cream

💭 Ready to leave June behind?

Notes from My Desk #9 | 29/6/26

It was VERY hard to focus on my studies today. I think I'll need to somehow build my focus up to be able to focus for longer periods at a time. I work better under pressure, but I should build some healthier study habits as well.

Worked on my 7 current courses - I'm still in the beginning, so it's a lot of that intro info. Ended up with under 2 hours of active studying. Tomorrow I need to make the 1st entries to my mandatory learner diaries for all these courses, and I'm dreading that.

Because my focus was so scattered I walked to the library in the afternoon and picked up 6 reserved books (and maybe a couple of extra just for fun...). Still waiting on that one reservation. After that I updated my reading plan and book loan list. I also spent time moving more of my vocabulary to Anki.

Studies: 🟢 Chem. goals and contents + 1st ch. intro 🟡Soc. Stud. goals and contents + 1st ch. intro 🔴Lit. (1) goals and contents 🔴Lit. (2) goals and contents 🔴Lit. (3) goals and contents + course reading info 🟣 Math. goals and contents 🔵 Eng. goals and contents ⚪️ 123 flashcards reviewed (15min)

Highlights: ⭐️Had a very lovely walk, and I sure do love the library ⭐️Messaged a friend ⭐️Had the shortest call with my cousin, but hey, anything counts

Tomorrow: ➡️Start the learner diaries for my courses ➡️Vacuum ➡️Read! I started the Murakami, but I've barely had time to read it!

💭 The heat is almost comforting.

Notes from My Desk #8 | 28/6/26

I've been trying to move my entire vocabulary list to Anki, but there are literally thousands of words. It's been slow, cause I've been adding cases and genders and all that jazz - I think it's gonna take a few days. Also I'll need to get back to my studies next week, so I can't just spend full days doing that.

Had a few "bad days" - or more accurately days where energy just went to other things, but I've finally picked up my trackers again. Also, not a huge deal, but gave half a page of love to my journal, again, which was amazing because last time I wrote in it was on the 9th!

I was supposed to update my study schedule, but I was so tired in the evening and opted for shaving my legs instead. I'll just have to do it in the morning before I start studying. Also waiting for 1 more book to arrive at my library, so I can pick up all my reservations - hopefully that's tomorrow as well.

Studies: ⚪️ 103 flashcards reviewed (10 min.)

Highlights: ⭐️ Took a short-ish walk (35 min.) ⭐️ Feels like I really found my system with vocab studying ⭐️ Loving macros right now with any spreadsheet work... Why am I only now learning about those?

Tomorrow: ➡️Get back to my studies ➡️Read again after a few inconsistent days ➡️Enjoy more vocabulary... It's gonna be so insane if i stick to this

💭 I love to turn my little blue world upside down -Tori Amos

Notes from My Desk #7 | 27/6/26

Today passed by real quick - I went grocery shopping and was graciously gifted the pastel set of Stabilo Boss Originals by my mother on my quest to ✨collect them all✨... usually I don't vouch for brands just because they're popular, but I truly personally prefer Stabilo highlighters. I've had the neon set for what must be over 10 years and they still work like new. (I did give the neon pens a bath after taking the picture, so they wouldn't feel inferior next to the new set...)

I had already kind of decided to postpone my official studies until next week, so I let myself indulge in this Anki project again. I've been moving a lot of vocabulary from Memrise to Anki, so the cards are there ready for the rotation when their time comes.

I also went on a light jog for an hour in the sun, and went to sauna + did some self-care, like shaving, light treatment and moisturizing. Somehow these normal things have been taking enormous energy lately, but I do feel great after doing them, so maybe it's just Newton's lesser-known law of routines lost take more energy to restart?

Highlights: ⭐️ New highlighter high!!! ⭐️ Vocabulary overload which I love, though I should also be spending time on grammar...

Tomorrow: ➡️Copy the rest (unlikely...) of the vocabulary to Anki ➡️Finish chores ➡️I really hope I can finally restart journaling

💭 I cannot believe June is almost over... I feel like I'm living in such a summer bubble.

Notes from My Desk #6 | 26/6/26

I took a walk on the dark side today by installing Anki, and setting it up for my beast of Greek vocabulary. I’ve never used it before, but with all of its customisation and add-ons, it can do everything I need to feel supported in my learning journey. I just hope it won't feel too overwhelming once revision starts accumulating…

Also new ✨summer cup✨, who dis...?

Studies: ⚪️ Subtly worked on my vocabulary as I set up Anki ⚪️ Got almost destroyed by a phrase about a snail, but I think I came out on top and can almost write antennae now...

Highlights: ⭐️ Happy to be learning vocabulary in the "traditional" sense again! ⭐️ Started revision on some Greek translation notes from 3 months ago (which is insane, because I write notes, I don't read them?? but apparently now I do) ⭐️ Read just a few pages of Murakami

Tomorrow: ➡️Do chores and self-care ➡️Continue the translation revision

💭 No thoughts today, just white noise...

Notes from My Desk #5 | 20/6/26

Had a chill day celebrating midsummer, but I also got some things done. I went on a jog (I'm really enjoying getting back into the routine!!), vacuumed and organized the bathroom a bit. Left the rest of my chores for Sunday, though.

I spent decent time studying both French and Greek. I did 35 minutes of basics for French. I don't really have goals for it, I just noticed it was slipping down to my 5th language so I decided to brush up on it this summer. For Greek I also did mainly revision for 1 hour and 10 minutes. It's a challenge, but such an intriguing one, and it's definitely a language that something in my personality is drawn to.

Studies: ⚪️French revision - basic introductions, numbers 0-39 ⚪️Greek revision - είμαι-verb, basic introductions, the informal and formal object pronouns

Highlights: ⭐️ Had Brita cake...mmm... ⭐️ Enjoyed reading again, ahh, I'm on a roll ⭐️ Still the cake... so good, you guys...

Tomorrow: ➡️Finish the week's chores ➡️Stretch, because I've been slacking

💭 So happy to be getting a hold of my routines again - The priviledge of free time in the summer is unreal.

Notes from My Desk #4 | 18-19/6/26

These past couple of days went on in midsummer preparations. I finally updated my study plan, and I'll be right back on it on Monday.

I also restarted some self-care routines, which always takes time once you're just starting with any type of maintenance, but it did make me feel good afterwards, and wasn't that bad while doing it either tbh.

And like I promised, I studied. It was 15 minutes of vocabulary, but any little bit counts, and it was mainly just to remind myself I can study so easily if I just decide to do it, sit down and start.

(Side note: I got an ask to show my tracker set up here, and I am working on a little post about it to anyone interested! I just need time to make a coherent post, but expect it around tomorrow >)

Studies: ⚪️Updated my study plan ⚪️Studied Greek vocabulary for 15m

Highlights: ⭐️Updated my study plan, made it with pretty colours ⭐️Took time for self-care ⭐️Studied a little

Tomorrow: ➡️Read some more ➡️Pick up journaling again ➡️Do some light language studying

💭 Having couple of sadder days - It's not too bad, but I'm missing you.

Notes from My Desk #3 | 17/6/26

Finally finished my trackers! Again, I spent hours on them today. I guess that’s a disadvantage of doing them for a year+ in advance, although what better time to do it than the summer.

Didn’t get around the exercise today either, (no one hold me accountable…) because it rained the whole day and I just wasn’t about that. Instead I did a lot of reading and some gaming. I have to update my studies tomorrow, but I’ve been exhausted recently, so I didn’t exactly push it today.

Highlights: ⭐️ Finished reading a novella today ⭐️ Updated my to-do list for tomorrow, after a few days' break

Tomorrow: ➡️Update my study plan ➡️Do some chores around the house ➡️Do any little bit of studying

💭 Every day is a chance to do better.

Notes from My Desk #2 | 16/6/26

Today consisted of trying my best to finish my trackers, and writing so much in the process that I'm developing a writer's callus.

I wanted to go on a jog, but also didn't want to and spent the entire evening just with my journals. I'm only postponing the jog until tomorrow, though, and you can hold me accountable!

Celebrating Joyce Carol Oates' birthday today by reading late in bed before falling asleep.

Highlights: ⭐️ Made my first tumblr post ⭐️ Made good progress with the trackers ⭐️ Lost myself in fiction

Tomorrow: ➡️Finish trackers!! ➡️Update my study plan (didn't have time today) ➡️Go on a jog

💭 Doing some things alone and scared is worth it. You learn you can do scary things, even alone.