haste still pays haste, measure still for measure

Hello everyone, Bee here.

Huh, it’s really been a while... I don’t think I’ve logged in here since ~2019. Now it’s 2021, the world’s changed... and I’m still an English Literature student at the University of East Anglia. I’m currently writing my undergraduate dissertation, and I have a place to study an MA in Literature — Culture — Media, English Literature at Lund University in Lund, Sweden starting in August this year.

A lot has happened. I’ve been vaccinated, and now I’m learning Swedish.

So, I cannot guarantee that my A-level knowledge is as up-to-scratch as it once was, but I know far more about Literature (and the world around it) now than I did two years ago.

My focus has changed; I’m not so much of a Shakespeare buff as I once was — instead, my interests (and dissertation) focus on adaptation, and the intersection of literature with popular media and culture. I’m going through my inbox, and I’ll try and get through to everybody who’s messaged me recently.

If you’re curious, you can find me on Twitter and TikTok @/classicalbaird, where I have literature, politics, and cultural things going on. (If you saw a TikTok about Matilda the Musical and the new film... that was probably me.)

How are you guys?

Stay safe,

taking time out of my essay-writing/procrastination in order to address what’s a growing issue at universities (and a levels too, probably).

I know how it feels to be backed into a corner, struggling to finish an essay just before the deadline. It can be a major cause of anxiety and panick-attacks/stress related breakdowns; because university is hard, and it can feel like one essay is the make or break of your degree.

HOWEVER

please, please, please, never use essay writers like the one which replied to me shitposting about my predicament (I’m gonna go home and write the essay, so it’s all okay).

the issue here is that you don’t know what you’re going to get, and it’s so dishonest to be using one of these services because you ‘cba for uni’ (though I know so few people on here are actually going to use these people to do your entire degree, because that’s actually pointless).

universities and colleges will always have a way for you to get extra time on an essay if you’re genuinely struggling. for instance, i’m spending a lot of time in essex at the minute in order to help look after my uncle. if I needed to (and thankfully, I can sit and work at his whilst he’s sleeping/eating) I could go through the official channels at UEA in order to get an extention on an essay.

universities do not want you to fail, your advisors and lecturers don’t want you to fail. I don’t want you to fail. but using services like these will potentially put your degree into jeopardy (people have been caught out by plaigarism checks iirc).

PLEASE, instead of a £50 essay to meet that deadline, go and see your advisor/student support services and ask for an extension. most unis will allow you two extensions for ‘forgotten’ essays and then will ask for reasons for any after that.

hi. long time no speak. I'm sorry.

here's the thing, I've been working pretty much nonstop since the semester started last week — I have double the readings I had last sem (@ writing texts) and house hunting has taken its toll.

so, here's where I'm up to:

1. we found a house 10 minutes from campus, it's adorable, and we love it. that took a lot of time, but we're sorted now.

2. I'm getting my summative marks back — so far I have a 67 and a 68 (I had to contact the hub though bc my 68 was recorded as a 61 on evision... fun times)

3. I've been putting hours into badminton. so many hours. being on the committee is harder than I thought, but I'm loving every second.

4. there's been serious illness in the family, including my own issues and results. it's looking up, but you can understand this is a higher priority than this blog x

I hope you guys understand! I'm trying to get back into studying outside my room, and documenting that, even if it's just a photo of a text or what not.

oooh, I’ll be super duper honest: I only talk to 2 people from my hometown right now. I think that we can’t force ourselves to remain in contact, honestly.

For instance, I bumped into some people who I hadn’t seen in months, and don’t talk to all the time, and yet it wasn’t like we had gone away. A good thing, probably, is to not force convo, but sort out a meet up when you’re both home -- that’s something my mum still does, she doesn’t talk to her uni friends all the time, but if they’re in our area, we get a facebook message from them and our families will go get a meal together.

I’m 2k into 6.5k words I have to write this week and next. I’m panicking, and that’s why there’s little content on this blog atm.

honestly, just make sure it's charged! if the tablet you've bought has a purchasable keyboard, get it, if not a regular Bluetooth one will do, just so you can use word/docs on the go

anything you'd do with a laptop, you can do with a tablet, they have very similar functions!

Thanks for asking (and picking the hardest questions wow how rude jk)!

1. fav doctoruuuum, I think it’s too early to say Thirteen, but the excite I feel for her reminds me of the Donna/Ten years... so Thirteen? Ask me again when the season is finished ahaha

5. fav other character appearing in less than three episodeswas Craig in 3 episodes? I can’t quite remember, so Craig. He’s just trying so hard to be a good dad and I appreciate him so much. (Otherwise Rosa Parks, sue me.)

21. Russel T. Davies or Steven Moffat era?This is so hard, because Moffat created my favourite character (River) and finished her story, but Davies was undoubtedly the superior (in my mind) in terms of story. So Davies -- he gave me the Donna year and Tennant.

I don’t think this book really deserves to have its own review, I’m going to be straight up about it. I don’t think the fact I haven’t finished it will impact it either.

Because quite frankly, this book is tediously boring, melodramatic, and De Quincey comes across as a pompous prick.

So yes, here’s my review:

1) De Quincey acts like he’s a marvel for writing down his dealings with opium, when in fact opium was widely taken as a painkiller in the 1800s. you’re not special Tom, get over it.

2) it takes half the text to even get to the bit about opium. there’s some dodgy passages about not wanting to get a loan from Jewish people, and quite frankly that was enough anti-semitism for one day.

3) the guy literally bought Wordsworth’s house when he moved out of it. He writes with a sense he’s above his reader, and I’m not here for it. you own a house mate, you didn’t write ‘A Solitary Reaper’, jog on.

4) the whole thing is from a white, male perspective. which is fine, some books are, I don’t actually have an issue with that. my main issue is that he ignores the colonial impact of the opium trade, and uses racist lexis in order to demonstrate how ‘above’ black people and turks he is. he literally says the turkish get hooked on opium quicker because they’re lesser as they’re from the east.