The Leigh Studies

So, your landlord/parents/home inspector/favorite movie star is dropping by, and your place is a disaster. You don’t have much time to clean it up. You’re in emergency mode. Let’s get started.

Don’t panic. Panic leads to fear, fear leads to procrastination, procrastination leads to the dark side. You can do this, but you have to stay calm.

Unlike maintenance cleaning, we’re not looking to completely unfuck one space at a time. Instead, we want to decrease the overall mess in stages, spread evenly across the whole area that we’re concerned about. If you think your home is at Level 10 filth, we want to bring the whole thing down to a Level 9, and then down from there. One really clean spot in an otherwise messy home is not going to be helpful here.

Get prepared. You’ll want to shut the computer down (or turn the modem off if you need your computer to play music). Trust me. Get your music going. Gather up trash bags, your vacuum and mop, some rags or paper towel, sponges, and other cleaning supplies. Use what you have on hand. Don’t get distracted running to the store and spending an hour browsing cleaning supplies. A multi-purpose cleaning concentrate or a jug of vinegar will be just fine.

Breaks are very important. Depending on your time constraints, work in 20/10s (20 minutes working, 10-minute break) or 45/15s. But take breaks because otherwise you’re marathoning, and marathon cleaning is no one’s friend. Keep hydrated, don’t forget to eat, and check in with yourself frequently to make sure you’re physically doing OK.

Make your bed. This will be your home base if you get overwhelmed or need somewhere clear to take a break.

Start with the garbage. Going from room to room, throw out anything that is obvious trash. Once you fill a bag, take it out. Repeat as many times as necessary.

Move on to dishes. Gather the dishes from all over your house and bring them to the kitchen. If you can, start them soaking in a sink of hot, soapy water or start loading the dishwasher. After the dishes are all in one place, spend one 20/10 getting started getting them under control.

Now it’s time for your flat surfaces. Countertops, tables, dresser tops, etc. Clear them off and wipe them down. Don’t get distracted in too much sorting and organizing. We’re in crisis mode here. There will be time to get in-depth once this is all done. The same applies to cabinets and closets. Unless you have reason to believe people will be opening closed doors, leave these alone for now.

Attack the floordrobe and shoe pile. Get your clothes either put away or in the hamper. Start a load of laundry if you need to, but keep in mind that laundry and dishes have three steps: wash, dry, and put it away, goddammit!

Get random stuff up off the floors. If something is trash-worthy, throw it away now rather than just move it around a bunch of times. Otherwise, put stuff where it belongs.

Take another 20/10 or 45/15 to catch up on more dishes, if needed.

Head into the bathroom. Pour some cleaner in the toilet bowl, fill the sink with hot water and cleaner, and either spray the tub and shower with cleaner, or fill the tub up with some hot water and add cleaner and let it soak. Put everything away that’s out and shouldn’t be, clean the mirror, counters, and toilet seat. Sweep or dry mop the floor. Wipe down the sink and tub/shower, and give the toilet bowl a scrub. Mop the floor.

Sweep and mop the kitchen floor.

Vacuum everything you can, and sweep everything you can’t.

Walk outside of your house (don’t lock yourself out, please). Walk back in and see what catches your eye first. Go and deal with that.

If you’re being inspected or your landlord is coming in for repairs, spend time on whatever area they’ll be focusing on.

Give the whole place one more once-over and pay attention to anything you’ve missed so far.

It’s an old trick, but if your place is a little funky-smelling, put a pan of water on the stove on low heat and add some citrus or cinnamon or vanilla. Don’t leave it unattended or forget about it.

Take a shower, put on something clean, and eat something.

You can do this. It’s overwhelming, yes, but it is not impossible. You just need to do it. You have a list. You have directions. You have a whole bunch of Internet strangers who have been there before and who are cheering you on. You can do this, but you need to get started.

Kurds have been living on the land they call home now for thousands of years. After WW1 and the fall off the Ottoman Empire, the British and French promised Kurds they could continue to reside in those areas peacefully because they intended to create a country called Kurdistan. They went back on that promise and split the Kurdish homeland into four with the creation of Iraq, Iran, Turkey, and Syria.

All four of those countries have persecuted their Kurdish populations ever since. Turkey has committed the worst atrocities during that time, and up until recently, the Kurdish language, Kurdish names, and more were all banned. Turkey even refuses to call the people Kurds, and refers to them as “Mountain Turks” - a slur designed to brand Kurdish people as barbaric and uneducated.

Thousands of Kurds lost their lives during the 80s and 90s fighting against their Turkish oppressions, and yet the situation barely improved.

Cue the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

When the US, UK and other Western countries invaded Iraq, Kurds fought alongside the allies, and against Saddam’s army. They managed to create an autonomous region in Iraq because of it. When ISIS began grabbing mass amounts of land in Iraq, the Kurds fought back with allied assistance and stamped them out.

When ISIS started taking land and murdering thousands in Syria, the Syrian President Assad ordered his army to leave the region and he left millions of Kurds there to die. They would have done too if it weren’t for the assistance of coalition air strikes and weapons that allowed them to push ISIS back and carve out another autonomous region in their homeland.

That region is Rojava. The people there live under a system called Democratic Confederalism which is based on workers’ rights, equality, feminism, and ecology. In principal, this version of democracy is far more democratic than any system used in a Western country today.

The Kurds didn’t want to team up with the US in Syria, they just didn’t want to die, and they were left with no option after being abandoned by Assad.

Now the US has abandoned the Kurds and left them to die too. They’re no longer “useful” and heaven forbid America is seen to be assisting a people who don’t bow to the international banking cartel, and are determined to live in a real democracy.

The US said it wanted to bring “democracy” to the Middle East, but not THAT sort of democracy.

Assad and Russia refuse to back Kurds now because they worked with the US instead of being murdered. And Turkey (the biggest oppressor of the Kurdish people, and the country that literally funded ISIS) has invaded their land with one of the largest armies in NATO with the intention of ethnic cleansing, genocide and freeing ISIS prisoners.

The Kurdish people just can’t win. Every major global power uses them when it suits their agenda, and then they feed them to the wolves.

The US won’t stand up for the Kurds. The Syrian Government won’t stand up for them, and neither will Iran or Russia. That is why every single person with a heart reading this must raise their voice now!

There’s an old Kurdish saying that goes:

“NO FRIENDS BUT THE MOUNTAINS”

Please show our Kurdish brothers and sisters that isn’t true. Do everything you can. I beg you.

#RiseUp4Rojava

Written by Lee Brickley

Boxes and Trays

Blackbird Haus on Etsy

Neimy Kanani on Instagram

you actually DO need a binder (or two + a folder)

apparently you’re supposed to be a nerd and save all your homeworks and papers because they might be useful to refer to once you’re in your phd program (if you go that route)

if you suck at getting organized then….get organized. there’s just no choice. half the time, the stuff you need to be lined up and ready affects others (like presentations and whatnot). no cutting corners!

stick around the offices after and before class and learn what’s going on … closed mouth open ears helps you navigate the different dynamics and figure out who has issues with who … don’t put a word in yourself, though

stay on top of the paperwork, make sure your email has filters for the important people in your department so you don’t lose anything, and pin or save necessary emails so that you don’t have to hunt them down at the end of the semester

this may just be a personal thing, but i have printed versions of 90% of my readings and only physical books … i have to be on my computer enough doing write-ups and attendance and course admin that my eyes would be tired out if i had to study online too .. take care of your eyes

set goals in regard to how much time you want to spend, NOT how many things you want to accomplish … the change up is just because there’s going to be too much to do on any given day for it to make sense otherwise

work on a routine, but don’t beat yourself up if you don’t follow everything every day, this first month will still be a rollercoaster no matter what you do (i say this with papers and shredded envelopes all over my desk, my sheets halfway off my bed somehow, and random curly strands of hair everywhere)

find one (at least) person that you can really depend on, or be findable! the first day of orientation, an old classmate spotted me out of nowhere and seemed relieved that they weren’t going to be alone in the program, and was glued to me the entire week. we’re each other’s emergency contacts for certain obligations and ask questions throughout the week … have someone’s back! 

that leads to my next point, which is to not do things alone (me preaching to myself). make sure someone knows what you’re up to, and have contacts in graduate school and outside of it so that you can breathe. 

keep 30% of your sanity for the times you have to be flexible and scrap plans A through Y. the first week of school, i had to start sharing a car with my mother. the second and third week, a hurricane threatened us and four days of class were canceled. 

My masters is starting tomorrow - actually, it’s fresher’s week but still - so I wanted to take the time to remind myself (and potentially others as well as many courses are starting around this time) of a couple of things:

It’s okay to feel nervous when starting a new degree, maybe even at a new university. I’m starting my masters so I’m technically “used to it”. But I’m still anxious about a lot of things. 

Related to that: Don’t feel stupid if you’re already worrying about what to wear, how to speak to others and all of that. Prepare as much as you can, there’s no shame in laying out your clothes a couple of days before (or is it just me?) or making a plan of what to do on campus in your free time. You need it - you do it. 

People focus on all sorts of things. What you want to achieve with your degree might be completely different from what somebody else has in mind. I’m really seeing this degree as a way of building a career and advancing in academics but others might see it primarly as an opportunity to network in other fields. Just make sure you know what you want from it.

Similar to that, it’s okay if you won’t know where you’re going with your degree yet. You’re just at the start, and a lot of people will say crazy things like “I’ll work for this internationally recognized company once I’m done here” but they might not end up doing so. Figure it out step by step. Stay on track, stay curious, stay open-minded, you’ll find where you will want to go.

Moon, Star and Sun Ceramics

Jasmin Blanc on Etsy

please check it before you send me a question about graduate school :) :) i hope it’s useful! xo // updated 08.2019

basic info

what is the PhD and what can you do with it? (+) 

what does a literature PhD entail?

should i do a PhD if i have to pay tuition?

does it look bad to take time off between degrees?

what was your timeline like? 

what’s the difference between a terminal MA and a PhD? (+)

does getting an MA first help you get into a PhD program?

application process

how can i prepare for applying early in my undergrad career? (+) (+)

where should i start looking for programs?

should i choose a program based on rank or fit? (+)

how many programs should i apply to?

parts of the application

advice on the writing sample

advice on the GRE (+)

how should i ask for letters of recommendation?

how should i write a statement of purpose? (+)

how do i demonstrate my “ability to excel”?

how should i address mental health/family/personal issues that impacted my grades?

grad school application spreadsheet

how should i email potential advisors? (+)

how can i survive the waiting period? (+)

how should i prepare for an interview or phone call? (+)

what should i ask at open house?

what should i do if i don’t think i can afford my grad school tuition?

what should i do the summer before i start my program?

seminars/coursework

how should i plan for grad seminar presentations? (+)

what should i bring with me to seminars?

what are grad seminars like?

how can i get better at speaking during seminars?

reading

what should i have read before i start my lit grad program?

how much reading should i expect?

how can i read a lot without getting overwhelmed? (+)

how can i read efficiently? (+) (+)

quals-specific reading advice

how should i take notes on critical articles?

writing

how do i write a lit review?

how do i write an indicative bibliography?

how do i choose a dissertation topic? (+)

how do i plan for a long research paper?

how do i balance all the different kinds of writing i have to do?

money

how do finances work in grad school?

what is adjuncting and why does it suck?

how can i budget while on a stipend?

should i work while in grad school? (+)

fellowship, postdocs, & job stuff

how do i think up a second project when i’m not even done with my dissertation?

CV writing tips

which websites post US fellowship/postdoc/job ads? 

how do dissertation fellowships work? 

tips for grant, award, & fellowship applications

misc

will grad school make my mental health issues worse? (+) 

how do i survive conferences?

how should i deal with burnout? (+)

i think i want to quit

my advisor is ghosting me

how do i work with no structured schedule?

how do i get enough sleep?

how do i balance my work & my teaching?

how can i beat imposter syndrome? (+)

A couple of weeks ago during one of my seminar classes we discussed character strengths. This course is supposed to provide us with ideas about what kind of scientists we are going to be and since I’m in the mood to reflect because of the approaching holiday season I thought this would make for an interesting blog post. 

I believe that we spend more time thinking about our personal weaknesses and looking for ways on how we can improve them or shed bad habits that we forget to reflect on things that we’re good at. Think about how many times you have struggled to answer a simple question “What are your strengths and weaknesses” during an interview? You may have a running list of all of your weaknesses but do you have one for your strengths too? I didn’t and having the time to reflect on my character strengths for this class inspired me to share the knowledge! 

There are two types of strengths:

Performance strength, which is something that you are good at doing but it costs energy

Passion strength, something that you are passionate about that also provides you with energy. 

We were required to fill out THIS survey, which is based on Seligman’s PERMA theory for positive psychology, to determine our five character strengths. Although I don’t find the website and the survey to be reliable, it can give you an idea of some of your strengths. I will use my scores as an example, as my list included these strengths according to the questionnaire:

Appreciation of beauty and excellence (awe, wonder, elevation)

Creativity

Curiosity

Persistence (perseverance, industriousness)

Humour (playfulness)

I don’t think that the survey was completely off; however, I personally would group “appreciation of beauty and excellence” with “creativity” and “curiosity”. Also, I believe that “creativity” and “appreciation of beauty and excellence” would both fit the Big Five’s trait “openness to experience”. 

We also had to ask five close friends and family members about our character strengths and make a list with recurring items. Although at first it may seem like a mundane task, it was nice to find out how my friends and family members perceive me. Here’s my list of character strengths according to my friends and family:

Determination, perseverance

Independence

Creativity

Curiosity

Self-control

So I would also recommend you to make a list and then group your strengths according to the two categories: performance and passion. For example, my performance strengths are determination, independence and self-control but my passion strengths would be creativity and curiosity. I would also suggest asking your friends and family for help because this can turn into a fun group reflective activity! I was pleasantly surprised with how many of my strengths were repeated by different people! 

The next step would be to answer a question: What do you truly love doing? We did this by answering four different questions related to the different strength categories:

What gives you energy?

What are your natural strengths?

What is truly meaningful to you?

What do you need to relax?

If you are still in a reflective mood and would like to take the survey, as well as write down a list and answer the above mentioned questions, please consider reading my other blog posts on setting SMART goals and personality traits. I think that in order for us to truly know ourselves we need to spend some time thinking about our strengths just as much as our weaknesses. I hope this post inspires you to learn and grow. 

When I got to the later years of high school and university, the textbooks struck me as intimidating however this is what I do help a little bit. This method works a lot better when typing. 

1. Breeze through the textbook first Okay look at what we have here. Some textbooks are sneaky and will have full summaries at the back of the chapter (or even book), others will have interim summaries scattered through out. 

2. Pay attention to headings and subheadings to see if you want to format the notes the same way. Sometimes textbook chapters deal with multiple topics/points so these can be useful. 

2. If there is interim summaries or a summary at the back of the chapter, type or write this out. (If not, sorry for you but you are going to have to go through and find things the long way). 

3. Skim back through the chapter and incorporate any definitions. Definitions are key. One way of presenting them in your study notes is by keeping them in a table at the top of your study notes. 

4. Go through your study notes and look at what you don’t understand. Okay, you have what is mitosis in your study notes? Wait was in mitosis again and how does it differ from meiosis? 

5. Look through the textbook and incorporate any additional information and examples that can help you understand the points into your notes. This could include adding steps to a scientific process, more dates if it is a history class, etc. 

Since a lovely anon asked for the nighttime version of this routine, here it is!

Now we all have different bedtimes and I have no idea what is actually an ideal time to go to bed, so this routine is based on my usual timings, obviously if they don’t match up with yours feel free to modify!

Our goal is to get in quality time, just made sure you get something done!

Rules :

Follow the routine given below for 30 days (no issues if you miss, I’m gonna miss somedays too)

Post a pic of your work space (no aesthetic required, just a little feel good thing for you so that you actually want to get more ish done)

Mention your goal for the study session

Have fun and be productive :)

The routine :

Begin at : 9:30pm

Study session #1 : 9:30pm to 10:15pm

Mini break : 10:15pm to 10:25pm

Study session #2 : 10:25pm to 11:00pm

Break : 11:00pm to 11:05pm

Final study session : 11:05pm to 11:30pm

Bedtime :11:30pm to 7:30am?

I get that this might get very late for some, so here’s another plan for evening, but this may clash with your work schedule so pick whatever you want!

Study session 1 : 7:00pm to 7:40pm

Major Break : 7:40 to 7:50pm

Study session 2 : 7:50pm to 8:30pm

Break : 8:30pm to 8:35pm

Study session 3 : 8:35pm to 9:00pm

Both routines cover 95 minutes, feel free to add more if you really get into it!

And finally, tag me in your #30donr posts!

Thanks, hope you enjoy this one!

As someone who uses the ipad pro and iphone x max constantly for school, I tend to dab around looking for the perfect apps to suit my needs and hobbies. If anyone wonders what apps I use for school, here are some “fundamental apps” I pertain to.

schedules and lists:

Calendars 5 - Calendars 5 is complete re-imagining of what the best mobile calendar experience should be. Calendars 5 is smart, excels in both tasks and events and runs on any iOS device you might have. It’s the calendar app you have been looking for.

Taskade - A great organized app that helps you organize your tasks or write simple notes.

Minimalist - a minimalist themed app that lets you list tasks very simple with other functions such as music and scenery to help you focus on those tasks.

timing, relaxing, and focus:

Clock - This is the default app that comes along with your ios device. I would say the functionality in it is very helpful to maintain alarms and a steady sleep schedule with the sleep function!

Tide - The tide app is an amazing peaceful app that lets you choose a time setting for how long you will work with soothing sounds playing in the background. The sounds really do help me focus and I highly recommend this app.

Flat Tomato - This app helps you split your time and measures it. For example, you would work for 25 minutes and then you would have a 5 minute break. This app really helps me with splitting my time and my tasks accordingly.

Forest - The forest app is absolutely great if you need help with staying away and off from your phone. The app grows a tree for up to two hours of constant studying which you would grow your tree in the meantime. If you do go on your phone and switch the app, the tree dies.

Flora - This is an alternative if you cannot or do not want to buy the forest app. It sort of works just like Forest, but you have a small 2D garden rather than a square terrain you see your trees grow on.

Oak -  Oak helps the monkey-minded decompress by transforming meditation practices from experiments into habits. We support you from your first session to your 500th, with mindful, loving-kindness, and sleep meditations as well as unguided sessions and breathing exercises. Individualize your meditations by duration, and customize with silence or calming background sounds. Oak tracks your progress and encourages you to continue building a healthy meditation practice.

drawing and art:

Procreate - My absolute favorite app that works so well with art. I draw most of my art work in there and occasionally make headers and calligraphy with it.

Ibis Paint X - This app is the pro version of another art app which has a few advantageous functions than procreate, but nonetheless helps a lot with making some really fine art.

titles and notetaking:

Over - The Over App is perfect to made headers and titles that are easily transferred to the goodnotes app.

Phonto - The Phonto app is another perfect app to make the titles with, but it isn’t easily transferred to the goodnotes app and you would need to save the image as a png to upload it to the page, but there are more fonts you could and you can add a lot of your own fonts as well.

Keynote - I use this app to make folders and planners and this works as a powerpoint but for apple of course. There are a lot of great tutorials that help with making cool planners and notebooks with this app.

Docs - Helps download videos and documents off online through mobile devices and organize files accordingly

Goodnotes - One of my favorite apps I use to take majority of my notes. It helps me organize my courses into different notebooks all in one app.

PDF Expert- I use this app in order to view my textbooks straight from the drives I use and occasionally edit and note take directly on my PDF books.

resources and flashcards:

Chegg - College resource with a flashcard app as well.

Course Hero - Upload documents to open documents related to the courses that you may be taking! Free when you upload your own documents, so try it! Great place to get accurate study guides.

The Khan Academy - App to take practice tests and get guidance on material related to your courses. Great app to get you on track and help you focus!

Quizlet - great app to organize flashcards and practice tests

DuoLingo- A wonderful language app that helps me keep a streak and maintain my language learning.

Periodic Table - This app is what it says it is. The periodic table. As someone who’s major focuses on Chemistry, I really do need this app and hopefully this app is useful for you all as well!

photos and editing:

VSCO - My favorite app that filters and edits images to make them look vintage or clean.

Snapseed - Another editing app with more controls and settings to help edit the images and color in areas to make them brighter or dimmer.

Afterlight 2 - A great editing app that helps add effects and details to images

PicPlayPost - an app that helps with organizing my images into collages or video cropping to make my images look neater. I also use it to edit my watermarks

Analog Seoul -  Analog Seoul is the eighth app of Analog Film City Series. With the specially created Analog Seoul photo filters, you can edit your pictures as if they were taken in Seoul.

printing, scanning, and storage:

Printerpro - A great app that helps with printing wireless from your iPad.

Scanner Pro - Scanning documents high quality and upload them to cloud

Drive - The best and foremost easiest storage to use and because I go to school/ university I have unlimited space for my files!

iCloud Drive - I only use this for photos or back ups, but occasionally it works well when I need to transfer files through apps that only use this form of storage.

Dropbox - Another storage application, but I usually use this for items I don’’t really need unless there’s an emergency. I use it to store mostly audio files and heavy files for keynote

entertainment and reading:

Netflix - To watch all my favorite movies and shows

Crunchyroll - I watch all my animes that I can here on this app

Kissanime - of course an alternative to crunchyroll is kissanime if you want to find animes for free (there are ads though)

Youtube - I mainly use this app for tutorials and guides to homework and projects

The CW - I watch all of my favorite local shows like the Flash, DC Legends, and Riverdale on this app for free.

MangaRock - I read most of my mangas on this app

iBooks - the installed app by apple where I transport a lot of my books into for reading and entertainment

VLive - For all my kpop friends, you know what this is for.

- you are a studyblr

- you are super friendly

- you love when people message you

- you want to support everyone in the community 

~ 23k Studyblr Awards ~

Hello lovelies! Thank you sooo much for 23k, im actually shocked, I don’t know what I did to deserve you all. to celebrate im hosting my own stuydblr awards (most voted for milestone celebration). So basically if you enter, you have a chance of ‘wining’ one of the categories. All winner will be chosen by me but they are just in my opinion and are not ‘the actual best’, you’re are all beautiful and worthy!

So the categories… (each will have runners up)

Best url

Best icon

Best theme

Best original picture posts

Best masterposts/advice posts

Best baby studyblr (under 1k)

Best overall studyblr

Rules…

Follow me

Reblog this post

Fill in the form here

(must do all to be in the running)

Prizes…

Mentioned in the winners post

Featured on a studyblr awards page on my tumblr (will make when this is completed)

Follow from me

Masterpost/advice/printable request from me