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11.02.17 

hoo boy school is fun ꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖♡

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9.17// looking back at some of my favorite august spreads 🌊

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Found the coolest thing at the 99 cent store: a mint scented notebook! It’s about 6 x 8 inches, spiral bound, blank notebook and came with a free mint green gel pen. It’s super cute and smells nice. There were also orange notebooks that were cinnamon scented!

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via | feebujo

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🌻 August 18th  🌻 - my bujo; 9 more days of summer 

wowoowo it’s been awhile since I’ve done a spread (probably going to be another long while until i decide to do another one ahaha); although I really like using bujos, it’s really time-consuming (esp. for someone who’s a hardcore perfectionist cry). ANyways I have all my summer assignments completed woo!

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26 | 100

I planned to be productive today and got slammed with a terrible headache. Still wanted to do some painting, just for fun.

Felt like using acrylic ink today and I threw on some gloss varnish just to see what would happen.

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WEEK 1 // very first week of college is done! it was okay? kinda fun? but i was more excited to work on my spreads (≧◡≦) finally, there is something to write about. i just couldn’t see why i should journal on my summer vacation when all i ever did was take naps, watch films and shows, eat, and just chill. i think it’s just a waste of ink lmao. my summer isn’t just exciting as yours, guys :-( but here i am again! trying out some new stuff, what do you think?

studygram // @studyathenus — i post some sneak peeks / behind the scenes!

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25 | 100

The cool thing about being productive is that it motivates you to keep working! I already have a new piece in the wings.

This piece is available for sale if you’re interested! 🎨 insta: an613m 📧: an613art(at)gmail

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24 | 100

I got my diploma in the mail today so I officially have a BA in art. Yay! There's something exciting yet terrifying about making art now that I'm not an art student anymore. I feel like I should know more haha. 😅

It’s coming along nicely! Trying to go bigger than I usually do and I’m enjoying it a lot. Needs more patience but I don’t mind too much.

I’ll make this piece available for sale once it’s finished!

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can finally say that i officially became a college student last 08.21.17! and i also got to work on my bullet journal again (◠‿◠✿) i added a new “chapter” on it: college. didn’t think that i would be this excited to start a new school year. maybe it’s because i get to write notes again lmao, but i was pretty much more nervous than excited. anyway, this is my schedule for this semester!

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Throwback of some of my favorite spreads. I was kinda surprised myself for being able to fit this in an A6 notebook.

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Very pretty notes! I'm not sure if Duolingo points this out or not but あまり is "not often" and used with a negative "-ません" verbs. Ex. あまり日本語をれんしゅうしません。// I do not practice Japanese often. Also, ひきます is "play a stringed instrument." There's actually different words for different types of instruments and also for playing as in having a good time. Agh languages man! 😵😵

Going over my Skill tree 🦉 // 13.08.17

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阳光，生活就本来这样 快乐其实很简单 //  Lately I’ve been watching a lot of catcreature’s videos, which are so dreamy and lovely. Also, unsuccessfully reading through books and doing some reading notes of my own. ( 0 6 / 0 7 / 2 0 1 7 )

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These are still available along with a few other paintings I'm selling. I'm trying to raise money to visit my friend in Southern California. I miss him quite a bit and would very much like to see him so please check out the link or spread the word if you can!

If you’re interested in owning one of these mini landscape paintings check them out here.

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Bought myself a Pilot Metropolitan fountain pen. I couldn't help myself. I actually have at least 12 other pens I have to work my way through with not a lot of writing going on in my life right now... pen addict problems!

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I agree that it’s best to avoid cliches when it comes to college essays but I’d say to pay close attention to the prompt you’re given. Sometimes you do want to talk about a very moving experience that is a cliche subject and it could very well work but it has to answer the prompt. If it doesn’t answer the question, then it doesn’t really matter how much it affected you, it won’t be a successful essay. Don’t try to force your topic to fit the prompt just because you want to share your experience.

Another thing is that if you do write about a cliche topic, don’t describe it in a cliche way. Avoid metaphors commonly associated with your topic and avoid writing what you think the readers are looking for. It comes across as disingenuous and doesn’t reveal much about you when you’re what they’re trying to understand.

Cliches to avoid for essays

The Prospect

1. The Immigrant Essay

Going back over the essays I received during the college essay extravaganza, 50% of the Common App essays I read were about students and their families moving to the US and learning to adjust. Now, I’m not saying that your familial struggles aren’t intense and worthy of talking about; after all, many students wrote about the loneliness they felt being the only new kid in school or having to adjust to American customs, and those are all absolutely valid conversations.

However, if you put all of these “moving to America” stories in a pile and read them one after another, they start to bleed together. The story lines and characters all sound the same. And for you, that means less of a chance to stand out and more of a chance of being labeled “one of those immigrant kids”. Is it fair? Absolutely not. Is that the way it is? Unfortunately, yes.

2. The “They Taught Me More Than I Taught Them” Essay

Please for the love of all that is admissions don’t write about the time you went on a service trip to a third-world country and learned from the locals. Not only does it typically come across as condescending and privileged (since most high school students are not aware of how to talk about cultures in politically correct terms), but it’s also so overdone and bland.

3. The “Ski Slope” Essay

When many students answer the quintessential “talk about a time you overcame an obstacle” prompt, they tend to write something that I call the “ski slope” essay. In this scenario, the author was given a physical challenge (like a ski slope, mountain, scary water slide ride, etc.) and was eventually convinced overcome it. Again, it’s an essay that I’ve seen over and over (and over) again, and there’s no real way to write these essays well. They usually involve a lot of cliche adjectives and some other person convincing the writer to go down the slope. Inspiring? Not at all.

Look at it this way: Thousands of people learn how to ski every year; it’s boring and totally not unique. If you’re going to write about an obstacle, it needs to be an obstacle that only 0.00005% of the world has overcome. Otherwise, you’re just like everybody else.

4. The “Look at How Super Deep I Am” Essay

Kids, don’t try to go on a philosophical rant in your college essays. Not only do you typically sound like a pretentious, self-important twerp pulling stuff out of your butt (and admissions officers know it), but these tirades also tell the reader absolutely nothing about you as as potential member of a college. Don’t get meta. If you want to talk about all the great deep thoughts inside your head, start a blog.

5. The All-Dialogue Essay

Note: Spending half of your 650 words going through a conversation you had with your sister is a complete snore and a total waste of time and space. Cut our dialogue unless it’s funny or actually moves the story along. Something like this is just really dull fluff:

“Sister,”I said to her.

“Yes?” she said back.

She looked at me with angst. “What?” she asked again.

Three lines in and you’re bored already, right?

6. The Way-Too-Extended Metaphor Essay

What do dumplings, crayons, and hoop earrings have in common? They’re all inanimate objects that have been used as extended metaphors in college essays, and all of those essays were not good.

Pulling off the extended metaphor essay is hard, and as you’ve learned by now, it’s best to go into essay writing with the mentality that you are the rule, not the exception. So stop trying to compare your life to a squashed kumquat you saw on the side of the road and find a different topic.

7. The “Lesson about Failure Where You Didn’t Really Fail” Essay

Remember that an admissions essay is still a story, and the best heroes and heroines have legitimate pitfalls. If your biggest failure is that you had a hangnail but you eventually took care of it, not only do you look shallow, but you also look dull. Failures need to be actual heart-stopping, “OMG, NOOO!” failures. Either commit to going all the way or avoid writing this type of essay altogether.

8. The Bat Mitzvah Essay

When the Common App prompt asks for something that marked your transition into adulthood, stay away from cultural or religious events that actually mark adulthood, like a bar/bat mitzvah or a confirmation ceremony or something. The best essays about transitions into adulthood deal with unforeseen shifts, not obvious ones (for example, my friend wrote about the different types of boxers he bought throughout high school. Shift to adulthood? Yes. Totally freaking clever? Heck yeah).

9. The Straight Up Cliche Essay

There are many topics that are way overdone besides the ones listed above. Some examples of what I mean:

The “What I learned at this academic conference/camp/event” essay

The “What my mom/dad/family taught me” essay

The “How I felt about moving to a whole new place or being in a new environment” essay

The “How I learned to fit in” essay

The “Death of person x” essay

The “How my parents’ divorce changed me” essay

The “Here’s a very vague essay about my family’s culture” essay

Again, these are just a few of the many examples of cliche essays.