Hello, lovelies! God, I haven’t blogged in weeks. Online classes took up a huge chunk of my time, but I mostly just didn’t feel like blogging. I took my last final yesterday, so now I have all the time in the world. I’m officially a college graduate, but since we’re in the midst of a pandemic, there isn’t much I can do post-grad. In an alternate universe, I’d be writing about my job search and getting an apartment with my best friend, but we’ve all had to re-evaluate in this time. This is what I plan on doing in the month of May:
Last month’s post – My April Goals | 2020 Powersheets (+ Quarantine Recap)
//How I Did On My April Goals//
Study for and take the GRE– Complete. I almost forgot that I took it last month. It consumed the first two weeks of April then I promptly deleted it from my memory. I got the score I needed to apply to grad school, so I’m happy considering I barely had time to study.Create a study routine and complete all assignments on time– Complete. I had a pretty good system going when it came to school. I didn’t have a consistent routine every day, but I got everything done and wasn’t completely overwhelmed all of the time.Finish essays on time– Complete. I very much did not complete them early. I usually have a pretty good sleep schedule when I’m in school, but that all went down the drain once everyone was home. Especially since Ramadan started. A few minutes ago, my mom talked about how my brother has class in the morning. His special needs class is at 2:00 PM. That’s what morning is now. Anyway, I finished nearly all my papers in the middle of the night (Most were due at 9 AM).Create an at-home workout routine that actually makes me sweat– Complete? I did create a workout routine, but I didn’t do it a lot each week. I was a lot more focused on school and took a break from exercise. I didn’t really feel guilty about it because it wasn’t a priority.- Finish 7 books – 6/7. I didn’t finish all six books in the month of April. I completed the last two at the beginning of May, but I’m okay with the number because I was reading consistently every day. It felt like I was reading more than I actually was and six books is still a lot. I keep comparing myself to last year when I set the goal of reading 100 books because I used to finish 8-10 books a month.
- Apply for two more jobs – 1/2. Most companies are in a hiring freeze right now, so I don’t expect to get a job anytime soon. I’m just sending in applications now so that they’ll be there once this is over.
Look up online graduate school programs– Complete. I found some to apply to. I wasn’t planning on going to grad school immediately, but that seems to be the best option right now.Paint once a week– Complete. I have never really painted before, so I’m not very good. It’s honestly been a lot of fun because I have no expectations. I would just listen to audiobooks and paint.- Schedule one blog post per week in advance – Nope. I posted twice in the entire month of April. Sorry about that. There were usually two days a week where I would literally do nothing productive and relax, and the other five days were for school. I had time to blog, but I never felt like it.
Journal Once A Week– Complete.Call or text someone every other day– I didn’t track this, but I’d count it as complete. I would save long video chats and phone calls for the weekends because of school, but I’ve remained relatively social in this time.
I made an Avengers divider for April with colored pencils. I had so much fun with it that I decided to create an Avatar one for May. I used water color paints for this one 🙂
//My May Goals//
By the way, I set a lot of goals each month, but I never expect myself to finish them all. I just want to make progress on everything and not necessarily do everything perfectly each week.
//Complete RBT Training
I paid for online training to become a Registered Behavioral Technician in February. It’s self-study, so I’ve been doing bits and pieces of it in between classes. I have time to finish the course this month. I probably won’t be able to take the exam anytime soon, but this is a really good thing to add to my resume.
//Apply To Grad School
As you all probably know, my plan was to start working once I graduate because that’s what every mentor I’ve had in my field told me to do (along with the training above). I was planning on going to grad school in a year or two, so I didn’t apply in January (the deadline to start in Fall). My dad told me to see if it was possible to start online grad school in the Fall so that I’m not wasting all this time. I took the GRE just to have the option, and found schools that are pushing the application deadlines due to Covid-19.
The application deadline is June 1st, so I have to write essays and ask for recommendations this month. I don’t know if I’m going to do a degree program, or just get a grad certificate (which I could complete by December), so we’ll see what happens. Hopefully I’ll get in, despite this being so last minute.
//Harry Potter Movie Marathon
If you recall, this was on my quarantine bucket list. I don’t think I’ve ever watched all the movies in order. I also haven’t seen any of the movies in their entirety in years. Just bits and pieces when it was on FreeForm or random clips on YouTube. I recorded all of them on my DVR in March and have been watching one-a-day this week. I’ve already watched the first two. I’m hoping to write a movie ranking later this month (The book ranking will come once I finish rereading the series. I just finished the fourth book).
Related – My Social Isolation Bucket List | Fun & Productive Things To Do While Stuck At Home
//Watch All The Disney Animal Movies
I feel like this is an uncommon movie marathon, but I made it up when I realized these are the Disney movies I remember least. I watched 101 Dalmations in March and realized that I barely remembered the details. It was a lot of fun, and since I have Disney+, I wanted to watch more. Here’s my list:
- Dumbo
Bambi- Lady & the Tramp
101 Dalmatians- The Aristocats
- Robin Hood
- The Rescuers
- The Fox & the Hound
- The Great Mouse Detective
- Oliver & Company
- The Rescuers Down Under
- The Lion King
- Chicken Little
- Zootopia
There wasn’t any strict criteria for this. I didn’t include Pixar movies or movies where humans become animals (The Emperor’s New Groove, Brother Bear, The Princess and the Frog, etc.) or humans being main characters among animals (The Jungle Book and Tarzan). I probably won’t finish all of them this month, but this just seemed like fun thing to do over the course of the summer.
//Deep Clean & Organize Room
Ah, yes. A summer tradition. This is the first time I haven’t lived out of a toiletry bag in my childhood bedroom almost a year. I also haven’t unpacked my stuff since moving out of my dorm in March (It’s all still in the garage), so I have a lot to do on that front. I’m not too stressed about this. I’ll probably do one or two sections a week so that this isn’t too overwhelming.
Related – The Complete Guide To Decluttering Before College (Includes photos from when I decluttered after graduating high school)
//Post All Europe Photos & Backup Other Photos
Well, it’s been a year folks, and I still. Haven’t. Posted. My. Europe. Photos. I posted the first half of my trip in an album on Facebook and never posted the second half. I really need to do this because it’s so much easier to go through travel photos when they’re organized into albums.
I also need to organize and backup all my other photos from the last ten years because they are not very organized. Well, they are organized into folders, but the folders are scattered around different places and flash drives. I would like to back them all up so that they don’t get lost forever.
//Work Out 4-5 Days Per Week
I have a workout routine now, but I’m gonna pretty lax about it. Sometimes I’ll just take a walk or dance or lift weights for a bit. I just want to move my body consistently.
//Finish 8 Books
I don’t have school now, so this is doable. I love reading and this won’t feel like a chore. I just like attaching a number goal each month because it reminds me to read every day.
//Post On Blog Twice A Week
I really want to stay on top of this. My current goal is to publish a post every Tuesday and Friday, but I’m sure you all don’t trust me anymore when it comes to giving posting dates. I usually only follow it for a few weeks before it shifts again. Let’s hope I can stick to it this month.
//Build Weekends Into My Routine
I do not want to be doing work seven days a week on clockwork. That’s something I’m really proud of when it comes to April. There were usually two days each week where I didn’t do any school work and just read and watched T.V without guilt. This probably won’t happen every Saturday and Sunday. Sometimes, I’ll take a break on a Wednesday or a Monday. Just as long as I take some time to chill every few days, I’ll count this as complete.
//Weekly Goals
- Paint – I spent a lot of time last month basically doodling with paint. I may spend some time in May actually watching videos about water coloring.
- Do A Sudoku or Word Search – I bought some books full of them last month. I forgot how difficult sudokus are, but I still love them.
- Journal – self-explanatory
//April Reflection//
April went by really quickly, yet very slowly. School completely consumed my life. I was really good about finishing assignments on time and keeping track of everything. I wasn’t perfect, but I got everything done. There was definitely a whole trend going around about spending time doing new hobbies and self-improving. Who has the time for that? I had too much to do.
I have been fully taking advantage of not having to wake up early in the morning. I can maximize my time when I’m an actual adult. I was productive enough, but I didn’t guilt myself over my “do nothing days.” I didn’t leave my neighborhood at all in the month of April. In fact, I barely left my house. The pollen count was too high to make taking a walk worth it, so I didn’t go out the first half of the month. It’s honestly been fine. My mental health wasn’t suffering, mainly due to the fact that I had tasks to occupy my time. April would’ve been the busiest month of the semester anyway, so quarantine didn’t change much about that.
I’ve also been really good about staying social and keeping contact with friends. That’s helped a lot. I swear, there were some days where I was more social than I was pre-pandemic. Whenever I felt “off,” calling a friend would always do the trick.
Ramadan started last month. We’ve all been eating delicious food every night and have been sleeping the day away as I mentioned above. My grandparents were supposed to come back from Bangladesh last month, but unfortunately, they couldn’t. Ideally, they would be here with us right now, but it’s safer for them not to travel. Not that Bangladesh is handling this very well, but I also live in Georgia, so I can’t say anything.
I’m officially a college graduate, but I genuinely don’t feel anything towards that fact. I’m not sad about the situation anymore. I’m more indifferent towards it. There hasn’t been a moment where it really hit me that I’m done with college. (Though to be fair, I took my last exam yesterday). The accomplishment feeling will probably come when I wear my graduation gown and take pictures with my family. The virtual graduation is on Friday, which is my dad and grandpa’s birthday. They were so excited when they found out a few months ago because I’m the first child/grandchild to graduate. It was so cool that I was graduating on their birthday. It’s okay though. Commencement was moved to October, so I’ll be able to take graduation photos among the beautiful fall colors <3
I’ve honestly been cultivating a lot of joy by thinking about the future. I had to cancel a lot of trips this year, so I’ve just been planning trips in my head for once this is over. Disney World has been posting a lot of their parades and fireworks shows on YouTube, which have been really fun to watch. I’m also excited about starting my career and working with special needs kids. My friend and I talked on the phone the other day about how we want to decorate our apartment and what our twenties are going to be like. Imagining the future is a great reminder that this isn’t forever.
I’m also just enjoying this time with my family. I realize that once this is over, I’ll probably never live here again. This feeling is mainly about my brother, but my parents, too. I genuinely enjoy my family’s company, so quarantining hasn’t been too hard. There have only two times since where they were really annoying or upsetting me, which I feel like is a low number. In a few decades when I’m married with children, I’ll reminisce about this time when I could sleep in and didn’t have to cook every day. I’m gonna enjoy this while it lasts.
Well, that’s it for now! I have a few productive things to do this month, but my main goal is to chill, watch movies, read, cook with my mom, and just keep a balance between having a purpose and relaxing. I know myself enough to know that I become kind of depressed when I have nothing do for an extended period of time. I need to have somewhat of a purpose each day, even when it’s just to watch a movie and call a friend.
On a completely random note, Black Widow was supposed to come out on Friday. Ever since I started driving, my brother and I would watch the MCU movies right when they came out. I was going to drive back last Thursday from my university to watch it early with him like we did with Endgame last year, but for obvious reasons, we couldn’t do it. We mentioned it to each other last week about how much postponing this tradition sucked. It’s the little things.
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How has your month been so far? What are your goals for the month of May?