Wir Lieben Schadenfreude!

For all the Germans that read my blog, you’re probably wondering why I am loving a subject that involves the pleasure of other people’s torture. I'm not psychotic- I am simply referring to my presentation that I did a couple of weeks ago, which was about schadenfreude’s presence in reality television. Our group got a 90- that’s just TEN marks off perfection! So of course I'm going to love the concept of schadenfreude, especially since it got me my first 90...EVER! I have to admit that pronouncing the word was hilarious. We used an online dictionary that pronounces the word to help our group out. I told my German friend, Jasmina, about learning a German word, and when I told her it was schadenfreude, she laughed her head off! I surely impressed with my vast grasp of the German language! :P

Now that the presentation is over, I’m finding myself swamped with work that...to put it nicely, isn’t enjoyable. Did you know you can relate culture to FURNITURE? For a topic that I enjoy so much, my course leader managed to find a way to make it boring! I am also plowing my way through a Value Chain assignment which is 4000 words, but that’s going better than expected. MIS (Management of Information Systems) is driving me nuts with the amount of presentations we have to do alongside our individual report. A group presentation a week is making me go more crazy than what I was like in my last blog! My evidence for this is the fact that there was a PELICAN on my roof this morning. Yes...a PELICAN.

In addition to this, Frugal February is in full swing. I’m halfway through, but  I have been an incredibly good scrounger and not spent on anything other than travel...and a present for my sister. But otherwise, I’m doing well! I think I’ll have enough in time for Miami (once my mobile phone bill is paid). I found out that you can get money in such stupid ways. For example, on my website, I got asked if I wanted to advertise FoxyBingo.Com. Thinking it was spam, I initially ignored it, but then I found out you could get money for it. I decided to go for it to see what would happen, and I got $170 for subliminally advertising an online bingo company! Don’t believe me?

Talk about a result! That roughly translated to £105.45 for me to have for Miami. I will give a progress report at the end of the month, and hope that I have the $1400 that I need in order to go. Wish me luck!

Image Credit: http://pixar.wikia.com/File:Finding_Nemo_Nigel.png

What to Do When Work Sends You into Crazy Town

It’s officially February, which for me means it is Frugal February. I have banned myself from spending my money on anything other than travel to and from places. February is also my deadline month- in March I am going away to Miami for two weeks, which means I need to bury my head in assignments in February to make up for the fact that I’m going to be sunbathing on South Beach during Deadline Week...dun dun dun....

This blog is going to do exactly what it says in the title. When you get into a world whereby work work work is all you have on the agenda, I’ll show you how to make it interesting...

 

To the left is a slide from my recent Organisational Behaviour- Managing Groups & Teams presentation. I’ve been working with my friends on this, but the problem we faced was how to make the topic of Group Influences on Behaviour interesting. This is why I have a picture from the Disney film, Peter Pan, to explain what the concept means. I showed this to my friends, and they said that I am officially crazy- why didn’t they know this before?! The coolest part of this slide is that it plays the “We’re following the leader” song! Some may say that is creative- others might say it’s a sign of insanity. Either way, it’s going to count for a whopping 10% of my final grade in this course. Might as well make it interesting right?!

If you feel like your assignments are driving you loca, make them interesting. With my assignments, there is a lot of flexibility in terms of what I can talk about, but I have to ensure that it relates to the topic. If there is a chance that I can talk about television or Disney in my assignments, I will use it and make it work. Last year, I had 10 options for an assignment in Context & Regulatory Framework, and I picked the culture option. Why? Because it meant I could research by watching foreign films and other films that I felt related to my question. It worked because I got a first in the assignment! Can I do this in 2012? Maybe, but one of my assignments is about furniture...

I shall leave you with this image which also provides some good advice for you...and me. Happy Frugal February!

Happy Twenteenth!

Something big has happened since I last wrote a blog on here...I celebrated my birthday! It wasn’t just any birthday though...I celebrated my twenteenth birthday. I know you’re thinking I'm crazy, as twenteen isn’t a real age, but I am remaining adamant that it is. To be honest, I am the furthest thing from what a typical 20 year old is. I mean...I made up my own age just to show how much in denial I am! This blog is going to be somewhat of a celebration of many things going on in my life...

For one, I have an interview for an internship coming up! I am happy to say that someone did get in touch with me in regards to interviewing me, and I’m excited for it. I’ve been feeling down over the fact that I’ve not had responses to my applications, so to get one is something that has me upbeat about the future and what it could possibly entail.

I finally got to see “The Artist” on my birthday! For the past week, I have tried (and failed) to convince my friends and family to see this movie with me. Why? It is a black and white silent movie that is set in the 1920s. I even tried the “but...but...it’s my birthday!” trick, but it failed. That was until my sister surprised me by getting us tickets to see it in the cinema. I suggest everyone watches the movie- don’t judge a movie by the poster. It deserves every award it earns. Plus...there’s a cute dog in the movie! You cannot deny a film with a dog that plays dead whenever they see or hear a gunshot. The dog is basically the PG equivalent to the monkey in “The Hangover 2”...that alone should entice you to see this movie. I bet you will enjoy the movie once you go and see it.

Another thing that I’m celebrating is the fact that my online business is making lots of progress! I’m not officially online yet, but I have been able to outline a strategy of what I am going to sell, and I’ve made some designs for my products. I call that progress, especially considering how hectic December has been for me J My trip to Miami is also becoming less of a stress now that the majority of it has been paid for. Unfortunately for me though, I discovered that there is a shop called “Cheesecake Factory”, which is set to throw my diet out of the window!

Well I managed to cram a lot into this blog. I hope you guys enjoyed what I had to say and the progress I’ve made towards the school year resolutions that I made back when I started writing a blog for the university. I shall end this blog with a photo of the present my friends got me for my birthday. This should justify why I am twenteen rather than twenty...

Reflecting on a Rollercoaster Year

It’s just ten days until 2011 comes to a close, and our final year of existence begins (if you choose to believe all of the 2012 hype). For me, it’s been a year of...progress. I found that I’ve grown up a lot more in 2011 (HA!) and somewhat matured (LOL!), but now it’s time to think about how to go forward in my life.

When I was about 9 years old, I said to myself that I would go to New York for New Year’s Eve when I become 20 years old. Whilst student finances and my poor spending habits prevent me from doing that in 2011, I vow to go in 2012 when I am actually 20 (and hopefully a lot more affluent). I’m not just saying this because I watched New Year’s Eve at the cinema yesterday. Every year, we watch Sky News to see the world enter the New Year, and from a young age, New York was always my favourite to watch. I loved seeing the ball drop and the party that preceded it, and I would love to be part of it one day.

Studies wise, this has been a bit of a topsy turvy year. While my grades averaged out to a 2:1, my grades for my first year ranged from 45 to 83. I am currently waiting for my grades for my first set of assignments for second year, so right now I am chomping at the bit. So much for getting them by the end of the first term...

I think the area that I’ve progressed in most is in the workplace. I’m one of the lucky ones that can say that I have several part-time jobs, even when I thought I wouldn’t get them. My internship hunt is ongoing, but at least I’m trying my best to get a job after I graduate!

So what does 2012 hold for me? I’m going to treat it as if it really is the last year of existence and do everything I can to make it a year to remember. This means a first in my degree, a fun holiday to Miami in March, a summer internship and a fluke win in the National Lottery so that I can go to New York in 2012! As this is my final blog for 2011, I hope that you guys have a great Christmas, and don’t destroy your houses in the New Year J

15,500 Words Later...

It’s been a while since I’ve written a blog. 15,500 words is a lot of words to write in the space of a month, so you guys can see that my lack of blog-ness is somewhat justified. But now that I have a free minute or two, I’ll let you guys know about what I’ve been doing that isn’t assignment related.

I intended on writing a blog a few weeks ago because I got to meet...”royalty”. For those of you that haven’t read my “about me” section, you may not know that I work in the o2 arena in merchandising. I worked at the finals of the ATP World Championships Tournament (by the way, Federer could’ve EASILY finished the match within two sets!), and I got the chance to walk around the arena during the very short intermission. During this time, I have to do laps up and down the stairs of the arena to attempt to sell programs to the public. When I got to the bottom of one of the sets of stairs, I met...PIPPA MIDDLETON! OK I’m sure that there are people that won’t know her by her name, but rather by her Royal Wedding showing...

I had a bit of time to talk to her and make sure that she was OK. We’ve been told from the training in my job that anyone can go to customer services and give reviews on our performance. Therefore, I used this as my...excuse to talk to her for a little bit. She was sweet if not reserved, but who can blame her? She’s the sister-in-law to Prince William!

Unfortunately, I have no concrete evidence of this- my job doesn’t allow for me to freak out when in the prescence of “royalty” or any celebrity in fact. This could lead to me being wished well in my future endeavours...

Speaking of future endeavours, my hunt for an internship is still a work in progress. I have worked hard to apply, but  I’ve yet to receive any responses. I’m hoping that someone out there actually responds in a way that isn’t automated.  Here’s to hoping that something comes up during the Christmas period!

IT’S CHRIIIIIIIIIIIISTMAAAAAAASSSSS!!!!

Yes guys...I am going to be talking to you about Christmas. It may seem far far away, but in actual fact, it is only 47 days away. That’s right- 47. My dad asked me a serious question: “When do Christmas preparations start?”

For me, I get excited about now. As you can probably tell by my photo, I go with the Disney route in terms of Christmas. Here I am with Woody from the epic Toy Story movie series...and he’s wearing a Santa jacket! I went up to Oxford Street last weekend and it was already decorated to the nines. 

I guess...well, I hope, you’re wondering why I’m already getting giddy over the Christmas period when I have a LOT of assignments due at that time. I guess it’s keeping me sane to think of a goal to reach. Also...I HAVE MONEY!!! For the first time ever, I have money that I can use to spend on Christmas presents for me my family & friends. I’ve also decided to delve into the world of philanthropy, as I am donating money on a regular basis to the Make A Wish Foundation & World Wildlife Fund. 

Speaking of the WWF (no not WWE...I’ll save that for another blog), IT’S MY MUM’S BIRTHDAY TODAY! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUM! Usually, I’m the one that gets the dull and boring presents for her, but this year, I stepped up! I adopted an orang-utan in my mum’s name, and I pay £3 a month for it! The look on my mum’s face was awesome- she didn’t see it coming and she started to tell everyone about what I got her. I felt particularly awesome if I may say so myself. If you want to join me in giving someone a wild animal for Christmas, click above. Just make sure that you make it known that you will NOT be travelling to the country where your animal is based to get the animal. My mum is currently looking for tickets to go to Borneo...

Sometimes I Add a Teaspoon of Sand...

You’ll come to find out soon enough that the titles of my blogs will either be cheesy song lyrics from the 1990s or quotes from Glee & Disney movies. This week’s title comes from Glee’s Brittany S. Pierce. Why this quote, I hear you ask? To be honest, there is no specific reason for this particular quote, as it has absolutely nothing to do with what I’m going to be blogging about, but at least it got your attention...

I’ve been trying to think of something that I can blog about since my inaugural blog, but to be honest, I’ve been so busy with my many jobs and university work, that I haven’t had the time to put much thought into it. Now that I have some time to sit and write, I figured I’d tell you about how my second year of Business Management is going. I’m only three weeks into the second year, and I already want to rip my hair out! (Sure, it’s now shorter than it was when I blogged last, but that’s beside the point.) The leap between the first and second year is greater than I thought it would be and if I am going to be as truthful as possible, I think I underestimated the leap. 

This year, I feel the pressure. I didn’t last year because I was a “fresher”, but now that I’ve been in the system for over a year, I feel as if I’m taking things more seriously. I’m sure that there are many other second year students who feel the same way I feel, but at times (especially in my course), the complacent attitude from last year has carried onto this year with a large number of students. I am trying my best to do what’s right for me, especially since all of my work is individual for this year, which is why I’m doing work at a time where I feel comfortable doing it rather than waiting for someone to say “Oh you can start it...in a few weeks”. With my schedule, waiting a few weeks is practically impossible. You’ll find out soon enough that starting earlier leads to less stress.

I’ll end this blog in the same way I started- with a random quote:

 

“There is no more Sheldon, I am the Sword Master!”