May Thoughts

I will do a creative update soon. And talk about what happened in Oslo. But I first just want to do more of a personal post. This kind of thing, hopefully, won't happen too often. This isn't where I intend to rant about random things. I have other places for doing that. Right now, I just want to write a little about myself... About some of the realisations that I have had recently.

Since the start of the new year I have been setting myself goals for the month at the start or it or just before it begins. So today is the 7th May, I will share my current thoughts:

I turn 21 this month, in about 5 days actually. So I really want to start pushing myself harder. I want to make sure that my degree counts and also start setting myself up for summer when I want to get a job & set up my first online business. Which will be fun, assuming people want to buy my stuff. Thus setting that up will take some of my time over the coming months. 

I also would very much like to continue to improve my overall fitness and this is the month that I need to get into a serious routine when it comes to exercise and food so I can just maintain it once I am back at home. Which will be made more difficult as, until September, I will be living my parents. 

GOAL: Get into a routine.

I have also been thinking a little bit more about what I want to do post-university, however I think this will end up depending on how I feel about my degree in the end. My current plans are to do as little mathematics as possible during summer break because of three reasons:

1. I want to focus on art and doing crafting things. There is a lot I want to learn or improve on with that stuff.
2. I want to have a good routine and make sure I am continuing to keep fit and healthy and maybe travel a little bit.
3. I want to miss maths. If I miss it, I will feel more 'get up and go' when I return to my studies in September. 

The only mathematics that I would chose to do would be for my end of degree project/dissertation. I am currently waiting for the guy in control to message me back to tell me what is happening with that. I would love to do a project that combines mathematics and art, so I may end up emailing a few people about that soon. We'll see how it goes!

But putting aside all of that stuff. I have been thinking about myself and how I wish to achieve my own happiness. When in Oslo I went for walks through the park to start my day. I made time to just sit and read. I know that that is something I need to do more of. I really want to be able to get up in the morning and start by day by doing yoga in the park followed by a nice breakfast of fruits, or something. Humans really need to begin tuning back into nature. Even if that just means walking to work or sitting under a tree. Because we spend far too much time plugged in. Unfortunately it is something we are so used to that the prospect of unplugging seems bizarre. And there is a sense of panic when trying to reconnect and at the idea that you will not be able to. But honestly, unplug! I am not telling you to unplug all day every day. I am saying do simple things. Occasionally take the time to walk outside without headphones in and your music. When you meet friends, put your phone in your bag, or pocket, and leave it there. You are with them now. you don't need the outside world. I can say you will honestly be surprised about how free you feel.

There is more I would like to add, but all the travelling has made me super tired, but yeah.

Oslo!

So I am about to head to Oslo for two days... I will post some stuff when I am back and talk a little bit about travelling alone.. I am trying to do videos that document my thoughts on it and stuff... We shall see how that goes. And then I am heading to the UK for a few days. Hopefully this time travelling will allow me to get some work done. Haha. We'll see.

I'll try and post something about my Insomnia piece on Friday but it will honestly depend on time.

Speak soon.

Stockholm. Nobel Inspired Fashion

In February I was in Stockholm. It was the first time I had managed to venture up North since getting to Sweden. Unfortunately the weekend started with delays, the train had to stop twice, two hours each time, making a six hour journey a ten hour one. It should have been a little expected I guess, Swedish winter generally means snow. However, excluding that it was a fun weekend. I did not take that many photographs, unfortunately because I forgot my camera so had to use my phone and we were staying in a youth hostel.

Breakfast Steampunk-Esque Moose. This guy lived in a hostel a little down the road from where we were and it had cheap food. A whole of cereal with seeds, a drink and sandwich for 50sek.

The majority of the weekend was spend it cafes, clubs and lots of museums. The city isn't too big, and the tube was easy to maneuver so the only photos I have are from getting from point a to b.

Snowy Stockholm

I would like to believe that the main reason so much time was spent in art galleries and museums was due to the fact it was cold outside, there are a lot of museums and a lot of Europe seems to have this system in place where their weekends are pretty empty! We ended up going to:

• The Nobel Museum
• Sparvagsmuseet (Stockholm Transport Museum)
• Leksaksmuseet (Toy Museum)
• Fotografiska (Photography Gallery)
• Tekniskamuseet (Technology Museum)

Tekniskamuseet was pretty awesome! It took awhile to get to as it is in the middle of nowhere surrounded by a bunch of other museums. But it was definitely worth it. They had an exhibit called 'Game On' which just had tons of arcade games, consoles and hand-helds for everyone to play on. They even had Japanese imports! Unfortunately, we only got to look at this exhibit due to time, and it felt a little rushed. Two hours of gaming.. Well, not enough time apparently ;)

But anyway! The purpose of writing this! THE NOBEL MUSEUM! It had all the genetic information about how the noble prize got started, who won it each year for each of the categories. Then, we found another room. And in this room! *drum roll*. A piece of clothing that represented each of the categories with accompanying music! (More info)

Economics
Siah Javaheri & Isabelle Larsson Knobel

Physiology or Medicine
Amanda Blom & Victor Lind

Peace
Johanna Welinder & Petra Norden

Physics
Josephine Bergqvist & Klara Modigh

Chemistry
Livia Schuck Johansson & Malin Delin

Literature
Emma Ristlund, Ille Daunfeldt & Anna Scholz

I think that for most of them you can really get a sense of what they are trying to portray, maybe no more than the area they represent, without much knowledge of the subject. The peace one was made up of the countries of the world, that is what each of those black shapes on the front represent. The medicine one is somewhat reminiscent of the Earth or Mould to me, life growing.

The piece for literature is my favourite. However I might be being swayed by my love for knitting and then in turn yarn. This could be interpreted in many ways. One way in which I can it is the idea that the yarn represents the story line and the dress illustrates the structure of the story as it grows and later climaxes. But that is a rather basic representation. But it would be interesting to hear what other people think about these pieces.

This is one of the most delicious hot chocolates I have ever had! The place is too dark to get a good photo. It is the small cafe near the Nobel Museet! ChokladKoppen

What is life? Where to go?

I mentioned this in the first post on here. And it is something I think about at some point most days. Was mathematics the right decision? Should I be doing art? What will I do with my life? These thoughts are pretty much stopping me doing much because everything feels so incredibly uncertain. So basically I am just going to write down some of my plans and ideas. Hopefully to help inspire me that doing a mathematics degree, even if it was the wrong decision - which it might not be, doesn't mean my life is over! (Yes! I am over dramatic sometimes... Okay a lot of the time, I just overthink things...)

First! Mathematics!

Whatever happens I intend to finish this degree. I only have one year left so I mean it isn't that much longer of feeling like I am in this hell! And occasionally, I actually get to study stuff that make me want to sit and read mathematics text books into the middle of the night. Granted, this doesn't happen so often! But I am hopeful for my final year. I am under the impression we get to pick some form of area to focus on and write about. And if I manage to select an area of interest it can only do good things for me! I think once I have the chance to find out what I can research I email people to see if I can have perhaps a little bit more freedom. I think relating mathematics to an area, perhaps seemingly, unrelated will refresh me. Last academic year I had to study the most amazing module! It was the mathematics of music. It was such a beautiful module. We learnt random snippets of mathematics in relation to music and how it progressed or why it sounds a certain way. It was so interesting and is the best results I have ever gotten while at university. So clearly the arts are important to me.

This is meant to show the planets and where they fit on the musical scale as they rotate and orbit. [1 - More info]

I am not sure if I would be allowed to study the mathematics of music again, although I would be very interested in studying the mathematics of art, or finding a mathematical way to represent the ideas presented with gender and sexuality. Though that the mathematics behind that might be far too basic! To look into the mathematics of art might be quite interesting. One could look at proportions and focal points, consider geometry and maybe even graph theory, i.e. do the main focus areas of a piece when connected in a logical fashion create Eulerian trails? The more I think about it the more interesting I find it and the more I wish to know the answer!

After my mathematics degree I have a few options in mind of what to do after. One of which is get a PGCE (?) which would allow me to teach mathematics. I have mixed opinions about wanting to do this. Getting a PGCE would give me a clear career path and a nice way of getting money. Mathematics teachers are often always in demand and it would be cool to try and help improve the way mathematics is taught and help kids develop some form of passion for maths. However, as many people have said, and I agree with it! I am not sure if I am the kind of person to fully conform, which might be one reason to why a degree solely focused upon one subject is causing me difficulties. I am someone with piercings, not so many, but I want more. I am someone with dyed, colourful hair. And these two things make me happy. They allow me change and play about with myself in a creative way. And I am not ready to give that up just yet. Maybe I will be in a few years but I don't think I will be. I think this is part of who I am. Not a phase. I imagine if I had lived in a country without uniform I would have many more piercings and have had crazy hair for a long, long time. Thus this makes me doubt if I would be able to fit into a normal school. Friends have suggested trying to work at a.. an.. erm.. I cannot remember the over-riding term. I thought it was 'free' school but apparently that is just a school that is funded by the government. Perhaps independent schools. I.e. steiner schools.

So after some googling, alternative schooling or alternative education. I was taking the term free as I remember reading this:

'A co-educational boarding school in Suffolk, England - The original alternative 'free' school'[2]

This school and the Steiner schools are somewhat similar. They have a significantly more laid back approach to teaching and have a different passion for the way in which they share their information. So far from what I can tell it looks as though it would be something I agree with, and would very much like to go and spend some time at one, actually a few to get a good overview, of these alternative education methods. But the idea that the children can select which areas they wish to learn, or to be taught in blocks where all the subjects try and interlock so you are fully emerged within the time period or area you are studying. But it is definitely something I would like to have the option to consider. My parents have also suggested substitute teaching and teaching adults as options.

Second. Arting! 

So the main reason for this blog is for me to talk about what I am doing artistically. And right now. I am doing a lot. I am trying to develop new skills and keep building on what I know. Last night I was watching a video [3]. It is about some students in Japan studying fashion, and it talks about the different courses they have on offer. Some of the are pretty bizarre; a full course of Visual Kei fashion!

Then I suddenly thought! How amazing would it be to study fashion in Japan?! Unfortunately I do not know Japanese. However, I think there definitely needs to be a fashion course which encourages semesters at the fashion capitals of the world. I mean you need to study in London, New York, Tokyo & Paris when it comes to fashion as they all have something different to offer. (I am not saying these are the only places, of course not, but these are just four that spring to mind).

Currently I am working on my own fashion line. And I felt like I really linked to the structure in Japan. As they seem to visualise more than the clothing. They create characters who would wear their clothing. This is something I am also doing. For the line I am producing right now I have created a whole world, to which I want to create a trailer like video that illustrates a little about what is going on in the world as it shows the clothing. I want the fashion I recreate to run into other elements of the visual arts and media.

Besides doing the fashion line, I am also creating my own home decor business. Which is going to consist of cute little things that you add to your home to make it cute, reflect your own personality and just add something a little bit quirky. I will not post anything about the home decor or the fashion line until I have done a little bit more on both, which will probably be summer when I have everything I need at my disposal.

But I have thought about doing a foundation year at college in art and design. I think it would be extremely good for me to just sit and live and breathe art for a year. It would also force me to really improve so I could get a decent grade. Moreover, it would give me the answer. Was mathematics the right choice?!

I have other arty ideas. But I will save them for another time!

Thrid! What else?!

Map with pins. (Just found of google images, source is unknown).

I would very much like to travel. I have many ideas of how to do this. I would love to just travel continuously for a few months, but I doubt I can afford or have time for it, so I will probably just have to travel in bursts. However, I would love to get a TEFL qualification so I can teach English as a foreign language. This might make travelling a little easier if I can get chunks of work every now and again.

The other things I am thinking about are comedy & maybe burlesque. Both of these require a lot of confidence. Something I am not so familiar with. it might be fun to try comedy, and I have been writing things down, however I have no idea how a crowd would react and the idea of standing in front of lots of people and getting rejected in horrific! (Burlesque would allow me to do something a little different with it, and make it my own. Another thing I have ideas for. Though first I need to get into better shape & see if I am coordinated enough to do the stuff in my head!)


I have been writing this for an age! So I am going to stop now. And hopefully bake some nommy food (assuming the shop is open this Good Friday). So if you read all this, wow, I am sorry it was so long. If you didn't.. well. thanks? Haha.