Since Part 1 was published earlier on, I've slowly lost the enthusiasm for writing this second post. Aside from the fact that I used up most of my good ideas earlier (there was potential for three separate posts in there!) I'm also suffering from post-uni lethargy. But the show must go on and will not let you diehards down tonight!
We all know that symmetry can be quite beautiful - the more symmetrical your face, the more attractive you apparently are - so I'm going to go with the three section structure that I used earlier - now to try and think three things to write about. Just kidding, I've got a few belters up my sleeve for tonight.
Waking up early
Further to my post on Friday evening about getting up earlier and getting on with your day, I am please to report that I did in fact manage to get up at 6am on Saturday, I did go for a walk and I did enjoy a coffee and a newspaper on my return. It was a great walk and I got to see a whole different side to Edinburgh: the waking of the great city I call home. Granted it was a wee bit cold and I got a few funny looks from the staff opening Greggs and Tesco, but it felt really nice to get back to the flat feeling like I had achieved something before my day - which was university work filled again - had even begun.
As expected, I have since received a few curious looks and probing questions into this curious behaviour. It turns out that it's not normal for a student to be getting up early but unfortunately I don't tend to do normal - at least not when it comes to sleeping. I love sleeping, let's get that clear. I will have a long lie when I feel I need it or can afford it. However, I feel that getting up early allows me to potter around in the morning and leisurely get myself ready for my (long) day at university.
This is my reason. Every time I sleep through my alarm or have an extra ten minutes in bed, regardless of what time of the morning that is, I feel crap for the best part of the day. If you force yourself to get out of bed when your alarm goes off and don't 'treat' yourself to a wee bit longer between the sheets, you feel crap for about five minutes but then you're fine. Most of the day versus five minutes? Seems like there should only be one outcome really.
Coffee v Alcohol
Seamlessly moving on, another reason why I enjoy mornings is because I enjoy a good breakfast. That breakfast is always rounded off with a cup of tea or, as has been the case recently, a strong black coffee. I went off coffee for a bit around exam time in May and never really got back into it until I went to Salzburg. One of the great things, amongst many others, about continental Europe is that they love their coffee over there. I sometimes wish Scotland would untie itself from the rest of the UK and drift over to the continent. Maybe tomorrow's White Paper will outline such a plan - and it wouldn't be the craziest idea in there either I suspect.
So I'm on a steady intake of two coffees a day at the moment and I'm feeling great for it. The first I enjoy because I enjoy coffee and the second, usually consumed at lunch, picks me up and helps me to skip the post-lunch coma which had dogged me so much in the first couple of weeks of term. One of the great things about this constant intake is that my tolerance to caffeine has gone up again - happy days and sleepy nights; win win.
Talking about tolerances, I've not had too many nights out this year and my goodness it shows. I was out last Wednesday with friends for the first time in a good few weeks. My intake of alcohol that night was no different to any other night out that I would have had in the summer - Salzburg pops up again; the Europeans love their beer too - but there are points from the night that I just can't remember, suggesting I might have had too much.
Aside from not remembering chunks of the night, I also made a tit of myself at junctures on my trip down booze lane. For example, I used my phone in a very unfortunate manner - something that I am prone to do when I am drunk. With my inhibitions down, my thumbs go to town. And I'm not proud of it either.
Negative ions, positive times
Moving swiftly on before I use my blog in an 'unfortunate manner', the final thing I want to write about tonight is the thing I've been wearing on my wrist for the last week: an ionic bracelet. I'm quite into quirky things which is probably the reason why I find NLP so interesting - it's something a bit different - so when I found out about this negative ion thing I was intrigued.
Basically the idea is that we are bombarded with positive ions in everyday life, particularly in cities. Positive ions can contribute towards tiredness, stress and slow recovery from aches and pains. The negative ion is therefore our friend as it counters those effects. Negative ions occur naturally, especially away from cities such as beside the sea. Ever felt better when you are at the sea side? Part of that (apparently) is to do with the negative ions produced by the movement of the water.
OK, so all of this, as I type it, sounds like a bunch of new-age crap. However, I must say that I have felt more able to concentrate over the last week or so than before and I'm also sleeping better - another claim made by the proponents of this technology. It might just be a placebo but I like the idea that it might be doing me some good. I also like wearing stuff on my wrists so if it's doing me no good health-wise then at least I think it looks cool. I'll report back on this in a couple of months and tell you how I'm getting on with it.
Thanks for reading tonight and a special thanks to those who have taken time today to read both posts. You would think with the amount of writing that I'm doing for university that this is the last thing I would want to be doing but it's nice to come here and write freely. Free is the operative word as well. I don't think people do enough 'free' things (chat, write, read etc) or at least they don't appreciate them enough. I'm just trying to enjoy myself, one negative ion at a time.
Martin
