College Life - Tumblr Posts

Chinese Solar Calendar: 小暑 Minor Heat

You may have heard about the Chinese Lunar calendar, but what's the solar calendar?

The Lunar Calendar is based on the phases of the moon, divided into 12 months. It's used for determining festivals e.g. Spring Festival/Chinese New Year.

The Solar Calendar however, is based on the Earth's orbit around the Sun, and it's divided into 24 phases, each lasting around 15 days.

Historically, this has been used for agriculture and specific seasonal activities, as each new season would be an indicator of a change in the weather and allow farmers to plan and prepare accordingly.

Currently we're about to enter 小暑 (Xiǎoshǔ) Minor Heat, so here are some customs and interesting information about this upcoming time period!

小暑 Minor Heat is the 11th solar phase and it starts approximately from July 6-8. Minor Heat, like its' name, has relatively hot and humid weather, with thunderstorms and monsoons being quite common. The weather and rainfall may vary, as northern regions in China tend to be colder with their rainy seasons starting later.

Food:

Eel, Mung bean soup, lotus roots and lotus leaf porridge, watermelon rind dew.

Customs:

"Eating New Food Custom" 食新习俗 (Shíxīn xísú). This is an old custom where some regions would use newly harvested rice and wheat to make flour, from which they would make various breads and noodles and share them with friends and family for good fortune and a good harvest.

"Eating Dumplings" 吃饺子 (Chī jiǎozi). Relatively self-explanatory. This period of time is quite hot and people tend to be not as hungry, which is why dumplings are considered to be the best food to stimulate hunger. I for one can't think of an occasion where I would refuse dumplings, so this may indeed be true.

Drying things on the 6th day of the 6th lunar month. Drying paintings and clothes is believed to prevent them from being by insects

Proverbs:

雨打小暑头，四十五天不用牛 (Yǔ dǎ xiǎoshǔ tóu, sìshíwǔ tiān bùyòng niú): If it rains at the start of Minnor Heat, no cattle will be needed for 45 days.

小暑交大暑，热得无处躲 (Xiǎoshǔ jiāodà shǔ, rè dé wú chù duǒ): From Lesser Heat to Greater Heat, it's so hot that there's no place to hide.

Life in China #16 The Goodbye

People often talk about the great love of their life, but I think this can also apply to places. Because this city has captured my heart in a way like no other, and the thought of this magical chapter coming to an end is bittersweet.

All the people I met, all the friends I made, all the unforgettable experiences we had. All good things must come to an end.

However, where one chapter ends, a new chapter begins so here's to whatever comes next. 🥂💖

July 2024 Reading List 📚🎧☕

Done:

Beartown by Fredrik Backman (Finally found the time to start and finish, not really what I was expecting when it was first recommended but a solid read overall).

Geisha: A Life by Mineko Iwasaki. (An interesting read, although I found the structure and content a little all over the place is some areas.)

Current:

Faust by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (opted for the english translation because the orginal may cause me to give up on german)

The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene (Maybe this is the month when I finally finish this book. I fear this may turn into the Master and Margarita situation, except there's no cat this time)

To-read:

The Twins by Saskia Sarginson (re-reading this again, this is a solid summer read)

Confucianism: The 4 Books and 5 classics (This one may take a while, almost 3000 pages)

As usual, feel free to drop some recommendations please!

S-Verbs in Chinese

(Reposting this again because something went really wrong with the editing, my apologies)

Most common Verbs in Chinese starting with S!

Satisfy - 满足 - mǎnzú

Save - 保存- bǎocún

Say - 说 - shuō

See -见 - jiàn

Seek - 寻找 - xúnzhǎo

Sell ​​- 卖 - mài

Send - 发送 - fāsòng

Serve - 服务 - fúwù

Settle - 解决 - jiějué

Scan - 扫描 - sǎomiáo

Scrape -刮 - guā

Shake - 摇 - yáo

Share - 分享 - fēnxiǎng

Shoot (a weapon) - 开枪 - kāi qiāng

Show (a performance) - 表现 - biǎoxiàn

Shrink - 缩小 - suōxiǎo

Shut (a window, door) - 关闭 - guānbì

Sing - 唱 - chàng

Sit - 坐 - zuò

Sleep - 睡觉 - shuìjiào

Slide - 滑 - huá

Stand up - 站起来 - zhàn qǐlái

Start - 开始 - kāishǐ

Stay - 留 - liu

Steal - 偷- tōu

Stick - 贴 - tiē

Stop - 停止 - tíngzhǐ

Stretch - 伸展 - shēnzhǎn

Strike - 打击 - dǎjí

Study - 学习 - xuéxí

Succeed - 成功 - chénggōng

Suffer - 受苦 - shòukǔ

Suggest - 建议 - jiànyì

Supply - 提供 - tígōng

Support - 支持 - zhīchí

Suppose - 假设 - jiǎshè

Survive - 生存 - sūngcún

Swear (to pledge) - 发誓 - fāshì

Sweat - 出汗 - chūhàn

Sweep -打扫 - dǎsǎo

Swim - 游泳 - yóuyǒng

Symbolize - 标志 - biāozhì

The 母 Character

Another character breakdown, and this time it's 母!

母 (mǔ)

Mother 母亲

Used for some female relative e.g. 祖母 (paternal grandma)

Used to specify female animals e.g. 母牛，母象，母马

每 (měi)

Every, each e.g. 每天 everyday

海 (hǎi)

A big lake or sea 大海

Many people, a large crowd 人海

毒 (dú)

A toxin or a poison or a venom

An adjective, poisonous/venomous e.g. 毒蛇 (a venomous snake)

A cruel person

A verb, to poison something/one

梅 (méi)

A plum. Apparently 李子 (also plum) is used more often in northern China, and 梅子 in the south.

Plum flower or a plum blossom, the national flower of China (fun fact!) 梅花 (méihuā）

敏 (mǐn)

Quick, agile

Quick-witted, smart

悔 (huǐ)

To regret, feel remorse

霉 (méi)

Mould, mildew

An adjective - mouldy

A verb - to go mouldy/bad

莓 (méi)

A berry e.g. 草莓 (cǎoméi) a strawberry

酶 (méi)

An enzyme

珻 (méi)

Fine jade

痗 (mèi)

A literary Chinese verb meaning to get ill from anxiety or worrying

Slavic roots western mind turns 1 year old today!

It's been exactly a year since my very first post as slavic roots western mind, and looking back it's been a good year. I'm thankful for everyone for sticking around and supporting me, here's to hoping for more years like this!🥂

Post-China advice #1

When leaving China make sure to withdraw money from your Chinese bank account, because many banks don't allow you to transfer money abroad unless you actually physically go to said bank and transfer it from there in person.

In theory you can withdraw it at an atm abroad, but not many support chinese cards.

I had some money left so now the only way to get it out is to either remove it when/if I go back to China or to purchase something from a Chinese site and have it sent all the way here.

Option number 2 isn't too bad actually, I have my eye on this really nice steamer so that I can make some baozi and jiaozi properly, but the point stands. Especially if it's a large amount, make sure to either withdraw it as cash or to send it back home if you're leaving.

T - Verbs in Chinese

Tackle (an issue) - 处理 (chǔlǐ)

Take - 拿 (ná)

Talk - 说 (shuō)

Target - 瞄准 (miáozhǔn)

Teach - 教 (jiāo)

Tell - 告诉 (gàosù)

Terminate - 终止 (zhōngzhǐ)

Testify - 作证 (zuòzhèng)

Thank - 感谢 (gǎnxiè)

Think - 想 (xiǎng)

Threaten - 威胁 (wēixié)

Throw - 扔 (rēng)

Tie - 系 (jì)

Tighten - 紧 (jǐn)

Tolerate - 容忍 (róngrěn)

Touch - 触摸 (chùmō)

Train - 训练 (xùnliàn)

Transfer - 转移 (zhuǎnyí)

Transform - 转变 (zhuǎnbiàn)

Translate - 翻译 (fānyì)

Transmit - 传送 (chuánsòng)

Travel - 旅行 (lǚxíng)

Tremble - 颤抖 (chàndǒu)

Trigger - 触发 (chùfā)

Trust - 信任 (xìnrèn)

Try - 尝试 (chángshì)

Type - 打字 (dǎzì)

Back to uni to-dos: Final year edition

This will be my final year at university, which in itself is honestly unbelievable. Here's a list of things to do before and during your final year, although anyone can benefit from this advice!

1.Review your graduation requirements Make sure that everything is on track grade-wise and that you have enough credits to graduate. If there are any issues, meet with your academic advisor so that you have enough time to fix everything and graduate hassle-free.

2. Fix your sleep schedule before your classes are due to start. You can't be productive if you're always sleep-deprived and running on coffee. Your final year is especially important, so you need to be able to focus, which is practically impossible if you're sleep-deprived.

3. Exchange contact details with your favorite professors, advisors, etc. This may be a cultural thing, but here it's quite usual to remain in contact with your professors. You don't have to be facebook friends, but having someone you can ask for advice or request a LinkedIn recommendation from may be useful, which leads me to the next point.

4. Update your LinkedIn & other profiles This includes updating your email address to something more professional because the email address you had since you were 12 is unlikely to be all that professional now. Add any experience that you may have, whether it's an internship, freelancing or a job placement etc.

5. Plan what comes after or review your plan Are you jumping into a masters degree? Freelancing? Working abroad? Not many people have a 100% finished plan, but it does help to research your options and have an understanding of what you want to do after. Things change and as the past year has shown, some previously considered options are definitely not it.

6. Career fairs and networking events Chances are you may have attended some, but for final years these things are especially important. You have a chance to personally meet recruiters and to exchange contact details which may come in handy in the future. Obviously you can do that via LinkedIn, but I for one think that talking in person can add more of a personal touch. Regarding networking in general, it doesn't necessarily have to be a formal affair. Sure there are those formal meetings but they don't always have to be. There are plenty of facebook groups e.g. marketing, women in finance etc. which you can join and ask for mentoring, advice or even if you can meet up for a coffee and a chat. Alternatively, your university most likely has a careers/guidance office where you can find out about any networking meetings or organizations that have events going on.

7. Create an application schedule Many firms open their graduate student program applications at a certain time, so depending on where you're applying, or if you're skipping that, a schedule is a good idea. If you're targeting different sectors then your resume will have to be altered a bit to make it appropriate for the job that you're applying for. Many jobs also require cover letters, so it may be a good idea to have a rough template so that you know what exactly it is that you're supposed to include and then edit accordingly.

8. Try to get some work experience It doesn't have to be full-time at an office type of work, but any experience is good. Freelance language tutor, an internship, volunteer work, writing for your uni's paper. Experience doesn't automatically guarantee you a job, but it can be beneficial in standing out or giving you an extra boost.

9. Try to get some extra qualifications A language proficiency test, a coursera course (there are quite a lot of free ones), a LinkedIn powerpoint course, Code First Girls javascript course (also free!). You can add quite a lot of skills to your LinkedIn profile, but you do need to be able to back them up. These extra courses and qualification aren't just good for your resume, but they're also a good way for you to develop new skills and develop new interests. And who knows where they might end up taking you. My teachers former student ended up finding herself a husband on a study abroad language program in Korea and now they're happily married and living in Japan I think.

10. Make the most of it Uni certainly has it's ups and downs, but for most it's a pretty rewarding and occasionally enlightening journey. You may have different feelings towards it, but it is coming to an end so make some good memories.

11. Remember that life will go on after uni Many people may feel odd after graduating, you just spent 3-4 years living your life as a student and now you're not. Your previous routines that worked before may not work anymore. You may not be as close to your former dormmates. You may drift apart from your college bestie. But life goes on. Many things may stay the same and even more things may change and that's ok.

And now, a few months later I finally saw the new Major Grom movie Майор Гром: Игра and I have ponderings.

Overall a pretty solid movie, I had no idea what it would be about as I blocked all tags to avoid spoilers. The plot was a tad chaotic and to some extent more violent (literally, first few minutes in and bam! chaos) and unlike the previous movie, it didn't really have that particular flavour of comedy to back it up. It was almost 3 hours long but the fast-pace was enough to keep the momentum going. There were also a few cameos that had me going??? Because there were definitely a few celebrities that I did not expect to feature in this movie.

Chaos aside, the storyline was interesting as there were a few directions going on at once, and as an action movie it's definitely good. Thing is, I don't know if it was intended to be an action movie as it looks like one but it feels like it's supposed to have a more nuanced plot? Maybe it's just me but anyone who watched this movie feel free to share your thoughts.

The soundtrack was epic, Sergey Shnurov's Dragon was just 10/10 and now my playlist has once again expanded. There were other songs but this song that they used during the credits really stuck in my head.

I won't spoil it, but overall it's heavier than the previous Major Grom movie, so whilst I can recommend watching it, be aware that it can get a tad gory in my opinion.

Apparently a new Major Grom/Майор Гром movie just came out (like a week ago) and now I have to wait until it's available to watch online in good quality because I refuse to besmirch this potential masterpiece by watching it in 360p with barely distinguishable audio.

U- Verbs in Chinese

Unbuckle - 解开 (Jiěkāi) Uncork - 开瓶 (Kāi píng） Uncover - 揭开 (Jiēkāi) Underestimate - 低估 (Dīgū) Undergo - 经历 (Jīnglì) Underline - 强调 (Qiángdiào) Understand - 理解 (Lǐjiě) Undress - 脱衣服 (Tuōyīfú) Unfollow - 取关 (Qǔguān) Uninstall - 卸载 (Xièzǎi) Unite - 团结 (Tuánjié) Unleash - 发动 (Fādòng) Unlock - 解锁 (Jiěsuǒ) Unplug - 拔掉 (Bádiào) Unsubscribe - 退订 (Tuìdìng) Unwind (relax) - 放松 (Fàngsōng) Update - 更新 (Gēngxīn) Upgrade - 升级 (Shēngjí) Use - 使用 (Shǐyòng) Utilize - 利用 (Lìyòng)

I only just now realized that there is a season 5 of bungo stray dogs and that I completely missed out on it because I was too busy with my exams, then busy preparing for China and then actually being busy in China when it first came out, and now being busy with uni.

Experimented with home-made bubble tea as the bubble tea here is ridiculously expensive and just isn't quite the same (China's KFC boba milk tea will be sorely missed and forever remembered).

Overall it turned out well. I made the mistake of preparing the pearls overnight and refrigerating them, which made them all clumpy and stuck together, but taste-wise the tea turned out to be quite good. Cost-wise it's definitely cheaper to do it myself, as the current prices just aren't worth it.

Next on my agenda are home-made ramen and sushi, as they're more budget friendly when prepared by myself.

College has made me feel lonelier than the time i spent all alone in the pandemic in the safe walls of my room.

TBH but can my college stop sending me texts about stuff on campus, like babes I'm an online student + I am not on the main campus 😚

My neighbors are keeping me awake with their partying and I think they're popping fireworks. It's obvious security doesn't care during summer months at my apartment but then again they never cared.

I started noticing a peculiar change in what pictures my college was using to advertise. Wonder why? In all seriousness however, I don't blame them. Lord knows it would've worked on me, and I think that it's working on other people too. Last I heard they had their highest enrollment in a decade, and I've noticed that when they have those tours of all of the prospective students around they'll all turn their heads simultaneously when they spot another massive guy on campus. Guess I must be a little desensitized to it now, because there's guys like that everywhere around here.

college is killing me slowly so i’m gonna start romanticising it because how am i on week five and already behind

introductions of a sort

Hello strangers on the internet!

After years of lurking on the outskirts of the tumblr-sphere, and only ever dipping my toes in to test the waters, I have finally caved and created one of my very own. Though it is the year 2023 and far past the tumblr golden age of my generation, there seems to still be a thriving community of creatives and dreamers on this corner of the internet that I have long craved to be a part of. And now I am! ᕱ__ᕱ

I've been a reader my whole life, and a writer for a good bit of it, consuming and creating mostly fiction/fantasy. In recent years, however, my focus has been more so on academia than creative pursuits. This is for good reason, of course, I am a college student after all. But writing skills are like muscles; the less you use them, the more you lose them.

A few weeks ago, before the new semester started, I had an idea, a scene that I wanted to write. In the past few years, it had become a habit to simply brush ideas to the side because I was too busy with school. But it was still summer break, I had nothing else to do that afternoon, so I sat down to write something for fun.

When I tell you I struggled, I mean I struggled. I didn't even finish writing out the whole scene idea before I slammed my laptop shut because I was getting a stress headache. I was stretching out muscles that had been ignored for 2 years, maybe more. It was honestly quite ridiculous how exhausted I was after less than 30 minutes of writing.

So, when I was given the assignment to create a blog/social media about anything my heart so desired in one of the writing classes I am taking this semester, I jumped at the opportunity to start building back up those barely used creative writing muscles once again. And that brings me to right here, right now, on this very tumblr page.

This is already quite long for a first post so I'll try to wrap things up quickly from here on out.

If you haven't already picked up what I've been trying to lay down, this blog will serve as my creative writing gym, a place to build back up the muscles I have lost. I'll be posting once or twice weekly with updates on my progress, which may include any writing I've done, inspiration I've found, enthusiastic analysis of writers/pieces I admire, and any other tidbits I believe pertain to my writing journey, such as character design, etc.

My current goal is to come up with a cohesive outline for a novel, including characters, setting, and plot, by the end of the year (December 31, 2023). It may prove to be too ambitious, but go big or go home, right?

So, whether you are in it with me for the long haul, stick around for just a little while, or are simply fellow humans passing on through, welcome, friends, to my writing blog. ᕱ__ᕱ

Just remember to dot your j's and cross your t's!

~Clementine J Quincey🪷

organizing thoughts + setting microgoals (ya know productive people things)

Hello friends!

Happy 2024!!

It seems like my winter break has just flown by and tomorrow my university’s spring semester starts. I haven’t had as much time to work on my story as I would have liked, but I do feel rested after this break, which is always a good thing! ᕱ__ᕱ Despite not a lot of visible progress in my original story, there have been a few things I have been thinking about and attempting to iron out in my brain which I can update you on this week.

World-Building

Before I get anywhere else and make real progress in the plot of my story, I have come to the conclusion that I need to spend some time on worldbuilding. I knew the funky little magic world and my funky little fantasy story is taking place in needed some serious work before I started writing anything, but it’s come to my attention that it needs that work now, before I continue to develop anything else. Which… sucks.

Not that I am not going to enjoy creating my own fictional world but it's going to take A LOT of work before I see real progress and I am going to have to complete that work in very small increments because I have other Important Things™ I need to be doing. Like school. Ugh!

I am very notoriously bad with time management (which is something I’m working on in therapy actually - shout out once again to my therapist who is literally a God-send), so I think my goal for next week will be to create an outline/schedule/list for what I need to get done in the realm of world-building so that I can organize my thoughts a little better and have something tangible to work on. I’ll share it here next week if I have managed to make progress on it. One of the big things I know will absolutely be making it on that list first thing, however, is developing my magic system.

Magic System

As I have mentioned briefly in a previous post, janky magic systems with little-no rules are a huge pet peeve of mine when it comes to fantasy fiction (unless it makes sense within the story, which is rare). So, I know that crafting my own magic system will take me some time because I want it to make sense, be clear, and have outline rules and limitations. 

Another thing that's important to me is that any magic system I create/include in my story, is in accordance with my own personal religious beliefs. NOW HEAR ME OUT IN THE ENTIRETY BEFORE Y’ALL GO JUDGING ME, OKAY?! I am a Christian, so nothing aligning with demons, Satan, or the occult will be happening in my story (on the side of “Good” that is). It may seem like a small or silly thing to some but it’s 100% a priority to me. However, I want to write a fantasy novel that is accessible to ALL, not just my fellow Christians, and one that doesn’t feel preachy or anything of that nature. I’m not trying to push my beliefs onto my readers. I just don’t want to compromise them in my writing. 

This is an interesting article on writing magic systems into Christian fantasy that I have been looking over the past few days if any of y'all are interested in what my magic system may look like. 

Stereotypes

I also don’t want to accidentally write any story of -isms or -phobias into my novel and I know a surprising amount of magical beings and tropes fall into the “developed from a racial stereotype” category (just look up J.K. Rowling, goblins, and Jewish stereotypes if you don’t believe me). So, I wanted to create my own magical beings without the baggage. If, in the following posts, y’all see anything that could be rude or prejudice developing as I continue to grow my story please just let me know. It’s never my intention to cause harm. As I said, I want my story to be accessible for ALL. ᕱ__ᕱ 

~*~*~

That’s pretty much it! That’s what I’ve been turning over in my head and working on in the past few weeks while in the midst of family and friends and the chaos of the holiday season. I hope to get something more substantial to give to y’all next week, but for now I’ll let you go. For my fellow students returning to school, good luck in this new semester! ᕱ__ᕱ 

And always remember, dot your j’s and cross your t’s!

 ~Clementine J. Quincey 🪷

PS. I also finally taught myself how to crochet something and spent 3 days working on a flower garland for the canopy above my bed. It is quite cute and I feel very accomplished!!