For listening to dozens of Christmas songs a day, covering the house in glitter from sparkly ornaments, wrapping everything in fairy lights, and watching Elf for the thousandth time (because somehow, it never really gets old)!
The snow is beginning to fall in the North of England, maybe not quite enough for a white Christmas yet, or even snowballs, but enough to make it extremely slippy if you don't watch where you're going, and the canals have been frozen for days.
Robins flit among what's left of the greenery, and the frost has laminated the fallen leaves on to the pavement.
Half-term isn't far away now, which means I'll have more time for my hobbies, but my fountain pens have seen plenty of use throughout the past few months. I used them extensively throughout my iGCSE revision, and it's no different for A-levels,as there's just as much (if not more) revision to do - theorists, Gothic archetypes, media terminology and much more, all of which I make flashcards for, but since index cards don't always take all fountain pens inks and I don't have time to test each one beforehand, I always use gel pens that I store in a simple but very pretty pen pot that my father bought me because I like having a neat desk (by Friday, I've usually destroyed the neatness with homework, strewn at random across the desktop).
Invest in pen pots. This one makes me happy every time I look at it, because I have a magpie mind that likes shiny things, which is also why I write every point on my flashcards in different colours. It keeps my brain engaged, because after an hour of Steve Neal's Genre Theory, Defecit Approaches and Newspaper Terminologies, it feels like it would like to climb out of my head, and I don't blame it. But if the words are colourful, fun! If I get bored writing out the information, I switch colours, and the novelty is renewed long enough for the information to sink in. Some people are visual learners, some prefer listening to information, and some, like me, just need it to look cool.
Whilst you're at it, buy yourself some Sharpie S-Pens if you're studying like I am, because in English Literature (and Language, and Media) you need to analyse a lot of text quickly. Highlight information and colour code it, and you'll only have to read the extract/poem/media text once, because you've picked out everything that's important. Sharpie S-Pens aren't as good as traditional Sharpies, but they kind of are - because they don't contain alcohol, they don't bleed straight through the page, which is good when you have to annotate a book (or any kind of paper). You also get a lot of colours in a box, and you can buy them for about £15 on Amazon if you search.
My writing here isn't beautiful because I was taking quick notes in class, but I could write an essay quickly from this colour-coded page - pinky-purple for setting, green for character, pink for action, purple for tone and blue for ideas. The fine-tipped ballpoint I used is also useful for writing in small book margins (you should have seen the look on my face when I was told I'd have to write in a book, a book used for reading - sacrilege)!
But back to the Christmas theme originally intended for this post, I've been using all the glittery red, green and gold inks lately, usually with a matching pen, because it feels fitting. You can never have too much glitter for Christmas! What colour combos have you been using lately?
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