Pre-exam Jitters: Study Tips

Only two months before my dreaded date.

Two months before I take the most important exam in my life so far.

Board exam. Dun-dun-duunnnnnnnn!

I may appear to be nonchalant on the outside but inside, I am a train wreck of nerves. This is my first official big girl exam and a lot of things are going on inside my mind, a lot of fears.

1. Fucking hell, I am not prepared.
Yup. I have two months to review, but there's this one little thing. I work 6 days a week and I am gonna be honest, I am too lazy to study after I get home. Tired from work, all I want to do is climb in bed crank up my laptop and watch funny videos on Youtube. Very. Productive.

But Crys, being ill prepared is your own fault. You could study for a while after work and on Sundays too.
Yes, I admit. I could do that, and believe me when I say I really am trying my very best.

2. What if I fail? I don't want to be a disappointment.
This is probably my biggest fear, disappointing the people around me. How am I going to face them? How will I tell them that I didn't do a good job? Total freak out.

Anyways, enough of my mental breakdown. Like I said I really am trying to prepare. Here are the some of the things I do.

1. I tell myself that freaking out will not solve anything and that I shouldn't stress too much on something I can't control.
Although there is still a rush about the board exam, I refuse to let myself be stressed out about how much time I have left. Because really, counting down until the date will only distract me from my goals and my everyday functioning. Let the date come and what ever happen happens.

2. Be besties with the internet. (I know you already are)
Maximize the use of the interwebs, it's there for a reason, to make things so much easier.
I searched for practice tests on the internet just to see what I do still know and just to refresh those knowledge that are buried deep deep deep deep in my brain. Make sure the tests provide the answer key as well. I suggest you look for a practice test that is separated into specific topics.

Each night I try and answer at least one practice test, if I score high, I will take note of the items that I've got wrong. And if I got a low score I will note that specific topic so that I could spend more time studying it.

3. You're studying, not punishing yourself.
Have really short breaks between studying or even between your practice tests. Mentally and physically forcing yourself to bend over your study materials is what I will consider 'self assault'. Yes, I think I may have invented that term. But anyway, if you force yourself, you'll just hate what you are doing. And if you hate what you're doing then you will most likely not do it again.

4. Lighten up the mood/ environment.
Set up your study space to suit your taste. Use colorful pens to take notes, prepare snacks for you to nibble on while you read, have refreshment, put on music etc. If these things makes you feel good and makes you want to be productive and study, then I say do it! Do whatever it takes to get you through your study session.

Good luck!

Xo
Internet Girl

COLGATE OPTIC WHITE TOOTHPASTE REVIEW

If you are an avid caffeine drinker like myself, then you may have the same problems as I do. For almost a year now I have been looking for a solution for my yellowing teeth. I have tried home remedies, I have contemplated on buying the WhiteLight teeth whiteners and I was almost desperate enough to rush to a dentist and get my teeth whitened for  10,000 Php.

My sister advised me to try Colgate Optic White. I gave it some thought and decided to give the product a chance. It's way way cheaper than WhiteLight and a trip to the dentist. Plus, the worst thing that could happen is that I will get minty breath.

I got my full sized Optic White from Watson's Drug Store at SM Novaliches. It was worth  107 Php about 2.50 USD.

This is what the packaging looks like from the front. I must say it looks really impressive. It doesn't have and overly happy couple on the box. It's just a simple red and silver packaging with a holographic rainbow sheet cover.
The full sized toothpaste weighs a hundred grams, which may not be a lot compare to other toothpaste but considering the things that it's claiming to do then I suppose 107 Pesos for 100 g is a fair price.

This is what the product looks like out of its box. It looks like a shorter version of a family sized toothpaste. The wide cap also serves as stand which is pretty handy if like your bathroom to look organized on the cupboard. It saves you a lot of space too.

The directions are written in three languages, English, Chinese and Malay. It also says that it should be used every after meal at least three times a day. And that I should thoroughly brush for two minutes.

This is what the actual product looks like. Nothing special really, there are blue flecks incorporated with the toothpaste.

It felt really weird using optic white for the first time.  The texture was really gritty in my mouth. The minty flavor wasn't too strong either, just like a regular old toothpaste. Basically, it would almost be the same if I mix regular toothpaste and baking soda together (Yup. I've tried that. I was borderline desperate for whiter teeth)

Please excuse my horrifying mouth.
The first two days of using the product, my gum started to hurt. The area where the arrow is pointing is where the gum actually bled. It was painful and uncomfortable but definitely NOT unbearable.

After finding out that Optic White just made my gums bleed,  I thought to myself that there is no way I will brush my teeth 3x a day for 2 minutes using this abrasive product.

So, instead of religiously following the directions and brushing 3x a day, sometimes I would only use it twice and for a shorter period of time. I also avoided brushing near the softer areas in my mouth and concentrating on the center of my teeth where the red oval is in order to avoid getting canker sores.

My lips also started peeling after I started using this product. Peeling in a good way, as in they are being exfoliated every time I brush my teeth because of the abrasive foam.

Also, I don't know if you can tell by the picture but some areas on my teeth had been lighter. It's not a very noticeable difference but I have been very conscious of my teeth lately and I have noticed a minute lightening around the encircled areas.

So finally, does the product work?
Yes, to an extent. But my teeth are not one shade lighter as the packaging promised. True, I didn't follow the directions properly but I feel that if I did, my gums, tongue and inner cheeks would have been in worse shape and I would be in so much pain. I am planning to continue using it because it did improve the color of my teeth even though it wasn't a dramatic change.

I would recommend Optic White if you do not have a sensitive mouth. And if you plan on trying it out, I suggest that you concentrate an the center of your mouth and avoid your gums, cheeks and tongue area.

Over all, it is a pretty good product but if you want an instant dramatic change on your teeth then perhaps this product isn't for you.

Thank you for reading
XO
Internet Girl

BEAUTIFUL BASTARD BOOK REVIEW

This is a story of a young independent professional woman, Chloe Mills, who works as an executive assistant to an absolutely gorgeous and rich jerk, Bennett Ryan. As you can guess this is a cat/dog relationship. Something went down (I don't even know how). One thing led to another and the whole thing blows up in their faces.

As an avid reader and someone who respects and gives all genres a fair chance, let me just say that I really did try my best to like this book. It has been getting lots of favorable reviews and rate on the internet so I thought, "What could possibly go wrong?"

Well, first and foremost, I 'll be brave enough to put it out there that Beautiful Bastard does not have enough content to grasp and suck in readers. It is an erotica, and there were sex scenes in just about every other page but sometimes readers want more contents than sex scenes.

I found the story inconsistent as well. Throughout the entire book, the Ryans (Bennett Ryan's family), practically adopted Chloe and are very attached to her but suddenly because of one decision from 2 consensual adults they made a total 180 about their views on Chloe and Bennett.

Also, the names of the supporting characters made me so confuse at first. Later on I found out that this was originally a fan fiction(I'm guessing Twilight by the name references). But come on! Really?! I get it, fan fictions turned books are huge right now but the author could have at least changed their names. The author of Fifty Shades did it. Carlisle, Emmett, Rosalie, Jasper? Are you serious?  This is practically Fifty Shades without the BDSM but at least the author of 50 Shades actually thought of changing their names.

As you guys can tell, it is safe to say that I didn't like it very much, hard as I try. It's just I was really looking forward to reading it that I had high expectations. The book turned out to be a total flop for me, I was really really sad and disappointed. Maybe someone will read this review and would think that I'm absolutely insane for not liking The Beautiful Bastard and that's okay with me. Someone may like it, that's cool too. We all have different taste. I just don't think this is not for me.

For those who are still interested to read the book, there will be at least four main books. 1. The Beautiful Bastard 2. Beautiful Stranger 3. Beautiful Player 4. Beautiful Secret and four novellas. These stories follows different set of characters, Bennett's friends I think although, they were not mentioned in the first book.

Xo
Internet Girl