what would plath do?

If you time it just right, there's a place near my house where you can go as the sun sets and just sort of think. There's a stream and a meadow and a little archway made of trees which in the evening is filled with golden light. I think we all live for our happy places a little bit, don't we? The only problem is, I'm not one of those people gifted with a vivid imagination so I can't just imagine that I'm there. Stress seems to take precedent and I can't relax no matter how hard I try, so I have to force myself to take the dog on a walk and just take twenty minutes out to be outdoors in a truly pretty place. It's not like I really mind the stress though. The reason I'm okay at exams (touch wood) is that I can pull it out of the metaphorical bag when it really matters. I'm very much a last minute lady and I am by no means doing a sufficient amount of revision. This is not helped by the fact that I am spending my days making cup upon cup of sweet tea for the Macedonian builders occupying our house (for eternity it seems). I wonder what Sylvia Plath or Rachel Maddow would have to say about this submissive, domestic role I seem to have adopted. I'm sure it would not be good...

My mother just had to ask me my date of birth. And people say the contempt is all in my head...

I would say I'm spending about seventy percent of my (measly) income on music at the moment. I would also say that it is very much money well spent. It does mean, however that my previous wardrobe fixation has become somewhat neglected so I am now a tramp with a very well-stocked iTunes library. What more could you want?

These are some of my recent discoveries:

Noah and the Whale are old news now, but I heard this as I was browsing the rails in Topshop and just thought it was lovely!

I'm yet to see this film, but this song achieves a subtle balance between over the top cute and a little bit depressing. Perfect. I love the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and this sort of works. Sort of.

Long, but by no means dull. Just listen...

I haven't got round to listening to any of her other stuff, but this is just lovely. And makes me wish I had red hair...

And finally, Zooey Deschanel (strong contender for #1 girl crush)'s little duo She & Him have produced a pretty much perfect album. This is my favourite track.

It happens every time. They all become blueberries...

Today I handed in my two pieces of English Coursework. For good. That is it on the coursework front. Unless you count History. Which I don't (it's a sort of un-subject in my opinion). This means I never have to open my somewhat worn copy of The Bell Jar again. Of course just because I am not required to do so, doesn't mean I won't. Whenever I'm full of melodramatic teenage angst or general melancholy, Sylvia is always the one who teaches me a little bit of perspective. I know it's dull to read about my considerable workload, so over the next couple of months of hell, I will try to keep the school talk to a minimum.

I just discovered this on the Guardian website. It's fairly lovely as acoustic Biffy usually is. Simon Neil is THE sex. That voice! Those eyes! That... err... beard? I love how his accent isn't at all compromised when he sings. Also, he has a tattoo across his chest saying 'God only knows what I'd be without you'. Normally I am on the fence tattoo-wise. Personally I can't imagine ever liking something enough to get it scrawled across my body but I think they can look good sometimes. If ever there was a tattoo that could make a man soar up the ranks in my eyes, a good Beach Boys reference is probably it. Well played Mr Neil...

I'm still off meat but very much on the fish. I really didn't used to eat all that much fish, but being sensible, I am conscious that I need to get some protein somehow. My preferred source of this is cheese, but aware that I may swell up like Violet Beauregarde, I have decided to go for fish and fish-type things instead. Fish fingers have become my token comfort food and I had some really nice salmon the other day... Also if I eat fish, I can convince myself that it's meat. I cannot do this with any sort of mycoprotein, no matter how hard I try!

I seem to have replaced sleep with reading, a calm, serene room with one filled with revision-based post-it notes, and nutrition with biscuits. I keep telling myself that if I just work hard for the next month and a bit, doors will be opened to me for my entire life. It's strange that this sort of psychobabble can actually keep you going. Not that it will matter if I get scurvy. Maybe I should eat an orange...

She can't be convicted, she's earned her degree...

I have been super motivated today and completed the second draft of my English coursework, full of feminist drivel. It's depressingly mediocre but it's a start. I decided to reward myself by writing an entry (yes, this is what my life has come to) before I crack on with the other piece of coursework.

I had a bit of a meltdown last night. All of a sudden I decided that I really didn't want to go to university. It hit me that in four years time, I will still be living at home having accumulated thousands of pounds of debt and I probably won't even get a job at the end of it. I was in such a distressed state that I even spoke to my mother. Her response? "Well you can always go back to Morrisons!" Thanks Mum, thanks a bunch.

I really like the new John Lewis advert. Yes it's naff and yes I know that while the woman in question ages, her clothes remain constantly very 2010 throughout. The featured woman is very conventional in her lifestyle. She gets married, then pregnant and watches her family swell as she falls into retirement (during which we know the sun never ceases to shine). The advert manages to tug at the heartstrings, however and Fyfe Dangerfield (Guillemots frontman)'s rendition of 'Always a woman to me' is flawless. I hope he releases it because at present it is nowhere to be found. So all in all a (six million pound) success. Let's hope Mister John Lewis makes his money back...