Serenity Gonzalez 🥉

Split your time if the group helps with stuck parts. Meet those two evenings, one hour max, and stick to it. Set rules upfront: no phones, agenda for topics, rotate who explains concepts. If it turns to chit-chat, end the session early. I've learned from co-parenting schedules that structure prevents waste. Solo study the rest to match your style.

Not too late, just not painless. The school will happily take your tuition while you drag a new major across the finish line. Step one is a degree audit that tells you what still counts and what goes to the elective graveyard. Half your gen eds still help, the niche stuff becomes expensive souvenirs. Expect a few prerequisites you cannot dodge because someone scheduled them in a perfect little chain. Then go meet two people who can actually move walls: the department advisor and the registrar. Ask about course substitutions, because nine times out of ten a class you already took can be waved in with a sigh and a form. Map the sequence by term and check which classes are only offered in fall or spring so you do not get stuck waiting a year. Patch gaps with summer or winter sessions, or test out of basics if your school allows it. While you are at it, verify financial aid rules and maximum attempted credits so you do not trip a funding landmine.

Hard truth is most textbook reading leaks out overnight and even for careful readers. What helps me and the person who can misplace a phone while holding it, is micro cycles of recall. Read one short section, shut the book, and write three sentences from memory that nail the definition, the example, and the why. Then check and fix, and do the same cycle again later that day and tomorrow. I still forget a chunk, but the pieces I can restate without peeking are the ones that stick for the exam. Aim to remember fewer things with perfect recall rather than keep rereading and hoping.

Bombed my first organic chem exam because I reread notes and highlighted. Felt like I knew it, then the test exposed nothing stuck. Switched to active recall only. Sat with a blank page and wrote everything I could remember from memory, checked, fixed gaps. Grades went up two exams later. What works for most people is retrieval practice every time. Close the book and quiz yourself with practice questions or blurting, then check and correct. Space those sessions across days, not marathon cramming, even 10 minute hits add up. Use simple flashcards with definitions or problem prompts and only keep the ones you miss in the frequent pile. Mix topics in one session so your brain has to choose the method, not autopilot. Finish by teaching the idea in plain words to an imaginary student. Sleep, water, and short timed blocks beat all-nighters.

Hi Cali! Back in my day we didn't have all these screens pulling us away. we'd sit with books and notes, no notifications. Try turning off your phone and studying like it's the 90s and with a stack of printed pages. Reward yourself after and sure, but focus on one thing at a time.

Go for a lightweight moisturizer with hyaluronic acid and gentle extras like aloe or oatmeal, and make sure it's labeled non-comedogenic so it won't clog pores. Check reviews from people in dry climates, stick with affordable options, and do a quick patch test to avoid flare-ups.

At home I wrangle everyone's playlists and it weirdly made Spanish stick. We set the TV profiles to Spanish audio with English subs after dinner, then flip it the next night. I dump new words into a shared note and make the car ride playlist all Spanish bops for ten minutes. We label the pantry in two languages, so even cereal is study time. It turns into a tiny routine the whole house follows without thinking.

My plugs did this for weeks and it turned out my router had an overnight auto tune that changed the 2.4 channel and rebooted the radio at about three in the morning. The fix was boring. I split the SSIDs turned off Smart Connect, set 2.4 to a fixed channel with 20 MHz width, and killed the scheduled optimization. After that they stopped ghosting. If your router has Wi Fi 6 knobs, try disabling OFDMA and Target Wake Time on the 2.4 band. Old chips freak out when those are on during a brief drop. Been solid since.

The chargers are the hard stop. Each charger is built to sense pack temperature and voltage through specific pins and to follow a charge profile that matches that brand. Cross charging can damage the pack or the charger even if the voltage seems right on paper. Adapters only pass power for use on the tool. They do not make charging safe across brands. Match platform to reuse what you have or accept the extra charger and keep the ecosystems separate.