*BEEEP BEEEEP BEEEEP* *hit snooze* Roll Over...

                               ... closely followed by "Oh crap, I'm late now..."

Looks like a good idea, should try it myself.

This is pretty much my usual morning routine. I normally set my alarm half an hour early, and even then I still manage to get up at the last possible minute. My bed is just so snug and warm... If only it were that comfy when I get in at night.

It's so hard to get to sleep sometimes. Besides the bed being cold, and not finding the right position, your brain decides it's a good time to go into overdrive and start dissecting the day minute by minute. Random things pop into your head unexpectedly, such as possible comebacks you could've used (seriously? I couldn't come up with that 5 hours ago) and you find yourself staring up at the ceiling for hours pondering the meaning of life.

And when it's dark, everything sounds so much louder. I find myself jumping at the slightest sound or counting how many times my housemates go to the bathroom (7 times last night, in case you were wondering). 

Eventually, you begin to drift off... you get comfy in bed... your eyes start to close... and an effing helicopter decides it's the perfect time of day to circle your house. The only way that could be any more annoying is if they decided to shine a spotlight through your window. And the helicopter pilot seems to have a weird sense of humour, for after circling above your house for what seems like hours you hear them slowly moving away, the sounds getting softer with distance. And just when you think you can finally settle back to attempting to sleep, they turn around with a vengeance and hover above you for another hour.

The Evil Pilot is probably laughing at the poor innocent beings suffering below him, and you are so tempted to lean out of the window and yell: "Would somebody please shoot this damn thing down!!!"

So you attempt plan B: which is playing relaxing music on your ipod. But this involves finding said ipod, which is never where you left it the day before. And when you do find it, then comes the biggest challenge of the night: untangling your headphones in the dark. Well, you could always switch the light on, but who wants to be blinded at 3:30 a.m? So I proceed to try and untangle them, usually ending up totally frustrated and only using one bud. But occasionally, the stars align, and the headphones slip free of their restraints and I am able to lie down and relax to some music. But of course, as I mentioned before, everything sounds louder in the dark, and my ipod is on daytime volume and halfway through a song. Knowing my luck, it's probably AC/DC blaring out at full volume making you jump half a mile while raping the - button, hoping to get the volume down to an acceptable level.

Hopefully, from then on, the quest towards sleep should be easier. Until you're awoken either by your evil alarm clock or the cheesiest song ever on your ipod.

Still, either of these options beats your mother barging into your room at an ungodly hour and pulling off your covers... 

Cover Letters... or How to Dupe Employers Into Hiring You

Writing cover letters is a noble art. It's a chance to let your creativity rise to the challenge of creating a whole new, employable persona - which probably doesn't even resemble the 'real' you.
You're expected to cram who you are, what skills you have and what you can offer into one side of A4.  Basically, you have to market yourself as an employable product.

Looks about right?

Personally, I have trouble writing cover letters. I get bogged down by the job descriptions, and trying to figure out what I'm expected to say. I always end up sounding pretentious - at least I think so. It's always something along the lines of:

"You must hire me. I am obviously the best candidate. I have all these skills *insert skills here*. You clearly stated in your job description that you need people with *insert skills here*, which, as I mentioned previously, I have.
By the way, did I mention I have all these skills? Because I do. So you should hire me. I am the best candidate."

It sounds so stilted and impersonal. If I were called in for an interview, they would barely recognise me based on that letter. I'm not that conceited individual, inadvertently snubbing all other candidates applying for the position.
But everyone does it. We all have to write cover letters at some point in our lives. It's almost a sucking-up competition. You write like 20 versions, sending them out to different employers telling each of them how much you would love to work for them, because it's the only place you can envision yourself working at.
And this, just like your new cover letter alter-ego, is all lies!
But they want us to lie, why else were CVs invented? Nobody tells the truth in CVs or cover letters. If we did, most of us wouldn't even be working. Employers must love being sucked-up to, because we all blatantly do it and so far, nobody has complained.
Growing up is a b****