Happy Thanksgiving (Again)

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! I certainly did. It was so wonderful to go home! To see my family, to see Zeus and Zoey, to see the yard and the house and the newly-painted living room, to sleep in my own, full-size (much biggger than twin-size) bed...and so much more. No class - that was wonderful - no class at all. And I didn't do any school work until last night (this morning). But now, I''m dreadfully behind. I have an exam tomorrow that I need to study for, and I have an Exam on Friday that I need to get prepared for as well. Tomorrow is French - no biggie, I'm just going to review some verb tenses and be done with it.

(Reader, beware, what follows is a lengthy discussion of exams, procrastination, grades, finals, and other boring subjects which you are advised only to read if you are in need of its soporific effects. You've been warned)

But Friday is Biochemistry, and I don't have to take the exam as I've already accumulated enough points, but I would like to feel ready to take the exam - and I am woefully unprepared for it. You see, about a week and a half ago, I dreamed up this great plot and I had to write it out, and plan it out, and so every spare moment I had (and even some that shouldn't have been spare I took anyway) I spent writing this new story. I'll probably never do anything with it, but now I have a good start on a good tale I could develop into a book (when I'm old and gray and tired of living off of cat food...). But the muse moved me so strongly that I couldn't resist the pull of my keyboard - I had to write - and I neglected my biochemistry, again (A very, very, very common thing with me, I should seek help about it, I know...). That added to the fact that I don't have to take this next exam has led to me being about, oh, three or four chapters behind. I have a vague grasp of the material, but little of it would be reproducible or point-worthy on an exam. I hope you realize by now that my purpose behind this verbose discussion of my biochemical procrastination is to help me realize and accomplish several things: how far behind I am, how much I need to catch up, how much I need to study, to stop procrastinating and do some real studying, and to stop obsessing about procrastinating when I could be doing work. Anyway, I'm going to read the current chapter tonight and hopefully I won't feel so lost in tomorrow's lecture and in tomorrow's problem session. I did manage to revise my Shakespeare paper and send my final draft to my professor, so that's taken care of. I do, however, need to really, very soon, write my external learning experience paper, as it is due in two weeks. It's about that work I did for the aquaculture department back at the end of the summer - way, way back. Yeah, that one. I know, I should have written it ages ago. But I didn't, so now I have to do it now. And I need to get several people to sign off on my official minor application, and turn in my major application, all by next Friday. It's going to be two very, very busy weeks. And then Finals start in two weeks - I have three. Which reminds me: my genetics lab final is next week: I need to start studying for that. Damn. But, my first final during exam week is French (no biggie). Then on the 17th, I have Biochemistry, which I have told myself I will not, under any circumstances, kill myself studying for. I need only 21 points out of 72 to make a B in the class. I need 51 points out of 72 to get an A. Getting a B won't be so bad, and I'm still going to try for the A, but I will not stress myself out. Then, on Tuesday, the 18th, I have my Shakespeare final, no biggie, and then I'm free to go home for the holidays! I can't wait! But, I have another problem: my muse has struck again. Over the holiday break, I had another inspiration. I'd hit an impasse with one of my other stories, and couldn't think of how to continue the plot in a believable manner (not that it matters because I'm the only one who is ever going to read it, unless I publish under a pseudonym, in which case, I won't care if anyone reads it because they won't know it's my work). I had great fears of discontinuing the story until one night, just as I was falling asleep (the time when muses are most active, didn't you know), an idea came to me, and I've been stewing it over and over in my head, and now I am most anxious to get it out, but it's going to take a lot of time - and then I'm going to want to spend a lot of time on it - and I can't afford it. So, nope, can't do it. Must wait. Bugger. 23 days 'til the break...not that I'm counting or anything.