In twenty-four hours, give or take, Jared and myself and our 100 or so classmates will have run the gauntlet that is spring finals week. It will be over. I have most of a term paper left to write, but it’s going well, and I expect it to be a calm and quiet finish.
I spent my afternoon with the windows open, enjoying the sound of wild May rain and the cool breeze. I am thankful for this, and feel it made up for the incredibly tedious task of taking notes out of commentaries that accompanied these pleasures. (I love me some exegesis, but the note-taking is like pulling teeth. I think the pleasure is in the synthesis.)
Do you ever get to that point of stress where you make up new things to do, just so you can feel productive and give yourself a happy excuse to procrastinate? It was in such a rush that I made the 24-page original draft of the Lenten KAL. It’s like you’re pressing forward so hard against a goal directly in front of you that your creative energy has to press out laterally, kinda out your ears. That’s why, instead of starting my exegesis paper two nights ago, I stayed up until midnight drafting the pattern for a new sweater. Now the chart is made and I’m cast on, and I’m debating whether to knit on it or write a few more paragraphs tonight. The fact that I’m already procrastinating by blogging is not a good sign.
What weird things do you do when you’re up against a crazy deadline? Are you super-focused and productive? Do you procrastinate then pull crazy all-nighters? Are you so organized that you don’t even know what I’m talking about? Do you eat nothing but cold pizza and stop doing housework? (Guilty on that one! I’m doing pretty well this time, but if you come over, you might want to use your own bathroom first so you don’t have to use mine. ‘t’ain’t pretty.) Do you engage in extra prayer? Do you offer yourself a prize at the end? Do you drink coffee until you have to do Lamaze breathing to keep your heart from exploding?
It’s almost over. That’s all I can think about. Oddly, Friday the 13th’s tend to be my luckiest (or most blessed) days, so I’m feeling confident.
Osborn Fiber Studio 
Oh wow! I’m so glad I’m not the only one out there who does this….tell me there are more of you out there! I began dying last year when I was in my busy season of VBS, and had no business beginning a new hobby. But for a while there I didn’t want to face VBS and so learning to dye was a good distraction. And a happy reward after working on it. This year it will probably be spinning…..and more dying experiments……thankfully things with deadlines DO get done and sometimes they get done well! VBS was a smash hit last year; and hopefully this year too. I hope your grades are terrific.
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When I was in grad school, I had a huge research methods paper to finish my first year and procrastinated. I ended up locking myself in my apartment with papers and notecards spread all over the floor working on the paper. My diet consisted of coffee/cappuccino, Krispy Kreme donuts, dark chocolate M&M’s and delivered Chinese for about 36- 48 hours. It wasn’t pretty, but I got it done and drove home to Pittsburgh to vaca for a week, 6 hours after I finished.
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Haha! I love both your stories. (Didn’t know that was your reasoning, mom… lol. Spinning is so going to be our new obsession.) Niki that’s amazing! I think if I had that diet I would get a migraine after 12 hours and just pass out.
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I clean. My family/friends think this is hilarious, because it’s something I normally try to avoid.
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I was the one that had to plan out the papers from beginning to end. I tended to turn it in early and well everyone hated me for that. But, it drove me nuts when my partners, if I had to, would put it off until the last minute and then expect me to write the paper.
Then college came……that is when I realized there was life outside of school. Chinese and pizza was delievered frequently for the all night cram sessions.
Shucks…..
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