I updated my Twitter and was about to update Tumblr* with the notification that I would be going into a cave of studying for the next 3 weeks...Then I remembered I had to blog every day until the end of April. Fuck.

Today was one of the zombie days. Somehow I made it through classes while staying alert and engaged (mainly because I was running on coffee and sugar). Directly after classes, though, I climbed into bed and passed out. I was supposed to wake up for a review session and studying but I was dead to the world for 2 hours more than I had planned. And then of course after I did get out of bed again, I was in no state for any kind of serious work.

I've found that after classes I need a break from intellectualism but I can't just sit and watch Netflix because my brain will just shut down. That's why I do the crossword every day. I can keep my mind active but I don't have any pressure to perform at a certain level of intelligence. It doesn't matter if I get the crossword clue wrong. I can fill out a whole puzzle and then throw it in the recycle. It's cathartic, a release.

While I did the crossword today I watched Friday Night Lights. I fell in love with this show when I discovered all of the previous season on Netflix Instant Play. I watched all 4 seasons in as many weeks. Now, the final season is just starting to air on NBC (then up on Hulu). This final season is also already out on DVD so I could have just gotten the DVD's and watched it all at once like I did for the other seasons...But I want to savor it. I've become attached to the characters and since I discovered the show late, I've only had a short time with them. I want to make this final season last.



I did not plan on blogging about the crossword and Friday Night Lights today, but I suppose it's a pretty good represenation of my life. As I go through classes, I keep notes in my planner of ideas I want to write about (in this blog or just for myself or whatever). Today I had a ton of notes. Despite lack of sleep I was thoroughly engaged in my class discussions (on various subjects: the success of our democracy, scholarship as architecture of the mind, post-colonial narratives as allegories for Christian servitude, the performance of disability, and even a comparison of Gollum and Caliban). Oh well. Maybe I'll return to write on those topics another time. Or maybe not.

I just scheduled my work over the next 20 days. Every day I have serious studying/writing/research to do. The end of the semester always throws me into an obsessive scheduling mode. I plan out every second of every day. I make endless to-do lists. 1 exam, 2 final presentations, 1 short writing assignment, 1 annotated bibliography, 2 research projects and analyses, and 2 ten-page research papers. Plus, I go home for Easter and we have 4/20 and Mayfest thrown in. This is definitely a marathon not a sprint, a test of stamina.

If I can get through this...I will have survived this year, something that 5 months I thought would be impossible for me to achieve. So. Deep breath. AND......

Let's Go.


* I guess I'm feeling particularly narcissistic. No one cares. But you know what. I don't care if anyone cares. Self-expression in all its various forms is therapeutic.