• Week 12: Sticky Taffy

    April 21, 2009

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    Posted in: Schoolwork

    This is how it’s been. One moment, it’s fourteen weeks into the semester. The next – bam! It’s two weeks later. I didn’t notice that amount of time had passed until Brandon pointed me to the blog and said “You haven’t written in two weeks.”

    To which I said, “Holy neurons! What day is it?

    Between writing for Insight, editing and managing for Insight, writing for classes, writing other stories for Nevada News, the filled schedule of interviews, other homework, house sitting and dog sitting three dogs for Mike’s family last week, I haven’t found the time to orient my thoughts and put them on paper. Or even orient them and speak coherently. By last Friday, all verbal communication had been reduced to grunts and other various noises such as “blargh” and “mleh.”

    Even now, trying to command a comprehensible stream of words and knowing in thirty minutes, I have to write another critique which is due in an hour is really distracting.

    Where is this going, really? I have no freaking clue. Welcome to the mind of a college student four weeks away from graduating. The mind has coagulated into a sticky taffy, comprised of all the classes, lessons, homework, articles, people, extracurricular interests and work that had until now, remained in separate categories. I now talk about film music in my Japanese class and about the intricacies of the successful query letter to my cat.

    Where does that leave you, the reader, who may or may have not come here for advice? Where does that leave me? I don’t know. I am lost somewhere in the weeks that have passed and the weeks that are still on the way.

    But one piece of advice, keep a look out for the warning signs of overdoing it.

    1. Are you so tired, you slur your speech or stop midsentence?
    2. Are you doing silly forgetful things like turning in the wrong homework to the wrong classes or locking your house with your car keys and locking your car with your house keys?
    3. Are you sleeping an average of two to three hours an evening?
    4. Does summer break seem impossible?
    5. Are you feeling fatigued and feverish almost every day?
    6. Are you getting sick more often than not?
    7. Do you often find yourself asking, “When will it ever end?” while falling to your knees and raising your fists Willem Dafoe a la Platoon?

    If you have any of the above symptoms, do this:

    On your next free day or next free few hours, turn off your phone, grab a favorite beverage, get comfortable and watch your favorite movie, something you’ve seen before, something you know well, something that makes you laugh. Then, fall asleep.

    Or if you’re the outdoorsy type, turn off your phone, grab a favorite beverage, hike to a quiet, shaded spot, apply suntan lotion, stare at the clouds, think inspirational, happy thoughts. Then, fall asleep.

    It works, trust me. I’m planning on doing the same exact thing the next time I get a chance, which should come up in about four weeks.

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