Reorganizing My Back Pack

I'll try to add to the theme set by the previous post. On top of this break already being longer than most of the winter breaks in the past, we gained two extra days due to extremely cold temperatures and wind chills. I couldn't be more thrilled! But this doesn't help with my procrastination problem one bit. Knowing I have an extra day to do my homework means I don't have to do it today. So when I was faced with a partner in a group project who wanted to work on that project tonight, I got a little frustrated. Why can't we do it tomorrow? Why can't we do it next week? Why can't we do it in February when it is actually due? Of course, it isn't her fault that she has her priorities straight and I'm just plain lazy.

Moving on, I was going through my folder for the class with the group project and I couldn't find my notes sheet, so I decided to organize the folder into a binder with tabs. I thought it would be simple, but I made it much harder than it needed to be. Should I keep all the tests and quizzes separate from everything, or do I mix them in with the notes from the corresponding chapters? Do I do the same with all the articles? Should assignments get their own tab or do assignments go in the front pocket so I see them right away when I open the binder? Tough questions, I'm tellin' ya. When I finished with that binder, I moved on to another one of my unorganized folders. In that class, the teacher hardly hands things back and all my notes and homework assignment are still in my notebooks. Should I have even given that class a binder? Probably not.

I reorganized all of my folders into ways that I hope will be easier to navigate during my classes. I took out all of my pencils and made sure each of them had lead and I checked all the pens and highlighters too. I emptied out the garbage and put in new chapstick and hand lotion. I did a whole bunch of things to my backpack that I could have lived without and I did it all so that I had an excuse to not do my homework. I'm sure I'm going to regret all of this tomorrow night (after I waste all my time during the day) when I have to read extremely long and boring textbook articles while taking detailed notes.

Maybe I'll start now...or maybe I'll go to sleep. Procrastination is exhausting.

-E

Breaking up a Great Break

 By the time winter break comes around, I am beyond ready for it. School brings me to a state of mental exhaustion. Seriously though, it's terrible. My main symptom of this condition is the habit of completely stalling from doing any type of work that requires thinking. It could be a fairly "simple" task of reading, lets say, ten pages out of a book. In the fatigued mental state, ten pages = three hours. Three.  It usually goes like this:
-pick up book
-read first page only
-go to bathroom
-eat cereal
-listen to 5 songs on iPod
-lay on couch for 30 minutes thinking about how badly you don't want to read
-take 20 minute nap
-wake up 40 minutes later
-Yay it's dinner time!
-Eat dinner for 20 minutes
-Ridicule yourself for 10 minutes on how you could've had so much done by now
-take a shower
-pick up book. Read 2 pages
-Time for another snack
-Eyes start to feel heavy
-You FINALLY realize you have to finish reading
-You read the remaining 7 pages with ease

Total Time: 3 hours. Or More.

I guess my point is, breaks are absolutely necessary. And this winter break was a good one. I got to see my family from near and far, travel up north to the log cabin with great friends, see a couple movies, skii/snowboard, play a good game of pond hockey, and do absolutely nothing. Now suddenly, break is almost over. Which stinks. I feel like I need at least another week or two. Then I wonder, maybe I am ready to work again. HAH then I'll read this in another week and think I'm crazy. I guess its a cycle. Sigh.

-A