Ugh.

Since the comprehensive exam (Oct. 11 & 12), I've been in a major slump.

It's not a bad, depressed, woe is me slump, but a slump no less. I'm falling behind in my schoolwork and I'm barely keeping up with my students' work. I just can't seem to make myself sit down and do everything that needs to be done.

I have a much easier time say...baking cupcakes. Or...shopping for things I don't need. Or...my current favorite, preparing myself and my roommate for Halloween. Sadly, however, the only thing I need to complete my super hot costume is a pair of false eyelashes and a man's suit coat. If those things don't make sense together, just wait for the pictures.

So, as my roommate and I excitedly planned our Friday activities - it was a much better option than writing our respective papers - I had a flashback to undergrad.

I was an over-achiever!

I did everything early. I submitted early drafts of papers. I discussed things with professors. I considered some professors friends, even. And...here's the kicker...I was so work-driven that I (and my then roommate) had to mandate that Fridays were for fun. We called it "Fridays are for Fun." Catchy, right?

Anyway, after our classes ended on Fridays, I feel like it was about 3 but I can't be sure, we would put down the books and do something fun. Sometimes this was as simple as watching a movie and having Dairy Queen. We really started to dream big when we began planning our Build-a-Bear trip that never happened. But you get the idea. Often our Fridays included other friends too, and it got easier to regularly make time for fun.

My friends, look at me now. I feel like I've made a 180. I now have to mandate work hours. And even then, I don't stick to them. Heck, I'm blogging right through my "read a couple student papers before T'ai Chi" block right now.

So, clearly writing things in my planner doesn't work for me anymore. For a while in undergrad I had a friend who would make me establish goals for the day, night, whatever, and then call me on my progress. That actually worked. That friend is now living her life in New Mexico(?) and therefore not quite bugging me about my work as much.

Lucky you!

Today I want to:
1. Read student papers
2. Finish my staging history rewrite
3. Read at least part of O'Neill's trilogy

That should be doable, right?

Ugh. I'll let you know.

Update: 11:16PM, Tuesday
1. 12 out of 16 done. 4 is a totally doable number of papers for tomorrow morning.
2. DONE! (and printed)
3. I read one and half plays . . . so I have about half to finish by Thursday afternoon. We'll see.

Now to sleep! So excited about that prospect.