A(nother) Parable Against Procrastination
Posting Location: University Village.
So, looking over my last few entries, I realize that I haven't actually mentioned a lot of what's happened lately. Let's remedy that, shall we?
Starting with academics, my first --- and last --- two finals of the quarter were both on Monday, which I believe I did reasonably well on. The preceeding Friday the last two response papers for my Utopia and AntiUtopia course were due, which frankly I'm amazed I haven't ranted on already. See, the papers were due at 12:00 noon on Friday, as the proffessor was only going to be in his office until then, and I, naturally, let myself put off both papers until Thursday night. Did I mention these two papers were worth around 50% of my grade in that class? Seriously. You'd think I'd learn by now. At least I wasn't kidding myself this time around, and indeed took advantage of prior experience; knowing I was probably going to be up all night finishing these two, I started the evening with two sticks of Black Black. And, as expected, they did the trick; I managed to finish them both off by 6:00 AM Friday morning. With some unexpected extra time on my hands, I screwed around on my computer for a couple hours, then figured I'd get in a quick power-nap for an hour, which actually turned out to be closer to four.
Anyone catch that the first time around?
That's right. I woke up six hours after I'd finished the papers --- and three minutes after the deadline. The busses from University Village only go on the hour or half-hour marks, so I had just missed the previous bus --- but then those only arrive on campus ten to fifteen minutes later anyways. Driving --- now my only option --- takes about as long, and without a University parking pass my only parking options were at my boyfriend's house off South Campus --- leaving me with at least as long a run to where the papers had to be turned in.
Did I also happen to mention that my proffessor in that course told us that after he finished up his work for the quarter he was going to Australia for the break?
Let me tell you, I'm pretty sure I've never driven that fast down a side-street before, and I'm damn sure I've never run that fast in my life. Thankfully, due to the grace and intervention of some force I have not yet identified because I pretty much made an all-points-bulletin prayer in transit, the proffessor had not yet checked his mailbox by 12:24 when I finally arrived at the office. I was able to turn them in and salvage my grade, then shakily walked back to my boyfriend's house to crash for about half an hour or so while my lungs regenerated. The experience really showed me how out-of-shape I am; while it's a good thing that I wasn't actually coughing up blood, I'm pretty sure it wasn't so good that I felt like I might at any minute.
After that, really, my other three classes were a breeze to wrap up. Even two consecutive finals can't really compete with the get-ready/drive-like-hell/run-like-fuck triathalon I endured Friday, especially when they were subjects I felt I was doing reasonably well in. It helped that my English Ballads proffessor more or less stated the week before that it was nigh impossible to really "study" for the final; it involved using methods that we wouldn't really know unless we'd been coming to class and paying attention all quarter. I had, so it was actually pretty easy. And my last class I had already finished up in --- as the entry dates for my blog essay can attest to.
Well. This pretty much turned into a rant about my misfortune, hasn't it? I guess I'll have to follow up with a rant about what's happened this week later.
So, looking over my last few entries, I realize that I haven't actually mentioned a lot of what's happened lately. Let's remedy that, shall we?
Starting with academics, my first --- and last --- two finals of the quarter were both on Monday, which I believe I did reasonably well on. The preceeding Friday the last two response papers for my Utopia and AntiUtopia course were due, which frankly I'm amazed I haven't ranted on already. See, the papers were due at 12:00 noon on Friday, as the proffessor was only going to be in his office until then, and I, naturally, let myself put off both papers until Thursday night. Did I mention these two papers were worth around 50% of my grade in that class? Seriously. You'd think I'd learn by now. At least I wasn't kidding myself this time around, and indeed took advantage of prior experience; knowing I was probably going to be up all night finishing these two, I started the evening with two sticks of Black Black. And, as expected, they did the trick; I managed to finish them both off by 6:00 AM Friday morning. With some unexpected extra time on my hands, I screwed around on my computer for a couple hours, then figured I'd get in a quick power-nap for an hour, which actually turned out to be closer to four.
Anyone catch that the first time around?
That's right. I woke up six hours after I'd finished the papers --- and three minutes after the deadline. The busses from University Village only go on the hour or half-hour marks, so I had just missed the previous bus --- but then those only arrive on campus ten to fifteen minutes later anyways. Driving --- now my only option --- takes about as long, and without a University parking pass my only parking options were at my boyfriend's house off South Campus --- leaving me with at least as long a run to where the papers had to be turned in.
Did I also happen to mention that my proffessor in that course told us that after he finished up his work for the quarter he was going to Australia for the break?
Let me tell you, I'm pretty sure I've never driven that fast down a side-street before, and I'm damn sure I've never run that fast in my life. Thankfully, due to the grace and intervention of some force I have not yet identified because I pretty much made an all-points-bulletin prayer in transit, the proffessor had not yet checked his mailbox by 12:24 when I finally arrived at the office. I was able to turn them in and salvage my grade, then shakily walked back to my boyfriend's house to crash for about half an hour or so while my lungs regenerated. The experience really showed me how out-of-shape I am; while it's a good thing that I wasn't actually coughing up blood, I'm pretty sure it wasn't so good that I felt like I might at any minute.
After that, really, my other three classes were a breeze to wrap up. Even two consecutive finals can't really compete with the get-ready/drive-like-hell/run-like-fuck triathalon I endured Friday, especially when they were subjects I felt I was doing reasonably well in. It helped that my English Ballads proffessor more or less stated the week before that it was nigh impossible to really "study" for the final; it involved using methods that we wouldn't really know unless we'd been coming to class and paying attention all quarter. I had, so it was actually pretty easy. And my last class I had already finished up in --- as the entry dates for my blog essay can attest to.
Well. This pretty much turned into a rant about my misfortune, hasn't it? I guess I'll have to follow up with a rant about what's happened this week later.
posted by Mithrandalf at 9:42 PM
1 Comments:
Well, what I noticed about that story is that the whole drama hung on an interesting media fetish. Your "papers" began life as digital files, but you were required to translate them into paper documents (using up extra trees), which further required you to burn fossil fuels (and your lungs) to deliver said paper to a specific location. I understand requiring sculpture or paintings to be submitted as atoms rather than bits—but text? One could make a funny short film about the transformations our documents go through (digital->paper->digital->paper->digital) and the hoops we jump through along the way.
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