Reading, Writing, Resting

The two sweetest words in the life of any college student, other than "spring break": Fall Break.

It's right around the corner, and I for one am looking forward to it. I'm also shocked as hell at how quickly the semester has flown by. I mean, we come back from fall break next week and it's maybe three more weeks of classes. Where did my semester go?

Time is sneaky like that, and so in the interest of taking some stock of it, let me advise any fellow grad students of the following: Mountain Dew Code Red and the cable company's music channel option of "all jazz all the time" is fantastic for getting a paper that you didn't realize was due on Monday typed up on Saturday night. But it can lead to an awfully long time to get to bed.

I speak from recent (last night) experience...

But (knock on wood) I got it done, and I'm up on most of my reading for this week before the break (got a couple of pages left in one book, but I should be able to bang it out before Wednesday) and my exhaustion is that of a man who has earned it by...sitting in one place and reading a lot?

I have to admit, with my previous work experience, "sit here and read this article, book, website, what have you" actually sounded pretty awesome. Like a lot of things that sounded awesome at the time, it's proven to be more complicated, but I'm stressed in a good way. Usually when I'm stressed, it's been over work (and how futile my experience of it at certain jobs has been) or girls (how futile my experience at wooing them has been). But this is a good kind of stress, I think. I'm actually being required to use that thing that's between my ears, covered by a thin (but not too thin) layer of skin and hair. I'm blanking on what it's called, actually, but it starts with a letter...jeez, I should really plan these things out before hitting the "publish" option, but what are ya gonna do?

After last night's binge of Code Red and jazz, I am worse for wear today, though I hope in a good way. I do not plan to imbibe as much Code Red as I did last night (if indeed at all) and I might avoid jazz music for a while, as it can both get me energized or slow me down (and if I'm totally honest, always make me feel like I'm in a Woody Allen film). I spend the bulk of my time at home today, reading Vineland by Thomas Pynchon. It feels like a dry run for Inherent Vice, and actually suffers a little by comparison, but it's not bad in and of itself, and I look forward to possibly finishing it later tonight, after checking to make sure the paper I wrote last night is legible. Not that that's ever stopped me from turning in something before.

Anyway, I look forward to the oh-so-brief vacation period that is fall break (unless they rescind it for some reason), and I don't honestly know what I'll be doing during that week, other than maybe (hopefully) getting ahead of some end-of-the-semester assignments and also just relaxing. I'll probably steer clear of any Code Red, however. That shit will kill you...