Ode to procrastination
I will be officially done with library school on Thursday. Glory hallelujah. In the meantime I have to finish my internship and write a paper about what I learned during the internship (not necessarily in that order) and sit through one last torturous evening of class, in which we will attempt to get through 13 student presentations in the time it took to finish barely 9 this week. I shudder at the thought.
I was one of the nine, and I'm happy to note that my presentation was exactly 10 minutes long (the official limit was 10-15, although some of my classmates interpreted that as 20-30). Leaving your notecards at your seat when you go up to speak makes for an even shorter talk. My presentation was inane anyway, so I don't think anyone missed the extra few quotes I meant to throw in. I'll omit my rant about professors who give helpful ideas for presentations -- in writing -- in the goddamn syllabus -- and then tell you that's not what they wanted at all. I will simply say that I no longer believe that my prof is M. Manette's long lost relative -- I now believe he's the spawn of Satan.
So where was I? Ah, yes -- procrastination. It's always served me well in the past. But when Evil Professor neglected to assign our midterm project and then decided that our final projects would just count for twice as much of our grades instead, I decided to get a jump on things and began gathering materials for my annotated bibliography and "public piece" about a month in advance. However, I also began the customary obsessing a month in advance as well, to the point where I was not sleeping or functioning beyond the most basic level, because that would have interfered with the obsessing.
My conclusion: Next time I find myself in an academic situation (and this episode has made seriously reconsider furthering my education beyond this point), I will leave everything until the absolute last minute. Because that's when I actually did the work anyway. And the previous 29 days or so would have been much more comfortable.
I was one of the nine, and I'm happy to note that my presentation was exactly 10 minutes long (the official limit was 10-15, although some of my classmates interpreted that as 20-30). Leaving your notecards at your seat when you go up to speak makes for an even shorter talk. My presentation was inane anyway, so I don't think anyone missed the extra few quotes I meant to throw in. I'll omit my rant about professors who give helpful ideas for presentations -- in writing -- in the goddamn syllabus -- and then tell you that's not what they wanted at all. I will simply say that I no longer believe that my prof is M. Manette's long lost relative -- I now believe he's the spawn of Satan.
So where was I? Ah, yes -- procrastination. It's always served me well in the past. But when Evil Professor neglected to assign our midterm project and then decided that our final projects would just count for twice as much of our grades instead, I decided to get a jump on things and began gathering materials for my annotated bibliography and "public piece" about a month in advance. However, I also began the customary obsessing a month in advance as well, to the point where I was not sleeping or functioning beyond the most basic level, because that would have interfered with the obsessing.
My conclusion: Next time I find myself in an academic situation (and this episode has made seriously reconsider furthering my education beyond this point), I will leave everything until the absolute last minute. Because that's when I actually did the work anyway. And the previous 29 days or so would have been much more comfortable.
posted by Madame Defarge at 2:28 PM
2 Comments:
Congratulations! So you're finished now with everything? Woohoo! What does one get when one finishes library school? Do they give you a pair of cat-eye glasses and a beehive? Can I get you a ridiculously tacky Christmas sweater? Ooh, no, a sweater vest! I'm thinking something with puffy balls, or antlers that have ornaments on them! Just let them try to mistake you for the children's librarian now! =) I'm just kidding. Well, maybe not about the sweater though.
Anyway, you deserve a big bottle of champagne for getting through with everything. Is Chris taking you out to celebrate? When is the internship over?
So what did you learn at the internship? I'm curious...are the patrons as interesting as the public libraries?
Speaking of procrastintation...It's nine o'clock at night, and I have 4 sets of essays to grade for tomorrow. I just can't bring myself to start them. These last few weeks have been hellish, with planning and grading. Then I opened my big fat mouth about hosting a Christmas party last Saturday. Our last final for school is Wednesday, and all grades are due by 3:00 pm. And stupid me - assigning a partial essay for the final. I'm nothing if not stubborn.
We come in on Friday night, and I have yet to finish Christmas shopping. Mike as usual doesn't want anything, which makes him increasingly difficult to shop for. I'm thinking of taking him up on his "you don't have to get me anything" offer. I, on the other hand, would never be so foolish as to make such an offer. Rookies.
So, have you put any more thought into our theatrical outing this year? I keep getting emails about Putnam, but I haven't heard much about it. What else is in town? I need a covert (or ouvert) operation to get me out of Rockford. What should our codeword be? Operation Broadway? Let me know what you think...
Can't wait to see you!
I finished the internship last Thursday, so I'm officially all done. I think grades were due this week; my diploma should be mailed sometime in early January. Hopefully the glasses and beehive will be in the same package.
Re: Operation Broadway, I have to work Tuesday and Thursday nights, but I'm off on Wednesday evening if we can find something to see then. I confess I haven't been paying much attention to the listings--stupid school.
Re: procrastination, I did the bulk of my Christmas shopping today. I figure it's much easier to make decisions when there's no time to deliberate. My motto: The most important thing is buying something, regardless of what it is.
Happy travels!
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