In a week colored by multiple papers to write, a rotation of sweatshirts, and old pop songs ("It's Gonna Be Me" & friends) on repeat, there isn't much time for amusement. You have to make your own fun - not always an easy task when your friends are going hog wild as you slowly melt, skimming the books you were supposed to read two months ago just so that you can actually form a half-coherent argument about a theory some sociologist came up with that you don't really understand anyway.
Ways I Make My Own Fun When I Write Papers:
1) I always write my papers single-spaced. Always. As I write, I try and estimate how much I have actually written (you would think that two pages single-spaced = four pages double-spaced... but you would be wrong). Anyway, as much as I want to double-space what I've written so badly as I work my way through the paper, I refrain. And then, at the end, when I have written all I can possibly muster, I double-space the sucker. And it is truly transcendent. Anticipation = FUN.
2) I make little rewards for myself along the way. For example, I will decide that when I finish a page, I will allow myself to eat some Wheat Thins or watch a YouTube video I've been saving in my Firefox browser. Sometimes, when I am feeling especially crazy, I sign out of gmail while I am writing a paper. In these Emergency Situations, my reward after finishing a page is that I get to check my e-mail. And, let me tell you, there is no reward greater than that after sitting at your laptop for 56 minutes e-mail-less. Rewards = FUN.
3) I make weird noises. I sigh. I groan. I blurgh. I shout. I am a noise-making frrrrreak when I write papers! Ask my roommate. I could record an album of the noises I make when I write papers. Album title: "Paper Cutz." First single: "Three Pages to Go Blues (No Turning Back)." Noises = FUN.
Last night, I finished my last paper of the semester, my last paper of college. I felt awesome - we're talking Dan Humphrey-after-his-first-kiss-with-Serena awesome. But when I woke up this morning and realized that my days of 3-in-the-morning stressed "I can't finish this paper!" e-mails, of eating bad food as a form of procrastination, of making weird noises (!) as you revise your footnotes are.... over, I didn't feel so awesome anymore.
5 comments:
I DO ALL THREE AND MORE! AAH I thought I was the only one.
It also helps to have a point system for how many Humanities Paper Words you can cram in. "Problematize" is two points. If something "begs the question", that's three points. If you can somehow mention wookies, you get a special prize. Self-mockery = FUN
I hate hate hate it when you say you're not going to finish something... and you don't. so you have to keep chugging and struggling past the point at which you thought you were going to be done. talk about a motivation-killer.
and nice blog, man
I just found this blog through the IvyGate sidebar, and it's hilarious, especially this entry - i do every one of these things while writing papers!
Those things are apparently way more common than I thought! I do all 3, and sometimes worse.
By the way, don't know how widely spread your blog is since I just stumbled upon it, but just so you know, you have a fan in Norway now. Welcome to my bookmarks.
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