Thursday, October 25, 2007
On Hold

One thing my roomie Nik hates about school is how it causes most people (herself and myself included) to put the rest of their lives on hold while the academic stresses mount. She admires people who continue to cook big meals, play sports, knit and hang out with their friends and lovers despite having tons of work to do and exams to study for. I admire them too because I've never been one to continue doing all the things I love when I'm busy with school work (except blog, but that's more of a procrastination tool). See, for example, this list I compiled the night before a big midterm:

Things I Get To Do When My Midterm Exams Are Over

- Eat my orange and Oh! Henry bar
- Go for cheap wing night at Morty's (with a pint, of course)
- Perform all sorts of personal hygiene activities including, but not limited to: showering and washing my hair, clipping nails, tweezing eyebrows, waxing legs
- Go grocery shopping (yay! I get to eat!)
- Go to the gym and pool
- Do laundry (yay! clean underwear!)

Not only do hobbies and socializing take the back burner, all sorts of essential life activities stop. I suppose I see it as reward-based motivation; once I work and study hard enough and get through exams, I can do all the things that will make me happy again because, clearly, during exam time I am miserable from lack of fun, hungry, and plain ol' dirty.