Thursday, November 13, 2008

"done is good"

I feel like each day I become less and less productive. Or maybe it is just the November slump. I really dislike November, gahh. It is entirely too hot on the west coast; I nearly fainted today from the heat. I crave changing leaves, wind, snow and a stiff drink, in that order.

At my college we had this thing called "Done is good." Basically "Done is goods" were just little slips of paper, usually elaborately decorated by some poor girl with entirely too much time on her hands, that served as emotive-ish do lists. We'd all fill them out and hang them up in the dorm so that we were able to keep track of all of the work we had until the end of the semester...these lists usually started cropping up around thanksgiving I think. It was always cathartic.... It was great to put your list up, and make fun of/pity the people who had more/less/the same amount of work as you/your friends; we were all so euphoric, carefree and young! Plus, the awesome part was that the RAs would give you candy as you went along, depending on how many tasks you completed. They'd hand out plump bag-fulls when your list was finally done. It was part torture, part pleasure...the angst, suspense and greed for free candy and food. I've tried to implement the same system, but living alone, it's not nearly as fun. One of my college friends and I still do it together (more or less over the phone since she lives on the blessed east coast), and it works decently, but I always cheat and eat the candy before I even make the list. Plus since I buy it myself, there's no real incentive. mehhhh. but since I'm already starting to forget the things I'm supposed to do before the end of the semester, I might as well make one here, just in case.

Done is good:
1. paper 1
2. paper 2
3. paper 3
4. paper 4?
5. think about finishing up incomplete? (hah, think about...what a loophole!)
6. manuscript project
7. final class presentation
8. pedagogy project draft
9. pedagogy project final
10. syllabus for next semester
11. fix up the small articles
12. final latin exam AHHH
13. figure out life/get life coach/run away
14. finally respond to kind of ex-boyfriend to congratulate him on his engagement
15. figure out if I should actually go to engagement party/wedding or not....

oh good god, now I just feel screwed....deep breath, deep breath. It's not so bad, I just need to get started on #13 at least, and stop faffing around on the internetz. Man, I lose hours with the lolcats, tina fey and political business.