No Comment

Mooooose

Where Am I?

Finalitis

I do this to myself every time. I am usually on top of things, I get assignments and papers done no problem. Then finals week rolls around and it is like I suddenly turn into lazy student. I am not sure why it happens, I know it is all coming and what I need to get done, but I just don't do it until the last second. Why?

In another great way to avoid doing the work at hand I have been thinking about why I don't just do it:

My favorite reason is that I like the rush of the final minutes getting something done. It is a bad habit I picked up in my past occupations doing bids and proposals which are constantly changing up to the very last minute possible. I have always said that I loved that rush of bidding and getting things barely out the door, then only to find out that you rocked it and won the contract! Oh Happy Day!!!!

I also believe that I do my best work when pressured and with a looming deadline. It isn't a looming deadline if you have 3 weeks, or even 4 days. A "looming deadline" is like, tomorrow. It ends up being my best work because I didn't rewrite, reedit, rethink every little thing. I tend to get super nervous if I have too much time to re-read and over analysis every sentence. Better for me to just do it once and get it done.

An external reason for my final-itis that I am afflicted with every semester is the timing of finals week. It is always before the Christmas holiday, or the start of summer, or summer break (like now). I always have plans and fun stuff to do, as well as fun people to see and spend time with, this makes it easy to understand why it is hard for me to focus on the tasks at hand.

I guess I should stop over analyzing my reasoning for procrastinating and get back to working on my final exam. Luckily they are all take homes, well and unlucky because I put them off til the last minute. It is a beautiful day outside in the city and I am in a windowless computer lab where everyone seems to know each other and are all chatty. Yet another reason for me to stop working, because its too loud in here!

Wish me luck getting through this next week!

City Stories

Thank goodness it is raining today! I needed a break from the sunshine. My Alaska roots run deep - when it's sunny (even when it is sunny EVERYDAY) I still have the drive in my bones to QUICK GO OUTSIDE ENJOY IT! SOAK IT IN! It wears me out after awhile! Atlanta used to really do me in with all the sunshine and great weather. Anyways, no pictures to share today, but some funny stories.

Act 1

Yesterday in NYC around the NYU campus area, actually around the corner from my class building... there was a guy that looked like a construction worker. You know with the plaid shirt unbuttoned over a plain white tee? He had on work boots and jeans, he didn't look homeless in anyway, I mean he was clean. But the weird thing was....

He was rolling around on his back like a grizzly bear over the subway vent grate.

I wasn't sure if he couldn't' get up or if he was doing it on purposed. It looked like on purpose, like he was itching his back or something - like a grizzly bear does!

The part that really cracked me up about the situation? I walked right by him, practically over him, like it was a totally normal thing to see. I just walked right on by without thinking about it. Then it hit me how odd that was and I didn't react!

At my class that night I told a friend about it because it was so silly. He responded with "Oh did he have nasty feet?! I've seen that guy! His feet are gross and he picks his belly button!"

"No," I told him, "he had on boots. I'm pretty sure he wasn't homeless." We both laughed about how seeing things like that is so normal here in the city and how it is so weird at the same time.

Act 2

I think I saw Blue's dad. Also around the corner from my class building I saw a little old lady with a giant Blue Great Dane female. She was gorgeous, the dog that is, she had white socks and floppy ears and the same color as Blue. Behind them was a frail old man walking a GIANT Blue Great Dane male! He was at least 6 inches taller than the female and twice as wide easy. He was HUGE, his muscle definition looked a lot like Blue. It could of been his dad. Other than Blue was born in Alaska.

I regret not stopping and talking to them. People stop me all the time with the dogs when we're walking and mostly it is awkward and they come off a little crazy. So I don't do it to others when I don't have the dogs. Out of courtesy you know.

Act 3

On the ride home last night the bus was pretty full. It has been a lot lately for some reason. Lots of business people and people with luggage like there traveling. Anyways I thought I had the two seats to myself at first because the bus driver was in his seat and honking the horn to start backing up. And a woman came running through the gate door, he let her on. She was wearing light blue polyester slacks and a dark blue screen printed tee shirt tucked in. She also had a violin case slung over her shoulder and an overflowing canvas tote. The violin easily went in the overhead, then she sat next to me.

That's what I get for sitting next to the window and allowing an empty seat next to me. I like to sleep so I got all situated with my blow up U-shaped neck pillow and my audio book on it's last few chapters. As usual, I had just started to doze off when she turned on the overhead light. She still had that stuffed tote on her lap. She pulled out a large yellow envelope and held it close to her chest for a minute. I was trying not to look, but it seemed odd. Then she sat and just stared at it in front on her for another minute. I thought she was going to put it away, maybe she was thinking about work or whatever. Finally she pulled out the contents, it was sheet music. I'm no musician by any stretch, but it looked complicated, there were a LOT of notes all tied together on every measure. But then she started.

She started fingering the music. Like air guitar, but air violin. Or it looked more like piano to tell you the truth, but since she had a violin I wasn't sure.

I thought she'll only do this for a little while. The overhead light doesn't just shine down on your seat by the way. At night it casts its light around the surrounding seats too. And it's annoying if you are trying to sleep.

She air pianoed the ENTIRE way home, and there was construction! For over an hour and a half I sat next to an air piano.

This will probably sound ridiculous, but it is my blog... I swear I could hear the music in her head. It was so distracting, at times I felt like it was louder than my audio book. I apparently have a strong imagination I know. I thought about turning mine down, but I really wanted to finish my book.

So I did. I finished my book. I couldn't really hear, but I think she was pretty good.

Another day, another bus ride home.

Miss Me??

I think everyone might miss me a bit in July. I'm busy this time of year! But I won't go into that because I know most people couldn't care less about the Tour. I've also been busy with the end of the semester wrapping up. Just a few more weeks, so that means papers to write and more papers to write!

We've been walking a lot lately too. Every Sunday I have been trying to get out and find a new trail around here. Last Sunday Matt went with us and we did about 9 miles on a trail called D&L trail, plus the boys and I did our regular 2 miles. Almost a half marathon without really trying! The next day I thought I'd be sore, but wasn't the least bit. That was really good.

I just wanted to check in and say hi! Next Sunday is the last day for the Tour, I'll be looking for a good, long walk after that- I'm always sad for a few days when it's over.