the id, the ego, & the single misfiring brain cell

how does anyone find the time to go skiing?

Really. Even as an undergrad, I used my spring break to catch up on homework and, if I was lucky, draft a paper or two early. But as as master's student? As my friend AJ commented to me the last time I saw him, "Spring break is just several days of uninterrupted work." Hear, hear.

Here's my schedule for the week, in case you're wondering (and, yeah, even if you aren't):

1. Read at least half of Rushdie's Satanic Verses.

2. Read as much as possible of George Eliot's Daniel Deronda.

3. Read Eric Gansworth's Mending Skins, along with a couple of scholarly pieces on multiculturalism, and write a blog post (of planned class contributions) and plan my portion of a presentation on same, to be presented Tuesday week with my esteemed colleagues, Sarah and Taryn.

4. Read enough for my planned final paper in Multicultural Literature to prepare a good abstract, and provide another 9 or more good sources for same, due at the same time the presentation is.

5. Decide what book I wish to write my final paper on for 20th Century Literature; find a gob of sources; read them; prepare an annotated bibliography of same; and write an abstract to provide my prof when I meet privately with her, probably Wednesday after spring break.

I'm sure you're asking yourself about now what the big deal is. Any master's student (in English, no less) worth her salt can read three novels (or one Victorian one) before the coffeepot is empty, run ten miles, leap a tall building in a single bound, write a witty blog post for her countless* admirers who hang on her every incoherent word, and write a respectable conference paper with footnotes before bedtime. Normally,** I'd have to say yes.

* This applies if it's too depressing to bother, doesn't it?

** By "normal," in this instance, I mean "within a day of a paper's due date having done only cursory research but having not yet penned a gosh-darn word."

But these are not normal circumstances. First, it's spring break. Right? Right?! And how does spring break work? We tell ourselves we'll catch up on all that homework during those endless days of happy oblivion (because we really enjoy learning). Each day dawns with promise, warmer and more sunshiny than the last, and we sigh contentedly as we sip our coffee in the morning sunshine, because nothing completes happiness like procrastination.*

* And when happiness isn't in the cards to begin with--like when you deploy, say--nothing brings a spark of joy to your world like procrastination, which is why your average officer will take a pile of Professional Military Education materials on deployments with her to "do in her spare time."

Another reason this isn't normal, by any stretch of the imagination, is because we just had a winter storm sweep through. (No kidding! It was over 70 degrees on Thursday, then 20-something and snowing from wee hours Friday until the wee hours Saturday.) Most of the town shut down in anticipation of hell freezing over; even when it didn't, and most of the roads stayed clear, town didn't just open back up. Instead, everyone got a "snow day."

So I'm asking you...can you accomplish anything meaningful on a "snow day"? I admit I may just be betraying my immaturity more blatantly than usual, but I find it almost impossible to concentrate on anything on such days. I react to the general excitement of unexpected freedom, even when that freedom would have applied to me anyway.

Then today, there's still snow on the ground, but it's warm again. Tomorrow will probably be breathtaking, albeit a bit muddy. And how can you do homework on beautiful spring days? (I think this one is actually a sin.)

And to make matters worse, I foolishly purchased a new Wii game, which the guy in the video store said is the best Wii game available, in his opinion, and which the two other bipedal occupants of this house are now joyously breaking in (on the 101" theatre screen, no less--just imagine...). I can hear them now, screaming and laughing. (It's Super Mario for Wii, incidentally. I know you're curious.)

I'm asking you: how can anyone expect me to work under these conditions?

I'm also still, erm, sick. I'm taking my antibiotics with religious regularity, of course. I'm also taking Mucilex to help my sinuses clear, and popping at least one 800mg Motrin a day because I still get occasional spiking pain in my ear. I got all excited today because it kept popping and getting clearer and clearer and.... Well. It's back to that distant, muffled feeling, like something in there is dead (and the tinnitus returned).

The ear is just annoying. I fully expect to be returned to my regular functioning capacity within a few days, or at least eventually. I'm still hacking uncontrollably.* Cough drops only help while I'm sucking on them. Most of the time I hack anyway, but at least the menthol feels good.

* When it comes to writing, always. But in this instance, I mean I'm coughing a lot.

So I have the voice of Demi Moore right now, as you may suspect.

Not really. At no phase in the course of this tenacious bug have I sounded remotely sexy. I was told in rather blunt terms that that was all in my head. If anything, I sounded like I was just sick. (In my own head, it was worse. At points, I could hear myself speaking in two tones simultaneously, which made me sound like Satan.)

Anyway. No fever now. It's just me and the dead ear and the all-too-alive throat cultures. I'm hoping it dies down enough for me to be able to go to the last presentation of Euripides' The Bacchae tomorrow, which my beautiful cousin Anna Faye Hunter is performing in. (Her mother posted this link to her Facebook account with the comment, "This is my daughter?" Hahahahaha. Yes. That's her, all right, although that photo doesn't do her justice, IMO.)

So...with some good planning and a little self-discipline, this is my plan for my break:

1. Read Satanic Verses here and there, generally in bed before I doze off. It's difficult to get into, but the writing is captivatingly elegant and the story interesting. I have about three weeks on this one, so I can savor it--luckily.

2. "Read" as much as possible of George Eliot's Daniel Deronda while doing other things. I just checked the audiobook out of the library and am burning the CDs to MP3s so I can listen at my leisure (while walking, cycling, crocheting....).

3. Number three doesn't change, but it isn't terribly involved. It's about one day's worth of concentrated (and enjoyable) effort.

4. I'll have to be regularly dedicated in Multicultural Literature, to get my final paper ideas up to speed, to be sure. The cool thing is, I really like my final paper topic. To wit: the cultural divide between the West and the Middle East. So "research" here is truly pleasurable.

5. I'm a little concerned about what I might do with 20th Century Lit at this point. That means I need to do enough research tomorrow to get an idea germinating. I'll probably do something on Conrad's Heart of Darkness (or, as I refer to it, Dart of Hardness*).

* Ruined it for you forever, didn't I? Well...welcome to my hell. Daddy used to run into the living room when our (then) favorite show was coming on and proclaim excitedly, "Oh Wow! Husky and Starch!"

I'll be fine. But now? The dryer is screaming for attention, and Mario awaits me. ;)

Y'all have a great break, too.

d