![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Dec. 17th, 2018 12:41 amSo, we're at the point in the semester where my brain's slowly leaking out through my ears and I am sustained mostly by stress, anxiety, and sheer bull-headedness. Food, sleep, and tea come a distant third. ONE WEEK! And then I'm going home!
On the other hand, I feel like I've gotten healthier about it than I have in the past? I still ended up leaving a lot of stuff to the relative last minute, but so far nothing till the day before (I mean, in terms of starting, not finishing), and I've actually been able to push my evening stop time back from 10 pm to 9 pm, which bewilders me. Usually during finals season that gets pushed later, not earlier, though we'll see if I still feel the same way in a few days. I think it's because I don't have classes at the moment; when I don't get home till 5 pm or 8 pm, I have to work till 10 or 11 (I managed to pull it back from midnight last year) because otherwise it doesn't get done. Late afternoon classes are better for me in terms of getting enough sleep (anything before 1 pm, I will not get eight hours of sleep), but I'm not sure that the negatives outweigh that positive. At least I only have one more semester of coursework left.
(Last semester I had a class from 6-8 pm, which was miserable for reasons that include, OH YEAH, THE SHUTTLES STOP RUNNING THEN. The professor actually drove me home every week. I normally walk to and from campus -- I'm about half an hour away -- but I'm wary of doing so after dark because I have to go down several major roads.)
As an aside, this is what my workspace looks like right now -- well, actually not right now, but a few hours ago, before I finished my Empires paper and cleared off the Empires books. I do the vast majority of my schoolwork at my dining table and on my Surface, rather than at my desk and on my laptop; partially because my desk isn't very big or sturdy (cheap Wal-Mart desk) and I need a lot of space to spread out books, and partially because I need the mental divide of working on a different screen in a different room. It's helped a lot. No one has seen the surface of the dining table since the beginning of the semester. Once my housemate moves out I may turn the other bedroom into an office, but we'll see.
I've been trying to get about two work periods in the day for papers, which is what I did last semester and, actually, come to think of it, all through writing my MA thesis. The first one in the late afternoon (in the early afternoon I'm still waking up), going to Starbucks to work there, and the second one in the evening, at the dining table at home. Star dashes are really good for me, as I get very completist and it means that rain or shine I will be down at the Starbucks in the Square so I can get some stars. And then I just hoard the star rewards, I think I'm up to five now, so I should use those until the next star dash happens. That's another half hour walk there and half hour back, so it also means I'm getting out of the house and getting exercise. And means I can listen to my audiobook, which means I'm not thinking -- I realized last semester that audiobooks mean total concentration on that, rather than my brain going in six different directions at once or dwelling obsessively on some intrusive thought. Which are mostly the two other options, since I'm also too stressed to dwell obsessively on the plotting for Down in the Devil's Lair, the sequel to On the Edge of the Devil's Backbone. It's a bit like meditation, except easier for me to focus on. The same thing is true for the way I watch Star Wars, which is why anytime I go more than a few days without doing that my brain flies off the handle. (I also meditate -- I use the Headspace app, if I did a post on that, is that something that would interest people?)
On the other hand, I feel like I've gotten healthier about it than I have in the past? I still ended up leaving a lot of stuff to the relative last minute, but so far nothing till the day before (I mean, in terms of starting, not finishing), and I've actually been able to push my evening stop time back from 10 pm to 9 pm, which bewilders me. Usually during finals season that gets pushed later, not earlier, though we'll see if I still feel the same way in a few days. I think it's because I don't have classes at the moment; when I don't get home till 5 pm or 8 pm, I have to work till 10 or 11 (I managed to pull it back from midnight last year) because otherwise it doesn't get done. Late afternoon classes are better for me in terms of getting enough sleep (anything before 1 pm, I will not get eight hours of sleep), but I'm not sure that the negatives outweigh that positive. At least I only have one more semester of coursework left.
(Last semester I had a class from 6-8 pm, which was miserable for reasons that include, OH YEAH, THE SHUTTLES STOP RUNNING THEN. The professor actually drove me home every week. I normally walk to and from campus -- I'm about half an hour away -- but I'm wary of doing so after dark because I have to go down several major roads.)
As an aside, this is what my workspace looks like right now -- well, actually not right now, but a few hours ago, before I finished my Empires paper and cleared off the Empires books. I do the vast majority of my schoolwork at my dining table and on my Surface, rather than at my desk and on my laptop; partially because my desk isn't very big or sturdy (cheap Wal-Mart desk) and I need a lot of space to spread out books, and partially because I need the mental divide of working on a different screen in a different room. It's helped a lot. No one has seen the surface of the dining table since the beginning of the semester. Once my housemate moves out I may turn the other bedroom into an office, but we'll see.
I've been trying to get about two work periods in the day for papers, which is what I did last semester and, actually, come to think of it, all through writing my MA thesis. The first one in the late afternoon (in the early afternoon I'm still waking up), going to Starbucks to work there, and the second one in the evening, at the dining table at home. Star dashes are really good for me, as I get very completist and it means that rain or shine I will be down at the Starbucks in the Square so I can get some stars. And then I just hoard the star rewards, I think I'm up to five now, so I should use those until the next star dash happens. That's another half hour walk there and half hour back, so it also means I'm getting out of the house and getting exercise. And means I can listen to my audiobook, which means I'm not thinking -- I realized last semester that audiobooks mean total concentration on that, rather than my brain going in six different directions at once or dwelling obsessively on some intrusive thought. Which are mostly the two other options, since I'm also too stressed to dwell obsessively on the plotting for Down in the Devil's Lair, the sequel to On the Edge of the Devil's Backbone. It's a bit like meditation, except easier for me to focus on. The same thing is true for the way I watch Star Wars, which is why anytime I go more than a few days without doing that my brain flies off the handle. (I also meditate -- I use the Headspace app, if I did a post on that, is that something that would interest people?)