The Guilt Monster
Camping put me back on the sleep schedule of a normal human being (i.e. getting up before noon), and I have been clinging desperately to it since. Which is why I am so cranky about having been dragged out last night to watch a friend's boyfriend's band (by 'dragged', I mean by my own guilt at having been bad at hanging out with this particular friend in the last few months).
One of the side-effects of doing a form of exercise that has you lying in a lake of your own sweat by the end of it (you think I'm exaggerating, but I'm really not) is that your alcohol tolerance drops. A lot. Which is nice, because I'm poor, but means that two cocktails spread out over the course of the evening can do the work of a rapidly and single-handedly consumed bottle of wine. And because I'm in a constant state of trying to rehydrate, I've started getting mild hangovers.
So, now it's noon, I have a slight hangover because my mentality hasn't caught up with my newfound role as a cheap drunk, I still haven't finished unpacking from my camping trip, and I need to magically finish a draft of my conference paper by Monday. Also, my mother has phoned me four times already this morning, which has interrupted every attempt at productivity that I have had. And I need to fit in a yoga class at some point because camping left me stiff and in pain and old-womanly, which means I need to drink a lot of water today so that I don't shrivel up and die in class.
I think we can draw a lesson from this. Be a good friend, so that you don't guilt yourself into going to the bar when all you want in life is to spend the night drinking tea* and marathoning BSG on your sofa. Oh, and finishing Possession.
I'm also starting to get really nervous about this conference. It's the first one I've been to that's for real, grown-up academics. My supervisor has given me a list of famous academics who will be there that he wants me to say hi to for him, in an attempt to help me out with my networking. Some of them are people I really want to impress because they are on my list of potential PhD supervisors. I foresee myself being the most awkward human being on the planet; social anxiety is the best.
My anxiety is being compounded by the fact that everyone else I know who has gone through this at least had their supervisor there with them. Holding their hand, doing the introductions, letting them be sick with nerves in the toilet of their hotel room... Advice, O Wise Academically Inclined Flisters?
(It's all good, though. I hear conference hookups are an accepted and expected thing.)
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Oh, okay. I admit it. I totally would have been drinking wine. But, I would have also done laundry and maybe some dishes, so I would have still come out ahead.
One of the side-effects of doing a form of exercise that has you lying in a lake of your own sweat by the end of it (you think I'm exaggerating, but I'm really not) is that your alcohol tolerance drops. A lot. Which is nice, because I'm poor, but means that two cocktails spread out over the course of the evening can do the work of a rapidly and single-handedly consumed bottle of wine. And because I'm in a constant state of trying to rehydrate, I've started getting mild hangovers.
So, now it's noon, I have a slight hangover because my mentality hasn't caught up with my newfound role as a cheap drunk, I still haven't finished unpacking from my camping trip, and I need to magically finish a draft of my conference paper by Monday. Also, my mother has phoned me four times already this morning, which has interrupted every attempt at productivity that I have had. And I need to fit in a yoga class at some point because camping left me stiff and in pain and old-womanly, which means I need to drink a lot of water today so that I don't shrivel up and die in class.
I think we can draw a lesson from this. Be a good friend, so that you don't guilt yourself into going to the bar when all you want in life is to spend the night drinking tea* and marathoning BSG on your sofa. Oh, and finishing Possession.
I'm also starting to get really nervous about this conference. It's the first one I've been to that's for real, grown-up academics. My supervisor has given me a list of famous academics who will be there that he wants me to say hi to for him, in an attempt to help me out with my networking. Some of them are people I really want to impress because they are on my list of potential PhD supervisors. I foresee myself being the most awkward human being on the planet; social anxiety is the best.
My anxiety is being compounded by the fact that everyone else I know who has gone through this at least had their supervisor there with them. Holding their hand, doing the introductions, letting them be sick with nerves in the toilet of their hotel room... Advice, O Wise Academically Inclined Flisters?
(It's all good, though. I hear conference hookups are an accepted and expected thing.)
---
Oh, okay. I admit it. I totally would have been drinking wine. But, I would have also done laundry and maybe some dishes, so I would have still come out ahead.