….. while being burnt out.
On Monday, my alarm clock went off at 7:30am and I rolled over to snooze for a couple of extra minutes. As usual, Nimbus had other plans. She heard the alarm and came barreling into the room. She hopped on the bed and started poking my face with her paw. I rolled over to hide my face under the blanket, and she began tapping her paws on my head while occasionally trying to bite my hair. Instead of sleeping in, I got out of bed to open a can of cat food. This is our morning routine.
This Monday was a little different. It was the last week of the semester and I had 2 final papers to submit by Wednesday, and one more by today. Most of this week was spent tapping away at a keyboard either before or after work. By Wednesday, I had all my papers submitted and there was only one paper remaining. I started working on this paper about a month ago, so I already had 3 pages ready to go. On Thursday, I checked the weather for the weekend and saw that Saturday was supposed to be 75 degrees. My paper was due at midnight, but it was also my only day off from work. I was determined to spend it on the beach so I needed to get typing. I wrote 500 more words while sitting in the window of my job, then biked home and wrote 200 more. I was not in the best headspace and by 9pm, I closed my laptop and ordered take out. This was the last final paper of the semester.
I woke up on Friday and opened up my laptop to read over what I had written down. I hated every single word. Nothing flowed. My thesis was non-existent. My arguments were unclear. I checked the weather, because what else do you do when you realize your final paper is trash. I saw that the weather for Saturday was still supposed to be warm and sunny.
I took a shower, diffused my hair, and made myself a cup of coffee. I sat at my desk and opened a fresh new document labeled “PscHonLitReview” to replace the garbage fire that was labeled “Document 11.”
I moved out to my front porch where I wrote 4 pages within 3 hours. I caught myself slacking and needed to walk away for a bit. I grabbed my keys and walked to the coffee shop near my house for an iced coffee. When I returned to my porch, I knocked out another 5 pages. I was so determined to spend today at the beach that not only did I type 90% of my final paper in one sitting, the paper turned out to be 100% better than “Document 11.”
I sent a text to a group chat with some friends giving them an update.
“Ya girl is going to the beach tomorrow. Every time I started slacking off, I took a large sip of iced coffee and quietly said “no. suns out buns out.” like some weird, disgruntled neanderthal/21st century woman hybrid.”
After writing 9 pages within 7 hours, I ate a quick snack and ran off to work.
I woke up this morning feeling kinda terrified to open the document. If all goes as planned, I’ll only have to add an abstract and a conclusion. I opened up the document to see what I had written down. Aside from a few minor errors, the paper flowed, the thesis was clear, and my arguments were clear.
That final paper was submitted a few hours early and ya girl spent all day at the beach.
To make things even sweeter, not only was that the last assignment of the semester…
It was the last requirement for my associates degree :’)
Suns out, buns out.
Aimee the Ramblin’ Woman 