THE INNER WORKINGS...

tricking the old dog.

It's only day three and I've failed. Sigh. Not only did I not keep a single resolution these past two days, but I also failed to come up with more resolutions. I suppose it could only be expected. I even warned you. Something about not being able to teach a not-too-old-but-apparently-set-in-its-ways dog new tricks.

The problem, you see, is that I had 2,000 pages of reading and three mini-papers due today. (I thought that explicitly spelling out my coursework would induce more sympathy than just the vague claim of "stuff to do" would. And I could always go for some sympathy.) And so, in the past 48 hours, you could have found me in Iri's chair, at Panera, on the couch, on our living room floor (because the couch was too comfy and I was falling asleep), in my bed, at McDonalds (I got a gift card for Christmas - don't judge me) or at Starbucks furiously skimming the pages of everything psychologically developmental.

I thought that by age 29 I would have broken the habit of procrastination. I have a distinct memory of being in the sixth grade and staying up past midnight (with my dear Mother, who will still accompany me into the wee hours of the morning if I need her to) to print out a book report that was due the next day. (Part of the problem was figuring out how to connect one of those new-fangled laptop computers to a printer. We were just surpassing typewriter days.) From that defining moment on, I have made it a point to never do anything prior to the very instant that I'm sure that so much time has squeezed away that it just can't get done. And not a moment sooner. Cue memories of painting ASB posters at 2:00 AM for the pep rally the next morning, starting my final linguistics project the night before it was due, and spending sleepless nights stuffing my life into suitcases because the next morning I would board a plane. There's simply no way around it: I'm a procrastinator. I even wait until the waitress is at the table to decide what I want to eat. I just can't seem to stop myself.

Maybe I should add that resolution to my list. Stop procrastinating. That would be nice. But first, let's teach old Benji how to juggle.

posted by Courtney @ 4:14 AM