I Hope It's Not Amoria Phlebitis...

Who's up for a little cram session? I'll go first. What was the name of the Pilgrims' boat?
The Spirit of St. Louis.
And where'd they land?
Sunny Acapulco.
And why'd they leave England?
Giant rats.

In case you hadn't noticed, I'm feeling a little like Bart Simpson in "Bart Gets an F," but without the whole blizzard thing. Although, that did actually happen to me once. Seriously.

In this instance, the blizzard is the flu. Not for me, for my professor.

It's been a rough week, mostly due to my being sucked into a creative black hole. Motivation out, sloth in. And this state of laziness could not have come at a worse time. I have four written projects (including a midterm essay worth 30% of my final grade) and a production proposal due this week.

The midterm essay is giving me the most trouble. I've always had trouble writing about abstract concepts, mostly because I always feel like I'm writing in circles without actually making any actual arguments. I have written lengthy(ish) research papers about the theory of evolution, the historiography of the American west (with the help of a blizzard - I said I was serious, didn't I?), the role of the Chesapeake Bay in the War of 1812, and the historical accuracy of The Grapes of Wrath. But double-spaced two-page essay assignments about our weekly Aesthetics readings had me about to pull my hair out and torch the textbooks.

I've made decent progress on the midterm essay though. My intro still needs work and I need to actually, you know, finish it, but I'm definitely making progress. My plan was get up today and finish my assignment for today's class, then work on the midterm (due Thursday) after class tonight. I planned to finish it up tomorrow (my off day), and take Thursday morning/early afternoon to proof and make last minute changes.

But today, a small miracle. My class this afternoon was canceled since the professor has the flu. Not only was class canceled, but the professor said that he will "totally understand" if missing a class throws us off and we have to push back our assignment due dates. Methinks he'll wish he didn't say that... So I now have all afternoon to work on and (hopefully) finish my midterm.

Here's hoping I don't end up knowing how George Washington felt when he surrendered Fort Necessity to the French in 1754. Boy would my face be red! (He wasn't always so on-the-ball with the military stuff, you know. And the French have always been frustrating. But I shan't get into that now. Someday, though. Someday. Just you wait...)