Procrastinators Unite! Eventually...

(I should begin by saying that I am dedicated student. I turn in all my assignments on time (health permitting) and my grades and classes matter to me a great deal. That being said, I don't know a time when procrastination has not been something I've struggled with a little bit.) 

Dictionary.com says that procrastinating means "to defer action; delay: to procrastinate until an opportunity is lost."

And that's really what you lose, isn't it? An opportunity to spend your time in a more productive manner. That doesn't necessarily mean you always regret procrastinating though...

Procrastinating can take many forms, I have found. My top five ways and circumstances where procrastinating occurs are:

1. Internetting and tving. This category includes netflix, hulu, tumblr, twitter, and of course, facebook. And a billion other websites. Usually this results in a lot of tumblr re-blogging, and a few episodes of Secret Life of the American Teenager being watched and mercilessly mocked. It always results in me feeling incredibly guilty afterwards.

2. Socializing. This is when I don't want to do homework, so I find someone to hang out with instead. I can usually justify this one a bit more, especially since I'm a bit of a home-body and hanging out with people often validates me, and thus I can reason (to myself, in my own head),  "Look, I'm hanging out with someone! I am a functioning and valid member of society!" That probably went a lot deeper than you wanted it to. This is awkward. Go to the next one.

3. Organizing. When I really don't want to start whatever I'm supposed to be doing, I clean my room completely. I explain to those I feel accountable to, "I just need a clean space to work! Who can do work in a messy room? Stop looking at me like that. You're a cat, what responsibilities do you have?"

4. Napping. It is quite easy to justify this when you have mono (like I have for the past six months), but it can be done otherwise too: "How can I really concentrate when I'm this tired? This paragraph would sound a lot better if I was fully energized when writing it. Stop staring at me, cat. It's true."

5. Last but not least, there is a somewhat sneaky form of procrastination: productivity. Sometimes I'm not even aware this procrastination is actually happening, and then one day it hits me: I'm not really reading or writing what I know I'm supposed to be reading or writing. For instance, yesterday I was finishing up reading "Eats, Shoots & Leaves" by Lynne Truss. It's a fun read about the current state of punctuation, as well as a history and guide to each main punctuation mark. About 10 or so pages from the end, I found myself thinking, "Wow, I should really review Elements of Style before I start writing fiction again."And then I realized I have been reading about punctuation so I don't have to begin my fiction writing again, because I'm somewhat terrified of trying to. So, although reading "Eats, Shoots & Leaves" was helpful to my overall Plan and knowledge of writing, it was still, somehow, procrastinating. 

Which brings up a bigger question - why do I procrastinate and how can I become more aware of the specific reason I am procrastinating? 

Also, if anyone is reading this, do you have any particularly funny ways you procrastinate? How do you beat the procrastination bug?

Also, here's a clip of the Amanda Show that is relevant and hilarious: 

http://youtu.be/yoN2cXqRT7Q

Plogging (Plan blogging)

Exactly one week ago, I finally finished my Junior 1 semester. Medical extension was not the most fun thing ever, but at least it's over. Now - onto the main event: summer.

Last summer, I wanted to chill out and rest before my Fall semester began. This summer, I have a reading list too long to realistically accomplish, full of books on narration theory, Elizabethan history, and Shakespeare.

What changed from one summer to the next? Plan. Last week I created my first "Plan" folder on my computer, which is SO SO SO cool. And terrifying. For anyone reading this that isn't familiar with how Marlboro College works, all Juniors and Seniors participate in an undergraduate thesis project. We pick one (or two, or seven) things we want to work on for two years, and in our final year, it is the only thing we do work on. Other classes get pushed to the side, etc. Plan consists of at least one academic paper, an independent project (done without help from professors), and then depending on your major, a dance, a play, an experiment, more writing, etc. Whatever you want to do, just do it thoroughly. It's basically a grad school experience as an undergrad, and there's a lot of pressure surrounding it. 

I'm entering my Junior 2 semester, which means I have one semester to figure out exactly what I want my Plan to be. Right now I know this: my degree is going to be in LIT/Shakespeare and WRITING/Fiction. I'm going to try to prove Cleopatra IS a protagonist using Aristotle and Plutarch. I'm going to write a historical fiction short story. That's pretty much what I know, but I'm never-the-less incredibly excited about all of it.

BUT

 I am perfectly aware that I procrastinate. It happens. And I'm scared of procrastinating on Plan, because that's the thing about Marlboro - your success lies solely on your shoulders. You have to get it done - no one else is going to give you deadlines. 

So. I decided if I'm going to procrastinate on Plan (and I am), at least I could do it in a way that could be disguised as something else.  I've created this blog to vent about Plan, track my progress, let off steam, and write about what I'm writing about in a less formal medium. And yeah, I'm sure this will evolve into me writing about my life sometimes, and maybe some humor posts too.

Plan begins. Good-bye sanity.