Paper-Writing Essentials (Or: I am a big dork)

I'm not sure why I dread writing papers so much. I like school. I really do. And I like writing. But there's just something about reading things that ten other people have written about a subject and then summarizing it into my own paper that just drives me nuts. I guess I'd prefer to write about my experiences rather than writing about what other people have already written about and researched.

That said, when it comes to writing papers, I am a major procrastinator. Tomorrow at midnight, I have a 10-12 page paper due. I started writing this afternoon...

As you can see, I have some essential items on my table. First there's the Mac. I spend more time with the Mac than with any person in my life. Is that pathetic? Maybe. You can also see my giant Figment coffee mug. In addition, I have a bowl of popcorn (not too buttery or it would upset Mac), a Fannie Farkle's cup full of Fanta, plenty of dry journal articles, and one more thing...

I decided to make a thermometer tonight. I used to make these when I was raising support for summer projects, but I'd never made one for writing a paper. As you can see, I added some motivational messages. As you can also see, I am only at 4, and still have a long way to go. My favorite might be what I wrote at the bottom. I wanted to be able to color it in as soon as I made it, so I even added "title page." Yikes. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

And finally, what's a blog post without an unflattering photo of me? (Thanks, Photo Booth.) This is very reminiscent of Meghan's photo when she was studying for boards. But my paper is way less hard than boards!