Sunday night, and I am thoroughly relaxed. I should be mildly panicking - I hardly made a dent in the pile of work I set aside for myself this weekend, and instead made several costly, arguably frivolous purchases, and am suffering from the Cold of Death - but I am not. Nope. I am kicked back in my Executive Chair, drinking a cup of Tazo Passion tea, wearing some fleece pants, and inhaling the fragrant vapors of a Vicks-infused tissue. These Vicks-infused tissues are the best invention since the Swiffer Mop (which, in a previous post, I claimed was the best invention ever.) (Seriously, though: these tissues give you all the perks of Vapo-Rub with none of the greasy unpleasantness.) I have roughly two.five months left of my master's program, about three (four?) months left in Western Mass, and a calm is setting in. I know, realistically, that I'll get my thesis/Independent Study/screenplay done, even if "Gettin' R' Done" means pulling all-nighters at the library. Which it may. If I continue at this pace. Back to the calm: my goal is to maximize my productivity by allowing myself a little latitude with when/where I complete my work. For example, I was freaking out a little this morning because I had not yet started working on a certain story I'd wanted to edit, but instead of continuing the freakout I calmed myself down, did some laundry, watched some Arrested Development, and cooked a delicious dinner with E. After dinner, I sat down and wrote four pages. Lesson: freaking out does not help a situation, so why bother? (I hope I can maintain this level of calm closer to my defense date.) The end.