At this stage in the academic year I just feel completely mentally exhausted, tired and utterly fed up.

I have my final essay (on Tacitus) to hand in on Monday. I have no idea what I'm going to write - not even an inkling.

The weather is really beautiful.

Do I say "fuck it" and get away for the weekend and maybe relax a bit and perhaps come back refreshed and feeling better, and take my time to write a decent essay that will be marked down for late submission.

Or do I just grin and bare it and sit in the library all weekend, being absolutely fucking miserable with a head that feels like an electric whisk is whipping up my brain into a slimy foam and grind out some piece of utter shite and then it will all be done and finished and I won't have to worry about it anymore.

Or do I just curl up and go to sleep and do neither?

How much will it be marked down? 10%? 50%?

I say do both. Why not hike out somewhere and camp out and write yr paper in the great outdoors. True lugging books could be an issue, but you don't have to do an Everest expedition. Or, perhaps taking a number of breaks to refresh yourself.

Of course there's always the option of buying the paper online

yeah, im feeling it too. ive got two exams next week and i just cant be bothered to study anymore. one of the classes i have decent marks in, and in the other if i get a 70% or so ill pass the class, but im just so sick and tired of the whole thing i dont really care anymore.

I'd just pound it out and get it done.
completion rules.

i am in the same position. I have 4 finals starting may 2nd - I really need to buckle down and study but its supposed to be really nice here this weekend - especially sunday. my property transactions class is a real beast.

there will be other nice weekend. take breaks outside. do your paper and then you don't have to worry about it even one more day longer than you need to.

pretty sage advice right here

Can't you just type the line "I choose to remain silent on this subject."?

Just substitute "my career" for "the academic year" and "latest project" for "final essay", and you have encapsulated the last 20 years of my life.


btw - maybe a mix review would be a good distraction?

This is what I would do. I couldn't relax knowing I'd have to actually think come Sunday night.

look at the big picture. it's a fucking grade. it's not like you're a surgeon and if you don't peform an operation someone's going to die. so you're marked down one grade, it's a fucking letter!

My guess is that this is a false choice. If you're honest with yourself you aren't going to feel any more like spending the time to do the damn paper after you are "refreshed" than you do now. You'll just delay the start and suffer the markdown and likely not enjoy the relaxation as much as you would if you were done and were relaxing completely guilt free.

Just power through and get the damn thing over with and then your time can be spent however you want guilt-free. Especially since this is THE final paper.

Of course that is good advice but not necessarily what I would do. I'd probably putz around the house cleaning and doing chores that only took on any importance as a means to avoid the paper, watch bad movies on the telly and generally find anything else to do to avoid starting the paper until I absolutely had to but stay in under the false assumption that I was going to start working any minute now.

my $0.02

Get your ass to work now!
Do you want to go around losing all your jobs after 6 months forever? Putting off schoolwork or doing it half-assed is not going to get you the job you want at graduation. It is most likely not going to get you the job you want where you can afford to take off on beautiful days like today.
It's only 1 paper, and one grade, but these things add up.

Life isn't a sprint, it's a marathon. I want to see that you can go another mile.

I agree... just get it done.

There's a pretty major flaw in your logic, TJ. You're operating under the premise that Darrin actually WANTS a job.

np: Bee Gees - "Fanny (Be Tender With My Love)"

Well, he is already the Trusty Mod... What more can we ask of him?

Being T.M. is a lot of work.

My advice having just been where you are:

Take the break you need. This is mandatory to your mental health, perhaps the most important thing of all. Then, after a few days, gather up your resources and courage and ask for an extension and explain your position to your professor. If you have to take a lower grade, so be it.

Remember though: YOU CAN DO THIS.


Let us know how it goes.

The most important skill in life is the ability to compromise.

I walked over Blanefield moors (with Campsie Hills in background), stopped off at an Inn to have Wild Boar for lunch (true) then got attacked by a mad sheepdog, got drenched in heavy rain and courtesy of a 12 mile stretch, picked up a blister on my right foot the size of a football.

Maybe I'll get the essay written in one day and maybe I won't....

I'm in the billy g + Radcliffe camp. What a surprise.

I have to use my powers to figure out how to use three weeks of vacation before the first week of June when I have a pile of projects that need to be finished.

+ busy freelance season. Oo-rah.

Just write the fucker. A 10% deduction could be the diff between passing and failing.

i always leave things till last minute, and then i do my best work under that extreme pressure. But start soon at least, that's the hardest part. Once you get started, it's all good.

splates only wants you to pass so you can resign mod duties.

Can't truss 'em.

I probably shouldnt talk though - I have 2 lab write-ups to do, a test next week, an assignment to start that's due in two weeks, and a 10 min presentation to prepare. Instead im boarding and listening to Eric B & Rakim.

Do it now. The immense feeling of relief in having it done, no matter how good or bad it is, will easily surpass any feelings of being "refreshed" and knowing that you still have the task in front of you.

I almost missed the pressure that comes with academic work. I was lucky enough to have an International Relations Professor who believed that a good paper was worthy of your best work and would give the whole class and Incompletion until you turned in your paper.
Overall, I was like Splates, I would do a crap ton of research early on and then wait until the last week to finish a 30+ page research paper. I can't say I did my best work in that period of time, but somehow I got my MA and kept my GPA rather high.

i tried studying today and encountered a total mental block. everything i studied i forgot minutes afterwards. looks like im totally screwed. if im lucky ill pass them, but its not going well.