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An interesting project for me recently has been trying to find that balance between getting everything done and staying sane.  As the semester comes quickly to a close, I realize that those papers, projects, and exams that seemed so far away are now due.  And they're in the next hour.  Well, not really, but it certainly seems so.  As a TA, I also have the great privilege of grading students' final papers and projects (not exams, thankfully my professors spared me those).  By Tuesday, there will over 600 papers to grade for one class, in addition to the projects turned in last week that take a significant amount of effort and time to grade.

As I face these things to do, I plan my hours each week to make sure I have enough time to do everything.  I've been doing this since this summer in a notebook I've properly labeled my "OCD Notebook" (which, by the way, is nearly full- that simple fact shows you a tiny bit of my own craziness.)  I've found that this activity of budgeting my time hasn't actually been as effective as I originally planned it to be because I have a tendency of not following the rigid schedule I'd outlined.  Not following that rigid schedule, however, has kept me sane.  This usually means that I don't finish my reading for classes, I don't give myself as much time as I'd want on a paper, projects keep getting shoved to another week- AND IT'S TOTALLY FINE.  People- this is monumental for me.  I remember just last semester, crying one night because I realized I wouldn't have enough time to finish my assigned reading before class started in the morning (this professor literally assigned hundreds of pages to read a week, something I wasn't yet used to/still not used to).  I never knew I could DECIDE what to do with my time.  I never knew I had that option.

Though I have (literally) hundreds of papers and projects to grade, in an effort to maintain sanity, I am going to go buy a sketchbook this weekend and draw something.  I have been aching to scratch some graphite on paper for a long, long time now.  I will never "have" the time to draw so I'll make the time.  That may mean I don't get a 100% on my papers or exams next week but I've defined myself too long by what assignment I've finished, what exam I've aced that I've forgotten about who I am beyond these academic lines.  Drawing is something I've missed doing.  (I've really wanted to go to the Bean museum and sketch some animals.)  Maybe I'll get back to art journaling eventually too.   

Also, I really need to buy an Explosions in the Sky album.  After my computer crashed, I lost all of their music and I want it back.