This is the first year in many that I haven’t been on an academic schedule–ramping up at the beginning of the semester, beginning to work hard, buckling down seriously with papers, midterms, etc., digging in to finals, then having a break, switching gears (to work, usually), de-caffinating, and then starting the whole cycle over again. The year before rabbinical school I worked as a teacher, and then I had 4 years of being a student (and, sometimes, also a teacher.)
It’s very strange to notice that it’s almost the month of Shvat and to realize that my life doesn’t have these familiar puntuation marks. It’s nice that I’m doing something concrete, so that I can see that I actually am doing something as the time passes (as of yesterday I was 75% done with the rough draft of this thing–and, of course, had the immediate reaction of, “What?? ONLY 75%?” I think I can I think I can.) And still, the fact that it’s already close to February is a little disconcerting. I have got to finish this thing so that I can start hacking away at revisions. This chapter and then two more to go–I guess I have a while.
In totally unrelated news, am I the only one to notice that the “status” message in IM chat formats have replaced the .sig file as the forum for the random message people feel like they must share with the world? Technology is fascinating.