Stress of Impending Deadline Leads to Digressive Blog Entry

Uggggg....I am the worst research assistant ever. My head is just not in the game. The game is going on all around me, and I'm...I'm...I'm just hanging on the sidelines reading a trashy romance novel. No, I'm not on the sidelines, I'm in the bleachers. No, I'm not even in the ballpark, I'm stuck in traffic, about 15 minutes away, listening to the thing on the radio and picking at my fingernail polish. Yes. No. Ugh. Last week, the prof I work for gave me a 75-page article that he had just completed. I have to have the article edited, check the authorities, etc. by Sunday. I have finally finished reading the whole thing, after three sittings, which took about a week. That was just the first pass-through. I guess I'll spend the afternoon checking all *gulp* 500 citations, hopefully before I go to work at 5 p.m. I have to work Sat and Sun night, too...I guess I better kick it into high gear. Why such a procrastinator? I'm the worst. At least my office has been pleasant the last few days. About 68-70 degrees and a light breeze. The neighbor kid likes to come outside for a little while each day to play golf with rocks, but he hasn't been out today. Actually, it's been downright quiet. Maybe his mom did kill him, after all. Unfortunately, every time I see her, she's yelling at the poor kid. Sure, he shouldn't be outside in his slippers, nor should he be beaning rocks at the garage with a golf club, but she doesn't need to treat him like that. The Unemployed Ladies suggested I give him a welcome-to-the-neighborhood gift. One of those little atari joysticks with the games built right in or something. I think the suggestion was, hey kid, trade me your guns for this video game...now go inside and play it, all the time. Shhhhhh. A suitable welcome gift for the mother, they suggested, might be, well, a pie laced with arsenic? I digress. I think the funny thing about the research assistantship is that every time I stop by school (which is not often), I run into other classmates who are working for professors. Invariably they complain about how much work it is...e.g. supposed to be a 20-hour per week commitment, but they're working 30 or 40. What? Why? Because, they say, I want to do a good job. Well, sure, I want to do a good job, too, and I'll do a good job within the requisite amount of hours, which I will put in (right before it's due...), but really, does anyone win when you're working all these secret unpaid hours? And where will it stop? When you get a legal job, are you going to work way more hours than you bill, etc.? Maybe I'm just being jealous that they are a whole lot more driven than I am right now. And I'm probably just lucky that my prof is really laid-back. Well, whatever. I'm going to get back to work.