Boredom

What to do for fun:
-Bike rides
-Open more and more accounts for things on the internet
-Start a band
-Learn the lyrics to a random song
-Txtmsg random people
-Gchat
-Read articles/talks/devotionals/random stuff online
-Stalk someone on facebook
-Actually do homework
-Go to ward activities
-Find someone who looks bored and start talking to them
-Eat something
-Play the guitar
-Make lists
-Call someone on the phone
-Read lots of blogs
-Write a blog post
-Write a letter
-Write in a journal
-Clean
-Paint nails
-Bake something
-Daydream
-Go for a walk
-Go for a drive
-Go shopping
-Plan out a schedule for the next week, semester, whatever
-Look for jobs/housing/graduate programs
-Think about new hobbies to start
-Doodle on a piece of paper
-Drop by a friend's house just to see if they are there
-Watch tv/movies
-Go running
-Go to the gym

How to Procrastinate a Thesis

Things I Have Done Today:
-Learn how to play the guitar
-Watch random tv show
-Read news stories on NPR and Le Monde's website
-Read emails
-Read through my Google Reader
-Make foods to eat
-Overbook myself on several different days
-Think about what I should be doing
-Open up Microsoft Word documents for my thesis
-Almost clean my room
-Clean dishes
-Put away dishes
-Minimal amounts of getting dressed and other things to make myself presentable to the general public
-Browse amazon.com
-Write out my tithing for tomorrow
-Agree to go to ward prayer tomorrow night
-Procrastinate calling friends about dinner tomorrow night
-Watch trailers for movies on apple's website
-Watch trailers for movies on youtube
-Listen to Tété
-Listen to Ben L'Oncle Soul
-Spend a lot of time on google calendar thinking about what I have to do next week
-Think about running/showering
-Think about road trips I want to take, mostly either to Southern Utah or California
-Ditch out on Stake Relief Society service projects because sleep is more enjoyable

Tricks vs. Illusions

Things that disappeared in January:
-My contacts (eventually I got two packages of a year's supply, though)
-My motivation to write my thesis (maybe it wasn't ever there, actually)
-Free time
-The old relief society presidency I worked with
-An old roommate
-My will to bake/cook, for the most part
-Classes (for me!  and, except for the one for which I TA)
-Warm(er...) California weather (when I came back to Utah)
-Cold Utah weather (I've considered this week's highs in the 50s to be practically spring weather)
-My filter (actually, my language has only slipped when no one is around.  The rest of the time it's been quite intentional)
-The bishopric

Things that appeared in January:
-2011 Tintin calendar...
-Two years worth of contacts
-Cleaning checks
-Brand new RS presidency
-A mold-less macbook
-Plenty of things that are more fun than my thesis
-Sundance film festival (AND Tracy Morgan)
-2 seasons of 30 Rock on DVD in my apartment (curtesy of:)
-A new roommate
-Actually doing my MA paperwork stuff!
-New bishopric
-(for me, by way of Rob Macfarland:)A sweet new version of Metropolis on DVD

Procrastination: Listed

Things to Do When Procrastinating:
-blogging
-cooking/baking
-reading something for fun
-food blogs
-facebook
-hulu
-TV
-housework
-running errands
-making lists
-spacing out
-txtmsging
-international cinema
-going to the gym/working out
-planning out what to do tomorrow/this evening
-planning out future meals
-reading other blogs
-reading cookbooks
-homework
-calling people
-writing in my journal
-starting new projects
-shopping, especially when done online
-going to movies
-eating
-sleeping
-going to parties
-more or less anything I do on a daily basis

On the wings of desire

What I want Right Now:

-Attention Span (for homework purposes, mostly)

-Tomato tart

-Simultaneously more and less energy

-Willingness to socialize

-More time in the day

-Scapegoat for laziness

-Better GRE scores...

-Motivation to write my prospectus

-Around my French Table, coming in 4-6 weeks by USPS, free to me

What I want, eventually:

-Get into the history PhD program at Toronto University

-Finish my thesis

-A career, or at least some kind of money to live off of

-Fluency in French (more than what I've got right now...)

-A year (or more) in Europe

-Rest

Baking as Procrastination

Things I like to bake:

-Cookies

-molasses chocolate chip cookies

-PB&J cookies, w/o J, w/chocolate

-David Lebovitz's chocolate chip cookies

-molasses cookies (haven't made them in years now)

-Crepes

-peach shortbread bars

-breads

-rye bread

-white bread

-french bread

-dinner rolls

-focaccia

-banana bread

-banana oat bread

-cakes

-avocado pound cake

-honey whole wheat pound cake

-brownies

-muffins

-Nancy Silverton's Bran muffins

-banana oat muffins

-blueberry muffins

-Israeli-Palestinian conflict muffins

-tortillas

Things I want to cook/bake of late:

-mayonnaise

-challah

-rice cakes (who knows why)

-cookies

-bran muffins

-quinoa

-Israeli couscous

-Moroccan couscous

-corn tortillas

-flour tortillas

-crepes

Recipe checklist

Recipes (on my notecards) that I have made:

-Avocado pound cake

-Texas flour tortillas

-Honey Whole Wheat Pound Cake

-Lemon Risotto

-Nancy Silverton's Bran Muffins

-Flourless PB&J cookies

-Bacon and tomato guacamole

-Hummus (two recipes; one on each side-- Simply Recipes and Ina Garten)

-White batter bread

-Lowfat oatmeal banana bread

-Avocado shakes

-Peanut Butter brownies

-David Lebovitz's chocolate chip cookies

-Almost flourless peanut butter cookie

-Zucchini pancakes

Recipes on my notecards that I haven't yet made:

-Chocolate nut bread (pain aux noix et au chocolat)

-Babaganouzh or Moutabal

-Falafel

-Tehina

-Rick Bayless' dairy-free avocado ice cream

-Hummus bi tehina

-Vanilla ice cream w/o the machine

The saddest words? What might have been.

Things I could have done tonight, but didn't:

-Gone to bed early (such a good idea)

-Homework

-Go to the gym

-Taken my car in to get fixed (I'm a little scared to drive it, actually)

-Watched one of the movies I bought at Blockbuster

-Gone to Hollywood Video and bought some of the movies they're selling now that they're going out of business

-Baked bread, or anything for that matter

-Called people just to chat (I never do this anymore)

-Read a book for the MA list

-Learned the phonetic system for Danish (or any other cool language)

-Found someone who was watching tonight's LOST episode and joined them

-Gone for a walk (who am I kidding? It's freezing out there!)

-Cleaned things

-Done my laundry (I really, really should have done that)

-Mani/pedi

-Written in my journal

-Thought of a new party idea and post it on the strange party idea blog my friends and I have

-Researched for my research paper... due in a week

-Rented the movie I'm writing my paper on

-Read Through the Looking Glass

-Write a letter to a friend

-Make one-ingredient ice cream

Things That Are More Fun Than Unpacking:
-Facebook
-Blogs
-Walking to 7-11
-Making lists
-Sleeping
-Almost anything

The Hardest Parts of Unpacking:
-Learning you have more crap than you thought (and yes, it is mostly crap when you're moving)
-Finding spaces for everything
-Organizing things
-Cleaning before putting stuff away
-Having to buy new stuff to organize
-Motivation to actually just do it
-Finding things while in the limbo of being half unpacked

Stubbornness

Things I Find Difficult To Do:
-Call people on the phone, no matter why
-Write thank you letters
-Write any letters, of late at least
-Keep my promises to people lately, as well
-Stay on top of everything I need to do
-Not play with my hair when it's straight
-Not picking at my split ends
-Speak coherently
-Stay Sane

Blessings In Disguise:
-Stubbornness
-Shyness (when misread as mystery...)
-Somewhat average height
-Freakish memory

The End of a Semester

Music I Listen To Regularly As of Late (AKA the Past Two Weeks or So):
-The Great Escape (Blur)
-Parklife (Blur)
-The Essential Leonard Cohen (Leonard Cohen)
-A mixed CD of classic Francoise Hardy songs
-A recording of the Grateful Dead concert on 3/31/86 at Providence, RI
-The Fats Waller Centennial Collection
-The Pan's Labyrinth soundtrack

What I Do in My Spare Time (Even Though I Technically Should Have None):
-txtmsg people
-Watch TV
-Sleep
-Eat
-Do my hair
-Clean my room (not so much lately...)
-Clean the kitchen
-Clean the front room
-Go for walks (not anymore because it's too cold)
-Call my mom
-Surf the internet (does the term 'surf' seem passé to anyone else?)
-Homework

self-evaulation

Things I'm Good At, And By Good I Mean Average:
-basketball
-piano
-being tactful
-school
-predicting movie/tv show/book endings
-looking up things on wikipedia/youtube/google
-balancing
-dance

Things I'm Bad At:
-being nice
-paying attention
-self-motivation/ self-control
-drawing pretty much anything but eyes
-remembering birthdays (seriously, it took me ten years to memorize my siblings' birthdays)
-following through on plans/projects
-keeping in touch
-being open

Things I'm Good At, Legitimately:
-sarcasm
-finding that spot behind dog's ears where they want to be scratched
-listening
-asking questions
-procrastination
-making inside jokes
-remembering trivial details
-pretending to know other languages
-making plans/ starting projects
-spending time alone

Real Life

Tests I have to take this week:
-Fascism
-Philosophy
-French
-Reformation (map quiz)

Papers I have to write this week:
-Judaism

Stores I went shopping in yesterday:
-Forever XXI
-The Gap
-Express
-Banana Republic
-Trade Secret
-Target
-Victoria Secret
-DownEast Outfitters

How many hours I've studied so far this weekend:
-around one
-more later today

Frustration

Classes I am enrolled in:
-Hist 301 (late middle ages)
-Hist 303 (the reformation)
-Hist 314 (eurofascism)
-Phil 202 (history of modern philosophy)
-Fren 322 (advanced composition)
-Rel C 355 (Judaism and the gospel)

Classes I have tests in in the next 10 days:
-Hist 301
-Phil 202

Classes I have stuff due in the next 5 days:
-Hist 314
-Hist 303
-Phil 202
-Fren 322

Classes I am majorly behind in:
-Hist 314
-Hist 303
-Fren 322
-Rel C 355

Things keeping me alive:
-facebook
-2 trips out of utah in November
-going home for thanksgiving
-tea