I just came back from a conference in Victoria, and would love to blog about it asap. But, can’t find the time right now, because I have been forewarned by my Google Calendar that my schedule for March will come in bundles, and that it’s not going to be pretty. Want to hear me out on my upcoming schedule of trying to squeeze in everything to graduate in time?

Let’s start with some expression of panic…

——(insert scream here)——

• Finish programming hesitations on the robot, record motions, launch surveys – Due in 1.5 week.
• Do up a conference paper while completing the above – Due in 1.5 weeks.
• Start and finish learning a new programming language (Python) and an OS (ROS) – Due in 3 weeks.
• Finish collecting survey data and start analysing – Due in 4 weeks.
• Edit and submit a journal paper – Due ??!! (more panic due to uncertainty of schedule on this one).
• Start writing a different journal paper – In 4 weeks.

——(louder scream here)——

• Meanwhile, interview a stranger and write up a magazine article for a journalism class I’m taking – Due <1 week.
• Interview more people or glue up some stuff up into a magazine article for the journalism class – Due < 2 weeks.
• Do up an application to go to a conference in Korea for free (’cause free is important) – Due in < 2 weeks.
• Apply for an internship for the summer – Due 4 weeks.
• Come up with a presentation on roboethics for Univ. or Michigan – Due ??!! (extra panic due to uncertainty of presentation date + the expected length of the presentation)
• Translate stuff for people in roboethics – Due… like.. yesterday (more like last week).

——(insert scream here after checking the cluttered inbox)——

——(scream again and nearly faint after looking at the messy room/desk/kitchen/washroom)——

….

So, yes. If you sense stress and fatigue and restlessness in my writing over the next few weeks, please do excuse me. But that’s for being a grad student who started off with a grandiose tri-phasic thesis project.

For those of you in the same boat as me – rushing to get everything done near instantaneously – please do make sure you treat yourself to doing something nice for yourself. For me, I have a bubble bath bar from Lush (my newly emerging obsession), a bottle of wine, and an unlimited access to Poppit (pogo game) to keep me sane and relaxed – although temporarily… We’ll see how many bathes/bubbles/games I go through this month to stay healthy…

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