The erudite ways I've been making use of the Thanksgiving break

I went on down to Ann Arbor to meet Alice for coffee at Sweetwater's. It was good to get out of the house, but I'd sure been enjoying my hiding away the past several days. As a compromise on my whole I-want-to-wear- my-pajamas-for-as-much-of-the-Thanksgiving-break-as
-possible kick, I wore just half of my pajamas out of the house: my bright kelly-green hooded Bemidji sweatshirt that Debs gave to me this summer. It's like a big group hug from my family, what with the memories of being on the lake with cousins this summer, the soft fuzzy coziness of it, and the fact that it was Dad's old school. On the bottom, I wore my REI flannely pants that really might as well be pajama bottoms for the way they feel, and my sneakers. No makeup, not a touch to my hair. Lately, I really couldn't seem to give less of a damn about how I look. Am I becoming a country girl?

Alice provided a bit of a wake-up call about the ticking clock on the end of the semester. I have an amazing amount of work I was supposed to be doing this weekend, but I'm having much more fun playing on the internet, blogging, cooking up a storm, cleaning my house from top to bottom, and watching ridiculously silly movies. (Yesterday: Kettle of Fish, and the day before: In the Land of Women and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. And you thought I might have been exaggerating?) My work has been slow-going this semester for a variety of reasons, not all of them emanating from me. Even some of them emanating from me, not entirely under my control. But it's about time to get down to business. But my latest batch of movies just arrived from Netflix, and I've got Delicatessen and Y Tu Mama Tambien in my greedy little hands now. Write a paper for Qualitative Methods, or watch movies? Hmmmmmm . . .

In other news, I got my GSI letter from my department (GSI = Graduate Student Instructor; roughly equivalent to a "Teacher's Assistant" in most universities), and I've been offered a head GSI position teaching Anthropology next semester. It's a professor I've been wanting to get to know, and it would be good experience for my CV to have been head GSI (which comprises responsibilities of leadership, organization, and administration helping keep the team of GSIs working smoothly together, since 101 classes are gigantic and there are typically 6 of us working together to handle all the sections of the course). It would also be considerably more money than I was getting this semester, since it's a 60% appointment instead of 50%. Since I'm really struggling with the price of gas being what it is and my rent having jumped up when I moved into my own place, this is no small thing. If I could save some money, I could use it toward research this summer in Europe . . . But I was *just* saying to Alice that I am thinking I need to scale back my teaching responsibilities in order to make room for the coursework I still need to complete. ESPECIALLY in light of the impending departure of a faculty member I was hoping to work with. Oh, man. What to do, what to do!?

Clearly the answer is to procrastinate by watching another movie. . . . Now that I've had a scrumptious dinner. Mmmmmm. And reread the message you've sent to me for at least the half-dozenth time, Marcell!! :)

Yes, this is what self-sabotage looks like, friends.