Procrastination and Writer's Block

I remember in high school when a good friend and I joked that we could be Olympic medalists at procrastination - if we could get around to making the sport recognized. Little did I know that I had yet to perfect the art. Not that this is a skill I am proud to have, but the first step is recognition, right?!

So here I am. It is 4 am on a Saturday morning and I am trying to finish an essay. I've procrastinated well so the essay (and one other that hasn't even been started yet) is a week past due. Never mind the 80+ pages of translations that I am about 10 pages into a first draft of that are due in 3 weeks. Sigh... The only thing between me and my ever-so inviting bed right now is a conclusion. You see I promised myself I would finish the essay today. Actually I was supposed to meet with my tutor this afternoon for her to read over the final product (this was after originally agreeing to meet yesterday), but a head-splitting headache complete with light-induced nausea (which probably makes it a migraine now that I think about it) sidelined me for the entire afternoon/evening yesterday and so I got behind. Combine that with my exceptional procrastination skills and an essay that ballooned from about 3 pages into 8, and I'm left staring at one line under the heading "Conclusion" and wishing that the characters, if left alone, would multiply and the conclusion would write itself... Having had no luck with that line of wishing with my MA thesis I am doubtful but haven't given up hope quite yet! Since staring at the single sentence wasn't having much of an effect either, I figured I'd try writing something else and get my creative juices flowing... either that or I was just justifying some fun procrastination!

Speaking of which... Having heard about the Canadian Blog Awards I stumbled upon a funny and just generally really neat blog called the Yarn Harlot. Looking at the pictures of her creations has prompted me to take a few pictures of my own. Although in no ways anywhere near the same league, I am pretty proud of them. Living and studying in a foreign language I find I get brain overload on a fairly regular basis. One way I deal with it is to use my hands and make something while I watch a bit of mindless English language TV via the internet. As many of you know I can be quite independent and this manifests itself as an intense dislike for following patterns. When cooking I am much happier randomly putting things together and the same with other projects. While this quite often leads itself to things that... welll... just don't quite turn out right, it does also get me thinking in different ways. So here goes with a few of the things I've made recently...

My scarf:

The first is the first knitting project I have done in probably 15 years. My grandma would be proud to know, however, that I hadn't forgotten (I may be the only person to have ever actually forgotten how to ride a bike, but I haven't forgotten how to knit), and this scarf proves it! It wasn't until I cast off, however, that I realized I should have left some wool to make a fringe, however, so now I have to go and find myself some other wool to add on some fringe and, since it'll likely have to be a different colour, I'm probably going to have to figure out some way of working it into the scarf too... This latter project gives me the chance to make it up myself instead of following the pattern. Yes, this very straightforward scarf was made to a pattern. Yes, I know I could have made it 20 years ago WITHOUT the pattern, but as I said I haven't knit in nearly that long and besides the whole thing was a (wonderful) Christmas gift that reminded me just how much I enjoy knitting! (Thanks ever so much Cathy!!!) I will definitely have to do another knitting project soon. After reading a few too many Yarn Harlot posts I was contemplating socks, but then I regained my sanity and decided I had better stick with scarves for a bit - a couple of friends here were far too impressed and complimentary of my scarf, they may find themselves owners of scarves sometime in the spring when they no longer need them!

And my belts:



My next two projects were me taking the bracelet making skills I gained at summer camp and putting them to a use that I would actually wear. I wasn't sure how they would turn out but was pleasantly surprised. They were more work than I had initially imagined, however, and quite quickly realized I'd have to wear gloves while knotting them or face loosing the skin on my fingers! But at the end of it I have two very unique belts that make me happy!

Anyhow... It is now almost 5 am and I should check to see if my conclusion has written itself so I can go to bed!