July 22, 2003 - 4:06 pm
If, for the sake of making my life easier, I could change one thing about myself, I would increase the speed at which I could read for comprehension. You see, the one thing that makes school difficult for me (specifically, this �history� business) is how slowly I read, and how easily I am distracted.
I have a paper due next Friday for which I must read one very large book, parts of another large book, and two more large books ABOUT the first large book. I found a way to cut a lot of it down, or else I�d be looking at thousands of pages. Now, it�s more like 700-1000 total. Now, admitted, I should have started on this a long time ago, but the fact that I intend to spend pretty much all of my spare time on this and still don�t see how I can finish by Tuesday means that I am a sorry sack in the area of speed reading.
I spent the better part of yesterday evening reading �Inside the Third Reich� by Albert Speer, which is, might I add, not a hard read. However, I went through all of like 70 pages before I called it a night. Had I worked straight from the time I sat down until 11pm, when I chose to be through with all that Nazitalk, I am sure I would have gotten through much more, but instead, every 20 minutes or so I�d get up to answer my phone, make food, or I�d fall asleep or something. I R suck. The same thing happens when I devote a full day to reading at the Rendez-Vous or (even worse) Espresso Royale. I�ll start to zone out and I�ll daydream or nap until I�ve been there for five hours and somehow covered only half of what I�d intended, if that.
It�s intensely frustrating because I stress about being behind schedule, feel stupid for not getting my shit done, and sacrifice other things in my mad dash to accomplish what I must before the ball drops.
Today is the kind of day where I�d love more than anything to hop out of work early, but I have too much to do. My fingers are freezing (damned office AC!), but alas, I�m here until 7.
