Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Distractions du Jour



Ah, the life of a student. It might well be described as a microcosm of the ethical life: perpetual conflict between what one should do and what one wants to do. Some distractions never fail me; others take me by surprise.

Distractions, Tried and True
  • The wonders of the "Internets"
  • Facebook in particular
  • Checking e-mail compulsively
  • Random acts of cleaning
  • My wandering thoughts
  • Making "to do" lists
  • Filling up "to do" lists with things I've finished, just so I can cross something off the list
  • Acts of grooming
  • Consuming beverage of choice
Distractions, In with the New
  • This blog
  • Food blogs
  • Word games online
  • Cursing the blasted temperature
  • Organizing e-mail
  • Facebook (yes, I listed it twice - with all the darned apps., there's always something new)
  • Headlines of the day (Firefox, let me count the ways...)
  • Checking class syllabi out of paranoia I'm missing something
  • iTunes!!!!!!
  • Tivo, glorious Tivo
  • Spontaneous sing-alongs (ok, maybe also not quite new, but shall we say rediscovered?)
  • Etc., etc., etc. (a la The King and I)
As I have been known to say from time to time, "Homework, like the poor, is always with us."

2 comments:

  1. Don't you find it a bit redunkulous filling up "to do" lists with things you've already finished? Why not just write out a list that says "Shiznit I've Already Done"?

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  2. Well you see, for me it is far more satisfying to pretend that those things were already on my "to do" list - it feels more like I've accomplished some concrete goals. So simply listing "Stuff [interesting word choice, by the way!] I've Already Done" would defeat the purpose.

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