Weekend Work

Every weekend I plan for so much productivity: I'll do my reading for the whole week (or at least the first few days), I'll look over my notes, I'll start going through the old outlines, I'll do a few practice tests (just kidding). But so far, I get less done between Friday afternoon and Monday morning than I do on a normal day. Maybe its carry-over from my law firm work this past summer (ah, the relaxed life of a summer associate), but I feel that weekends are my time off. JP hasn't had to work as many weekends lately, or if he does, he just uses my laptop at home in the morning. Because he's using my laptop, obviously I can't study (nevermind that you can read an admin assignmet without your laptop in front of you), so I do productive things around the apartment: make a big breakfast, put the magazines and old mail in neat stacks, think about shaving the cat* because her white fur is everwhere, and dream about someday having more closet space. After all that hard work, I'll make breakfast or we'll go out to brunch, and then I'll manage to waste/enjoy the rest of the day. I promise myself that on Sunday I will go to the library in the morning and at least knock out Monday and Tuesday's reading, but then Sunday comes and a lazy morning in bed sounds so much better. The crazy thing is that JP goes to UC's campus on Sat. and Sun. to go to the gym- I really have no excuse for staying home and doing nothing. This past Sunday I even went to the library while he was at the gym, but I spent 90% of my 2 hours there catching up on email and reading news stories.

I'm not behind in my reading as I get most of that done during the week, but I'm not ahead. Every quarter I vow that this will be the one where I don't start outlining 6 days before the final (or like last quarter, 6 days before 4 finals!). But each quarter keeps ending out okay and finals seem so far away in the beginning. I've decided to consider it training for being a working parent -- leaving work behind and truly being home when I'm home. This is somewhat ridiculous as law school has no real deadlines until finals and even then its only my grade thats being affected, but still- "preparing for a balanced life" sounds so much better than just being lazy.

*We actually did attempt shaving the cat a few years ago. We used JP's electric hair trimmer outside on the balcony in Houston. Lilly didn't seem to mind- I think the buzzing was kind of like a massage, but her hair is so thin it wasn't cut uniformly. We gave up after about 30 min. and she had a few bald spots, some stripes, and generally looked homeless. Her hair has grown even longer and sheds even more- probably out of spite.