Lazy and Hard-Working are Two Sides of the SAME Coin

And that coin is a quarter.

Yes, I am being lazy now. But I worked for almost a full day on an abstract, article, and chapter, albeit the latter half-heartedly. WITH a headache, I might add. I think it helps that I can't take books out of the library. I HAVE to use them there, so there's no pretending "well, I'll just take this home and read it there." I have been able to print out things and say, "well, I'll read those at home tonight." So far, I have not even managed, "oh, I'll look up that photocopied article and make sure the bibliographical reference is right." Yet even so, I've gotten a lot of work done during the day. Thus, I think that my working hard actually authorizes me to take a bit of a break.

Why is the coin a quarter (have you been wondering that?)? When I got my first fellowship, my old home-state advisor said, "well, I'll tell you what my parents always told me: congratulations, I knew you could do it, here's a shiny quarter." Apparently the quarter never grew despite inflation but always served as a sign of something accomplished; you have the accomplishment as a reward, so the quarter only serves as symbolic recognition of your achievement by a parent-figure (and saves them money).

So I'm thinking that through both occasional laziness and frequent hard work, through these two antithetical things working together, or fighting it out to find a balance, I can pursue my next quarter. I'm not sure if my analogy works, and it seems kind of like something my freshman would write in a paper -- a bit abstract, kind of overblown -- but I also don't care. This is what happens to my brain after a full day of serious work and not enough Excedrin.

Postscript: My apologies for being such a lazy bum this weekend and not getting out to see anyone in the Bend. It's weird....I kind of had a feeling of not really belonging in the place that's been home for the past few years, around even my closest friends. There's so much going on everywhere that I'm just clueless about. :-( I guess I'm going to have to get used to being a total outsider at "home" -- at least until I move back. :-) The bright side? Perhaps then I can "rediscover" the Bend, and hopefully it will have accumulated at least one new cool restaurant/bar/store/coffee shop in my absence. But I'm sure as hell going to miss the grocery stores here. They are really awesome. Martins better kick it up a notch. Today's ramblings are at an end. Nighty-o!