Only not.
I'm pretty sure spring break was invented for two reasons.
-- To give grad students time to catch up on grading/reading/research/eating/etc.
-- To be a form of punishment for grad students, to break their spirits even further so they become willing slaves of the university.
Assuming that I'm NOT actually getting sick on my first day of spring break (and I feel like I should be repeating a mantra here), I plan to fully accept my punishment and make the best of it. In fact, my to-do list is comprised mostly of things I've been wanting to make time for all semester. My portfolio website has been down for months and needs a full redesign, there's an artist-in-residency application deadline that I'd really like to make, I have several art projects on the back burner, and I've been dying to get back into electronic music improvisation and rebuild my performance interface. Of course, at the same time, I've got a lot of grading to do, reading for classes, and house/apartment hunting to do. Hooray. The good with the bad, I suppose. I was really hoping to get away for a few days, head down to the family cabin and just...be gone for a while. Our recently revealed financial issues are making that impossible, unfortunately, but hopefully I'll get so much accomplished I won't even mind.
On top of all of this, Mr. Dead and I are working hard to undo the nasty things stress has done to our bodies and brains since we moved here. We're getting back to the way we were eating when we first moved here (which was good, actually), and we've started getting regular physical activity again. We're even getting back into yoga again, in hopes that it'll help with the whole relaxation/de-stress thing. I'm using spring break to really solidify the new/old routine and willpower, so hopefully it won't crash and burn as soon as school starts back up.
So, high hopes, right?
I am not getting sick. I am not getting sick. I am not getting sick.
Really. I mean it.
