Backing away from the computer

I had a rough weekend, emotionally speaking. A whole list of things hit me, some of which are out of my control, hence the anxiety they create. But one thing I can do something about is the fact that I have an enormous pile of work this semester--and only a semester to do it all. And so I find that I must buckle down and carve out more time for my work. Trillian and I have discussed how I can do this without giving up the most important non-school parts of my day, e.g. time with Scooter before bed, some weekend activities. And so there are two ways for me to recover more time to poke my head in a book: work more efficiently when I'm on campus and put 2-3 hours in each night after Scooter's in bed (leaving the apartment if need be for a place I can focus better).

Guess when I usually blog.*

Now, I'm not shutting down shop. Just cutting back my hours. Fewer and/or shorter posts. Plus a little less visiting time around the blogosphere. Making sure I go to bed at a reasonable time so that I can make better use of my mornings, which is when I'm my sharpest anyway.

I'm not entirely sure how this will play out in practice. I worry that my brain may explode from the accumulation of unwritten posts that will rattle around my head. But I must complete the first part of my comps by the end of this semester, at the same time I'll be finishing up the requirements for my final seminar. And then moving--but that, at least, doesn't involve the same mental commitment, so I should be back to my usual writing schedule in January.

But I'm not counting how few months/weeks/days away that is, because I don't need to have that panic attack again.

*And watch TV, so these particular hours involve multiple sacrifices.