Tuesday, October 12, 2004

Top 10 distractions from studying

I don't know about everyone else, but I am ridiculously easily distracted from my school work. Really, I'd rather do anything but study. Here are my top 10 distractions in ascending order:

10) Calling my parents. Even though they're not that interesting and pretty much nothing new ever happens, and they tell me every opportunity that they wished I wasn't in law school, it's still better talking to them than reading the green book.

9) Reading the news. I'm not that big on news, and never have been, nor do I hold any political views. I've never read the news before, but I find myself doing it now in retaliation for how much reading I have for school. I know, it doesn't make sense. I guess it's the attitude that I'm not going to let school completely overtake my life, by showing that I can even squeeze time in for doing things I don't normally like to do.

8) Grocery shopping. Even though my apartment is crap, it's comforting going grocery shopping and buying food and maybe other little knick-knacks that may make it seem more like home. Plus, a starving student's gotta eat! God knows what that stuff down in the canteen really is.

7) Cleaning my apartment. I'm not a Monica, but it does bother me to see my apartment filthy, especially when I have a dog. Popcorn is adorable, but she does make a huge mess. Lately she's started chewing on my notebooks, so now I have tons of little confetti bits all over the place. Anyone have a good idea on how to train her?

6) Watching movies. I used to watch movies all of the time, but now that I have no time, it's fairly impossible. My main problem with movies is that they're too much of a time commitment all at once. Who's got 2.5 hours to spare at once? Most people like to take 20-30 minutes for a break, and then go do whatever they've gotta do. In a way, it's easier watching tv since you can just watch one sitcom and then turn the tv off. Well, that's if you've got the willpower to turn the tv off.

5) Listening to music. Not that I really have the time, nor can I concentrate on studying if there's music, but every once in a while you just gotta kick back and relax for a few minutes. Especially if I've been staring at the green book for over an hour and have only read 2 pages.

4) Calling my sister. I usually talk to my sister about 2-3 times a day. She calls me when she's driving to and from somewhere, and she always wants me to talk to her on the phone so that she isn't bored. It's so nice to feel loved.

3) Checking my email about 40 times a day. I know this makes me sound really pathetic, but I'm desperate to keep up contact with all of my friends and ex co-workers. Maybe when I've put down a few more roots I'll stop being so neurotic and talk to real people here.

2) Shopping online. This one doesn't make sense very much either, considering how I'm up to my eyebrows in debt because of school. But that's ok, I'm thinking if I'm in debt for 35k a year, what's a few extra thousand? I just better get a good job after graduation or I may be one of the most over-qualified homeless people you'll ever meet.

1) Writing this blog. It's fairly stress-relieving to be able to vent here about school or anything else that has pissed me off in the course of the day. Maybe that way I won't go beat up the guys living above me who are always having parties at 2am.

So what's your favorite distraction?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Taking a shower. Not that I need one since I take a shower ever morning, but it seems to be a nice relaxing break from reading. I never used to take a shower just because, but I feel like I can get away with it without feeling guilty that I'm not reading (unlike watching t.v.).

hufflepuffer said...

That's interesting. I usually love taking a shower while I'm in there, but as soon as I'm out I resent the time I have to spend to dry my hair and all that. Maybe I'll just shave all my hair off to solve the problem.

Anonymous said...

I like to spend my time watching short films of two to three actors/actresses dealing with their complicated situations that can only be resolved through physical confrontations. It takes bout 20-30 minutes max, but of course the short films are only like 10-15 minutes long and each DVD comes with many of these. But of cousrse you need several DVDs of these and each DVD may focus on a different type of confrontation and change the preference of the actors/actresses.