There hasn’t been much activity here on the Gnu Glasses frontier as of late. It’s been almost three weeks since my last post. I’d like to say this is because I’ve been too busy going on some great adventures. Alas, this is not the case.

I’ve spent the last three weeks trying to close the chapter on the 18 month journey that is graduate school. For the most part it’s been a great experience. I’ve met some nice people, made new contacts, and honed my ability to give a kick ass presentation. Unfortunately, the key to finishing my degree was a research paper.

In theory, I should love writing research papers. I have a journalism degree. I write a blog and occasionally write articles for a local newspaper. While I enjoy doing all those things, research papers are a different animal.

My biggest gripe with writing research papers is that they tend to be overly academic and boring. The only is saving grace is that I get to break out my fancy SAT vocabulary. I can use words like obsequious, bailiwick and heretofore without feeling like a snob. Aside from that, it’s a pretty tedious chore.

When I sit down to write one of these blogs, I’m usually in a good mood and excited. The words usually flow out of me. The past three weeks have been spent staring at computer trying to find the motivation to write a 50 page paper on motivation.

This isn’t to say I’ve  been glued to my computer the entire time. It’s amazing how many ways you can find to distract yourself from getting work done. People I haven’t talked to in months have been blowing up my phone recently. I’ve been watching the Olympics regularly and trying to figure out the allure of volleyball as a sport. I’ll stick to tennis, thank you very much.

As the deadline approached, I really buckled down. I locked myself in my apartment and tried to put the finishing touches on my paper. Monday morning, I started to stress out. Usually, when I stress out I head to fridge for some junk food. Unfortunately my apartment was devoid of any snack, so I was stuck eating entire bags of pre-washed salad mix and shoveling tiny cartons of Dannon light n’ fit yogurt down my throat. There are few things in life more depressing than a grown man binging on salad and yogurt to calm his nerves.

After a mini meltdown, I turned in my paper 30 minutes before the deadline. It wasn’t as good as I wanted it, but hopefully it’s good enough to get me by. According to my professor, he should have all the papers graded by next Monday. Until then, all I can do is wait.