Monday's Accomplishment

As if Mondays aren't hard enough to face...today I had a monumental chore: Finish Red Mars.

My neck is so sore, as is my rear, from sitting and reading all day long.

Will this semester never END?

I know it will, but I have a paper to finish and one other small assignment that I don't care about. It'll get done.

Today, I had 275 pages to read in order to finish this book so that I could move on to research for the paper (that's the only "relief" I get these days). I started reading at 9a, took a break from 11 to 2p for some lunch, some cleaning, some exercising. I've been reading since 2...it's not 8 and I only have 40 more pages. My body screams to lie down, but I know I must go on.

I've taken to doing 10 jumping jacks when I get up for more water or to go to the bathroom. I don't always remember, but when I do, I feel better, blood flows to the outer extremities that have been in the same position for an hour. I also walk around the house, just to move, check my email, just to look at something different.

By the time I go to sleep, I will have finished Red Mars. It's a really good book. Recommended. Incredibly detailed, and I wouldn't recommend trying to read it in 2 1/2 days. It is 575 pages long and dense. The material is all science--every branch you can imagine--as well as psychology. The author had to have such a breadth of knowledge that I'm incredibly impressed. It's a complex novel that entwines human interactions and relationships with incredible scientific exploration in all kinds of fields (biology, ecology, geology, physics, astronomy...and more) with politics, religion, and economics. I can't grasp it all, to be honest, but it's a fascinating read (probably more so if I wasn't under this time crunch).

Last night I dreamed of Mars. So, obviously, it's very imaginative.

Okay, that was my 10 minute break. Actually, I think I need some food in order to concentrate on those last, surely significant, 40 pages.

I'll see you on the other side of this looming paper -- due next Wednesday at midnight.
Adios for now.