Be excellent to each other. Not only did I just realize I have two final paper presentations to give in classes tomorrow, but one of them is at 9-motherfucking-am, which means I actually have to finish the damn thing tonight, which means I probably need to start it pretty soon, hey?

I've been getting a lot of advice about generals lately that says, essentially, all you really need is one solid week of studying before the exam in order to ace the thing. Which is good, because that's pretty much what I'm going to give myself. I find out my committee on Wednesday, and then I am going to start pretentiously disappearing with my notes to Top Secret Hiding Places With No Intertubes that involve the Boston commuter rail and secluded gardens. Yes, yes I am really that much of an bourgeois asshole. But I know what works for me when the pressure is on, and hanging around and subjecting myself to the angsty, pointy vibes at the department (or, god forbid, at home with my insane and demanding roommate) ain't it. Getting the fuck out of Cambridge and communing with the bees for a few days will, I think, do the trick, or at least help a lot. (I saw the season's first big fat bumblebees just this morning, so they're on my mind. One of them was slowly hurling itself stupidly and repeatedly into a window at the department, the other was just chilling in the garden by the design school. Yay, bees!)

It is going to be a very interesting week. And I know I've said it before, but I really do love just immersing myself in this crap, because when it works and the poli sci mojo really begins to flow, everything starts to click together in a really amazing and coherent way, and my own work suddenly begins to seem like part of something bigger than itself; something relevant and cumulative and, if not important, at least worthwhile.  ¶ 12:29 PM