GETTING THE BINDER DONE

I have a binder due for school.  It's a binder that represents two years of work toward two different somewhat obscure educational goals.  Last year I put most of the binder together and did the bulk of the boring, routine paperwork, and it took me about 40 hours or more.  This year I have about 15 hours of work left to finish everything.

Since the binder is due within two weeks and I have a life, I spend this weekend attempting to get the binder finished.  This is tough since Friday I come home late and so tired that all I want to do is go to bed.  Saturday I get up early and sort all of my paperwork into piles ... all ... over ... my ... house.  I start working on the binder, and then I'm called away for something really important: a fun afternoon.

A friend needs to get a Brickle Pie from an ice cream shop about fifteen minutes away, so we run down there and pick one up.  I don't know what a Brickle Pie is, so I ask, and I discover that it is something crazy that is made from coffee ice cream, Heath Bars, and a whole slew of other amazing things.  Of course, we must buy ourselves ice cream, too, so we each scarf down kiddie-sized bowls of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream.

Then, there's a wine tasting.  We taste bubbly, a sauv blanc, a rose, and a pinot noir.  We buy some Sam Adams beer (but no wine), then move on to wine tasting #2, which is all imported roses.  We buy some rose bubbly and head back to my house, where I put out a spread of all kinds of munchies, and my friend and I watch the Bruins game for the rest of the afternoon.

I spend a little bit of time on the infamous binder, then crawl into bed for a decent night's sleep.  That means Sunday I will have to pay the piper.  I roll out of bed around 7:45 a.m., start up the computer, pull out the binder, and spend the day doing the work I've been putting off: calculations and narratives about data and artifacts. 

Go ahead and yawn.  I'm yawning just thinking about it.

I spend all day ... all ... day ... working and never even get out of my pajamas.  I finish the entire binder, plus the cover, at 8:22 p.m., crawl into a shower, and get right back into pajamas (clean ones).  But, it's done.  The binder is finally finished, which is good news because the next two weekends are busy, and this is my last chance to get 'er done. 

Success!  Now, I just have to remember to bring it to school and hand it in.