sometimes, I impress myself.

So, I have to brag on myself a bit here because, well dammit, it is MY blog. 🙂

Tonight I left work around 5:30 and suffered from unusually extreme option paralysis vis-a-vis my three-times-daily dilemma of what to eat. Normally I’d stop and grab something, or come home and change clothes so I could go grab something to eat out. But given that I wasn’t in Plano until 6:15ish, and that I had a (tiny, unimportant, short, no-thesis-required) paper due at 9 p.m. on which I’d not yet begun, it felt like a foolish idea to waste time sans an Internet connection (necessary for timely submission of said paper) somewhere eating, when what I really needed was to sit down and write.

Now, I’m not known for my self-motivation until I’m right up against a deadline. By this, I mean that literally two weeks ago when working on a previous iteration of this (weekly) assignment, I didn’t START writing until about 8:40 or so. Seriously. So in that regard, knowing my own weaknesses and tendencies meant I could have very easily gone out to eat / read and still had ample time in which to complete this (tiny, unimportant, short) paper. Nevertheless, I decided to take a leap of faith with myself and come on home anyway.

I preheated the oven while I checked the mail and discovered — to my horror — that one of the cats threw up or otherwise made a mess on the bed, seeping through the comforter cover to the actual down comforter. (ASIDE: I would like to point out — for the record — that, throughout the process of stripping off the duvet, cleaning up cat {whatever}, and throwing the duvet in the washer, I NEVER thought to myself, “Self, we should kill the cats.”)

Still. After watching half each an episode of Oprah and Ellen and eating dinner while playing a few games of Spider Solitaire — all time-tested procrastination techniques of mine — I managed to find untold stores of motivation and actually — are you sitting down? — wrote my paper in the 30 minutes beginning at 8 p.m. Which means it got turned in, for no apparent reason, a full THIRTY MINUTES EARLY.

I realize that for many, that might feel like a close call. But for me, this represents a major victory of self-motivation. Really, it does. A watershed moment for sure.

So now it’s 8:45 p.m. and I’m listening to the “Little Mermaid” soundtrack (which of course you all will recognize means I’m at home sans the boyfriend) through the surround-sound, and I’m trying to decide if I should use my unexpected bonus of free time to indulge in Cold Stone or to watch more TV. Decisions, decision, decisions …

{/self-indulgent congratulatory post}