Pressure pushing down on me

The weekend could not really be described as a success. I finally got that tidying done and set up my 2008 filing system, but didn't do any reading. I spent a few hours on Sunday working on the journal - the first submission date is Friday. According to the course readings we're expected to have read six articles by then, but as in fact we only need to do 30 readings in total, I reckon I can get away with journaling only four this time. Other fortnights have disproportionately low numbers of assigned readings, so it all balances out.

Why do we only need to do 30 in total? It's because for every three readings journaled, we get one course mark, up to a maximum of 10. That's aside from content - there are another 10 course marks available for the content of our responses, but just by writing a few words on each of 30 articles we automatically get 10%. What a no-brainer.

Despite the relative dullness of the first two readings I'm having enormous difficulty fitting my responses into the tiny boxes provided on the template. At first cut I wrote 500 words on one article and 1000 on another. We're supposed to have one or two sentences on each of four main points for each article. Sandra says this is because she doesn't want us to spend too much time on the journal; for me, it takes longer to write 50 words than 500 on a topic that interests me.

Today's lecture, while encouragingly theoretical, seemed very long and cold. The refurbished CO 119 is not a cosy room, and on Mondays I have to spend three hours sitting in one place in there. (Okay, I could leave the room between lectures, but competition for seats is still a little high.) Right now I'm in there waiting for the MATH lecture to start, wearing a polar fleece jacket and a windbreaker, and my fingers are freezing.