I didn't get a chance to do a Thanksgiving post this year. So, since ingratitude is a sin, I figured I should rectify that by posting something now. Better late than never. (I'm really trying on that whole procrastination thing.)
I spent my Thanksgiving weekend writing about the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act. (RLUIPA for short.) It sounds like a strange juxtaposition of ideas, and honestly, it is. (I won't bore you with the details of why land use and institutionalized persons ended up in the same statute.) Anyway, lots of ink has been spilled about the land use portion of the law. Not too many people have dealt with the institutionalized persons section. Since I have to make a unique contribution to human knowledge (pesky requirements for getting a doctorate and all that), I'm writing about the institutionalized persons section of RLUIPA. As a result, I've been reading about all the stuff that goes on in prison.
So, I'm grateful that somebody taught me to read so that I could read these cases. (I don't remember learning to read, so I'm assuming my parents were the ones who taught me. By the time I was in school, I already knew.)
I'm grateful that my professor didn't yell at me when I turned in a really lousy draft. I'm grateful to the other professor who (according to the rumor mill) convinced my professor to chill out a bit.
I'm grateful that I'm not in prison. It's really a nasty place there. I'm also grateful that I can practice my religion without having to sue for it.
I'll really be grateful when this paper is done. The scary thought is that when I'm finished, I'll probably be one of the leading authorities on the institutionalized persons section of RLUIPA. I'm not sure if I'm ready to be the leading authority on anything. (Well, I'm the leading authority on how to use the HR database at work, but that's much less complicated than federal law. All I have to do is check the code every now and then to make sure the HTML gremlins haven't misplaced a tag. It's amazing how often that happens.)
I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and that you're having a wonderful Advent season!
Monday, November 29, 2010
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
An Ode to My Scarf
My scarf is the most versatile item of clothing in my wardrobe. It's awesome! It's striped in various shades of blue, my favorite color. Elisabeth got it for me when she was studying in London. I've used it for various purposes:
1. To keep my neck warm.
This is the typical use of a scarf. I can tie it in so many different ways depending on my mood and on how cold it is.
2. To keep my shoulders warm.
It's big enough to be used as a shawl. This is helpful especially at church, where the chapel has two temperatures: Cold and colder.
3. To keep my head warm.
When I've taken trips to Utah in the winter, I've wrapped my scarf around my ears to keep the chill out.
4. To protect from sunburn.
I burst into flames when exposed to direct sunlight. (Don't worry; I'm not a vampire - just a redhead.) I can wear my scarf over my head to keep the sun off of me to protect from sunburn. It works especially well at high school graduations.
5. To show respect to other cultures.
I've traveled abroad, and in some of the places I've been, I've visited holy sites that require women to cover their hair. My scarf is a nice portable way to do that.
6. Emergency change of clothes.
I've even used my scarf as a skirt. I used to work nights doing in-home health care. When I worked the Saturday night shift, I would get off on Sunday mornings just in time to go home and change for church. One day, my relief person was late. I was able to use my scarf as a skirt so that I didn't have to go home to change. I was still on time to church.
I wonder if there are other creative uses I haven't thought of yet. (Today my scarf is keeping my neck warm.)
1. To keep my neck warm.
This is the typical use of a scarf. I can tie it in so many different ways depending on my mood and on how cold it is.
2. To keep my shoulders warm.
It's big enough to be used as a shawl. This is helpful especially at church, where the chapel has two temperatures: Cold and colder.
3. To keep my head warm.
When I've taken trips to Utah in the winter, I've wrapped my scarf around my ears to keep the chill out.
4. To protect from sunburn.
I burst into flames when exposed to direct sunlight. (Don't worry; I'm not a vampire - just a redhead.) I can wear my scarf over my head to keep the sun off of me to protect from sunburn. It works especially well at high school graduations.
5. To show respect to other cultures.
I've traveled abroad, and in some of the places I've been, I've visited holy sites that require women to cover their hair. My scarf is a nice portable way to do that.
6. Emergency change of clothes.
I've even used my scarf as a skirt. I used to work nights doing in-home health care. When I worked the Saturday night shift, I would get off on Sunday mornings just in time to go home and change for church. One day, my relief person was late. I was able to use my scarf as a skirt so that I didn't have to go home to change. I was still on time to church.
I wonder if there are other creative uses I haven't thought of yet. (Today my scarf is keeping my neck warm.)
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Random Thoughts, Again
Getting there is half the fun.
I'm going to a conference in Dallas in February. I'm not willing to fly, given the new TSA screening procedures. (Seriously, if I'm going to be touched like that, I at least deserve dinner and flowers first!) So, I get to take a Greyhound bus instead. It'll take a day and a half each way. That's the drawback of living out west where the states are huge, I suppose. Back east, you can drive for a few hours and be three or four states away. Here, you can drive all day and still be in the same state. Small price to pay to keep my dignity, though.
Micromanagers.
There's a special place in the afterlife for micromanagers, and I don't mean heaven. Seriously, if you give me a deadline of 11:59 pm, don't e-mail me at 9 pm demanding an explanation as to why I haven't finished yet. I'll get to it. I'm busy. You may be living off of scholarships and have a spouse who takes care of your household, thus leaving you free to focus all of your energy on school. I, on the other hand, have to earn a living, maintain a household, and do school. All by myself. And I have a heavier class load than you do. So seriously, back off. All your e-mail did was make me want to passive-aggressively wait until midnight to upload my work even though I finished at 10. However, I took the high road and uploaded at 10 anyway.
Twitter.
I finally signed up for Twitter. I'm the queen of brevity, but it's really hard to say anything in 140 characters or less. Especially because I insist on not abusing the English language to do so.
I'm going to a conference in Dallas in February. I'm not willing to fly, given the new TSA screening procedures. (Seriously, if I'm going to be touched like that, I at least deserve dinner and flowers first!) So, I get to take a Greyhound bus instead. It'll take a day and a half each way. That's the drawback of living out west where the states are huge, I suppose. Back east, you can drive for a few hours and be three or four states away. Here, you can drive all day and still be in the same state. Small price to pay to keep my dignity, though.
Micromanagers.
There's a special place in the afterlife for micromanagers, and I don't mean heaven. Seriously, if you give me a deadline of 11:59 pm, don't e-mail me at 9 pm demanding an explanation as to why I haven't finished yet. I'll get to it. I'm busy. You may be living off of scholarships and have a spouse who takes care of your household, thus leaving you free to focus all of your energy on school. I, on the other hand, have to earn a living, maintain a household, and do school. All by myself. And I have a heavier class load than you do. So seriously, back off. All your e-mail did was make me want to passive-aggressively wait until midnight to upload my work even though I finished at 10. However, I took the high road and uploaded at 10 anyway.
Twitter.
I finally signed up for Twitter. I'm the queen of brevity, but it's really hard to say anything in 140 characters or less. Especially because I insist on not abusing the English language to do so.
Monday, November 15, 2010
The End of Procrastination
I'm a chronic procrastinator. It's probably my biggest character flaw. (Well, that, and I'm a scatterbrain and prone to arrogance, but one problem at a time.) It's something I've struggled with for as long as I can remember. I have so many varied interests that I enjoy studying, but I'll put off what I have to do until the last minute. This is most pronounced in my writing. I can churn out a blog post in nothing flat, but when I have a deadline for school, I can't seem to get my creative juices flowing until the last minute.
Many of my professors have spotted the big problem in my writing: I don't show my work enough. There are holes in my papers because I neglect to fill them in. When it comes time to put the words on paper, I skip over stuff because I'm up against a deadline and don't have time to do the subject justice.
I've been trying to figure out why I procrastinate. I genuinely enjoy what I do. I love studying the law and I want to be a law professor. I'm going to have to write articles on a regular basis, and I can't keep leaving things to the last minute. It hit me this morning while driving into work after pulling an all-nighter to get my latest draft done. My draft was pure garbage, but I consoled myself with the knowledge that if only I had had more time, it would have been better. By procrastinating, I absolve myself of the responsibility of producing bad work.
More than anything else, I fear failure. I always have. If I had truly given it my best and it was bad, that would have been devastating to me. But, I sabotage myself by my procrastination. Since it wasn't my best effort (since time didn't permit my best effort), I don't have to face the possibility that my best isn't good enough.
I can't keep doing this. Procrastination is making me miserable and keeping me from living up to my potential. But I don't know how to stop. It's such an ingrained habit - it has become a coping mechanism.
I'm sure procrastination is a common problem, so I'm throwing it out to the wisdom of the crowd. If any of you have made progress in overcoming procrastination, how did you do it?
Procrastination stops today! (Not tomorrow, which is what I would have said before this epiphany.)
Many of my professors have spotted the big problem in my writing: I don't show my work enough. There are holes in my papers because I neglect to fill them in. When it comes time to put the words on paper, I skip over stuff because I'm up against a deadline and don't have time to do the subject justice.
I've been trying to figure out why I procrastinate. I genuinely enjoy what I do. I love studying the law and I want to be a law professor. I'm going to have to write articles on a regular basis, and I can't keep leaving things to the last minute. It hit me this morning while driving into work after pulling an all-nighter to get my latest draft done. My draft was pure garbage, but I consoled myself with the knowledge that if only I had had more time, it would have been better. By procrastinating, I absolve myself of the responsibility of producing bad work.
More than anything else, I fear failure. I always have. If I had truly given it my best and it was bad, that would have been devastating to me. But, I sabotage myself by my procrastination. Since it wasn't my best effort (since time didn't permit my best effort), I don't have to face the possibility that my best isn't good enough.
I can't keep doing this. Procrastination is making me miserable and keeping me from living up to my potential. But I don't know how to stop. It's such an ingrained habit - it has become a coping mechanism.
I'm sure procrastination is a common problem, so I'm throwing it out to the wisdom of the crowd. If any of you have made progress in overcoming procrastination, how did you do it?
Procrastination stops today! (Not tomorrow, which is what I would have said before this epiphany.)
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