All in a day's rush

For the last few weeks I've barely been able to sleep or eat and I feel like I've been worn down to dust. Even so, there are some times that I amaze myself. No, not because of anything bad (at least not this time), but because I'm one of the few people that seems to work well under pressure. Possibly better. Case in point:

A couple weeks ago we were given an assignment in History 103. Only the second one we've had so far. We were to read the book, Children of the Sun by Alfred Crosby and write a paper on it (one page minimum, single space, no double spaced breaks). Being as poor as I am I put off buying the book until the last minute, which as it turned out was last Thursday at 1:48PM. Great, I thought, I've got a whole week to read the book and write my paper. Of course we both know (judging by my intro to this post), that this wasn't to be the case.

I had to enjoy my days off, I had to enjoy Halloween, and of course I had to work and eventually I had school again. So the days ticked off and I hadn't so much as opened the book I spent too much on (seriously, who really needs to sell books at the MSRP?). Then yesterday came, the day before the assignment was due. I had no choice but to really hunker down and get started on it. Luckily I didn't have to work and I have a decent sized break between my second and third classes. I was gonna do it!

I know, sounds great on paper and I did hunker down to a degree, but I have a hell of a time focusing on anything I consider vitally important. But knowing it was due tomorrow (today) really kept me going at it. I obviously didn't have time to read the entire book so I focused on specific parts of it so at least when I wrote about it, I'd know exactly what I was writing about. Before I knew it, I had my one page and I wasn't even done! A few skims here and there at the end of the book, a few summarizing sentences and that was it. I finished it... I finished it?!

Surely it must be riddled with errors and read like stereo instructions, but no! It was coherent and, dare I say, engaging! I was honestly surprised and amazed at what I had pulled off; I wrote a college level paper on a book I barely read in less than a day!

Who am I and what have I done with myself?

I'm Kelly, and I really don't know. But I'm proud of myself.