I should have known when I was 15 ...

I remember one day complaining to my mom about how busy and tired I was when I was about 15. I was swimming 4-5 days a week, plus meets on the weekends. I usually stayed up until about midnight doing homework. It was a rough life ;). Anyway, I just felt like I could never relax, like I never had enough down time, and of course my mom was forcing me to keep with my Saturday morning chores. I was pretty upset about not getting to sleep in on Saturdays, and my mom (single mom and overworked teacher) didn't really have any sympathy. She pretty much told me "welcome to the real world".

I should have known then that down time is extremely elusive. I cannot tell you how much I am looking forward to finishing my thesis and being able to relax. But, even with a date set, I feel like the more I work, the more work there is to do, and the less likely it becomes that I might be able to relax at some point. It's pretty disappointing.

On the bright side, I am enjoying what I'm doing. I really like this part of my research, I think it's pretty interesting. I just might not get to relax as much as I would like between now and Aug 4. (Although a $415 plane ticket to work on my thesis in a beach house instead of in my office just doesn't seem worth it, though, so I really don't want to work that week I'm in Georgia!!)

Oh well. I've been working about 60 hours a week the last few weeks but at least there is an end in sight. And no one's forcing me to clean the house on Saturday mornings, which as it turns out is both a blessing and a curse.