Too tired for this. Crazy day for my brain -- I did this thing last night where I went to bed thinking about the big ideas I need to tie together in my research paper, and somehow connected the dots right as I fell asleep. When I woke up, I knew I had figured it out, but I couldn't quite remember how.
0545 Alarm goes off. Out the door by six.
0625 Sprint workout at MIT.
1100 Fast-forward through long breakfast and longer chunks of wasted time, until I realize I've been away for five hours and still haven't done any work on my research paper (the assignment, fyi, is to "enter into a scholarly debate" on something in the field of animal consciousness)
1130 Marching myself to Lamont, the uncharming but not unwelcoming undergraduate library. I spend about half an hour scrawling bubbles, bullet points and arrows in an attempt to piece it all together...
1200 Flipping through some philosophy book my professor put on reserve, when all of a sudden I see a throwaway comment that sounds exactly like what I've been trying to articulate. That terrifying moment when it looks like what you've been trying so hard to say has already been said...I find the footnote, no author named. So I google the keywords, and sure enough I find an article using the exact thought process I laid out in my sleep...to support the exact opposite conclusion! VICTORY. This is great because now I know that 1) my thoughts are not completely whack and are actually -- like this article -- grounded in the work of Rawls; 2) what I want to say hasn't been said yet.
1300 Feeling way better about this even though I haven't yet written a single word. Off to Chinese.
1500 Sociology lecture.
1600 Gym break. If you've read my study guide, you know that I'm a fan of scheduling stuff into homework-heavy days. The less time I have, the harder I work. Short lift, zumba, abs.
1800 Straight to dinner, where I lingered for way too long with friends (the ones who don't mind my sweaty clothes) talking about Game of Thrones. I'M ONLY ON BOOK TWO NO SPOILERS IN THE COMMENTS.
2000 Back to business. On a mission to find Rawls. Lamont copy is checked out, so I prepare for my first adventure in the Widener Stacks. Widener is probably the most intimidating building at Harvard. I never study there, ever. The Stacks are even eerier than I imagined...especially the section I find myself in, which is full of crumbling 19th century journals. I open one up out of curiosity. It's a collection of essays summarizing the state of Parisian finances in 1898. My French is terrible, and the subject couldn't be more boring, but I find myself weirdly moved by phrases like "I want to call attention to a largely overlooked..." and "the key to understanding this is..." These were someone's eureka moments over a century ago. They clearly weren't big ideas, and maybe they weren't even good ideas, but they probably came in moments of inspiration. And someone was probably excited by them, in the same way that I'm kind of getting excited about this paper. I think I might start studying in Widener.
2040 Sadly, there is no Rawls in sight. Last hope: I can try to chase him down in the Design School library. A philosophy book in there? I'm skeptical, but it's worth a try. Also, I feel like I'm reclaiming a connection to libraries that I abandoned along with my middle-school self. Twisted much?
2100 Got him. Finally. This better be the best damn theory of justice I ever read in my life
2130 Back to the dorm for our entryway's weekly study break. We're having fresh mango and grapes, two fruits I've been missing like crazy.
2200 Hunkering down, trying not to be distracted by my beautiful and wildly entertaining roommates. Struggles.
0030 So much Rawls.
0100 On the bright side, I'm looking forward to a great conversation next time I see my philosophy major dad.
0200 More Rawls.
0300 Blogger's guilt; still strangely amped about paper process and restoration of diplomatic ties with the Dewey Decimal System
0333 Going to bed, sorry this is incoherent. Almost didn't post, but a promise is a promise, right?
0545 Alarm goes off. Out the door by six.
0625 Sprint workout at MIT.
1100 Fast-forward through long breakfast and longer chunks of wasted time, until I realize I've been away for five hours and still haven't done any work on my research paper (the assignment, fyi, is to "enter into a scholarly debate" on something in the field of animal consciousness)
1130 Marching myself to Lamont, the uncharming but not unwelcoming undergraduate library. I spend about half an hour scrawling bubbles, bullet points and arrows in an attempt to piece it all together...
1200 Flipping through some philosophy book my professor put on reserve, when all of a sudden I see a throwaway comment that sounds exactly like what I've been trying to articulate. That terrifying moment when it looks like what you've been trying so hard to say has already been said...I find the footnote, no author named. So I google the keywords, and sure enough I find an article using the exact thought process I laid out in my sleep...to support the exact opposite conclusion! VICTORY. This is great because now I know that 1) my thoughts are not completely whack and are actually -- like this article -- grounded in the work of Rawls; 2) what I want to say hasn't been said yet.
1300 Feeling way better about this even though I haven't yet written a single word. Off to Chinese.
1500 Sociology lecture.
1600 Gym break. If you've read my study guide, you know that I'm a fan of scheduling stuff into homework-heavy days. The less time I have, the harder I work. Short lift, zumba, abs.
1800 Straight to dinner, where I lingered for way too long with friends (the ones who don't mind my sweaty clothes) talking about Game of Thrones. I'M ONLY ON BOOK TWO NO SPOILERS IN THE COMMENTS.
2000 Back to business. On a mission to find Rawls. Lamont copy is checked out, so I prepare for my first adventure in the Widener Stacks. Widener is probably the most intimidating building at Harvard. I never study there, ever. The Stacks are even eerier than I imagined...especially the section I find myself in, which is full of crumbling 19th century journals. I open one up out of curiosity. It's a collection of essays summarizing the state of Parisian finances in 1898. My French is terrible, and the subject couldn't be more boring, but I find myself weirdly moved by phrases like "I want to call attention to a largely overlooked..." and "the key to understanding this is..." These were someone's eureka moments over a century ago. They clearly weren't big ideas, and maybe they weren't even good ideas, but they probably came in moments of inspiration. And someone was probably excited by them, in the same way that I'm kind of getting excited about this paper. I think I might start studying in Widener.
2040 Sadly, there is no Rawls in sight. Last hope: I can try to chase him down in the Design School library. A philosophy book in there? I'm skeptical, but it's worth a try. Also, I feel like I'm reclaiming a connection to libraries that I abandoned along with my middle-school self. Twisted much?
2100 Got him. Finally. This better be the best damn theory of justice I ever read in my life
2130 Back to the dorm for our entryway's weekly study break. We're having fresh mango and grapes, two fruits I've been missing like crazy.
2200 Hunkering down, trying not to be distracted by my beautiful and wildly entertaining roommates. Struggles.
0030 So much Rawls.
0100 On the bright side, I'm looking forward to a great conversation next time I see my philosophy major dad.
0200 More Rawls.
0300 Blogger's guilt; still strangely amped about paper process and restoration of diplomatic ties with the Dewey Decimal System
0333 Going to bed, sorry this is incoherent. Almost didn't post, but a promise is a promise, right?
Hope your research paper is coming along well. Loving these vignettes showing your day to day activities. Thank you for taking the time to write these entries!
ReplyDeleteReading your blog gets me really amped up to go to college! I'm having a college interview in a week. I'm EXTREMELY nervous. Do you have any tips?? :S
ReplyDeleteWow. This is a long day. But it sounds like fun. What I want to know is, when is this paper due? Did you do a late knight because it's due today?
ReplyDeleteI was wondering whether your sister had a blog as well ...
ReplyDeleteWhy on earth do you travel to a different school to work out at 6:25 am? Do you have friends there that you just love exercising with? I'm not really familiar with either the Harvard or MIT campuses, or how far apart they are, but that struck me as really out of the ordinary.
ReplyDeleteHer boyfriend's at MIT. Duh.
Deletehaha nope
DeleteWow can't believe I'm the first comment! Could I just get some advice? Like you said nothing is worse than having an abyss of time which i unfortunately do. I really want to study but I keep trying to put it off and idk what to do. Also any tips on how to pen down thoughts in coherent sentences?
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting even when you're super tired :) It's always interesting to hear from you!
ReplyDeleteAh so much of my English major life is dominated by the tracking down of books - so I can definitely sympathize. Does Harvard not have an online catalogue for all the libraries then?
ReplyDeleteVery true about working harder in less time, which is why I leave all of my papers until three hours before they're due...crazy, but unless I do this I will spend all day writing slowly!
I've been loving this series this week :)
You were awake for 22 hours!!! With coffee? perhaps?
ReplyDeleteYeah, even I'm shocked.
DeletePerhaps, its something even better than coffee-"willpower".
I've really been enjoying these daily entries. Your college life is a lot like mine was. Big difference in our schools, though. LOL!
ReplyDeleteHow are you liking Game of Thrones? I was obsessed when I was reading the books and now I've been watching the series on HBO. Have you been able to see them? Season 1 covers book 1. I can let you and your roomies borrow my Season 1 DVDs if you'd like. It's the least I can do after you shared where you bought your pink dress. BTW, bought it, love it, love it, LOVE IT. Thanks!!!
Smiling as I read your research quest to enter a scholarly debate in the field of animal consciousness. That's right up my alley - 4 years of vet school begins shortly! If after Rawls you're looking for additional insight, the library of the vet school at Tufts might be helpful. They're king of the 28 US vet schools where animal ethics is concerned.
ReplyDeleteSurprised you actually went through the trouble of finding a print copy of the book. It's all digital now...
ReplyDeleteI am also wondering why you work out at MIT. Or do you run -to- MIT? did you really do that for 4ish hours?
ReplyDeleteLove these - good luck with the rest of your year! It sounds like you are having a great time.
Well, I mean MIT is only one stop on the T red line away from Harvard. It only takes like 10 minutes to get to MIT from Harvard by subway and running to and from MIT is a good workout in and of itself. Sophia probably has friends at MIT from high school or MIT may have a specific workout program that she's in. I find that joining a workout class (esp. in the mornings) helps me keep on track much more than going to the gym b/c workout classes force me to do everything from lunges to weight lifting to running, etc.
ReplyDeletethis was my favorite diary post so far!! It's amazing how coherent and witty you are even at 3:30am... go sophia!!! It's also pretty cool how many amazing things you do/think about in your sleep :) i read your diary posts first thing in the morning after I wake up, and it's truly been a blessing to wake up to them this week so thank you for that :) xoxo
ReplyDeleteI am wondering, HOW ON EARTH DOES SHE MANAGE TO STAY AWAKE?
DeleteI love these! Glad you found a cool topic for your paper! Thanks for posting xo
ReplyDeleteI definitely enjoyed this post, reminded me of my day yesterday. It was crazy packed but I was able to have some fruit and down-time to read a book for personal enjoyment. Granted, I did not successfully finish it but tis for after finals I suppose.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, the pink dress? Where did you buy that lovely thing? I haven't been able to find it. Do you know if it might be in green or blue?
Go to the comments for the post with the picture of her wearing it- some helpful and savvy soul posted a link to an online retailer that carries it. :)
DeleteGlad you feel a restoration of diplomatic ties with the library! Finding a physical copy of something is a totally different experience from tracking it down online.
ReplyDeleteThe same thing happened to me recently, and I'm quite enjoying the renewed association :).Harvard must have a strange library system if you found it in the design school library!
Also, wow long day! Hope you have a late class tomorrow. :)
Wow! You are incredibly good at working well with a busy schedule. truly admirable! and you work out quite a bit too... always good to have healthy workout habits!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Anon above--seeing what you do everyday really motivates me to work harder myself. Personally, I can't imagine how you manage to work out so much all the time and still do a bunch of homework/difficult reading. Exercising just makes me want to keel over and die...so so tiring...
ReplyDeleteahhh i'm so sad that your set of day in the week are coming to an end soon :( :( i hope you decide to do more 7-day diaries at least a couple more times!! xoxo
ReplyDeleteSo I just got back from a class this afternoon that included Rawls! As soon as the professor mentioned it I was thinking, "Hold on, I've heard that name before... oh yeah, Sophia is using it for her paper!" Anyway, it was very interesting and made me think of you. I hope your paper went well!
ReplyDeleteHi Sophia!
ReplyDeleteI seriously think you should consider an internship at the New Yorker, the New York Times, or NPR at some point! I feel like you have exceptional writing and speaking skills, and it would also be cool to apply all of the different worldviews you have about different cultures from having traveled to so many countries in like 5 different continents, IMO.
best of luck!
What I love about being pre-law is that there are no course requirements for admission, so you could technically major in the History of Dreamcatchers and take whatever classes you want, and still go to law school. One of my friends majored in Art History, which led her Asian parents to go into mourning, but she ended up getting into Harvard Law, and they are absolutely delighted now, LOL. I absolutely love that being pre-law offers more intellectual freedom, IMO. In fact, I would say that having a creative, unique major actually helps one to stand out, even though econ courses, political science courses, etc. are definitely important, applicable, and eye-openers in their own right.
ReplyDeleteHave you finished Game of Thrones? If so, did you like it? I heard that the TV show is great as well!
ReplyDeletehi sophia! I think you should take some econ and psychology classes! econ, in particular, really changed the way i looked at things. and Daniel Kahneman is one of my greatest inspirations! :D
ReplyDeletealso, i love your long eyelashes ;) do you like the show Pretty Little Liars?
i think you'll end up being the next Elizabeth Warren. :p I think it's so cool that she's a bankruptcy law expert and fights for middle class families, even though she herself is very privileged. I don't trust a lot of the crazy stupid leaders out there, but i definitely have faith in your upbringing, discipline, and attitude towards life and other people. :)
ReplyDelete