I lay in a hot tub for a half hour tonight and felt as though it were the first time I had had a chance to breathe and relax in days. I had to think for a couple of minutes to recall what day it actually was. I have been buried in the basement and chained to my computer since at least Saturday working at one thing or another, and I have neglected my significant other (for which I am deeply sorry), my sleep patterns, my spirituality, my posture, and my diet. Somehow it doesn’t feel that last term was quite this much of a grind; I don’t know why this is so. It’s all been a blur of BBC News, iced tea, journal articles, bibliography citations, one book after another, and the occasional break to attend to the whining of the beagle. The best part is that it will be over in three weeks.