All Work and No Play Makes Me Cray-Cray*

Alright, I've been busy. A lot of people are just as busy or even busier than me. So I'm not here to complain. I just thought maybe it would help relieve some of my overwhelming stress if I wrote down both what I've accomplished/dealt with in the last month or so and what I plan to accomplish soon. Organizing all these floating thoughts in my head may not only help me see that I actually can do some stuff, but may also help organize my life and keep me moving forward. Because you guys, I am at a standstill (actually a sit-still, as I sit here facing productivity paralysis) at the moment, and I'm seriously going cray-cray*.

What I've accomplished since July:

• Two lab meeting presentations
• Finished the last of like 300+ preliminary experiments for one small part of my research
• Stared at a computer all day, every day for over 3 weeks analyzing stuff
• Stood nervously in front of a bunch of faculty members and students and talked about what I do in lab all day
• Sat in the "hot seat" after my presentation and received constructive criticism and advice for how to do better next time
• Dealt with annoying and expensive car repairs that left me in the red
• Gained a daughter... well, started the process to obtain legal guardianship over our good family friend, Jamie
• Helped Jamie buy her first car
• Provided Jamie with guidance for starting her first college semester... you know, don't party too hard, study a lot
• Switched Miles over to a new daycare closer to work
• Taught my first class ever! - I am now a TA for two 3-hour Anatomy and Physiology labs
• Figured out what to do when you lose the key to the room you teach in (it's an ordeal, ugh)
• Took Miles in for surgery to put tubes in his ears (It's amazing how much happier he is now; he must have been in so much pain!)
• Developed some fancy protocols to run some fancy experiments
• Drove Matt to and from work for a while after he got his license suspended (long story and not really his fault)
• Started writing an abstract for a conference in October

What I aspire to accomplish soon:
Next few days/weeks:

• Proctor my students' first lecture exam
• Put together and proctor my students' first lab practical
• Get my new key so I can stop bugging the other TAs!
• Resolve some other annoying issues and expenses that are the result of letting 5% of things fall through the cracks (super-woman does not exist, okay?!)
• Pick the members of my comprehensive exam committee who will determine whether or not I fail at science
• Get over my fear of talking with my P.I.s (my bosses) about putting my comprehensive exam on hold until spring
• Actually talk with my P.I.s about putting my comprehensive exam on hold until spring
• Stare at my abstract long enough until it finishes itself so that I can submit it
• Put together a poster to present at the conference in October
• Test out, compare, and troubleshoot my new experimental protocols
• Generate some new data! 
• Put together a Halloween costume for Miles

Next few months:

• Complete some more experiments to reach statistical significance
• Spend hours on Photoshop putting together figures with the completed data for a publication
• Freak out... and then take my comprehensive exam (hopefully next spring... can you say terrified?!)
• Learn how the odds are ever in your favor in a stats class next spring
• Find time to exercise (Wait, isn't chasing a kid around enough?)
• Write and submit abstract for the conference in April... in Valparaiso, Chile!
• Prepare poster for conference in yes, I can't believe it, Chile!! 

*I really hate the term cray-cray as well as all those new slang terms that people say because they're too lazy to pronounce the full word (like totes and adorbs). But a) I am kinda crazy right now, b) let's face it, I can be lazy, and c) most importantly, cray-cray rhymes nicely with play, as in the title of this post.