Bit of a ramble, folks

Boy am I overwhelmed. Par for the course this time of year, I know, but especially this time 'round I'm feeling the urge to flee. Work is crazy, I've been to too many holiday parties already, I'm trying to orchestrate home time in VT and our impending Thailand trip (I expect no sympathy for that last one), I have to finish shopping/making presents, I'm staring down the home stretch in two hard classes, and I'm in the midst of applying to a certificate program.

Man, one of the classes I'm taking really SUCKS. Unfortunately it's a required course for the certificate in publishing, so I have to get a B. Normally this isn't a huge problem, but this class is the epitome of why I resented a bunch of my humanities classes in college. I think it comes down to this: I hate theory-based learning. I suppose it's not fair to single out the humanities here, because I don't like it in the sciences either. I want to be doing something, whether it's learning how to put a circuit together, making art, programming, or editing a paper. I hate sitting in class theorizing about why something is the way it is when I can plainly see that both sides are right. I do enough theorizing on my own that I really resent when someone makes me do it for some inane purpose. I need more structure in my learning.

Anyway, I hope to write a stellar research paper for the final project. I'd rather write a research paper than argumentative essays, so that's a plus. I am crossing my fingers that I can reverse the trend of a not-so-hot grade when I dislike the class.

I'm looking forward to going home to VT over the holidays, but I'm not entirely sure how I'll get anything done. Inevitably I will be sucked into (and gladly, for the most part) seeing my friends and family, snowboarding, lounging around with my mom, and drinking lots of wine. I'll have to work hard to corral my lagging interest in school projects.

I know everyone out there is busy. How are you all handling it? I know someone is going to tell me to breathe and do more yoga, and I know I need to heed that advice, but damn it's hard sometimes.