I have a big paper due on January 10th, but that date is still too far in the future to give me the sense of urgency I need to get any real work done. I’d like to say that I do my best work under pressure, but I’m not sure that’s true. Rather, I do most of my work under pressure for no reason other than I generally leave myself no choice. A handful of times in the past I’ve completed assignments with plenty of time to spare, and while I liked the both the satisfaction and the opportunity for fine-tuning that resulted from my diligence, apparently I like sloth just a little bit more.

I’m writing about marriage patterns and the “marital economy” in early modern Britain and it’s a lot more interesting, I promise, than it might sound. Actually, I’m doing an extended review of a book on the subject, so it’s not even as though I’ve got to do any research of my own. I’ve got everything I need in front of me, in one format or another, but still I can’t get my act together.

I think a certain amount of my problem is stage fright of a sort — I’ll be presenting my work to a tough audience, a group that I find more than just a little intellectually intimidating. Also, I’ve been thinking quite a bit lately about my thesis topic — broadly, the religious aspects of the Protestant Reformation in Sweden — and this essay I should be writing is something else entirely. I could have chosen something closer to my (as-yet-unembarked-upon) thesis work, but I had a hard time fitting it into the context of the course, which is on economic survival during the early modern period.

I must confess, however, that what I’ve been thinking about most is my hair. I have an appointment for Thursday morning for highlights and a cut, and I’ve been driving myself crazy trying to decide on a color. I kind of want a blue or purple streak or two in there, but Olof isn’t really on board. It’s not his decision, of course, but I don’t want to get something he won’t like (plus, I’m not totally sure I’d like it myself). What to do, what to do?