time "off" for dave and his brain...

OK, well... that's it... no more "teaching" of new content until after break. Next week is all review sessions and midterms, and then Spring Break. My brain is doing that middle-of-the-semester thing where it starts wanting to think about next semester. It made me go to the NYU library today and check out a bunch of books on the philosophy of science. (Because nothing says "vacation" like Karl Popper's "Realism and the Aim of Science"!) And I have to tell my brain - "NO, Brain!! Spring Break is not for year-ahead planning! Spring Break is for GRADING and getting caught up on your classes and writing that fucking book chapter you just got hired to do."

You see... my brain believes that important work which is due in 9 months is somehow more fun to work on than important work which is due in 3 weeks.

What must it be like to be one of those people whose brain always seems to want to do the right thing? Because I think that's what it must mean to be one of those with-it, together, successful people. I think those people must have a Brain which says to them - "Hey! I know! Let's go to the gym." instead of a brain that says "Fuck, I guess I should work out even though I hate every minute of it" or better still... "Oh look! Cookies!" Or a brain that says "I'd really like to publish a successful textbook someday", rather than... "Christ, what is the LEAST amount of work I can do in order to give the illusion that I'm NOT spending all of my free time outside of the classroom downloading porn?"

I'm not sure you're BORN with that kind of brain, but I do believe that once you've allowed your brain to become MY kind of Brain... there is no going back.