I've realised that I dislike term breaks, like the 4 day-weekend we had over Thanksgiving last week. Before coming to Princeton I was expecting to become a workaholic and work non-stop to keep up, and in the first couple of months here that's precisely what I tried to do (albeit not very well).

However, I've just discovered an interesting fact: so long as I pass my courses in the first two years, and squeeze out at least one paper out of the 3 or 4 research projects in that time, I can't actually get kicked out, and hopefully I will be able to pass my General Exams in the end of the 2nd year.

Having realised this a couple of weeks ago, my first response was to...slack off. I spent the entire Thanksgiving sitting in my room watching the entire Black Adder series, and I now feel tremendously guilty about the wasted time.

I'm now taking part in the Princeton Men's Volleyball Club, and the level is just right for me so it's fun to play, and also I'm joining a meditation group. I'm also trying to remind myself that I used to play the guitar, and so I'm trying to squeeze some practice time into my week as well.

I'm probably not working as hard as I could be, but if that's the price for keeping sane, I'd gladly take it.