Last day of Summer Term 2023

Finally, the end has come. In my final week of the Summer Semester, I did two presentations, one poster and one oral, and one final paper. It may sound simple, but the amount of work that was put into birthing these two class projects was enormous. I had to create a conducive environment for me to be able to work uninterruptedly, but at the same time accommodate my chores. I needed to establish a rhythm of on-work/off-work, without getting too distracted. It was tough as my rats were being cute most of the time, it was so hard to resist not to go to them and pet them.

I thank the Pomodoro Technique for my work rhythm. It helps me accomplish tasks at an organized and orderly way. Twenty-five minutes on, five minutes off. Although sometimes, I admit, I'm not able to follow the breaks. When you're just focusing on extended periods and you have those a-ha moments while working, the 5-min breaks can be a distraction. But I just pause my Pomofocus app, resume my work, and when I feel I hit a wall, I press the resume button on the app, and start my 5-min break. During breaks I stand up, walk around, do some quick exercises like squats, push ups, dumbbell exercises, bulgarian splits, and chair-assisted pistol squats. I like it. I get to raise my heart rate and by the time I go back to my seat, I'm able to focus more. It's really effective for me. 

Anyway, I still have a paper due by midnight but at least I can be more relaxed now. I know it'll be easier. Also, I still need to write an abstract for the APHA. But that wouldn't be until 31 July. And the abstract length is only 250 words. It'll be a cinch (I fucking hope so). 

By the way, here are some photos of myself presenting my poster in class: