Current mood:

frustrated

Tommy Sucks and So Do I
For someone who is about to leave Indonesia, trying to guide a staff of nine Acehnese researchers to complete their fieldwork reports, I have accomplished remarkably little today. I had some good meetings with my staff, advised them on how to prioritize their remaining work, and I read some exemplary FGD and interview transcripts. And I had yet another cathartic bitch session about Cowboy Cengeng with my co-worker. But under the circumstances it's all a little bit too laid back. I'm leaving Aceh on Monday, I have an overdue research report on midwives, mothers, and traditional birth attendants (in Bireuen) that should have been finished two months ago, and Singapore University researchers are waiting for a draft article on our old psychosocial research project (with my advisors as co-authors). Not to mention other unfinished tasks such as writing a syllabus and ordering books for the course I'm teaching this fall. Why do I procrastinate so much? It makes me feel bad overall, and on the flipside I know how good it feels to complete milestones along the way, and yet I persist in not working on the tasks at hand. I have sunk to new lows this afternoon, instead of working on the midwife report, I read up on Peter Townshend's lameass solo recording career on allmusic.com, I guess because I listened to Tommy (THE ROCK OPERA OMGLOLZ) this morning. Quite frankly, for such a surreal and compelling storyline, and a few totally awesome songs, the album overall really isn't that good.