So, yesterday on my way to work, the front left tire blew.

not just, 'it was flat'.  No, it ripped; shredded, actually.  By the time I got the van off the road, all but six inches of the sidewall had torn away from the rest of the rubber, and the rim of the tire was dangerously near the asphalt.

But there as hardly much smoke, and there were no sparks.  And, despite my forgetting to put blocks in front of the wheels before jacking it up to change the tire, nothing bad happened.  That is to say, after I had removed the shredded tire, and attached the spare (which, being 10 years old, was in horrible condition: there were cracks in the rubber in the sidewall, which looked like they'd follow the example of the previous tire if put under much pressure) there was a creaking noise, and the van rolled forward a few inches.

But that was all.  Now the van has a new front left tire, and a brand new spare.

Not that it will need it any time soon.

For a few years now, i've had an idea of the 'perfect disciplined life' in my head. It was essentially controlled overdrive: rising early, maybe 6 or 6:30 to run a mile, then shower and work. Lunch with friends, maybe catch a movie, then work until 1:30 or 2:00 am. Then repeat.

I am not keeping that schedule, exactly, but many of the same elements are there. I rise around 7am, jog; depending how I feel, I then either go back to bed and nap for an hour or a half, or start the day's reading. By ten or eleven I am generally at a lecture; then more studying, mixed with people-watching and just walking. By 6pm I jog a mile to crew practice, where we row for an hour before I jog back. Then I work until midnight; not the über-focused work that i used to do; this is the sort where i'll stop to chat, watch a movie, or get a snack. Then by 1 am I'm in bed. I like the schedule, but several things are strange.

1. I am not working as hard as I can.
2. I am sleeping 7 hours on average.
3. There are periods in the day when I'm not working at all, just walking or thinking (or both).
4. Being on a sports team, rather than an academics team, highlights different parallels and creates different analogies in one's mind.
5. I'm not quite fully satisfied, because I am not working as hard as I can.

I think there are several factors which are good in the list above, but a few habits need to be changed. This week, for example, I am experimenting with focusing my work time even more--not taking on more work, mind you; just getting the work I have done more efficiently. If that succceeds, I shall have more time to just.. be. The only problem is if that time happens at night, and no one else is done with their work. Then I get bored, and that's frustrating. I have to time it such that it happens during daylight hours so I can explore. Perhaps the Museum of modern art...

So I switched to a philosophy major last semester; now, I have am in the middle of my first non-art semester.  There is so much to write!  At the end of last week, I had one paper due each day; i have a tournament this weekend (fri-sun), work on weds, midrags, two midterms, an art crit, and several essays due.

Output output output!!