Plato, Crazy Straws, and Caffeine

After my first late night of studying in graduate school, I determined that my "late nights" will be classified using a three-level system:

1. Level 1 Late Night: up until 2 am, characterized by a pretty good night's sleep and little need for caffeine.
2. Level 2 Late Night: up after 2 am but asleep before 4 am, characterized by moderate consumption of caffeine and other tactics (i.e. turning air conditioning colder) used to keep subject awake and alert.
3. Level 3 Late Night: also known as "the all-nighter," awake after 4 am, characterized by complete lack of sleep, copious amounts of caffeine, and probably some sort of sacrificial offering to the gods of grad students (which may include ritual dance or song in living room while scantily clad).

Wednesday night/Thursday morning, I experienced a Level 2, and there were no casualties (although my half gallon of International Delight mocha iced coffee MAY beg to differ). The product of my immersion in Level 2 Late Night was the construction of my own fallout shelter of sorts, where I had everything I needed to survive the onslaught of Plato readings, outlining, and total confusion produced by terms such as "operational linkage," "univariate and bivariate analyses," and "construct validation." The fallout shelter has become my home within my home - my little slice of paradise.

As you can see, I have everything I need:

• green bookbag
• pencil case full of favorite pen (yes, one single favorite pen; I bought him some companions last night) and colored pens for outlining
• textbooks and two editions of The Bedford Handbook (just in case the transition from MLA to APA proves to be insurmountable)
• water bottle
• iced coffee in Kentucky Derby loser's cup with Jimmy Buffett flip-flop crazy straw
• cell phone (only to keep time and remind me every hour to close my eyes for five minutes to avoid eyestrain)
• my dinner, which I ate at about 11 pm
• laptop, which I kept closed as much as possible to avoid distractions
• manila folders containing syllabi and other documents for each class
• notebook
• ample lighting (you see, you must choose your fallout shelter based on appropriate lighting - again, to avoid eyestrain - and although the couch would be a comfortable fallout shelter, there are no overhead lights there)

There you have it, folks: Emily's fallout shelter. You're welcome to visit any time, and I'll give you the full tour, complete with plaques marking significant events in the history of Emily's 1 1/2 weeks of graduate school.

Peace, love, and a complete set of my favorite pens--

Emily