There seems to be a lot of it about.

I have a theory that just about everyone I know seems to be depressed at the moment, and I think it's because it's got to the point in the year where it's been winter for so long that it's like it's never going to end, and we all feel like crap due to lack of daylight. However, I realise that it is not winter for everyone in the world, and that some people are probably enjoying some lovely sunshine right now (the lucky sods!).

So here is a totally unscientific livejournal poll on the topic. I wish it was possible to write livejournal polls that link together the answers from multiple questions and correlate the answers automatically. Oh well. Question 2 is deliberately vague because I set about writing time intervals like "2-3 days ago" and "4-7 days ago" before realising that I couldn't remember the answer to it that precisely myself, so it was probably pointless expecting anyone else to.

[Poll #1331853]

Oh yes, and if you do happen to feel just great at the moment, then please comment below to say why, because the rest of us need cheering up.

coursework blah

As you may have guessed from the poll, I'm feeling really horrible at the moment. Have been cheered slightly since I went to see my counsellor yesterday and cried a lot and filled in some forms to tell my department that I'm too mad to get my coursework done on time. No, they don't have a specific "being too mad to get coursework done on time" form - it's just a "mitigating circumstances for missing a deadline" form. But it would be much easier if they had boxes to tick instead of a vast, empty space to write words in.

I have done Salva's Lipids and Membranes coursework, and Marianne's three problem sheets. I have completely screwed up Prof H's horrible Glycosylation coursework and my brain isn't working well enough to fix it. And I've done about 1/4 of Marianne's lab reports OF DOOM. All of these things are due in on Friday 16th.

Then there is also Philip's Mass Spectrometry problem sheet and Howard's Organometallic problems, which are due in on Friday 30th. The Mass Spec should be easy, the Organometallic looks horrendous - but Howard is really friendly and I could probably get him to go over some of it with me, or I could ask Philip to help me with it like half the class has already. (Not sure why poor Philip gets abused - because he's too nice to say no? Perhaps there's a lesson in here for me.)

I suppose I should prioritise the coursework that was technically due in on 16th over that which isn't due in until 30th - even though I now have an extension of unknown length for the stuff due in on 16th, and don't have any extension at all for the stuff due in on 30th? Hmm. To some extent I'm limited to what I can face working on - if there's a piece of work that I understand and think I could concentrate on, I need to do that rather than spending hours sitting in front of a piece of work that I can't focus on. But it's difficult.

I'd like a new brain, one that works better in the wintertime without lots of insomnia, bad dreams, stress, and crying. If anyone sees one on eBay - well, I think there are several of us who could do with it.