Taking a Dive

I'm trying to write a paper right now. I've been trying all day, even. I lack inspiration. I worry that I am freezing up because it's finally an assignment that allows for real thought rather than your typical reflect-on-teaching-for-twenty-pages that has numbed my mind to the point that I feel unprepared to face a real challenge. I often tell people that I feel dumber now that I've attended grad school. I don't mean that as a joke or as the-more-I-learn-the-more-I-realize-how-much-I-don't-know crap, but that I actually feel like my abilities to perform academically have regressed. They're probably not going to quote me in the school's brochure; I'll get over it.

At the least, today I have procrastinated successfully. Last night, Jocelyn reminded me of my favorite internet video that we found before internet videos were even trendy. I am not lying when I say that I have watched this clip hundreds of times during my life, chuckling every time. It is not uncommon for me to watch it ten times in succession. Though I'm generally not amused by others' injuries, there is a classic quality about this clip that makes it irresistible.

I'm tempted to email a link to this clip to my professor as a justification for not turning in the paper. I believe it sums everything up.

It's nice to know that foreign countries have their own version of Bog Saget employing exaggerated voices to "add humor" to slapstick home videos.

My favorite part, an observation I probably didn't make until after watching it several dozen times, is that he makes one last desperate attempt to put his hand in the water, as if to claim, "See? I technically made it."

Let's hope I can at least muster that exclamation by the time I turn in this paper.