Exam fever

So, if you've been reading for a while, you know I started this blog while preparing to write the preliminary comprehensive exams a two years ago. Now I'm preparing for the big ones, the REAL comprehensive exams, and although it feels great to say, "I think I've read enough books that I can write this exam" the anxiety has cranked up a notch (or two or three or twenty) now that I've set a date.

Yep, this time, a week from now, I'll be frantically trying to remember everything I'm trying to review between now and then.

I'm very nervous.

I've started having trouble getting to sleep - not insomnia per se - but just trouble clearing my mind of everything to the point where I can sleep. My body's tired. My eyes are tired. But my brain's still going 100 miles an hour thinking about all the stuff I just read and worrying about whether I can put it all together during the exam. I'm seriously considering picking up drugs that will help me fall asleep, but I'm also worried about trying a drug I've never taken before at a critical time like this in case my body doesn't respond well to it.

Last night I managed to sleep without drugs through a combination of actually having someone beside me as I went to sleep (not having him around is no doubt exacerbating the not-sleeping problem) and watching the 'extras' on Land of the Dead until 12:30 in the morning. Did you know that Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead) had a cameo in the movie? I didn't. Never would've figured out it was him either, if they hadn't put it on the DVD.

Watching movies sure reduces the stress... at least while I'm watching. When I stop and realize how much time I just spent staring at the tv, the panic comes back though. And who said grad school couldn't be exciting?!