piling up

Right now I'm supposed to be working on either of two systematics papers, one on gerrids one on conodons, or an applied ethics paper, or even a paper on the value of amature field assistants to paleontology (particularly in day digs programs) or an interpretation of a wheeler diagram that my strat team constructed this last week. I haven't started any of them. And frankly I really don't feel like doing any of them today. What I'd really like to do is scan through my annotated bibliography of dinosaur paleopathology and find articles relevant to predator-prey relations (for somebody elses research project) or look up the mineralology of dinosaur bone from different locals or continue my ongoing quest to measure all of the relevant qualities of all the fenestrae in theropod skulls. After all, I haven't even been given the topics for my ethics paper, I don't have the references for my conodonts paper and I didn't print out my trees for my gerrids systematics paper. That prety much leaves the Day Digs paper and the wheeler diagram write up. Being that the wheeler diagram is due sooner, in the spirit of procrastination, I think I'll work on the Day Digs paper instead. University would be great if you got to do your own research, on topics that hold your interest. I've been told that grad school is like that (but not by grad students or profs) so I guess I'll have to wait until i've got a degree before people will just let me research what I like in peace.