The best lies use the truth. This is one of those deceptive weekends that tells you there's nothing you need to do. True, I don't have any assignments due this week. True, I only have three days of school and then a lovely, long Easter break during which to be productive. But this weekend is lying to me. There are only six weeks left before finals. I have a lot of work to do.

Fortunately, it's snowing. Snow's presence makes it easier to resist the call of the beach. Not that the frozen great lake doesn't have appeal - it does. A couple of weeks ago I drove by the lake and it had frozen into a glowing swirl of turquoise-green.

Yesterday I was out with a couple of friends and we drove by the lake. One of them exclaimed, "That's the first time I've seen it!" She's been in Milwaukee for the same length of time that I have and lives a block from my apartment. The lake is less than three miles away. I wasn't able to resist it for that long.

With that in mind, I need to work now. Growing up, my mother (Hi Mum!) referred to the idea of delayed gratification - being able to deny what I want now for what the future holds. Shockingly, I am very bad at this. Even now I can't decide if writing this blog post is something I should be doing, or something I am doing instead of what I should be doing. Maybe I can break down that binary and claim that it is both.

Six weeks until the end of the semester.