I’m not even sure when the last challenge was. I have been so focused on getting draft chapters of my thesis done, that all I really do is work on that and then binge watch bad TV. My goal is to have 30 thousand words written by the end of this month, but I am starting to think that is a pipe dream. I’m a little over the halfway point, but I am finding it harder and harder to actually motivate myself to sit down and work on my theory chapter. If anyone wants to write it for me, please let me know. I’ll happily let anyone work on it at this point.

It should come as no shock to anyone then that the challenge this week is to write about something I am procrastinating on. I am not putting nearly enough into working on my thesis. There is a reason.

Or, at least, what I think the reason is anyway.

I have no motivation to finish my thesis because the moment I finish my thesis is the moment that I stop being a student and my visa ends. When that visa ends, I am no longer eligible to live in Scotland without full-time employment and someone willing to sponsor my work visa. Given the current thoughts and feelings on immigration all over the world right now, I am having some trouble being optimistic.

My therapist seems to think I will have no problem finding a job, but really, a thousand people can do my job, and they are all here in the UK already authorised to work in this country.  I will probably have to go back to the US where I have no money, only a couple of friends (who don’t even really live in the area) and no job. My family is there, and that will never ever be a bad thing, but it would be really hard for me to adjust to living in the United States again. I am still traumatized from the last time I lived there full-time. So now that I have wasted some time not working on my thesis, and not really writing anything of substance, I think it is time to share something good with the world.

That would be my new nephew JJ. He arrived on the 24th of July, after 9 months of the cushy life in a warm safe place, and he is a little charmer. I’ve only met him over Skype, and believe me, that killed me, but he’s cute, likes to be wrapped like a burrito, and is already making his mommy crazy.

In other words? He is perfect.

See? Perfect. It is August, which means that the festival is here. I have a slew of funny free shows to see, and since all I have seen all summer is rain, I am hoping that a little free comedy will help me find some motivation for my writing.

First up? A group of comedians playing board games. It’s a live action version of TableTop, which I love, so even if it sucks it will probably still be pretty good.