distraction

It's the time of year when the university libraries become overpopulated. Only the early birds get the computers, and those that go looking for a free workspace in the afternoon can climb the stairs to multiple floors, full of hundreds of computers, or even visit other library locations, and not find a single available place. The air of the library is thick with end-of-the-semester stress, words and sentences hanging around, waiting for their placement in that essay you've been putting off because it took you that long to find a fitting topic.
But I got to the student library at noon yesterday and was happy when the guy in front of me did not proceed to the available computer I had been eyeing. Logging in takes a few minutes, so I glanced around. I saw some similar hunched over postures that gave me a good idea of what I must look like. Some students were on facebook. Others typed industriously. The girl diagonally in front of me had plenty of text on her page, but she was distractedly twirling a strand of blonde hair around her finger. She looked at the strand and clipped a split end with her bright pink nails. The color must have distracted her, because she inspected the polish and her cuticles. I was amused.
I printed out the rough draft of my last section of thesis turned it in. Today I will begin the final editorial process. I have to turn it all in next week! But I am at home, not distracted by split ends or the search for a computer. Instead, it's the beckoning sun I see through the window and the crisp blue sky that tempt me to go outside. Soon, I promise myself. After I have made progress I can go cure my posture with a run around the inlet. Or visit facebook. Or paint my nails. Soon.