Carrots and sticks

I will get an $80-85 haircut at a posh-punk salon on Bond Street. This much I know. I once got a truly fabulous haircut that cost $75 at the time at a different branch of Mudhoney; the $40 Biguine haircut has finally almost grown out, and I'm ready for an improvement beyond what the DIY results have produced.

However, when I get the haircut is intricately tied to my academics. I keep telling myself that once X is finished, I will reward myself with this haircut. But once X finishes, Y seems like it could be done in no time, so I should really wait until I've finished Y... at which point it starts to look like my next haircut will come when I'm long since retired and my hair reaches Guinness World Record lengths. First it was that as soon as the prospectus was in full sentences the whole way through, it was time. Then it was after some read-throughs. Now it's all about final edits (of the first draft, that is), and making sure the bibliography at least roughly conforms to the style Chicago mandates. All of this will be done either this evening or in 1,000 years, but in any case it doesn't look like I need to worry about what time the salon closes today.

I have mixed feelings about tying fun things to getting stuff done. My parents never went in for the homework-rewards, grade-rewards, etc., but I do inflict this on myself from time to time. I will appreciate the pampering so much more if the articles are cited properly. But once again, I do worry that this will all end in a scraggly, mid-back-length mess, and that haircuts and academics should maybe exist in parallel realms, and not be one dependent on the other.

And, back to business.