18 credits and other things that rhyme with Death

I've been thinking a lot about my 18 credits. I know that I made a pact to be more grateful and all, and it's still something that I'm working on.
For those of you who might be confused as to what 18 credits mean, it's the highest amount of classes that you're allowed to take at BYU. I currently have six classes, all 300-level classes, and at 3 credits each, it adds up to 18 credits, otherwise known as death.

For those of you who may think that it is no big deal, and may be considering it in the future, I've comprised a list of everything that I've given up this semester to compensate for my workload:

- sleep
- a social life (sorry, friends!)
- any figure that I used to have before
- good grades (goodbye 3.8 GPA, hello 2.0...)
- my job
- my hobbies
- spending time with Jeff
- appearance (goodbye makeup, hello sloppy, "i-don't-care-enough-to-work-at-it" hairstyle
- my job (goodbye financial freedom)
- my sanity. (enough said)
- working out (I miss you, sweet endorphins!)
- clean laundry

Here are some weekly rituals that I've developed to give me something to look forward to:

- Saturday dates... usually involving Olive Garden's unlimited 7 buck special. It's probably my favorite part of the weekend, because it's a time where Jeff and I do nothing but chat and eat and relax.
- Painting my nails. I try to do it once a week. It sounds superficial, but when you wake up 10 minutes before class starts, it's nice to have one thing look special.
- saturday bubble baths. I light candles and the whole shebang.
-playing hookie. This only happens once every other week, but it's great when it happens. Last time I stayed home all day on a friday to play Red Dead Redemption.
- Blogging. Noticed how I'm much better than I was before? Probably because it's a good way to procrastinate studying. 

I'm not going to lie, every day is a serious struggle. And I still have another 231 days to go until I'm done. But at least at the end of all this I'll have a diploma... right?