Some things never change

I have decided one thing never changes regardless of if you are a traditional face-to-face student or an online distance learner-the "final countdown and panic." Last week I felt fairly confident in taking a little breather and going out of town for the weekend. I was caught up and feeling pretty good about my homework situation. Well, that was week 7/10 and now week 8 is about to begin. On top of my normal reading, message boards, and now blogging, I have final papers and journals due within the next week and a half. I knew when they were due. I know how much work they will be, and yet, I am still worried about getting them done on time.

I hear some of you grumbling about "heck, she has a week and a half to do them still, what is she worried about?" As I mentioned earlier, I started a new position within my company a week ago and like every new job comes the learning curve, fires to put out, and extra hours worked just to catch up. I no longer have the luxury of doing a couple MB posts at work and my new comment to the word lunch is "what lunch?" In fact, I am missing class tonight because I am just leaving work now.

I would love to know if anyone who normally panicked during the final countdown at a traditional school has figured out how to ease or erode it in distance learning. Any takers? I have one term left after this one and if I can learn one more thing in graduate school, that would be the best outcome!