Responsible Me: Yay! One PM means time to stop studying in bed and get up and CLEAN ALL THE THINGS!
Insatiable Brain: While continuing to study via audiobook and podcast.
Dancer Me: Or music. Music is good. Music causes inadvertent exercise.
Inner 12-Year-Old: Or we could watch a movie. Or take a nap.
Responsible Me: *glares* No naps. No movies. This is Responsible Adult Time.
Inner 12-Year-Old: "Responsible adults" <tm> are always recommending naps to others. Real responsible adults know when to take one themselves... like being awakened abruptly and alarmingly after only 4 hours of sleep.
Insatiable Brain: We could listen to the new Pimsleur course while we sleep. It worked pretty well for French.
I12YO: On no sleep? Won't do as much good as it would after a nap. Postponed, not denied.
Responsible Me: Okay, housework after a nap. Music, no movies.
Insatiable Brain: If we watched a movie in Spanish, Mandarin, Russian, Hindi, or Japanese, we could count it as extra study. I'd be particularly interested in Mandarin right now, as I'm still trying to get the hang of some of the tonal shifts and haven't really heard them properly at speed--
Responsible Me: You're just a mannequin, aren't you? I12YO, I can SEE your lips moving!
I12YO: Whmmf? Nrr, M hff m mffffl mf fnnd.
Responsible Me: Don't try that old "mouthful of food" trick on me, young lady!
I12YO: *sigh* Well, it worked pretty well for French.
Insatiable Brain-Mannequin: *giggle*
I12YO: How's this? We watch a movie on the big TV, instead of the Kindle screen, while we clean. That way, we can keep up while looking at what we're doing, but we'll have to actively look at the screen in order to see the subtitles and it will encourage better active listening.
Insatiable Brain: Spanish, then. It's the only one I have a real chance at understanding most of. Save the Mandarin for more-attentive viewing time.
I12YO: Great! So a nap, and then a movie in Spanish.
Self: I call for a vote of no confidence on Responsible Me. I12YO is doing a better job. All in favor?
Everyone But Responsible Me: AYE!
The Me Formerly Known as Responsible: So what am I now, then?
Self: Stop that, or you'll be grounded and there will be no movie, however educational.
The Me Formerly Known as Responsible: Can I be the new Voice of Reason?
Voice of Reason: Oi. Right here, listening in. Not really up for replacement. Yours is the position being vacated.
Self: Voice, what should we call The Me Formerly Known as Responsible?
Voice of Reason: Well, it sounds like the problem is not a shift in Responsible's ability to perform her duties, but a change in the definition of her duties. She's trying to make us lead a conventional life, but most of us are very resistant to that idea and want to redefine responsibility to mean working toward our own goals, not toward an appearance of conformity with cultural norms.
I12YO: So she's our inner Republican?
Self: FIVE MINUTE TIME OUT.
I12YO: *flops in a corner, sulking*
Voice of Reason: She can be The Old Guard.
The Old Guard, Formerly The Me Formerly Known as Responsible: I like that.
Self: Voice, would you mind turning around for a minute?
Voice: *turns around* Why, what don't you want me to see?
Self: Huh? Oh, no, nothing. I just wanted to make sure I12YO didn't have her hand in a hole in the back of your head.
*fade to black, all nap as house lights come up for intermission*
annaxmalina
snowghoul
yousharknotpass
origamiaround
titsay
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tangentwithtanner
