Being warm beats being prepared for finals.

Bwogline: Hooray! Finally, after months of debate and stalled action, US lawmakers on Capitol Hill have reached a $900 billion aid package. The package will extend many COVID-19-adopted measures like the Paycheck Protection Program, introduce a new, one-off stimulus payment of $600 to most American households, and pump money into vaccine distribution efforts. It is expected to easily pass both the House and Senate today. (BBC)

Study Tip: Don’t feel like you need to be spending every waking hour studying. It’s okay to take an hour, two hours, three hours of break! It will help your brain better process the content you have reviewed. After all, how much more helpful will three hours of distracted, frazzled studying be vs. one hour of concentrated, genuine review? At least, this is what I tell myself so I don’t feel super guilty when I take an hour to finish HBO’s Chernobyl when I could be reviewing linear algebra…

Music of the Day: “Akasaka Sad” by Rina Sawayama. I only discovered her debut album, SAWAYAMA, this month, but it is absolutely incredible.

Procrastination Tip: I am staying in a home with a fireplace, and going and sitting by it is a guaranteed way to make me ignore doing my work, which is all the way in another room. Why would I study probability theory in the cold when I can be warm by a fire? An alternative option that I have also (unfortunately and actually) done: find a strong sunbeam and sit on the floor and bask in its warmth for a little while. In sum: it’s (officially!) winter. Go be warm.

Overseen/Overheard: My entire family trying to understand the saga that is “The Journalist and the Pharma Bro.” (Bonus procrastination tip: read this article, if you haven’t already.)

This could be you, sunbathing instead of studying via Pixabay