There is a hilarious episode of Red Dwarf (BBC sitcom – imdb 8.9/10.0) where Arnold Rimmer is trying to prepare for an exam to move up in ranks (in the spaceship hierarchy). He has several months to prepare for the exam, but first he makes an elaborate color-coded studying schedule, which takes him a week. Then he discovers that he got the test date wrong and spends another week revising the schedule. Of course, when the schedule is ready he realizes that he hasn’t accounted for the two weeks spent making a study schedule. This goes on until the week or so before the exam he spends one day massively cramming for the exam and makes himself sick with stress and worry.
Finally, the night before his exam Rimmer goes out and gets wasted because there is no longer any hope of studying properly. The next day he sleeps in and misses the exam.
I don’t know why this story comes to mind.
Sheesh, don’t look at me – I’ve spent 4 1/2 hours working on my thesis today! And if I get another chapter done by the end of next weekend, I’ll only be one chapter behind schedule.