So much for this Saturday

I had big plans for waking up early, working out, getting some photography practice in, and going to the ward Pancake breakfast. Then I'd send off taxes and buckle down and finish writing the paper I'm presenting at a conference in a few weeks.

Instead, I got to bed late (to be fair, I was trying to sort out the last of my tax stuff), slept in late, missed the breakfast, didn't work out until quite late in the afternoon, and otherwise didn't follow the dream schedule.

I did get my taxes done and hopefully done right. There was this nice little complication with having moved. The W-2 for my new job had me living in my old location and working in the new (given that that would be a 1600 mile commute, not so much), so somehow I was paying taxes in both places or something like that. So I had to get a corrected W-2, which was a new experience. And then file an amended return, which was also new. And I just want to go on record as saying, there are several places in the instructions where the wording is kind of ambiguous. Also, in doing my federal return, I ended up with a return larger than anything I'd ever had before, so I double checked it by using a different tax prep software. I was a bit surprised to see that there were different parameters for some of the credits and stuff depending on which software I used. Kind of unnerving.

Anyway, hooray, I did do my taxes. And I did finish a 'draft' of my paper, if you can call it that. It is a bunch of different sections and points, but with next to no organization. At least I got it on paper, right? I'm having several problems with this paper:

1) I had to turn in an abstract two months ago (which probably means I should have been further along on the paper, but whatever) and now feel compelled to stick to the general outline of the abstract. In my book, the abstract should be the last thing written, not the first thing required.

2) I have never been to this conference, so I have no idea what the expectation is. If you ever find yourself invited to present at a conference that you have never attended, I suggest being very hesitant to agree. 

3) The conference is a weird mix of religious and academic and I don't quite know how to handle it. It's just weird. 

You might think that having got something on paper, I would feel better, but not so much. Rather than feeling like I accomplished something, I feel like I should have done more while also having a sense of beating my head against a wall just thinking about working on it. So, it's just going to have to stew for a day.

In the meantime, can I get a refund on my Saturday?