Assessing my progress

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I was having coffee at the Student Center a couple of days ago, and Lisa (she's in the class, too) came over and joined me.  Her topic is interesting; her real first name is "Brittany," which she hates, so she is researching the connection between names and self-image.  Lisa is worried about the research project (I have the feeling that she's always worrying about school), even though I think she may be further along than I am.  So, thanks to Lisa, this seems like a good time to figure out where I stand in terms of deadlines.  I feel like I have a good sense of what I want to do in the paper -- but I know I'll probably do a lot of adjusting before I even start writing.  The due dates seem far away, far enough that I have to keep making myself work on this; if I don't keep cracking the whip, I'll wind up the same way I did all through high school, working like a maniac right before things are due and never being happy with the way they turn out.
Okay, so today is Valentine's Day (despite having a chocolate lunch, I'm not really feeling the love right now), and here's the schedule: 

• Research proposal is due 3/5,
• the annotated working bibliography is due 3/26,
• a draft of the essay (for a peer review and then a conference with Dr. Toffee) is due on 4/2
• the final revision is due on 4/23
• the complete research journal is due 5/7

Lisa told me a couple of weeks ago that she made up a "Master Schedule" as soon as she had the syllabi (or is it syllabuses?) for all her classes.  When she said that, I thought, if she just had disinfectant wipes, she could call herself "Monk"; now I think that she has the right idea, so as soon as I finish this post, I'm going to make one for myself.  I can already see that there is a conflict with poli-sci in week 12. 
The research proposal is no big deal; I could even crank that out now, probably, but it'll be better if I can get some more reading done.  The bibliography seems to be the toughest thing before the paper.  In English 101, I was always getting back papers with corrections all over the works cited page.  I've set up a file where I'm saving the results from my searches, and I've already got a folder going with a couple of articles I printed out (yes, Dr. Toffee, I did buy myself a stapler!).  If I can just keep that stuff organized, I'll have the info I need for the citations.  I'm also going to set aside an hour on the days I don't work to read and search some more.  When I have a better idea of what I need to know, I can -- I hope -- cut that back some.  And, I have a Word file going of ideas, more like random thoughts, really, for the paper.  I can't think of anything else I need to do right now, so I guess I'll sign off.