This weekend PhD vlog is basically me trying (and slightly failing) to be that super productive grad student who finishes everything in one day. It’s January 17, 8:38 a.m., I’m doing laundry and diving straight into my condensed matter homework—aka Part 1: reading journal articles and writing an extended summary, and Part 2: the more “typical” physics problems/calculations. I genuinely thought I could wrap it all up in one Saturday, but the reading took way longer than I expected, and I had to admit to myself that I was being a little too ambitious. On Sunday (January 19), I had a very real overstimulated, emotional moment—doom scrolling TikTok, feeling strained and lethargic, and then doing what I always do when my brain feels too loud: I clean and I cook. It’s weirdly therapeutic for me, especially when I don’t want to see anyone and I just need my own space. I ended up choosing the library over the community room because I needed quiet and focus, and by the end I finished Part 2 and ran my summary through a plagiarism checker on Canvas just to be safe. I also share a little life update at the end: uploading weekly is hard right now because research is unpredictable, even if I’m only taking one last course. But I’m still here, still trying, and I’m manifesting growth in 2025—social media, academics, and as a person—along with you.