Operation Distraction

I know when finals approach, lots of people get in the zone. They're productive -- and stressed -- because they have to be.

Now I have to say I'm lucking out with my finals load this semester (and am totally thankful), but I've always been one to try to avoid that home-stretch work and studying at all costs. But I have a lot of energy (usually), motivation (sometimes) and will to get things done before the last minute (as often as possible) -- so trying to avoid schoolwork means I have to find something equally (?) as productive to do.

Which means:

• I suddenly like to clean. Toilets? I'll scrub 'em. Dishes? Let's wash 'em! Laundry? Folded and pressed, please. It's a good distraction from work, and if I try hard enough I can just about justify its relation to public health!
• And cooking? Bring it on. In the last week, I've made frozen pumpkin mousse pie, apple pumpkin muffins, blackberry-raspberry-almond muffins, turkey lasagna, honey pecan pork chops (for The Boyfriend) with roasted brussels sprouts and au gratin potatoes and -- for tonight -- this delicious-looking mushroom bake. (Check out the links for recipes! I usually don't follow them even remotely closely, but they're all yummy.) I'm already dreaming up scrumptious things for the two potlucks I have next week.
• I LOVE to plan. What am I going to do this summer? Intern? Work? Laze? Oh, and winter break. I have a month off -- am I going to be bored out of my mind? I better start contacting people and looking for stuff. This is definitely productive and urgent, right?
• The dog gets a LOT of attention. How could this face not be a welcome distraction? And he, of course, needs lots of food, water, walks, playtime and snuggling for his physical and emotional development. Right?
• Running doesn't seem so bad. I've been on a running kick lately and have two more races to go yet this year (well, one is on New Year's Day. Outside. In Minnesota.), so I have to keep myself moving. When it's "feels-like-6" degrees outside, that can be tricky to do, but when it's a chilly jog or an epidemiology lab, it somehow becomes much easier to lace up the sneaks.

So far, my distractions have been working -- and productive! But next semester or the next semester or the next semester I will surely have a rough finals week and will have to buckle down. Sigh. I don't know how well that's going to go.

Do you have any classic distraction moves for finals time? I, for one, am always in the market for new ideas. :)