When a lot of entries like those preceding pile up in rapid succession after one another, it is usually a sign that something has gone awry; I have started to look at the world in the wrong way and have lost my equanimity and compassion, which are the important things. I think the necessary adjustments have been made.
The mistake is to become too invested in the hoops that one has to jump through. If writing a final paper feels like a parody of scholarship, that's because in my case it is a parody of scholarship; my interests lie elsewhere and I shouldn't expect to be producing anything more than an exercise. Which at times feels like a step backward. But this is the way of the world.
