Gad, I am an idiot.
200 pages into my day this all becomes quite clear to me…

It is NEVER a good sign when your prof says (after reading your proposal for a paper topic) “well THAT will be a very interesting and challenging paper!”)

It would be much better for them to say, “your paper will bore my socks off and will be a piece of cake for you. Here’s your A+.”

RriiiiiiigghhhhTTT!