Yes, yes, I know, my last blog was on Tuesday; how can I have come up with anything interesting to say in the few days between then and now? But somehow, I do always manage to say quite a lot without actually saying anything at all, so I suspect I'll manage. And this time I haven't just woken up from a nap, which is already a step in the right direction.
It's true that I haven't done much over the past few days, but I suspect that my life right now is supposed to consist of not doing much. Not doing much except writing, that is, and even then, I'm behind where I should be, considering that I'm going to need as much time as possible to edit my thesis into some semblance of decency. How is it that I'm about 75 pages in and yet I don't feel like I've gotten to the heart of my topic yet?
I'm buckling down this weekend, though. There's supposed to be a snowstorm, plus I wounded myself on Wednesday and don't really feel like leaving the house ever*, which are good enough reasons to stay in, bake some bread, and write. A lot. I think I'm going to have to institute some rules like my end-of-term rules last semester: turning off Airport so I can't get distracted by the internet, and allowing myself to break only to do other productive things. I can stop writing in the middle of a paragraph if I'm going to read a chapter in a book or actually format my citations properly. (And, for example, I'm allowed to not be doing work right now because I'm writing this piece of gloriousness.)
[* She says, like she ever really feels like leaving the house.]
I'm beginning to wonder, too, if I should shave an hour off my weekly work schedule. It might not make a huge difference, but you never know.
Of course, I still want to spend some time with my friends, so I'll have to figure out a way to manage that. Or I'll manage it accidentally, like I did last night when I interrupted Housemate Katie and Delightful Housemate David's conversation, and then we ended up lying on top of each other in the hallway for about an hour and a half.
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| Pretty much exactly like this. |
I don't always complain about my thesis. Sometimes I enjoy it. And I did at least have a vague idea of what I was getting into. But honestly, it's an incredibly draining experience. Bitching about it, surprisingly, helps make it less exhausting. Writing a thesis is like a constant process of feeling like you're not going to be able to do it, you can't do it, you're not focused enough/smart enough/whatever enough to do it and make it decent. Complaining about it makes it feel like anything else I've griped about and then done anyway.]
So that's been a thing. Focus time this weekend: no getting distracted by the internet. Housemate Katie and I are planning on having study parties. Housemate Katie is also way better than I am at getting things done, but I keep reminding myself that she's also partially enrolled and thus not working on anything other than her thesis and one or two extra-curriculars. (Delightful Housemate Kristen is also partially enrolled, but Delightful Housemate Kristen is also basically doing two theses, given that she's one of the lead animators for her boyfriend's film thesis.)
(The problem with having transferred my nicknames from last year is that now, when Flatmate Katie and Delightful Neighbors Kristen and David have all become housemates, it just makes it seem like I like Housemate Katie less than my two Delightful Housemates. [Previously Mentioned Housemate Natalia is another thing entirely.] Which isn't true! I have a great deal of fondness and affection for all my housemates. Possibly especially for Housemate Katie, given that she actually survived being Flatmate Katie for an entire year and then came back for second helpings. Maybe we should all just think of it as denoting that she is the original Housemate, and the others must become variations on a theme in order to differentiate their housemate-ness.)
Oh! Also on Wednesday I apparently officially became a hockey player, despite the fact that I don't play hockey. Go figure, right? I was at ice skating class (Monday, Wednesday, Friday, either a nice way to start the day or the bane of my mornings, depending on how much sleep I've gotten the night before) and I was trying this thing where you're skating forwards and then you pivot so you're facing the other way and start skating backwards. One of the coaches recommended balancing on my toes and lifting my heels up a little, which I tried... and then overbalanced and fell smack on my front. In hindsight, it was probably fairly spectacular-looking. Most of the time, when we fall in class, it's onto our knees, side, or butt, but I decided that I really had to show everyone up and just go flat forward. And then ended up cutting my chin, which — despite noticing that I was in a little more all-over pain than I usually am after falling — I didn't realise until someone pointed out that blood was dripping on the ice.
Which, according to both the coaches (literally their first non-medical-related reaction), makes me a hockey player. Which is some consolation, I guess.
I got taped back together and trundled off to work, where my boss raised her eyebrows at me and strongly suggested that I go to the health center, so off I went again. Happily, the lovely women who peered at my chin determined that as long as I made sure to keep my chin dry and not hit it on anything else, I'd probably be okay with just steri-strips instead of stitches, so I didn't need to go to the emergency room. Which was excellent, because nobody really needs a hospital visit interrupting the flow of their Wednesday.
And honestly, that's been about it for the week. I had Intro Dance yesterday, which — as usual — involved a lot of rolling around on the floor and leaping around. (Also a lot of people being super sweet about my poor injured chin.) I made such a good choice in taking this class, you guys. I also made such a good choice in waiting until I was a senior to take it, because not only is it contributing to my excellently balanced class schedule, but I also live approximately two blocks away from the dance studio. If I'd done this during sophomore or junior year my trek would have been horrifyingly longer. Good things come to those who wait!
Last night I also made spoonbread, which is kind of like an unholy combination of cornbread and souffle and also happened to be delicious. Be envious.
Then today I had taiko (AWESOME as usual, which miiiiiiight make me a masochist given that part of what we're doing involves putting our bodies in really dreadful positions and then staying there. Or moving. Sometimes the moving is worse) and afterwards I had a meeting with my thesis advisor (which definitely makes me a masochist) which (despite my earlier sidenote, which was written approximately seven hours ago) did not go badly! I like my advisor a lot, which I think helps keep our meetings from being too soul-sucking-full-of-despair; we agree on a lot of things, and we sometimes just get distracted and talk about TV, which is my favorite thing to do always.
Not bad, all in all! For, you know, the three days since my last post. So it goes. Fingers crossed for the weekend, I guess?
I'll see you next week, ducklings.
[Original tags on this post: academia is whackademia,adorable things because I am boring,also I injured myself,cute fluffy things,thesis stuff]
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