Today I wrote three pages of my incomplete paper, originally due last December! And they are even the FIRST three pages, meaning I managed to write an introduction without an accompanying mental breakdown for the first time in almost a year now! Only 14 to 17 more pages to go until I complete the one-year degree program I came here for three years ago!
...actually, I'd probably settle for 12.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Growing as a Scholar My Ass
I really hate that ever since I became seriously invested in my work it's become impossible to write without major anxiety attacks. Everyone who was annoyed in the past by my ability to write a lot very fast - take comfort in the fact that the tables have turned COMPLETELY.
Friday, March 26, 2010
Upgrades
As of today, those who seek to "reach my telephone," as they say, will be reaching me on a device that's at least making a nod to not being 100 years behind the times.
Behold: the Samsung INTENSITY!
I wasn't aware they'd take to naming phones in the same manner they name cars; my last model was VX5300 or some such anonymous thing. It's unclear what is so intense about this particular model - perhaps its red color? Its clever look-at-me-I-was-just-a-USB-cord-now-I'm-a-charger accessory? Its slide-out keyboard? I'm pretty sure all these things have been standard for awhile now. But as my own middle name is similarly incongruous with my actual personal traits, I can't really hold it against it.
Other things that have apparently happened without my noticing: friendly service agreements. I have to admit, I rarely read the damn things, and when I do it's a brief scan. But I'm highly paranoid lately (like, really - I haven't even sent back my census form because I read some nut job online saying they collect our DNA off the envelope for a huge database and it's so far too much effort to close it another way - not that I *believe* that exactly, but I've been reading a little too much Harper's and...anyhow), so I read much of the Verizon one today. And they've become oddly jovial. Very "we're here to help!" and "we'll do all that's reasonable, because you're a human being like us!" Also, more and more of the info (say, what data they collect about my calls and how its used) isn't in the policy itself but only linked to elsewhere. And of course, my concern about my rights wasn't powerful enough to visit a separate page.
Anyhow. I should be writing my paper for Morris (to say nothing of the one on "Goblin Market" that I'm frankly looking forward to starting in order to finish it and drink the Veuve I've promised myself for doing so) but it's Spring Break and the house is a mess and I have a new phone and I like cleaning, so...yeah. Not so much writing. Soon I will shower and dress for GROAN, get nicely drunk with my peers/friends/collegues/etc, and christen the new phone with some drunk dials to college friends. Just because it's joining me at a point in life where I call no one except Glass Nickle and my immediate family doesn't mean it shouldn't ever get to have any fun.
I'm excited for this break. Work to do, yes, but getting that weight off my shoulders will do more for my stress levels and general well-being than any trip ever could.
I'm also perversely excited to do a Spring Cleaning. What has happened to me? I actually enjoy cleaning when I feel like I have the time, that I'm not doing it in order to put off more odious school-related work. The house has been creepy towards dirty for awhile now...neatness has been okay, but I need to pull out the vacuum and get in some corners and such. And do laundry. And figure out how to cheaply and quickly make the bedroom not clash horribly - we bought an awesome new bedding set recently, but since it is black/white/fuchsia and the rest of the room is all warm green tones, something needs to be done. And my parents are coming the weekend after break, so I want it to look nice when they see it for the first time.
Alright. On to other things. Yay!
Behold: the Samsung INTENSITY!
I wasn't aware they'd take to naming phones in the same manner they name cars; my last model was VX5300 or some such anonymous thing. It's unclear what is so intense about this particular model - perhaps its red color? Its clever look-at-me-I-was-just-a-USB-cord-now-I'm-a-charger accessory? Its slide-out keyboard? I'm pretty sure all these things have been standard for awhile now. But as my own middle name is similarly incongruous with my actual personal traits, I can't really hold it against it.Other things that have apparently happened without my noticing: friendly service agreements. I have to admit, I rarely read the damn things, and when I do it's a brief scan. But I'm highly paranoid lately (like, really - I haven't even sent back my census form because I read some nut job online saying they collect our DNA off the envelope for a huge database and it's so far too much effort to close it another way - not that I *believe* that exactly, but I've been reading a little too much Harper's and...anyhow), so I read much of the Verizon one today. And they've become oddly jovial. Very "we're here to help!" and "we'll do all that's reasonable, because you're a human being like us!" Also, more and more of the info (say, what data they collect about my calls and how its used) isn't in the policy itself but only linked to elsewhere. And of course, my concern about my rights wasn't powerful enough to visit a separate page.
Anyhow. I should be writing my paper for Morris (to say nothing of the one on "Goblin Market" that I'm frankly looking forward to starting in order to finish it and drink the Veuve I've promised myself for doing so) but it's Spring Break and the house is a mess and I have a new phone and I like cleaning, so...yeah. Not so much writing. Soon I will shower and dress for GROAN, get nicely drunk with my peers/friends/collegues/etc, and christen the new phone with some drunk dials to college friends. Just because it's joining me at a point in life where I call no one except Glass Nickle and my immediate family doesn't mean it shouldn't ever get to have any fun.
I'm excited for this break. Work to do, yes, but getting that weight off my shoulders will do more for my stress levels and general well-being than any trip ever could.
I'm also perversely excited to do a Spring Cleaning. What has happened to me? I actually enjoy cleaning when I feel like I have the time, that I'm not doing it in order to put off more odious school-related work. The house has been creepy towards dirty for awhile now...neatness has been okay, but I need to pull out the vacuum and get in some corners and such. And do laundry. And figure out how to cheaply and quickly make the bedroom not clash horribly - we bought an awesome new bedding set recently, but since it is black/white/fuchsia and the rest of the room is all warm green tones, something needs to be done. And my parents are coming the weekend after break, so I want it to look nice when they see it for the first time.
Alright. On to other things. Yay!
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
March Forth
It's spring early. I like that. Though I feel a bit guilty saying so, having just attended a book discussion about global warming.
The discussion was interesting for a number of reasons. One is that it was the first discussion I've been to at UW that A) was predominantly grad students and B) counted me as the only Humanities representative. It was largely agro/soil grad students, with a few from Law. Really interesting to experience, because while everyone (or everyone who spoke up) was in favor of environmental conservation and reform, everyone still reacted very differently to the book.
Which brings me to the other thing that was notable (to me). Though there was a lot of good discussion of perspectives, points, factual basis, etc, I was the only one who seemed interested (or at least, interested enough to bring it up) in the book as a rhetorical object. Reading the book (Soil Not Oil by...someone) (I just got it today and skimmed its 144 pages), I was overwhelmingly drawn to questions of intended audience and argument structure, both of which seemed problematic. As one girl put it, the book seemed written for "the ignorant cheerleader" of environmentalism - lots of facts to back up green views, but no argument that could hope to sway an opposing view. It managed to combine the two problems I see most in student theses - both not arguable AND lacking analysis to support claims.
But no one else cared much about this. Which is fine. It was just a very illuminating disciplinary moment - where people's straightforward, common-language interests in this easy-to-read book were clearly delineated by field. This isn't surprising - just one of those things I knew abstractly until tonight, but now have seen in action.
It was nice - I'm glad I went. Contact with other grad students FTW.
...I had other things to say but now Andy is home and I'm tired of typing. I'm hoping to write more here in general though...I used to write in my Livejournal extensively, almost every day, and I miss both having that outlet to unfold my thoughts and having a record of what I was doing. Today I quite literally had trouble remembering what I did yesterday; combined with the fact that I often feel like I'm wasting my 20s on jumping useless academic hoops and procrastination I'm too stressed to enjoy, it seems like keeping a closer record of how I spend my time and I how feel about it could only help, whether as diagnosis tool or comfort.
Also: wine is delicious. And I really hope tonight's Lost didn't suck.
The discussion was interesting for a number of reasons. One is that it was the first discussion I've been to at UW that A) was predominantly grad students and B) counted me as the only Humanities representative. It was largely agro/soil grad students, with a few from Law. Really interesting to experience, because while everyone (or everyone who spoke up) was in favor of environmental conservation and reform, everyone still reacted very differently to the book.
Which brings me to the other thing that was notable (to me). Though there was a lot of good discussion of perspectives, points, factual basis, etc, I was the only one who seemed interested (or at least, interested enough to bring it up) in the book as a rhetorical object. Reading the book (Soil Not Oil by...someone) (I just got it today and skimmed its 144 pages), I was overwhelmingly drawn to questions of intended audience and argument structure, both of which seemed problematic. As one girl put it, the book seemed written for "the ignorant cheerleader" of environmentalism - lots of facts to back up green views, but no argument that could hope to sway an opposing view. It managed to combine the two problems I see most in student theses - both not arguable AND lacking analysis to support claims.
But no one else cared much about this. Which is fine. It was just a very illuminating disciplinary moment - where people's straightforward, common-language interests in this easy-to-read book were clearly delineated by field. This isn't surprising - just one of those things I knew abstractly until tonight, but now have seen in action.
It was nice - I'm glad I went. Contact with other grad students FTW.
...I had other things to say but now Andy is home and I'm tired of typing. I'm hoping to write more here in general though...I used to write in my Livejournal extensively, almost every day, and I miss both having that outlet to unfold my thoughts and having a record of what I was doing. Today I quite literally had trouble remembering what I did yesterday; combined with the fact that I often feel like I'm wasting my 20s on jumping useless academic hoops and procrastination I'm too stressed to enjoy, it seems like keeping a closer record of how I spend my time and I how feel about it could only help, whether as diagnosis tool or comfort.
Also: wine is delicious. And I really hope tonight's Lost didn't suck.
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