Thoughts and Words Ill-Sorted

Yesterday was no fun, since I realized as I was editing that I had written a terrible paper . . . and that I had to hand it in within the hour.  Grr.  Arg.  Plus, I was so anxiety-ridden and tired that I couldn’t fight off a case of the blues even after I handed it in.  Wouldn’t you have loved to have been in Sydney’s shoes? 🙂

Thankfully, I got 9 hours of sleep last night and am ready to take on the world again.  You can tell because I woke up and started organizing my books and papers–yup, I’m back.

Today we’re off to do what we hope are mostly fun activities: gardening, get-togethers, and maybe a concert.

When Monday rolls around I’ll do some more reading and preparing for the oral exam on Wednesday.  But I’m taking the weekend off!

Erin

Arwyn loves to share my shower.  Though, like most cats, not thrilled at the thought of getting in and wading around in water, she likes to get up on the edge of the tub between the shower curtain and the shower lining and lick the water from the lining.  Nearly every morning I see the shadow of a nose and the impression of a pink tongue working steadily along the shower curtain.

She also likes sinks.  Our bathroom sink is regularly inhabited by a curled-up cat, and she moves from her spot only reluctantly even when you turn on the water.  Benefits of being a thick-furred cat: you don’t actually realize you’re wet until you’re 3/4 of the way to “soaked through.”

Erin

Some of you may know that Sydney and I like to buy books.  Well, during times of procrastination or even during times of real productivity I get the book-buying itch.  In the past I’ve satisfied myself with buying a novel or two to read over the summer as I slog through spring term papers.  But this time, I have a new problem: all of my reading and writing in the past few weeks have filled my head with lists of books to buy as I really get into the dissertation research.  My current flurry of activity is intended to begin my research into Faulkner and Woolf, not end it.  And I’m typing all day long on a computer with internet access, leaving me just clicks away from amazon or abebooks.  The restraint, the restraint . . .

Erin

Well, I suppose that if the writing is long and lacking in ideas, I’d better start investing my hopes in the revision process!

Erin

Erin’s hyacinths

or Farmer Sydney?

Well, a day-and-a-half can be just enough rope to hang yourself with, I am coming to realize.  I forgot that the mind moves far too fast (up into exhilaration, down into despair) to make that period of time seem safe.  Ahh, the joys of paper-writing.  Apparently even good sleep and Sydney’s good cooking can’t make this process a sure and steady thing.  Off to beat back the demons . . . and gear up for writing a page an hour tomorrow.

Erin

Exactly one week from right now I will be free.  Free to get up and leave my desk, free to leave my computer off (okay, okay, or free to use it only for fun), free to go outside and garden or take walks.  But before then I have some work to do: I got the go-ahead for the third section of my written exam, so I’ll do another all-day writing stint tomorrow, submit my writing on Friday, and then try to recover and prepare for the oral exam on Wednesday.

But I will have some breaks and some victory dances.  This weekend Sydney and I are hosting our theology reading group, which will give me a good excuse to do some cleaning and get some groceries in the house.  I’m hoping to visit a regional lilac festival the day or two after my exam, since I could really use some time outside, and I may not have much energy for serious garden work.  And the weekend after my exam some friends from New Haven will be visiting with their new baby.  Oh yeah, and there are about twenty-million end-of-the-semester get-togethers and dinners I want to organize and such things.  I’m guessing I’ll have had my fill of sitting-down for the rest of the year by the time next week rolls around.

Erin

After chomping at the bit for several weeks in April, Sydney was finally able to get on his “main” garden just last week.  Last night he put up the main fence posts and I started moving dirt.  Gardening has begun in earnest.  Sydney also learned that he could extend his posts out a bit farther than usual, so now he has the equivalent of seven 20’x25′ connected garden plots in addition to the two smaller ones he has elsewhere.  And yet he still refuses to be called a farmer!  Today, while I stayed home and read up for the last leg of my written exams, Sydney went to the garden, dug up an entire plot, and filled it with potatoes.  Needless to say, he’s pretty tired and dirty.

Erin

Our first harvest of the year:

Okay, so I’m a bit slow.  I’ve never felt slow before in my life, but grad school has a way of making even the most confident students feel pretty darn close to stupid.  In my case, I realized I’m slow about networking.  Rather than sign up for conferences, submit paper proposals, and participate in other shoulder-rubbing opportunities, I am much more likely to shrug and stay home with my books.  But as I prepare for my qualifying exams, desire for a bit of procrastination sent me online to look up conferences in my areas of specialty.  I’m all for procrastination; it just needs to be the right kind of procrastination.

In this case, my procrastination led me to sign up for the annual Faulkner conference, held in Mississippi in July (I know, I know, I’ll either freeze in air conditioning or melt).  My advisor even wrote me a recommendation that got me a fee waiver for the conference, so that I just have to worry about getting there and paying the fairly small fee for staying in the dorms during the conference.  After I finish my exams, I have an idea I’ll need a break from studying–but then also something pretty fantastic to get me diving back into my books as I begin the dissertation.  Seeing people at the conference whose books I’ve just read should be a good way of making that happen.  Besides, I’ve never been to the real South, and I am delighted at the thought of getting even a peek at the subject of so much of my reading.  Mom might even join me and make a bit of a vacation out of my trek to Mississippi.  So I’ll hold onto that happy thought as I try to push through the last week-and-a-half before my exam (and as I write yet another essay before then . . . ).

Erin