Chapter One of my dissertation is now roughly comprised of 20 well-written, single spaced pages in 10pt Arial font, not including my 6-page bibliography that manages to grow as new ideas pop into my mind. I'm almost there, boys and girls! I'm almost there!
A few things:
What on earth did people do before "The Google"??? Hell, what did people do before computers? I'm already losing my mind with the nature of this enormous undertaking. I can't imagine having to do any of this on a word processor. From my laptop at home, I have the whole world at my fingertips. And with full access to my university's on-line journal community, I'm printing off articles left and right. Like, just the other night, I got distracted and started teaching myself the mechanics of Portuguese. Thanks to "The Google", I found an entire Portuguese grammar lesson on line. Portuguese, you ask? Yes. Just follow the bouncing ball, if you will...
I looked in the mirror the other day and realized that my hair has grown quite a bit. I'm now starting to wonder if the actual process of writing will have a Rip-Van-Winkle affect on me. Am I going to wake up in 60 years and discover that I'm an old man, too? And, out of curiosity, why do some people really start to look old at 30, and others still look great?
I'm doing a small load of laundry at the moment, but all that needs to be washed are my yoga clothes, and yet I haven't worked out since Monday. Tragic, but true. When writing, I live in yoga clothes. At a minimum, I try to match. Right now, I have on my favorite mint green velour pajama pants and a white half-sleeve shirt. I love velour lounge wear. Especially in the winter time.
Last night, I broke plans with friends so that I could stay in and write until two o'clock in the morning. If it were not for the fact that my eyes could no longer make sense of what was on the computer screen, I would have stayed up all night. Tonight, I have a birthday party to attend. I'm sincerely looking forward to not wearing my glasses for a few hours, and even putting on make-up.
Have I mentioned that I haven't worked out since Monday? Yes. In the weeks ahead, this, this no-working-out thing will have to stop. I haven't slept as well as a result of it. You would think that the mind-muscle would be tired and want to rest, but it keeps going like the Energizer Bunny. My body is not a well-oiled machine, but simply a puppy that must be run every day so that it doesn't wake up in the middle of the night and pee on the floor.
My deadline is Monday morning, and I am greatly looking forward to walking into my former advisor's office, slapping my work down on her desk, smiling and asking her if she likes apples.
A few things:
What on earth did people do before "The Google"??? Hell, what did people do before computers? I'm already losing my mind with the nature of this enormous undertaking. I can't imagine having to do any of this on a word processor. From my laptop at home, I have the whole world at my fingertips. And with full access to my university's on-line journal community, I'm printing off articles left and right. Like, just the other night, I got distracted and started teaching myself the mechanics of Portuguese. Thanks to "The Google", I found an entire Portuguese grammar lesson on line. Portuguese, you ask? Yes. Just follow the bouncing ball, if you will...
I looked in the mirror the other day and realized that my hair has grown quite a bit. I'm now starting to wonder if the actual process of writing will have a Rip-Van-Winkle affect on me. Am I going to wake up in 60 years and discover that I'm an old man, too? And, out of curiosity, why do some people really start to look old at 30, and others still look great?
I'm doing a small load of laundry at the moment, but all that needs to be washed are my yoga clothes, and yet I haven't worked out since Monday. Tragic, but true. When writing, I live in yoga clothes. At a minimum, I try to match. Right now, I have on my favorite mint green velour pajama pants and a white half-sleeve shirt. I love velour lounge wear. Especially in the winter time.
Last night, I broke plans with friends so that I could stay in and write until two o'clock in the morning. If it were not for the fact that my eyes could no longer make sense of what was on the computer screen, I would have stayed up all night. Tonight, I have a birthday party to attend. I'm sincerely looking forward to not wearing my glasses for a few hours, and even putting on make-up.
Have I mentioned that I haven't worked out since Monday? Yes. In the weeks ahead, this, this no-working-out thing will have to stop. I haven't slept as well as a result of it. You would think that the mind-muscle would be tired and want to rest, but it keeps going like the Energizer Bunny. My body is not a well-oiled machine, but simply a puppy that must be run every day so that it doesn't wake up in the middle of the night and pee on the floor.
My deadline is Monday morning, and I am greatly looking forward to walking into my former advisor's office, slapping my work down on her desk, smiling and asking her if she likes apples.
3 comments:
I have a velour sweatsuit you might be interested in.
Congrats N! It's slow steady progress to the summit, dodging the dead & dying all along the way. Yes, doing this all in the 'pre-google' days was a trip. Worse is the realization that Google has gotten infinitely better with more information fed into it and better search algorithms. Me, I did mine with a quill pen and legal pads. No, I'm not kidding!
And yes it does age you and makes you forget the regular tasks of daily living. This was to be just a precursor to the introduction to a 'full' academic life. Sort of the like the priesthood without the promise or safety of a full pension & health plan and all that wild kinky sex. We hope for more continued success at the rock face. You'll make it to England yet! Cheers & Good Luck!
We used The Encyclopedia Brittanica.
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