Good Sunday Meme

As seen at New Kid's--more procrastination happening over here.

I am very full from Sunday dinner.
I want something chocolate.
I wish Dr. J was here.
I hate that this dissertation process is still going on.
I love knowing this dissertation process will be over soon and I'll never have to go to College Town again if I don't want to.

I miss summers as a kid when I really didn't have to do anything.
I fear Dr. J will have to stay in University Town for the rest of the year.
I hear three different conversations going on in my house.
I wonder if I take a nap now if I will feel like going to the coffee shop to work later.
I regret very little.
I am not feeling better social today.
I dance a lot more now since I met Dr. J.
I sing all the time when I'm alone.
I cry a lot more than I should but rarely around anyone.
I am not always as on top of things as people think.
I make with my hands really good chocolate fudge.
I write in a special journal just for Sundays.
I confuse my different pin numbers for my different atm/credit cards all the time.
I need to finish these revisions this week.
I should call Dr. J before he leaves for his school event in a few hours.
I start a lot of posts that I don't finish.
I finish a book every couple days when I'm not writing.
I tag Sis and Doc and Ragey and Girlblue.

I Mean Really Hurts

I took a dinner/TV/Dr. J break after getting in from the library and then got back to cleaning up the work I did at the library. I completely underestimated how many sources I gather today--it's somewhere in the neighborhood of 200. So I had to get all of those into Endnote properly and then update the ernomous bibliography. I think all the source work is complete now for you know who, and I swear if anybody asks me for more "cites," they may catch an elbow. I thought the first bibliography I submitted was solid--40+ pages of sources that I really worked hard to get. But somebody didn't agree--or at least thought it would be "great to see more." Now that the bibliography is over 60 pages--that should be enough right? Geez. I mean am I really supposed to reference every work known to woman on every topic that is semi-connected to my diss?! That's what I feel like I'm being asked--sorry, recommended--to do and it is so annoying. But whatever, I'll just cut out a bunch of footnotes come publication time. For now it is just about appeasing the powers that be.

I spent so much time on the durn sources today that I didn't get to finish the introduction. Tomorrow--intro and conclusion get what is hopefully the final clean-up before the defense. Boy does my brain hurt.

My Brain Hurts

It's the end of a long day at HBU library. I immersed myself in one of the subfields my dissertation covers and about 50 books later--my eyes and my brain hurts. I didn't know I was still capable of digesting so much information at once and I do feel a little smarter. It put me back into grad school mode for a bit and that was sadistically fun. But really I feel just tired. I need to eat and sleep before I can get back to work. I should be able to finish my introduction tonight with all this information. We'll see. So far, long day--good day.

De-Lurkin

I think I've been lurking on my own blog--if that's possible. I've been reading the usual folks while feeling quite uninspired to write anything of my own. I guess I just don't want to talk about the dissertation right now. I'm sick of this process. Revisions are still going forward--it was definitely a six-week plus job that I crazily tried to pack into three. Slowly but surely I'll be done and we'll all find out when the new defense date will be. (CoChair #2 by the way is once again gone incognito on me so who knows). But bottom line is probably that I'm just plain sick of it. Revisions have sucked the joy out of the project for the time being because now I'm just doing things to please other people that in a number of ways take away from the original spirit of the process. I am not looking forward to even reading through this before I send it off again. Oh well, what can you do? It's not like I didn't know this might happen, but of course I hoped it wouldn't. Ugh, I shouldn't write about this--major mood killer.

Moving along from a happier place. It was finally a beautiful day here--spent some time with my Grandma. Dr. J is traveling to his sister's who just bought a beautiful new home. She lives in an Artsy Southern City that I've never visisted. If I had finished revisions when I was supposed to, I was going to go with him to help her move. Kinda sad about that but of course he assures me we'll have plenty of trips there in the future. So tonight I'm home working on getting the preface and intro in shape. There are some things I definitely can't do without another trip to the library--I have to completely redo a section in the intro--it needs entirely new literature. My plan is to do a lot of footnoting because at this point I am not interested in writing my dissertation into a whole new subfield. So tomorrow will be a library day. It's the end of the semester so a lot of the books I need are checked out but hopefully I can round up enough sources to sound credible. Back to work.

Puzzled

Today was slow and stormy--terrible conditions for being on the road so I headed home to work. Added a new page to the new preface that I'm very happy about--took a paragraph or so out that I'd written before. Went through the conclusion for the first time since The Meeting. It's not as bad as I thought and I made some good changes tonight. But I'm really puzzled about to do next. Both of the CoChairs want me to take stuff out--either completely or for the into--leaving me with about half a conclusion. If I don't add anything else, it looks like a really cursory close to this big project. I'm puzzled as to what to do, but at the same time I don't care that much since I'm jus followin orders. Hopefully when I finally get to the defense the rest of the committee will have some good input on strengthening the ending. Spent more time thinkin about the diss today than writing which is weird for me. Tomorrow will hopefully be back to normal on the writing end. I'll definitely get out and write if its nicer outside.

Nursin

I'm still nursin my tummy quite a bit--I got a lil too ambitous with dinner and paid for it, but I'm feelin okay. Good enough to do some work. Only allowed myself three hours to work tonight and that was plenty to finish Chapter Three and start butcherin Chapter Five. I'm not happy about Five at all--I orginially wrote it as a seminar paper for CoChair #2 and never got any feedback on it. The longer it sits with me, the less I like it--it's my least favorite chapter in the piece. I had hoped to get some more direction on how to make it better but well--you know the story. Now I feel like I'm startin from scratch which is why I left this as the last content chapter to revise. I realized tonight what I really need to do to fix it and it sucks--I need to rewrite some significant portions of the analysis. I'm gonna try to cut and paste as much as I can tomorrow. Slowly I'm nursin myself and this dissertation back to health.

Mon, This is Your Life

Copied from that Devestating Diva--elle, abd

20 years ago I . . .
1. underwent my first and only surgery
2. loved my first grade teacher--Mrs. Holmes
3. loved to sing Michael Jackson songs constantly

10 years ago I . . .
1. had the best physics teacher in the world
2. was still waiting for my first kiss/date/boyfriend ANYTHING
3. was elected senior class president

5 years ago I . . .
1. graduated from MidAtlantic U
2. was anxious about my first summer without a job
3. had a really really hard time leaving MidAtlantic City

3 years ago I . . .
1. was finishing up my MA thesis
2. had finally decided to stay at my institution for the PhD
3. was getting tired of teaching the same class over and over again

1 year ago I . . .
1. passed my oral and written comps
2. said that I was taking a break from "dating"
3. chartered a new chapter in my sorority

So far this year I . . .
1. have drafted a hecka long dissertation
2. have fallen in love with a beautiful man
3. have lost a lot of faith in people I used to trust

Yesterday I . . .
1. played hookie from work
2. watched Deal or No Deal
3. ate something solid for the first time since Saturday

Today I . . .
1. left work early
2. took a nice long nap
3. will work on some more revisions

Tomorrow I will . . .
1. wish that it was cooler outside
2. hopefully remember that my car needs an oil change
3. think about a trip to HBU library (which probably won't happen if I remember to go to my mechanic on the other side of town)

In the next year I will . . .
1. officially be Dr. Mon
2. start my new job in New School City
3. hopefully be engaged

Wikipedia Meme

As seen over at Doc's....

Instructions: Go to www.wikipedia.org, type in your birthday without the year, choose 3 events, 3 births, and 3 deaths and post.

On December 11:

Events--
1872 - P.B.S. Pinchback is sworn in as the first black member of the U.S. House of Representatives.
1941 - World War II: Germany and Italy declare war on the United States.
1972 - Apollo 17 becomes the sixth mission to land on the Moon.

Births--
1725 - George Mason, American statesman (d. 1792)
1911 - Naguib Mahfouz, Egyptian writer and Nobel Prize laureate
1931 - Rita Moreno, Puerto Rican singer, dancer, and actress
and one more favorite for kicks
1943 - John Kerry, American politician and Presidential candidate (jus think its neat cuz he's a friend of my uncle and a picture of the two of them sits on my piano)

Deaths--
384 - Pope Damasus I
1957 - Musidora (Jeanne Roques), French actress and director (b. 1889)
1964 - Sam Cooke, American singer (b. 1931)

Cool Holiday--
Argentina - Tango Day, Buenos Aires
must tell Dr. J--sounds good reason for us to go dancing on my birthday

Home Sweet Home

Overwhelming lack of solid foods the past couple days seems to have left me a little lightheaded on my feet. My sweet librarian boss encouraged me to go home early and I wasn't about to fight here. It's good to be back in my crib. Time for a little lunch and a little snooze and then back to work on Chapters Three and Five (or maybe the Introduction).

Well

Two out of three goals ain't bad I reckon.

• Did have some solid food--and it seems to have not caused any major disruptions in my digestive track!!
• Did have a conversation with CoChair #1--the general nature of which I cannot discuss without getting angry and frustrated--it was interesting. Positive notes--she didn't have really any comments except to "suggest" I consider taking out a graphic (and consequently an entire section that discusses it in my conclusion) that uses the (GASP) "n-word." I may--I may not--could really careless either way at this point.
• Didn't finish Chapter Three--few more chunks that need to be rewritten/reorganized. Oh well, it was a valiant effort--maybe tomorrow.

Still Survivin

Well, I made it out of bed this morning--that's good news. My stomach is still doing all types of flips and flops but it feels better than it has the past two days. I'm playing hookie from work today--sue me.

Goals for today are simple--eat some solid foods, finish Chapter Three, and go over some more changes with CoChair #1 tonight (she reminded me via email this morning that I don't even have her comments on the conclusion). It's a little pointless since CoChair #2 is asking me to rewrite the whole thing, but I'll find a way to discuss that with her this evening.

Survivin

Yesterday went from okay to good to worse. After I blogged I ate, watched some TV, and took a nap. When I woke up I felt much more like myself and gathered up my things to go to the bookstore and do some work. Bad move. I wasn't there an hour before I felt ill--really ill. Fortunately I wasn't far from home. Unfortunately I'm realizin that I've been suddenly sick like this almost every month this year and unlike when I was a teen, it seems to have no connection with my more usual feminine trials. Dr. J thinks its stress and he's probably right. He got to experience it firsthand when we were in CollegeTown--unfortunately. So today I am just tryin to take it easy. Clearly my body is tryin to tell me something and I'm not going to push anymore. I'll finish these revisions whenever and jus deal with whenever the defense gets pushed back to. Right now I jus need to get myself healthy.

Good News, Bad News

Good news first. I just got one of those automated emails from my institution telling me to go online and confirm my registration for the summer. (Early in the week I asked our adminstrative assistant to go ahead and sign me up for summer so I could know how much they were going to charge me). At any rate, I go online and see that she has signed me up and the charges for the summer are in black--and its more than I got right now. BUT, there is an even bigger dollar amount in red that has the label of my current fellowship. Red generally indicates any funds or payments on this system so from the best I can gather, my current fellowship also includes a HEFTY summer stipend. Part of my package to come to this school was that I would have stipends every summer but 1) I was told last summer was the last one and 2) they have never been this large. I Hope it is not a mistake. The sum is more than enough to take care of my dissertation credit charges and put some change in my pocket to cover me for that first month in New School City without a paycheck. That is some good news--I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this is not an accountin error!! I should know for sure when summer classes officially start in a few weeks.

Bad news--Somewhere around 3:30-4:00 this morning I had a serious breakdown. Serious, I mean--It was ugly. The realization that I have way more to do than is humanly possible by Monday had a serious toll. Fortunately, Dr. J was still up waiting on me to call him before I went to bed, but I feel terrible about the state I was in talking to him last night. I know it was hard on him to not be able to just come over or see me at that moment and I know I felt just horribly alone. But without him I probably wouldn't have calmed down enough to sleep. I am still not at a point where I can clearly articulate what is happening in my head and in my heart right now. It just ain't pretty.

So a really rough morning means a really late start today--further pushing back when I can get this done. At this point, any work I get done today will be a bonus considering how I still feel (like an emotional hangover). For now, I'm just trying to put one foot in front of the other.

And One More Thing--

Is this really news???:

Rising gas prices have heavy impact on poor.

Ok, my mind is clear--I can go back to work now.

Have You Seen a Few Hours?

I'm trying to figure out where my evening went. I worked on Chapter Three for a few hours until I reached a good stopping place. I came home to grab some dinner and now it's 10:30--I don't know where the time went. Well, not all of it. Part of it was spent in a really frustrating phone call with a major airline trying to get a ticket reissued. I'm still ticketless. Grrrr.

Alright.
Must.
Focus.

I definitely want to finish Chapter Three tonight and get started on rearranging Chapter Five--the other content chapter that needs a little more than cosmetic work. I really would like to have Saturday and Sunday to spend on the preface, introduction, and conclusion--which at this rate will probably mean breaking a major commitment I made for tomorrow. I hate to do it but that is six hours of my day I really can't afford to lose.

Another One Bites The Dust

Well mostly. I'm at the good old coffeeshop again spendin money and revisin chapters. (It occurs to me that sadly the spare change I used to round up for a couple gallons of gas to get me around town doesn't do much for gas but will get me plenty at the coffeeshop). Just finished going over Chapter Six and I've done all I can do from here. There is still some source stuff I need to deal with but the editing and most importantly, the new comcluding paragraph is done. I'll finish up that article stuff at home later.

Now it is on to Chapter Three--the first of two content chapters that needs some semi-major rearrangin. CoChair #1 didn't have any issues with it but you know who thinks otherwise. From what I can see, all the content is in there but it could be shifted around some in the middle sections. Hopefully this won't take all day.

Not Happenin

Not tonight anyway. Chapter Four is about done--a couple more footnotes to fix and three sentences I just can't get quite right. A lot closer to being done than it was. But that's all I have the heart for tonight. I'm digging myself a hole for tomorrow but it just ain't happenin tonight.

Three days left to tackle five more chapters and finish a brand new preface--sounds fun.

Not So Bright

I stayed up way to late last night after I finished writing and woke up way to early this morning when the phone rang well before my alarm clock. I am seriously dragging and I'm yet to get started on today's revisions. Maybe after dinner? My goal is to polish up Chapter Four tonight. It is in need of some topic sentences and wording changes here and there, as well as about ten more new citations for the CoChair. The rest of her comments I tackled over the weekend so I should be able to handle that tonight in a couple hours.

If I can move it along quickly, I'll start on Chapter Six as well. I'm a little annoyed with the work that needs to be done with that chapter which is why I've been putting it off, but I need to just suck it up and do it. Even though the chapter already has like 100 footnotes (Chicago), CoChair wants more. I have all of the sources in Endnote, but I don't remember which newspaper articles said what. So I need to go back through a bunch of articles and make sure I'm citing the right ones in the right places. Fortunately they are all online and I can search for them pretty easily.

Alright, just writing about all of this is getting me motivated to work--a lil dinner and back to it!

Much Better

On revisions--Ok, I could have felt a lot better hours ago about my evening's progress if I just started with the right chapter. I picked the longest chapter (Chapter Two) to start with because structurally/methodologically it is the least complicated of all my chapters. I knew there were no major organizational or content changes that needed to be made to the chapter, so I thought that would make the work go by quicker. Well, I definitely underestimated just the sheer length of the chapter and the number of citations I still needed to find for it. Geez. That took forever, but around 11:00 I finally finished. Being that I'm there, again, I couldn't just stop with that right so I switched gears to Chapter Seven, my last case study. And now I'm done. Just two hours or so--and it is ready for the advisors. Why didn't I start with that chapter??? Oh well, good way to finish the night's work.

On family--My uncle, Dr. Chemistry, is in town today interviewing for a new faculty job. It is a good boost to the spirits to have him around--he took a position out of state when I was in junior high and I don't get to see him often. The idea that he might be considering a move back is both intriguing (he left a job here he HATED) and exciting. He brought with him one of his latest home movies. Sometime last year he got into making picture CDs of our family events and now he has moved up to picture DVDs and actual movies. He's always sending a copy of something in the mail and he gets soooo excited about them--if you haven't watched it by the next time he talks to you, he gets really offended. So I couldn't say no when he asked me if I had some time tonight to watch his latest DVD. Of course I didn't have time--I didn't even watch Kelly Pickler miraculously survive another week on idol--but I'm glad I made a little time. His production skills are really coming along--he loves playing with music and rolling credits--its all very cute. This DVD featured my cousin who apparently made a home movie during Hurricane Wilma--very entertaining. Definitely worth the time.

Rain Rain Go Away

It is hard for me to work when it is dark and stormy outside. My goal is to get a couple chapters done today but it looks like it is going to be an uphill battle!!

Update @9:18pm--Somehow I mustered the energy to get back to work this afternoon (after a lil nap of course). I've been on these revisions for about five hours now and I still haven't even gotten through one chapter yet. My new goal--get through 1.5 chapters at least!!

The REALLY Dead Women Writers Meme

Alright, I need a meme break. Here is the beautifully educational meme of women writers prior to 1800 compiled by Bardiac. Apparently, I have a lot of reading to do.

In bold are the authors I've read at least an excerpt of--In italics the folks I'd like to read someday. I won't do ?? marks this time for ones I haven't heard of because that would just take too much time. Assume I haven't heard of a significant portion of these women! Great job Bardiac for putting this together!

Anonymous - The Floure and the Leafe (See Quod She for explanation)
Anonymous - Eliza's Babes or The Virgin's Offering (1652)
Hannah Adams (1755-1831) - Alphabetical Compendium of the Various Sects
Maria Gaetana Agnesi (Italian, 1718-1799) - mathematical and philosophical treatises, including Propositiones Philosophicae (1738) and Analytical Institutions
Andal (Tamil Religious Poet) - ?
Angela of Foligno -
Jane Anger - Jane Anger Her Protection for Women (1589)
Anne Askew - The Examinations of Anne Askew
Mary Astell - A Serious Proposal to the Ladies (1694), Some Reflections upon Marriage
Jane Austen – Lady Susan, Love and Freindship, etc
Abigail Abbot Bailey - The Memoirs of Abigail Abbot Bailey (1790s)
Martha Ballad - The Diary of Martha Ballard 1785- 1812 (or just read A Midwife’s Tale)
Anna Lætitia Barbauld (1743-1825) - Hymns in Prose for Children
Baudonivia - Vita of Saint Radegund
Aphra Behn - Oroonoko
Ana Eliza Bleecker - ?
Frau Ava - "Johannes," "Leben Jesu," "Antichrist," "Das Jüngste Gericht"
Anne Bradstreet - collected poems, The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America, written in "the New World"
St. Bridget - hymns, Revelations
Frances Moore Brooke (English, 1724-1789, pseudonym "Mary Singleton, Spinster") - editor of The Old Maid (1755-56), wrote poems, a play, libretti, translations; while in Canada, wrote The History of Emily Montague (1769)
Fanny Burney - Evelina
Elizabeth Cary – The Tragedy of Mariam (1613); The History of the Life, Reign, and Death of Edward II (1627)
Catherine of Sienna - ?
Margaret Cavendish – The Blazing World, The Atomic Poems, The Convent of Pleasure (1668)
Susanna Centlivre - "A Bold Stroke for a Wife"
Christine de Pisan (aka Pizan) – Book of the City of Ladies, Book of the Path of Long Study, Christine's Vision
Anne Clifford - Diary
Mary Collier – The Woman’s Labour
An Collins - Divine Songs and Meditations (1653)
Vittoria Colonna - "Amaro Lagrimar"
Anna Comnena - The Alexiad
Mary Cooper - The Diary of Mary Cooper
Charlotte Dacre - "Zofloya"
Dhuoda - Handbook for William: A Carolingian Woman's Counsel for Her Son (at Sunshine for Women) and a dual-language version from Cambridge UP
Elizabeth Drinker - The Diary of Elizabeth Drinker: The Life Cycle of an Eighteenth Century Woman
Maria Edgeworth - ?
Eloise – The Letters of Eloise and Abelard (well, hers, anyways)
Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz - Fama y obras póstumas La Comtessa de Dia - "A chantar m'er" & other Trobairitz poetry
Sarah Fyge Egerton – The Female Advocate
Elizabeth Elstob - The Rudiments of Grammar for the English-Saxon Tongue (1715).
'Ephelia' - Female Poems On Several Occasions (c. 1679)
Margaret Fell - Women's Speaking Justified, Proved, and Allowed by the Scriptures (1666)
Elizabeth Graeme Fergusson - ?
Sarah Fielding - ?
Anne Finch - Poems
Moderata Fonte (Modesta da Pozzo) - Il merito delle donne (Woman’s Worth) (1600)
Hannah W. Foster - The Coquette
Sarah Friske - A Confession of Faith (1700)
Luise Kulmus Gottsched (German, 1713-1762) - plays, poetry, translation Hadewijch devotional poet (13th century) - ?
Queen Hatshepsut - Speech of the Queen
Mary Hays - ?
Eliza Haywood - The History of Miss Betsey Thoughtless
Mary Sidney Herbert – see Mary Sidney
Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179) - Scivias and Liber Divinorum Operum
Hrostvitha of Gandersheim (c.930-c.1002) - Plays Gallicanus & Dulcitius
Eleanor Hull - A Commentary on the Penitential Psalms
Huneberc of Heidenheim's - Hodoeporicon of St. Willibald (8th century, Latin)
Lucy Hutchinson (1620-1681) - Order and Disorder
Mary Jemison - The Diary of Mary Jemison
Julian of Norwich - Revelations of Divine Love
Lady Kasa - ?
Catherine Macaulay - Letters on Education (1790) and History of England, 8 vols. (1763-1783)
Bathsua Makin (1600-1675) - An Essay to Revive the Antient Education of Gentlewomen
Margery Kempe - The Book of Margery Kempe
Sarah Kemble Knight - The Journal of Madame Knight 1666-1727
Louise Labbe (Labe?) - ?
Aemilia Lanyer - Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum
Anne Locke (aka Ane Loke, etc) – Meditations of a Penitent Sinner
Leonor Lopez - Autobiography
De la Riviere Manley (Mary De La Riviere Manley) – The Secret History of Queen Zarah and the Zarazians
Marguerite de Navarre - "L'Heptameron"
Marie de France – Lais of Marie de France, The Fables (beast fables a la Aesop), The Purgatory of Saint Patrick (a saint's life/treatise)
Gwerful Mechain - Poems
Mechtild of Magdebourg - The Flowing Light of the Godhead
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu - ?
Marie Morin (Quebecois, 1659-1730), first Canadian nun - memoirs as the annals of the Hotel-Dieu
Sarah Wentworth Morton - ?
Murasaki Shikubu - The Tale of Genji
Judith Sargent Murray - "On the Equality of the Sexes" (1790)
Amelia Opie - ?
The Paston Women - The Paston Letters
Perpetua - Passions of Perpetua and Felicity
Katherine Phillips - Poems
Eliza Lucas Pinckney - The Letterbook of Eliza Lucas Pinckney, 1739-1762
Plumpton family (Dame Anges Plumpton, Dame Isabel Plumpton, Dame Elizabeth de la Pole) - Plumpton Letters
Margaret (Marguerite de) Porete - Mirror of Simple Souls
Ann Radcliffe - The Mysteries of Udolpho, The Monk
Clara Reeve (English, 1729-1807) - The Old English Baron (1778), The School for Widows (1791) Veronica Franco Rime (1575) - ?
Robinson, Mary (1758-1800) - Beaux and Belles of England Mrs. Mary Robinson, Written by Herself, With the lives of the Duchesses of Gordon and Devonshire Poems and Sappho and Phaon.
Mary Rowlandson - The Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson (available online)
Susanna Rowson - Charlotte Temple
Sappho - ?
Jane Sharp – The Midwives Book
Frances Sheridan - ?
Sei Shonagon - The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon
Mary Sidney – The Triumph of Death (translation of Petrarch), Psalms
Rachel Speght - Mouzell for Melastomus and Mortalities Memorandum
Germaine de Stael - "Corinne, or Italy"
Gaspara Stampa - ?
Stonor family (Mary Barantyne (sister to William Stonor), Jane Stonor, Elizbeth Stonor, Anne Stonor) - The Stonor Letters
Teresa of Avila - Life
Lucy Terry - "Bar Fights"
Chen Tong, Tan Ze and Qian Yi - The Peony Pavilion: Commentary Edition by Wu Wushan's Three Wives
Trotula - The Diseases of Women
Elizabeth Tudor – Poems, Speeches, Letters
Mercy Otis Warren - ?
Phillis Wheatley - The Poems of Phillis Wheatley
Isabella Whitney - The Copy of a Letter, lately written in meeter by a yonge Gentilwoman: to her unconstant lover (1567) and A Sweet Nosegay, or Pleasant Posy: Containing a Hundred and Ten Philosophical Flowers (1573)
Helen Maria Williams - "Letters from France"
Betje Wolff (Dutch, 1738-1804) - Historie van mejuffrouw Sara Burgerhart (1782)
Mary Wollstonecraft – A Vindication of the Rights of Women
Susanna Wright (1697-1784) – Poems?
Lady Mary Wroth - Urania, Poems

Chipping Away

After work this morning, I went to my favorite bookstore spot and just parked my behind and my laptop all afternoon. Slowly I'm chipping away at these revisions--some chapters are more polished than others. But I now have a complete list of the sources I need for all the chapters as well as four pages on the preface (I'm only going for 8-10 max because that was the number CoChair mentioned). So tonight, after I take a little break, I am going to get on HBU's library catalog and see if I can identify sources to satisfy the needs of my list. Not too exciting, but I'm chipping away. My hope is to finish these revising the content chapters by Friday so I can spend the weekend going over the introduction and conclusion one more time before sending it off. I am supposed to have the revised draft to the CoChairs on Monday--but if I can at least send it on Monday, I'll be satisfied.

Day Off

Finally, I have some time off from work. It is just a day but it is just in time. It was so nice to sleep in a little and wake up this morning to the sound of Dr. J's voice rather than my alarm. I have all sorts of plans to chip away at my revisions today--hopefully I can knock out a chapter or two while also getting started on some spring cleaning. I have been dying to do a purge on my closet to get rid of some of these winter clothes I haven't worn in years. There is especially no need for me to truck all these thick bulky sweaters from the mountains of the Northeast down to New School City where the average highs stay around 55-60 degrees in the winter. Plus, cleaning out my closet now means that I have more space to go shopping later! I really would like to invest in some warm-weather teaching clothes. As a matter of fact, I need a whole teaching-image upgrade because the nice outfits and boots routine I usually rock is going to be quite warm for this place. The overwhelming majority of my teaching clothes are black or gray--this will be a good time to add some more color and some lighter fabrics into my professional wardrobe. Average highs for the first couple months of fall in New School City--low to mid 80s. I could definitely use some more nice shirts and slacks--and cute shoes that are not boots. I may even look for some...skirts. But I'll save the shopping sprees (and subsequent talk of shopping) for after I get done with the defense (sigh). Well maybe one preliminary trip next week after I finish revisions??

Back to work!

A Sorta Google Meme

In the past 24 hours, I have gotten a ridiculous number of new visits to the blog from folks looking for the lyrics to this song I posted Friday. The ever innovative Trillwing did it first--so I'm taking her lead and creating a list of how folks have gotten to my blog from search engines lately. Not sure what this says about the state of my content lately (bold indicates multiple searches)...

10 things meme
11.5 hours
abd
abd defense
AbD PhD isolation
ABD jobs dissertation
advice for becoming professor
becoming a professor
cigarette-holder pipped
Constance Baker Motley life
effa manley
Eva Clayton
hate nifong
Hattie McDaniel
he lives forevermore
how to take care of broken legs
I hate moving
knocking down a wall
life of a professor
mary came unto the tomb of Jesus
"On getting a natural" poetry
Professor philosophy statement
sonja brown givens
Southern ladies
survival strategies in The Bondwoman's Narrative
teaching portfolio
the stone is rolled back (and numerous variations thereof)
TRUE STORIES
wole soyinka telephone conversation
women literature

Here, Again

What a day. Quite a few hip hop CDs later, I am still picking away at the beast, and somehow, I haven't lost my mind yet--at least not entirely. I shouldn't be up this late especially on Easter Sunday for goodness sakes. Sunrise service is only a few hours away--sigh. But the reality is, I'm here, again. I'm back in the Mon Dissertation Zone. That dangerously productive area that has had a tendency in the recent past to wear on my social and familial relationships as well as causing even the most intelligent bloogers like Doc to wonder if I'm really just a robot that doesn't sleep. I know I need to be here to get this done, but quite honestly, I was ready to leave this space in the past. In fact, I'm quite angry to be here again and I've been avoidin everyone today for fear of lashin out. It is only in these very wee hours that I can concede--a few days in the zone could be a good thing.

Just sucks to be here--again.

On the Brink

It occurs to me suddenly.

I think I'm on the edge of losing my mind.

Maybe it is because my work day got off to a bad start. The seemingly simple task of inserting a preface into this beast resulted in all types of formatting and file organization issues. Because the thesis formatting program does not have a preface or Chapter Zero setting, the preface is now considered by the program to be Chapter One. Fine--except that it totally screws up the numbering of all of my figures and tables. So now, for example, the first figure in the real Chapter One is actually numbered Figure 2-1. Now common sense would say, well Mon, just go type over the figure numbers, but guess what, every time I save/update the file and the table of contents, they switch back. So I have to go back and reinsert them into the program by order of appearance rather than by chapter. Sigh. Fortunately, there are not that many, but at some point tonight when I'm less aggravated, I have to go back and take out all the graphics and put them back in for the program to work with me rather than against me.

The more and more I read through these revisions--the more and more I consider the work I have to pull off in the next week--the closer I feel to the brink of insanity. The usual remedies are in place, prayer, talking to Dr. J, eating, slowing down, breathing, taking one piece at a time. So I'm still moving forward. But it is disconcerting to know that if I push too hard right now, I might, quite simply, lose it.

Constant Supervision

I'm placing my dissertation on a 72 hour hold (also the title of a great book)--I'm not letting it out of my sight for the next three days. I don't have to work on Monday so we'll have the entire day to spend together. My mother must have picked up on my impending house arrest with this beast because she didn't invite me to go see Granny today. I wanted to--but I need this weekend to be all about me and the diss. I have exactly one week left to get this thing back to the advisors so they can get it back to me in time to revise--again--before the defense. Are all of these revisions necessary? Of course not. I'm a doing a lot of unrelated work to pacify certain people? Of Course I am!

Let the house arrest begin...

Friday Poetry

Well, I don't really have a poem today. Since it's Easter season and as this is one of my favorite times of year, today's poem is actually a song. I've never actually seen the words of this song in print--one of the older ladies in our church leads this song and we all just follow. You really need some ol' Southern foot-stompin, rockin, and clappin to go along with this one--I tried to google for some good gospel audio, but no luck. In any event, have a blessed Easter!

Gone

Mary came unto the tomb of Jesus,
The stone was moved, the Lord had gone away.
An angel said--Fear not, I know who seek ye,
Oh, for He has risen--and then she heard him say:

Gone--The stone's been rolled back
Gone--The tomb is empty
Gone--To sit at the Father's side
Hallelujah!
He's gone--Over death triumphant
Gone--Sin is defeated
Gone--He lives forever more.

My friend, if you don't know the risen Savior
Don't wait--Don't wait too late to pray.
Don't wait until His bride has been completed,
Oh, don't wait until you hear Him say--too late.

Gone--The stone's been rolled back
Gone--The tomb is empty
Gone--To sit at the Father's side
Hallelujah!
He's gone--Over death triumphant
Gone--Sin is defeated
Gone--He lives forever more.

Canons and Ghettos (a preface)

To address the ever present issue of canons and academic "ghettos," I offer two personal and very true stories...

Story #1: Ten years ago, I was in high school. I was the only Black person in most of my classes. I would eventually become the first Black senior class president in that school's history--and its an old school. According to my best friend from high school--the blue-eyed, tall, dark, handsome, all-American captain of the football and basketball team guy--I was the most well-liked and most popular person in school. (I disagree but he insists). I was in all the in-groups and in all the out-groups. I learned so much from everyone in my graduating class and truly grew to love them. I was voted "most likely to succeed" and everyone wrote wonderful things about me in my yearbook in my last days of high school. Some even wrote me letters, expressing their love and saying how much just knowing me had changed their life. But no amount of popularity or love could shield me from those inevitable moments--like when I'm sitting in the room and I hear one of the cheerleaders say "oh my gosh, I was like so scared when we like walked into that like gym and there were all those like Black people" or when I'm on the phone with a friend and I hear her boyfriend from another school say in the background "oh you talkin to that nigger again." Those moments were never surprising (although that is by no means to say they did not hurt) and unfortunately they came with the territority of being the "only one."

Story #2: I believe there were five of us (Black students) in my graduating class. Three in the class above us, two in the class below us, and one or two in the ninth grade. If we all had the same lunch during a quarter, 9 times out of 10, we were sitting together. Sometimes the athletes in our group would sit with their team--sometimes I would literally work the room (in part to avoid eating that food) and sit everywhere. But most of the time, we were together in the cafeteria. We never ended up in the same classes (especially me with the heavy honors/AP load), and we were all overly involved in activities after school, so lunchtime was "our" time--our time to connect, to rap, to vent, to check-in. It was an important time for us to laugh, and also a time to cry when those moments happened--because they happened to all of us. But generally, our table was as boisterous and upbeat as any other table--the qualities of our conversation and the issues that dominated those discussions ranged widely from day to day. Around that table we came up with the idea of starting a gospel group and would sometimes break out in song in the middle of lunch. And of course, we spoke our own language--as any other group in the room would do. I can remember clearly when we were asked "why are all of you sitting together" and I can remember my friend responding--"did you ask them that same question?" (sassily pointing to the sea of "White" tables). Some days we (either individually or collectively) would invite people to have lunch with us, and suddenly lunch for them was an "experience." 9 times out of 10, we had a hard time getting rid of them and would find ourselves negotiating how to reinforce who did and did not have a regular seat at the table--and with any in/out group dynamic--some folks had greater and more frequent access than others. Overall, our space was accepted and understood--same table every day.

Popularity. Acceptance. Segregation. Integration. Tradition. Breakthroughs. Insecurities. Healing. Hurt. Isms. Triumph. Success. Shortcomings. Common Ground. Boundaries. Transformation. Experience. Standards. Difference. Identity. Discrimination. All of these things have everything to do with these stories and everything to do with the continued trouble over canons. And perhaps even a little to do with the idea of academic "ghettos."

Stay tuned....

Canons and Ghettos...

Dr. Crazy has continued an eternal conversation which she entitles "Canon Formation and Ghettos in Literary Studies." Her thoughts took me back to a post Tamika wrote a while ago.

As I work in these "ghettos," I should have something to say about this--right? Response is forthcoming. I'm not going to call anyone out, BUT, there are a few individuals I'd love to hear riff on this topic a bit--you should know who you are.

Not Really a Wall...

I've returned to that point where I avoid talking or thinking about the dissertation at any time other than when I'm working on it. Hence the lack of detailed updates. It does warm my heart to know that somehow I am inspiring others through this blog--I never imagined that when I started it. In the spirit of continued truth about this process....

Slowly, I feel myself disconnecting once again from this project. I work on it, and then I stop. I don't think about it, I don't dream about it, I don't look at it or play with it--I don't even worry about my defense my anymore. I just work on it, and then I stop. I work on it and then watch TV. I work on it and then have expensive coffee drinks. I work on it and then go to sleep. It has all become rather routine and more importantly, unemotional. I think this is the first time I've really felt utterly numb and absolutely mechanical about this process. Perhaps that is the nature of revisions for me--I find little emotional stimulation in this kind of writing. I think I much more prefer the emotional highs and lows of generating new text. But revisions have never felt like this. Just______. Blank that is.

I wouldn't say I've hit another wall because I haven't reached a point of stasis. I'm still moving forward. I've read through all the chapters--except the conclusion which I'm saving as the last step in my revisions. Tonight or first thing tomorrow I'll really get into the process of translating my handwritten revisions over to the computer--a process that should take the rest of the week. I also will get moving on typing up my handwritten map of my preface (which is shaping up nicely I think). But there is this weird absence of any feeling at all about the whole thing. So I haven't hit a wall but I'm definitely truckin through some weird mud or something right now. I can clearly see my destination so it is just a matter of moving forward, even though I don't feel anything anymore. Most likely, my senses will be stimulated more after I get this draft back in, but right now I am definitely on emotional autopilot when it comes to the diss....

Mad Real World

Ok, this plain cracked me up today. This has got to be one of the funniest news stories I've seen ever, ever. I refuse to ruin the comedy in this one with a bunch of commentary about "the media" or anything of that nature. It's just plain funny. As Dr. J pointed out, this is probably the closest thing to a real life Chappelle's Show skit. (By the way, if you are a real hip hop/new school soul fan and haven't seen his Block Party yet, you are missing out!)

In The Plantation

A moment of retail therapy turned into a needed pick-me-up today.

On a whim, I decided to visit a furniture store that my mother has been bugging me to check out. I have been resisting due to the current state of my finances, but since she recently mentioned she might buy me a sofa as a housewarming gift, so I thought I'd indulge in some window shopping a bit today after work. So I went to this very well advertised local store that has--in all honesty--a very White Southern name--we'll call it The Plantation for fun.

The Plantation looks like an old-fashioned downtown shop from the street, but it is really a HUGE multi-floor operation inside PACKED with furniture. The prices were surpringly reasonable, and I did find a beautiful wood desk/hutch that I really liked. (What a nerd). But there were all these dashingly attired, likely retired, Southern ladies shopping around the store, and I felt completely out of my league. I was in my jeans and sneaks (the perks of working in a library) and I looked like a college kid that just wandered in from the local bar district. At least I'm assuming that's why no one offered me the time of day when I walked in--I'm sure it had nothing to do with the fact that I'm Black. But I was in the mood to shop so I didn't care too much--at first.

For a good 10 or 15 minutes, there was a complete lack of greetings or "are you finding everything okay"s from the "hospitable" Southern salespersons that just walked right by me. Granted, it is a huge store and there were a lot of folks shopping today--but I was clearly on the bottom of the pecking order of the sales folks working the front. I began to debate whether I should just leave or walk deeper into this massive store. As I round a towering armoire, I almost walk into--ok, run over--two saleswomen talking. Wannabe Scarlett O'Hara just looks at me with that look as I say excuse me, while the Enchanting Elena gives me a really lovely smile and says with a even lovelier European accent that it's no problem--they were taking up the whole aisle (which was true). Elena then begins to engage me in a conversation about my current well-being (how are you today), my furniture needs (is there anything in particular you were looking for today), and offers to show me around (have you seen our other floors). Scarlett gives her that other look and walks away.

Turns out, Elena and I had a lovely time shopping. Her sister and I share the same name and we had a little bonding moment because I spell my name the European way rather than the American way. She showed me dining sets, sofas, and office furniture--we mulled over swatches and she gave me great ideas for color schemes. She was very hands on when I needed her to be, but also gave me plenty of space to look around at my leisure. I was there for over an hour (sue me). While we were looking at color/pattern/fabric options for sofas, I disclosed to her that I am moving to New School City to work as a professor there. Her eyes got as big as saucers. But she didn't give me that look--that "they let you people teach" look. She gave me a look I rarely get--the "can I get your autograph" look. She goes on to tell me how impressed she is and begins to ask several, what I perceived to be, genuine questions about my work and my process of becoming a professor. She then delivers this gorgeous soliloquy about how wonderful she thought it was that I went straight through school and that I was making this next move. Although I did not disclose to her that much information, she began to intuitively imagine the sacrifices I must have made along the way and really just encouraged me to be excited that all my hard work was about to pay off. It was a really good moment over a really big pile of fabric swatches. And of course, the kicker--Wannabe Scarlett was working in the same area and her mouth was just about on the ground. Of course, being a Southern lady, she turned away quickly when I caught her eye, and it took everything in me not to let out a hearty laugh.

The whole experience today was a bad reminder of the ever present stereotypes and assumptions about race/class here in the South, but a good reminder that my new position really does have a lot of "street cred" in this region. In the face of recent attempts to minimize my position and my new institution, it was a great reminder that not only have I found a job that is a great fit for me, but I really have found a position to be proud of. In the end, it was fun to walk around like and peacock a bit like the Southern Ladies in the store. Looking at furniture and talking with Elena got my energy level back up for the coming move, and I think I'm going to indulge myself in a lot more "future thinking" as I wade through these revisions to keep my spirits up. Now if I ever actual buy anything from The Plantation, that's another store--but if I go back, you know who I'm asking for.

Women Writers (pre-1800)

Kudos to Bardiac for starting a new meme to illuminate women writers prior to the 1800s! As I deal a lot in recovering women writers, I love this coversation and love seeing everyone's additions. One of my favorite scholars wrote one of my favorite books, Rhetoric Retold, which discusses women writers and orators such as Sappho, Aspasia, Julian of Norwich, Margery Kempe, Anne Askew, Margaret More Roper, and Elizabeth I. I love this type of work and I'm so excited to see some of these names popping up around the web as folks are adding to Bardiac's meme.

So here is Bardiac's draft and instructions:
Here's the idea: I'll put in five women writers. If you're interested, pick up the list, add five more of your favorites, and drop me a line at Bardiacblogger at yahoo dot com to check your site. With even a few contributors, we'll get a great meme with fewer of my idiosyncracies than if I do it myself. (And yes, it will probably end up Euro-centered, but I'd love to learn more about non-Euro earlier women writers, too, so add them in, please!)

The (draft) REALLY DEAD WOMEN WRITERS meme.

Behn, Aphra - Oroonoko

Christine de Pisan (aka Pizan) - The Book of the City of Ladies

Julian of Norwich - Revelations of Divine Love

Locke, Anne (aka Ane Lok, etc) - A Meditation of a Penitent Sinner

Marie de France - The Lais of Marie de France

As Bardiac notes though, this kind of conversation inevitably centers European women as they have been the center of recovery work in women's literature. Two that I don't believe I've seen around are:

Margaret Fell--Women's Speaking Justified, Proved, and Allowed by the Scriptures (1666)
Mary Astell--A Serious Proposal to the Ladies for the Advancement of Their True and Greatest Interest (1694)

Here are several Africana women from one of my favorite collections (Daughters of Africa) as well:

Queen Hatshepsut--Speech of the Queen
Phillis Wheatley--Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral
Lucy Terry--"Bar Fights"

Ok, back to work for me--I can't wait to see Bardiac's full meme!!

I Want to Get Away

It's a Lenny Kravitz type of day.

I got some work done on the road and while Granny was talkin on the phone (she LOVES talkin on the phone), but I'm still about 1.5 days behind on my latest self-imposed deadline. The last few chapters need major work and it seems CoChair began to resent having to read all my chapters so late as the comments start to become a little more...personal in tone. It is a little tough to get through, but some words from my Wonderful Mentor are definitely helpin (we finally had our phone date today).

Still, I feel a little frazzled and unrested. My house was noisy with family yesterday and of course, the new shower doesn't drain properly so they're comin back today. I'm hiding at the bookstore but I really think I need to get away. I may pack up Friday and spend the weekend in a hotel or somethin--I feel like I haven't had peace and quiet in weeks. I dunno--I'll see how I feel in a couple days...

Back to editin...

Finally

It is quiet. The workers are DONE. The house needed a MAJOR cleaning last night so although tedious, it had to be done. In the end, I was finally able to sleep in my own bed--man I didn't want to wake up this morning. But I'm off to see my Granny--Mother is driving so hopefully I'll be able to do some reading on the diss on the way....

Friday Poem

Nubian asked a question in response to the mess at Duke--how much am I worth? As she points out, there is plenty of cultural and historical evidence to show that Black women and our bodies have never been worth much in this society. During slavery we were, as Mary McLeod Bethune noted, "incubators" and "agricultural implements." Now we are video hos or as that guy called Congresswoman McKinney's natural hairstyle--just ghetto sluts.

As someone whose scholarship centers on Black women, of course I don't believe this crap, but the reality is we are still battling every day to prove our worth and save our lives. Today's poem is by Toi Derricotte and you'll see why....


On the Turning Up of Unidentified Black Female Corpses
[from Captivity (1989), University of Pittsburgh Press]

Mowing his three acres with a tractor,
a man notices something ahead---a mannequin---
he thinks someone threw it from a car. Closer
he sees it is the body of a black woman.

The medics come and turn her with pitchforks.
Her gaze shoots past him to nothing. Nothing
is explained. How many black women
have been turned up to stare at us blankly,

in weedy fields, off highways,
pushed out in plastic bags,
shot, knifed, unclothed partially, raped,
their wounds sealed with a powdery crust.

Last week on TV, a gruesome face, eyes bloated shut.
No one will say, "She looks like she's sleeping," ropes
of blue-black slashes at the mouth. Does anybody
know this woman? Will anyone come forth? Silence

like a backwave rushes into that field
where, just the week before, four other black girls
had been found. The gritty image hangs in the air
just a few seconds, but it strikes me,

a black woman, there is a question being asked
about my life. How can I
protect myself? Even if I lock my doors,
walk only in the light, someone wants me dead.

Am I wrong to think
if five white women had been stripped,
broken, the sirens would wail until
someone was named?

Is it any wonder I walk over these bodies
pretending they are not mine, that I do not know
the killer, that I am just like any woman---
if not wanted, at least tolerated.

Part of me wants to disappear, to pull
the earth on top of me. Then there is this part
that digs me up with this pen
and turns my sad black face to the light.

Frazzled

The confusion and noise in my house with this "small" construction project has gotten to the point where I just avoid coming home. And of course, the less time I spend at home, the less I blog and the less I write in general. There is a lot of--I won't call it negative--but bad energy in my house right now. The normal flow and calm has definitely been interrupted and I just feel frazzled now. I spend a lot of time in the TV room with the door closed--like I'm trying to keep the bad energy out. And that is the only room I feel comfortable in. I've been displaced from my bedroom and there is a constant flow of traffic that goes through most of the house except the TV room--so perhaps that it why it has become my little safe haven. Fortunately, I have been getting some good reading/editing done on my draft--in the hours after work and at home in my new nest. I am finding renewed enjoyment in my project, and I have an updated plan for getting this thing polished up in the next two weeks (yikes)!

Tomorrow, I will do some more reading and editing after work, but since they are SUPPOSED to be finished tomorrow, I must start the cleansing process for my home. There is this thick layer of ceramic/wood floor/foreign materials dust over the entire rear of my house--and the floors have lost their luster from the unusually heavy foot traffic. So Friday night will be cleaning night. Saturday, I'm taking a trip to see my Granny and I'm very excited about that--I'll do a little more reading Saturday night when I return and should definitely be finished with this heavy editing I am doing on Sunday. I've outlined (by hand amazingly enough) my preface and look forward to getting that typed up next week, as well as hitting the HBU library to add in some new sources. Hopefully, the following week I can talk my mom and Dr. J and some other victims--I mean friends--into helping me do another proofread before I send it out again to the CoChairs.

As far as the defense date goes...it is still up in the air. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for May 22nd. Hopefully, I'll know for sure by the end of business tomorrow.

D-Day?

Well the CoChairs are open to a May 22nd defense--pending of course the nature of my revisions. Apparently the earlier date when discussed during our meeting is no longer preferably. Fine. I just hope this one does not get pushed back arbitrarily. I like havin a solid timeline to work with--this just means I must definitely get a new draft to the CoChairs in the next two weeks. Gotta get this off my desk!

UPDATE at 10:30PM: I spoke to soon--looks like that date may not work....

Mon's Random Bullets

I don't know who started this trend. After losing a lengthy post last night, I'm going to plagiarize the random bullets of crap method....

• Revisions: They sucks. But they continue.
  
  
• Mentors: I'm blessed to have a few in different areas--the only reason why I stayed in graduate school was because of the wonderful people who supported me through. My favorite mentor from my undergraduate days, Dr. M, has been in touch and we have a phone date soon. I'm very excited to hear how she is enjoying her sabbatical. And of course, I'm looking forward to her insight on this process as she knows the school and the folks I'm dealing with VERY well. I also had the opportunity to see one of my sorority's national officers yesterday who was like a mama to me when I was up North--that was very cool--I miss her dearly.
  
  
• Construction: Umm, isn't it Tuesday? Why is there still banging? I stalled coming home today just to avoid the noise--they were supposed to be here this morning. But of course "sorry ma'am, we got a late start today." Geez.
  
  
• It's Hard Out There...: For regular folks livin in the city. Take yesterday's mysterious power outage in my neighborhood. The power went out around 2:00 and stayed out until 6:00pm. Nobody had a reason and nobody seemed to be in a hurry to come over here and fix it. There was no big city wide problem slowing down repair folks. But I live in the city limits--not the suburbs--things just always "happen" to take longer to fix over here. And of course, the nearest traffic light on our side of the tracks (literally) still isn't working 24 hours later.
  
  
• Moment of Silence: For Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the King family. Dr. King was assassinated today--almost forty years ago now. My how time has passed. My how much progress and how many setbacks we've seen since.
  
  
• Happy Month-aversary: I met Dr. J eight months ago today. It feels like yesterday but yet feels like I've known him all my life at the same time. I've never been big on dates and anniversaries and all that, but every day with him feels like a cause for celebration. I had no idea it could be this good to be in love.
  
  
• Voting--Is it bad that my favorite part of voting is getting the sticker that says "I Voted"???
  
  

I think that's all for now--back to work.

New Week

So I'm a little behind on my four week plan to revise the diss, but that's okay. I think I'm only now getting to a place mentally and emotionally and physically to deal with all the comments from CC#2. Hopefully I can knock out a couple chapters today and get to work on the Preface and new Chapter One by Tuesday. I'm finding that my writing isn't terrible--just the usual problems--especially using too many words for one verb.

Just a little bit ago, my mother asked what was the status on CoChair #2's comments--if she had sent anymore chapters. She was shocked to learn that I had received all the comments Thursday--"That was so fast!" My response was pretty much--mmmhmm--cause it's Sunday and after a good message at church, I was trying to be nice. But my mother, bless her, filled in the rest--"So basically, she just wasn't even tryin to read your stuff, cuz clearly she can read when she wants to."

Exactly.

But it's good to have a fresh start and I know that these obstacles are only temporary. Just gotta do my part and keep plugging away.

Sick and Tired

Just when its quiet in my house--today at least, work is scheduled through Tuesday--of course I feel too sick and tired to work. So much so that I'm bloggin on my cell phone (thats bad). It's just the regularly scheduled naseau and headaches and pain and fatigue but gracious it seems a lil worse than usual. Maybe because I really want to work. Maybe after a nap.