Monday, October 26, 2009

patterns

It's only just occurred to me that I've been both getting more dissertation work done and completing more chores/tasks that are (seemingly) unrelated to dissertation work.

Item: creamy polenta with gorgonzola and mushrooms

Item: wine-braised lentils with winter greens and a poached egg

Item: scoured, sanitized countertops

Item: a scrubbed bathroom

Item: a refridgerator emptied of molding contents (ok, ok, i know!)

Item: on-time bill payment (ok, i look really bad/lazy at this point!)

Item: laundry put away within 1 day of washing

I'm cooking again, my apartment is cleaner, I'm even thinking of *gasp* exercising - and none of these things seriously diminishes my work output. In my head I know this. But when I'm not getting work done, I can hardly bring myself to take care of myself in other arenas of life - it feels as though I'm "cheating" on dissertation. Silly silly silly. It has just been suggested that, when I'm not getting work done, that I make myself cook and so push myself (from another direction, as it were) to do dissertation work too.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

The year I almost read 'Jane Eyre'

You know you've gone completely, geekily crazy when, having received a challenge from an old (we were 10? 11? ... !!) friend which dares you to "respond in graduate school level essay form only," you actually do so.

New letter:

Dear Tracy,

That was rather cheeky of me, wasn't it, sending you slices of my dissertation proposal and of a paper I've sent out for conferences with a letter squished between paragraphs? As though I'd spent hours and hours on the letter I sent you, when, really, all I did was take some beginnings and a bit from the middle (and that tiny end bit) and smash them together, as though they fit (oddly, they sort of did); as though, when you asked how the heck I'm doing, what you meant was: how is your work going?

I remember singing during recess. Trying to swear so I'd look cool. Trying to write a story as long as yours. Admiring your "wandering aimlessly" and then using it myself. When you and Andy hated each other.

If you write back, I'll try to respond like a normal person. No guarantees. I'm not sure I'm anything like normal.

love,

k

Thursday, October 1, 2009

My brother is the coolest

From my brother:

Subject: spirits

hey there sport! i am not going to be in an area that has electricity for the next few days (so i won't be able to fbook or email you). so happy early birthday! drink until you bleed!! we'll go ahead and get good and drunk in about 12 days!

what are the names of some of your $50-$80 bottles of single malt? i tried a few with you but dont remember any names. and the names of some high end ones you liked? a guy here has been asking me, and i would perhaps like to purchase a few of those for my triumphant return!

have a splendid birthday! let me know if you do anything fun so i can visualize it...then imagine myself there as well. kind of like i am photoshopping myself into an idea!

-----

photoshopping himself into an idea?? that's awesome! hooray!