So, what have I been doing?
I know, I should have some amazing story to tell about flying around to Spain or ending world poverty or writing the novel that will eventually win me a Pulitzer Prize and make me more wealthy than the author of Harry Potter.
Unfortunately I do not.
How's the foot? I thank you all for your kind inquiries. It is getting better. I am no longer in pain, which is very convenient for walking around but it is still rather swollen. I can feel it sometimes, especially when it gets damp--which is always here in England. However, the good news is that I am not hobbling around like Tiny Tim without the added bonus of infantile cuteness and a page-boy cap.
Essentially, I have been working on my dissertation--God help me. My supervisor requested a "chapter" to be completed by this week, which it was. I passed it in and am now awaiting commentary. I have been putting my efforts into creating "mobile research", which, for those of us who were taught how to record quotes from books by notecard as opposed to database, means a lot of peeling through books page by page, picking out a good quote that illustrates a point I think I will try and make, writing that quote down and then giving it a bibliographic reference. Yes, very dull. That is why I am very proud of myself--I have gone through all of my old research--42 separate sources--in two days creating a huge catalogue of cards for the next chapter, and am only in need of a few more sources to finish the whole thing off.
Why create the mobile research lab? Well, for travelling purposes of course. Given my very dull life of late, I am pleased to announce that will soon change. I am going on a rather ambitious trip to Bath and Cardiff starting on Monday that will take me to a lot of the neighboring sites within the vicitinities of those cities. I am very excited. It will certainly break the monotony of being here, in my room, surrounded by papers, photocopies, index cards, pens that leak all over my desk chair (thankfully, I have another chair I can use....). After that, I will travel back the US for a week or two.
I'll have a whole new lot of travel experiences to share soon, which will far outdo this next-to-pointless and self-indulgent blog post.
And I get to see my KITTIES!!! I miss their company---including Miss Harriet, who has fully recovered without a trace of the illness we thought was going to end her life only months ago, and Phoebe, who apparently, with no training at all and no encouragement (and no belief, on our part, that she could accomplish this), can now use the toilet.
Well, back to the boredom, with promises of something more interesting soon.
2 comments:
I can (sort of) empathize with you on the work that goes into a dissertation. My husband completed his doctorate over the winter after taking about 10 years with it (it was his girlfriend before me). With all the editing and back and forth, finalizing the defense date (I felt like we were working with a bunch of divas instead of other professors... 'umm, no can do; I'll be in Thailand for the next 4 months...'), and even AFTER the defense, the editing continues even now! Send it here in this computer format, send it there with this one, use this cover page for this place, include this or that for another. Send your money here, and you can get a copy of YOUR OWN WORK. It is ongoing, and he will only 'officially' graduate this August -- he is going to be 38 and I can't even imagine working on something for 10+ years (other than a relationship!). I am proud of him and glad it is over... good luck to you; let your kitties be of good support!
Just to display in splendid clarity my ignorance: what exactly is a dissertation? :S I think it's something postgrad...am I right???
Excuse: as a New Zealander, I'm pretty sure we call it something else!
I hope you have fun in Cardiff and Bath!
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