Crap.

Just found out that I've been denied entry to one of the schools I applied to. Still waiting on the other one. Luckily, the "other one" is the school I really want to go to, anyway, the one with cheaper housing and a nicer faculty (not stuck up), etc.

Thesis News

Chapter 2 is mostly finished (it's in the hands of my advisor for revisions) and Chapter 3 is well underway. So far, the whole thing is about 43 pages long. I'm aiming for about 60.

My German test is next Monday. (fingers crossed) Spring Break is the week after that, and my comps the week after that. Sigh. Hence the not posting much; I've been really busy writing, watching Buffy (which counts as research because 1/3 of my thesis uses it!), studying German (not as much as I want to), and battling headaches (I'm not pregnant).

More later.

Thesis, La La

Chapter 2 of my thesis will be turned in as soon as my advisor decides to visit his office. It's only 7 pages, but I think it will get longer after I've done some more reading. For now, though, everything's on paper and ready to be looked at.

I've done some fun cosmetic stuff to Chapters 1 & 2, also, with some help from my buddies over at the Buffy-Boards. For each header within chapters, I've added a Buffy quote. For example, the 3 headers in Chapter 2 are:
"The Anti-Hell-Sucking Book isn't on the Approved Reading List": The Exclusion of Fantasy from Classrooms
"To Read Makes Our Speaking English Good": The Inclusion of Fantasy in Classrooms
"Cause Most Schools aren't on Hellmouths": Why Use Buffy?

Other than that my life is a mess of reading and writing and panicking over my German test and the fact that I have to move again in 2 1/2 months and I don't know where I'm going yet. Always fun.

More later.

Scheduling Madness

Yesterday I ran around the Humanities building taking care of minor necessary details that contribute to my graduating. Stuff like scheduling my comprehensive exams and my thesis defense, discussing possibilities for questions with the people on my comps committee, and panicking because there's only 7 weeks left before all of this has to happen. A semester has never felt so short. Of course, this semester IS shorter because the administration is an idiot, but that's beside the point.

So this weekend, I'm cracking down on myself to really get things done. I'm so glad that the one "actual" class I'm enrolled in is fairly light on the work; I don't think I could do another intensive class on top of all this. I still have to schedule my German exam, which is looking like it might be in 4-5 weeks or so. It's 300-400 words, 2 hours, with dictionary, and I have to pass with a 70%. I'm pretty sure I can do that, but it's still nerve-wracking. I'll probably test myself this weekend to see if I can get through 300-400 words in two hours, then check for accuracy.

For now, I'm being very still and quiet, hoping that will help me not be sick anymore (great timing, huh?) so tonight's class won't be pure misery.

Must go research.

More later.

Quitting Story

I'm taking a break from studying German to bring you this great job-quitting story. An ex-co-worker from a certain large store, which we will call Ball-Mart (to protect the innocent ^_^) told me about his quitting strategy. It involved picking up the intercom and declaring, "Attention, Ball-Mart associates: this is [his name]. Thank you for the worst two and a half years of my life. And to the Ball-Mart shoppers, have a nice day and thanks for shopping at Ball-Mart."

And leaving.

I wish I'D thought of that.

More later.

Grocery Store Antics

So I just got back from the grocery store near our apartment, having completely forgotten that it's the first of the month and all the people who get money at this time of the month would be there. We were mostly there for snack food and soda (the food of grad students), though I also picked up some frozen stuff and some sourdough bread. W.E. decided he wanted some Pop-Tarts, so we head down that aisle, and what do I behold on the floor but huge splotches of blood.

It wasn't human--or, as W.E. pointed out, if it was, it would have come from someone who had been dead awhile--but it was still kind of unnerving. The trail of blood wandered down the breakfast food aisle, past the ice cream, over into the frozen dinners section, and up to the checkouts, where we found the culprit: a young woman buying a TON of meat--ground beef and stuff--including a package of steak that had been crushed by the rest of the meat and was bleeding onto her dog food and from there onto the floor. And on her shirt. And on her (white) sweater, which she said belonged to her mother-in-law. The cashier tried to get most of it off the belt and the floor, but when I told him there was blood all over the rest of the store, he gave up. It was really too busy for them to do anything about it right then, anyway, and most people hadn't even noticed.

The plan for the rest of the day includes a dose of Dramamine, another viewing of Cloverfield, and perhaps dinner.

I'm a bit worried about Chapter 2 of my thesis; I'm not sure I've got enough sources to write a 20-page section. I'm not sure there are enough sources ON the subject (fantasy lit in educational settings) for me to do so.

Sigh.

More later.

Thesis Progress

I've been informed that my blogs are the highlight of someone's day, and my recent slacking has not gone unnoticed. So I hereby promise to try to be better about keeping everyone updated about . . . well, stuff.

On Wednesday, I turned in the first draft of the first chapter of my thesis. Not counting the bibliography (5 pages so far), it was 20 pages. I fully intended to take a break--a long one, like all weekend--but then discovered that I'm so lame I have nothing else to do besides research for my thesis, read homework crap, and study my German.

Oh, and write. I have an idea forming for a new story. Sort of a fairy-tale-theme-taken-literally kind of thing. It's percolating. I'll let you all know how that goes.

So I'm off to watch Buffy and read lots of articles.

Best quote from last night's class: "When did we take a screaming left turn into testicle land?"

More later.