Dreams in Which I'm Dying
New words: 1,037
Total words: 4,734
Mean things: feeling stupid
Favorite:
“I didn’t mean to startle you,” he said, “but you looked like you’d seen a ghost. Which would be cool, cause that’s kind of my specialty.”
I looked up at him, my eyebrows lifting.
“I’m a necromancer,” he said. He dropped his voice and whispered, “I see dead people.”
---
Sitting in the faculty lounge, I realized that all my immediately due homework is finished, tried to start on a semi-major project due toward the end of the semester, and couldn't concentrate. So I decided to use the time to write, since I had the time. Imagine my surprise when I ran my word count and realized how much I'd gotten written. And I have plans to go back through and add to it later, but I'm getting the action down for now. Later I'll add insight, exposition, and other stuff that you get with a first-person narrator, but for now, I'm just getting Adria onto campus and settled.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Friday, September 25, 2009
TeeHee, Driving a Trailer is Hard (Stats)
Dreams in Which I'm Dying
New words: 320
Total words: 3,706
Mean things: trying to drive a U-Haul with a trailer . . . for the first time ever . . . in nasty back-to-school traffic
Favorite: I've got two today:
A glance in the side mirror assured me that the car dolly, my Metro perched on it, was still attached to the back of the U-Haul, and that the red truck behind me hadn’t yet decided that three inches was too close to the back of the car.
I couldn’t make out much from this distance except that it was huge, the buildings all keeping their distance from one another, quads the size of parks stretching between them.
---
Okay, so it's not much writing, but it's more than I've done in awhile. Go me. I really wanted to work on DRAGON KNIGHT, but I've left it sitting so long I forgot what I was doing, so I'm going to have to read it before I can continue writing, and I don't have the time for that, unfortunately.
New words: 320
Total words: 3,706
Mean things: trying to drive a U-Haul with a trailer . . . for the first time ever . . . in nasty back-to-school traffic
Favorite: I've got two today:
A glance in the side mirror assured me that the car dolly, my Metro perched on it, was still attached to the back of the U-Haul, and that the red truck behind me hadn’t yet decided that three inches was too close to the back of the car.
I couldn’t make out much from this distance except that it was huge, the buildings all keeping their distance from one another, quads the size of parks stretching between them.
---
Okay, so it's not much writing, but it's more than I've done in awhile. Go me. I really wanted to work on DRAGON KNIGHT, but I've left it sitting so long I forgot what I was doing, so I'm going to have to read it before I can continue writing, and I don't have the time for that, unfortunately.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Fixed
I fixed my computer today.
The heatsink and fan I ordered from Dell arrived on Wednesday, but since W.E. needed his computer to do his homework and I would need it to read the service manual, I waited until today to work on it. I followed all of the instructions VERY CAREFULLY while completely dismantling my computer (seriously. I had to take the monitor off, for goodness sake), took out the old heat sink (it looks pretty rough) and the old fan (ditto) and replaced them. Then I VERY CAREFULLY put the computer back together.
It wouldn't boot.
!!!!!
I figured out that I'd missed sliding the cables for the monitor under some tabby bits and the cables were blocking the power button. I fixed that. It still wouldn't boot.
$%#!@#
Very, VERY carefully, I plugged it in to see if it was a problem with my battery. The computer started up, but went to a black-and-blue screen that told me it wasn't finding the pointer device. By this point, I'd figured that removing the hard drive had irreversibly farked something up and I was going to have to reinstall Windows and everything--as soon as I figured out why the pointing device wasn't working. So I pulled the keyboard back out--and discovered that I hadn't plugged the touchpad back in. DUH.
As soon as that was fixed, the computer booted just like it always does, no fuss, no muss. The fan kicked in, ran for a bit, and shut off. No puffing, just a nice steady blowing. I'm still using the cooling pad for now just because it can't hurt, but now I can carry my computer to school with me. Hooray!
In the not-so-hooray file, W.E. was in a minor car accident last night. The car's a bit dinged up; the trunk latch is bent and there's a teeny crack in the frame that's making the bumper cover sit weird. We're not sure we're going to be able to get insurance to cover the repairs, either, for reasons I won't go into here. He's a bit stiff and sore, also, and had a raging headache last night, but we can't afford to go to the hospital to make sure it's not really bad whiplash (I think it's just minor whiplash and he'll be all right--the car that rearended him was only doing about 10 mph).
So I'm very glad the computer's working like it should, because if I'd destroyed it on top of everything ELSE that happened this week, I think I might have killed something.
The heatsink and fan I ordered from Dell arrived on Wednesday, but since W.E. needed his computer to do his homework and I would need it to read the service manual, I waited until today to work on it. I followed all of the instructions VERY CAREFULLY while completely dismantling my computer (seriously. I had to take the monitor off, for goodness sake), took out the old heat sink (it looks pretty rough) and the old fan (ditto) and replaced them. Then I VERY CAREFULLY put the computer back together.
It wouldn't boot.
!!!!!
I figured out that I'd missed sliding the cables for the monitor under some tabby bits and the cables were blocking the power button. I fixed that. It still wouldn't boot.
$%#!@#
Very, VERY carefully, I plugged it in to see if it was a problem with my battery. The computer started up, but went to a black-and-blue screen that told me it wasn't finding the pointer device. By this point, I'd figured that removing the hard drive had irreversibly farked something up and I was going to have to reinstall Windows and everything--as soon as I figured out why the pointing device wasn't working. So I pulled the keyboard back out--and discovered that I hadn't plugged the touchpad back in. DUH.
As soon as that was fixed, the computer booted just like it always does, no fuss, no muss. The fan kicked in, ran for a bit, and shut off. No puffing, just a nice steady blowing. I'm still using the cooling pad for now just because it can't hurt, but now I can carry my computer to school with me. Hooray!
In the not-so-hooray file, W.E. was in a minor car accident last night. The car's a bit dinged up; the trunk latch is bent and there's a teeny crack in the frame that's making the bumper cover sit weird. We're not sure we're going to be able to get insurance to cover the repairs, either, for reasons I won't go into here. He's a bit stiff and sore, also, and had a raging headache last night, but we can't afford to go to the hospital to make sure it's not really bad whiplash (I think it's just minor whiplash and he'll be all right--the car that rearended him was only doing about 10 mph).
So I'm very glad the computer's working like it should, because if I'd destroyed it on top of everything ELSE that happened this week, I think I might have killed something.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Tuesday Not Much Better
Starting during orientation week, I had immense stabbing pain from between two of my teeth that radiated into my jaw and the entire side of my head. It went away for a few days, then came back. The only thing that helped at all was Excedrine Migraine, which you can only take once a day and has caffeine in it, so you can't take it before going to bed. I tried Anbesol, I tried ice, I tried clove oil (that actually helped a bit, but didn't get down in between the teeth where it really hurt). Nothing except Excedrine helped, not even regular old Tylenol.
I finally broke down and called the dentist two weeks ago and got the earliest appointment possible--today. After admitting that, no, I don't floss nearly as often as I should because it HURTS, dammit, and a quick round of X-Rays, I found out (drumroll) I need a root canal.
Of COURSE I need a root canal. Because it's the most painful, annoying, expensive, time-consuming thing POSSIBLE that could be required. Even with reasonable rates (I looked it up online, and this dentist is charging about the average price for such a thing), it's still going to cost an arm and a leg. And I bet if I tried to get insurance NOW, they'd call it a preexisting condition and not cover it.
But what're my options? Being in pain until the tooth rots out or having it pulled. Or having a root canal. Hmmmmmm. Decisions, decisions.
Thank God we've got some income. And if anyone sees me looking all drunk in the next few days, I've probably overdone the mouthwash. Just gimme a push in the right direction and remind me what I'm supposed to be doing.
I finally broke down and called the dentist two weeks ago and got the earliest appointment possible--today. After admitting that, no, I don't floss nearly as often as I should because it HURTS, dammit, and a quick round of X-Rays, I found out (drumroll) I need a root canal.
Of COURSE I need a root canal. Because it's the most painful, annoying, expensive, time-consuming thing POSSIBLE that could be required. Even with reasonable rates (I looked it up online, and this dentist is charging about the average price for such a thing), it's still going to cost an arm and a leg. And I bet if I tried to get insurance NOW, they'd call it a preexisting condition and not cover it.
But what're my options? Being in pain until the tooth rots out or having it pulled. Or having a root canal. Hmmmmmm. Decisions, decisions.
Thank God we've got some income. And if anyone sees me looking all drunk in the next few days, I've probably overdone the mouthwash. Just gimme a push in the right direction and remind me what I'm supposed to be doing.
A Story of Extreme Frustration
Mondays are no fun. They suck anyway, but my Mondays are annoyingly no fun. I have a staff meeting at 9 AM, a peer group meeting at 3:15 PM, and class from 6-9 PM. Due to the insanity of on-campus parking, leaving between meetings is pretty much out of the question. So I decided to make a virtue out of necessity and go do research and homework in the library.
It started out okay--I went to a computer, printed out my homework for that night, got a few things straightened out as far as future assignments, checked my Facebook, etc. By then, it was 11:30, so I went to the cafe in the library and got a sandwich and a soda and read while I ate. Then I headed back into the library to do some more work. After reading my assignments for class, I decided I could get some research done for an essay I have due in a couple of weeks, so I went hunting for a computer.
As with parking, there are not enough computers to serve all the students on campus. Plus, the printers were all down, so I couldn't just print my research materials and go find a spot to sit and read again. So after much searching upstairs and down, I finally found an empty computer.
It was painfully obvious that I was surrounded by undergraduates. The guy on my right was talking--loudly--to the friend to his right, and on his cell phone. The guy on my left was worse, though. I'll let my Twitter feed explain it:
1:00 PM: Sitting in the library, working on research, surrounded by undergrads. God help me.
1:05 PM: The guy to my left is listening to his music WAY too loud. And occasionally humming.
1:07 PM: OMG, there's a SciFi/Fantasy Research Database! Why did I not know this?!
1:15 PM: Two hours until my next meeting, but I don't think I can sit at this computer very much longer. ARGH.
1:20 PM: Okay, now the dude next to me is DRUMMING on his DESK. I hate computer labs.
1:22 PM: If I hadn't already decided to get parts & fix my computer so it's portable again, I would've after this last hour of computer lab HELL.
1:25 PM: Alright, now this guys is LOLing over some movie he's watching. Fark this. I'm out of here.
It makes me wonder, what happened to the BE QUIET IN THE LIBRARY norm? When did it become NOT the norm? And why do these people think it's okay to be so inconsiderate of the people around them who are trying to do homework?
Luckily, I have a new fan and heatsink coming from Dell, and instructions on how to replace them at hand. By next week, I should have a laptop that I don't need a separate cooling pad for, which means I can take it to the library without worrying about breaking my shoulder from all the extra weight. Then I can find a NICE QUIET CORNER and do my homework in PEACE.
Thank God.
It started out okay--I went to a computer, printed out my homework for that night, got a few things straightened out as far as future assignments, checked my Facebook, etc. By then, it was 11:30, so I went to the cafe in the library and got a sandwich and a soda and read while I ate. Then I headed back into the library to do some more work. After reading my assignments for class, I decided I could get some research done for an essay I have due in a couple of weeks, so I went hunting for a computer.
As with parking, there are not enough computers to serve all the students on campus. Plus, the printers were all down, so I couldn't just print my research materials and go find a spot to sit and read again. So after much searching upstairs and down, I finally found an empty computer.
It was painfully obvious that I was surrounded by undergraduates. The guy on my right was talking--loudly--to the friend to his right, and on his cell phone. The guy on my left was worse, though. I'll let my Twitter feed explain it:
1:00 PM: Sitting in the library, working on research, surrounded by undergrads. God help me.
1:05 PM: The guy to my left is listening to his music WAY too loud. And occasionally humming.
1:07 PM: OMG, there's a SciFi/Fantasy Research Database! Why did I not know this?!
1:15 PM: Two hours until my next meeting, but I don't think I can sit at this computer very much longer. ARGH.
1:20 PM: Okay, now the dude next to me is DRUMMING on his DESK. I hate computer labs.
1:22 PM: If I hadn't already decided to get parts & fix my computer so it's portable again, I would've after this last hour of computer lab HELL.
1:25 PM: Alright, now this guys is LOLing over some movie he's watching. Fark this. I'm out of here.
It makes me wonder, what happened to the BE QUIET IN THE LIBRARY norm? When did it become NOT the norm? And why do these people think it's okay to be so inconsiderate of the people around them who are trying to do homework?
Luckily, I have a new fan and heatsink coming from Dell, and instructions on how to replace them at hand. By next week, I should have a laptop that I don't need a separate cooling pad for, which means I can take it to the library without worrying about breaking my shoulder from all the extra weight. Then I can find a NICE QUIET CORNER and do my homework in PEACE.
Thank God.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
In Which I Explain Blog Silence
I know I haven't been posting a whole lot lately. That's mostly because I haven't been writing a whole lot lately and I didn't figure you, Gentle Readers, would really care about my homework, or what silly thing the teachers and department are expecting of us now, or my insights into how what the teachers want probably isn't that silly (considering what my students thought of MY assignments)--except the one teacher who wanted everything in 11-point Helvetica (when he discovered PC users don't tend to own Helvetica, he let us use 12-point TNR).
I also didn't figure you'd be horribly interested in the books I'm continually adding to my to-be-read pile--the one that's currently bigger than my stack of textbooks and probably won't go away until after I finish my PhD--if then.
But if this is stuff that you DO want to hear about, feel free to comment and I'll try to keep the blog updated even when I don't manage to write anything non-academic for awhile.
ETA: In case anyone's curious, I've pared down that 4-page list of reading material for Quals to about 30-something total works. Here's the stuff I'll be reading between now and the end of next semester:
I also didn't figure you'd be horribly interested in the books I'm continually adding to my to-be-read pile--the one that's currently bigger than my stack of textbooks and probably won't go away until after I finish my PhD--if then.
But if this is stuff that you DO want to hear about, feel free to comment and I'll try to keep the blog updated even when I don't manage to write anything non-academic for awhile.
ETA: In case anyone's curious, I've pared down that 4-page list of reading material for Quals to about 30-something total works. Here's the stuff I'll be reading between now and the end of next semester:
| Beowulf | |
| Sir Gawain and the Green Knight | |
| Twelfth Night | Shakespeare |
| Volpone | Ben Jonson |
| "To Penhurst" | Ben Jonson |
| "On My First Son" | Ben Jonson |
| "Selected Poems" | Anne Bradstreet |
| Gulliver's Travels | Jonathan Swift |
| Pride and Prejudice | Jane Austen |
| Selected Lyrics | Samuel T. Coleridge |
| Selected Sketches | Washington Irving |
| Selected Poems | Alfred, Lord Tennyson |
| Jane Eyre | Charlotte Bronte |
| "The Raven" | Edgar Allen Poe |
| "Annabelle Lee" | Edgar Allen Poe |
| "The Fall of the House of Usher" | Edgar Allen Poe |
| "The Purloined Letter" | Edgar Allen Poe |
| "Ligeia" | Edgar Allen Poe |
| The Scarlet Letter | Nathaniel Hawthorne |
| "Young Goodman Brown" | Nathaniel Hawthorne |
| "The Birthmark" | Nathaniel Hawthorne |
| Alice in Wonderland | Lewis Carroll |
| To the Lighthouse | Virginia Woolf |
| The Waste Land | T.S. Eliot |
| "A Good Man is Hard to Find" | Flannery O'Connor |
| "Good Country People" | Flannery O'Connor |
| "Revelation" | Flannery O'Connor |
| The Handmaid's Tale | Margaret Atwood |
| Waiting for Godot | Samuel Beckett |
| Defense of Poesy | Sir Philip Sydney |
| Essay on Criticism | Alexander Pope |
| Preface to Lyrical Ballads | William Wordsworth |
| "The Function of Criticism" | Matthew Arnold |
| "The Philosophy of Composition" | Edgar Allen Poe |
| "The Art of Fiction" | Henry James |
| "Tradition and the Individual Talent" | T.S. Eliot |
Tuesday, September 08, 2009
Leaving in a U-Haul (Stats)
Dreams in Which I'm Dying
New words: 785
Total words: 3,386
Mean things: awkwardness. Fear.
Favorite: My going-away party was as awkward as I could have hoped for. The cake people misspelled my name. Mr. Crowe and Mr. Jameson muttered their farewells—Mr. Jameson patted me half-heartedly on the shoulder—and had some cake before going back to their offices. The receptionist bawled on my shoulder, though I barely knew her, as she’d only worked with us for about six months. The secretaries, except for Joan, hadn’t bothered to stick around. Soon only Joan, Mr. Teeter, and myself were left in the kitchen, an enormous white-frosted sheet cake with “We’ll Miss You, Adrian” scrawled across it in blue icing sitting on the counter with only a small, oddly-shaped chunk missing from the lower right corner.
---
Yay, I got some writing done today! Not a lot, but some. Every little bit helps.
New words: 785
Total words: 3,386
Mean things: awkwardness. Fear.
Favorite: My going-away party was as awkward as I could have hoped for. The cake people misspelled my name. Mr. Crowe and Mr. Jameson muttered their farewells—Mr. Jameson patted me half-heartedly on the shoulder—and had some cake before going back to their offices. The receptionist bawled on my shoulder, though I barely knew her, as she’d only worked with us for about six months. The secretaries, except for Joan, hadn’t bothered to stick around. Soon only Joan, Mr. Teeter, and myself were left in the kitchen, an enormous white-frosted sheet cake with “We’ll Miss You, Adrian” scrawled across it in blue icing sitting on the counter with only a small, oddly-shaped chunk missing from the lower right corner.
---
Yay, I got some writing done today! Not a lot, but some. Every little bit helps.
Saturday, September 05, 2009
Tuesday, September 01, 2009
School's Back In
I'm kind of worried about my writing because even just two days into the school year (a week and a half if you want to count orientation), I've already dropped the ball on it. I SHOULD be writing right now. I SHOULD have done a ton of writing this weekend to make up for not writing at ALL last week. I didn't. I'm too tired, really. By the time I finish with the day, not to mention the WEEK, I'm exhausted. My brain don't work no more. And the laundry and dishes and trash have piled up to the point that I can't stand being in the house until I take care of them.
And it will only get worse. Next semester I have to take "quals"--qualifying exams to make sure they didn't make a HUGE mistake by letting me into the program. So on top of all of my current work (which is already pretty substantial), I have to read every book/play/poem on a FOUR-PAGE list and be prepared to discuss them in a couple of questions. About 2-3 weeks before the quals, the committee will pick five of those works that I have to know inside-out and backwards for an even more detailed question. A lot of the works on the list I've read. A lot I haven't. A few, I majored in British Lit so I wouldn't HAVE to read them. And there's a few that I DO NOT want to read, NEVER DID want to read, and HOW DARE YOU make me read it?!
Whenever I think about quals, I have a little inner temper tantrum . . . then remind myself that I'm a doctoral student. I'm playing with the grown-ups now. OF COURSE it's going to be the most stressful thing I've ever dealt with. It's SUPPOSED to be.
And then I take about ten minutes and read whatever waste-of-time Fantasy novel I'm in the middle of at the moment.
I spoke to my advisor yesterday and she was very encouraging about quals--she says about 50% of the people who take them have to take them twice, but most of the 50% that fails the first time around didn't study at all. She doesn't see that happening with me--somehow she managed to pick up that I'm an obsessive-compulsive perfection freak (I think bringing a notebook to write down her advice and having my transcripts on my flash drive helped with that. A bit). So as long as I ration my time and work hard, I should be okay.
I also learned that I'm not the only doctoral student (or doctor, for that matter), who's just waiting for the higher-ups to figure out that I faked my way through my Master's degree, that I don't really know anything, and that I'm dumb as a post. Apparently we ALL feel that way. Which doesn't make that feeling any BETTER, but at least I know I'm in good company.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a booklist to download and a schedule to make.
And it will only get worse. Next semester I have to take "quals"--qualifying exams to make sure they didn't make a HUGE mistake by letting me into the program. So on top of all of my current work (which is already pretty substantial), I have to read every book/play/poem on a FOUR-PAGE list and be prepared to discuss them in a couple of questions. About 2-3 weeks before the quals, the committee will pick five of those works that I have to know inside-out and backwards for an even more detailed question. A lot of the works on the list I've read. A lot I haven't. A few, I majored in British Lit so I wouldn't HAVE to read them. And there's a few that I DO NOT want to read, NEVER DID want to read, and HOW DARE YOU make me read it?!
Whenever I think about quals, I have a little inner temper tantrum . . . then remind myself that I'm a doctoral student. I'm playing with the grown-ups now. OF COURSE it's going to be the most stressful thing I've ever dealt with. It's SUPPOSED to be.
And then I take about ten minutes and read whatever waste-of-time Fantasy novel I'm in the middle of at the moment.
I spoke to my advisor yesterday and she was very encouraging about quals--she says about 50% of the people who take them have to take them twice, but most of the 50% that fails the first time around didn't study at all. She doesn't see that happening with me--somehow she managed to pick up that I'm an obsessive-compulsive perfection freak (I think bringing a notebook to write down her advice and having my transcripts on my flash drive helped with that. A bit). So as long as I ration my time and work hard, I should be okay.
I also learned that I'm not the only doctoral student (or doctor, for that matter), who's just waiting for the higher-ups to figure out that I faked my way through my Master's degree, that I don't really know anything, and that I'm dumb as a post. Apparently we ALL feel that way. Which doesn't make that feeling any BETTER, but at least I know I'm in good company.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a booklist to download and a schedule to make.
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