Term Over, Man. Term OVER!
Total books read in their entirety, and admittedly some were slim but they were postmodernist novels and as far as I’m concerned, one page of them equals 20 in Vanity Fair: 26
Total other books consulted: somewhere in the 30’s
Articles read/ consulted: somewhere in the 40’s
Pleased to say I acquitted myself very well, and equally pleased to say that I have learned two valuable lessons:
1) Get a jump in the first week of the semester to compensate for real problems at the library (horribly backed-up ILL, misfiled books, missing items in archives, etc. – what up with this at a level-1 research institution??)
2) Start writing final papers the first week of the semester to avoid panicky writer’s block in the last month.
Okay. I left almost everything important to me – beloved kids and grandkid, fulfilling and joyful job with a fantastic team of people, friends, apartment, in sum a life – to come up here to pursue the degree. Right now, do I think it was worth it.?
Yes -- but it hasn’t been that easy. I really had the notion that it would be one long romp in intellectual fields of asphodel, but the reality’s been quite different. I’ve been hideously lonely (and for a complete introvert to say that, you know it has to be bad), and suffered a resurgence of all the outcast feelings I’ve ever had in my life. I’ve cringed while riding on a bus packed with 20-somethings, all of whom seemed to be staring at me with the same thought: What is she doing here?, making me wonder the same. But that got tiresome after the first month or so and I decided I had as much right as anybody to be here. And once my classmates started talking to me things vastly improved. I’m looking forward to my second summer session class because all my classmates will be from the IPH program and the professor’s the Assistant Director – so I’ll be with “my” community.
The hardest time I had – apart from loneliness and Parking Mizry – was writing four end-of-semester papers. I remembered enjoying writing papers at the end of the master’s program many years ago and thought I’d pick up where I left off, but oh, no. It was pretty rough. I developed a world-class case of insomnia. Real, no-nonsense, you ain’t goin’ nowhere insomnia where you lie down at the usual hour and several hours later you feel as far from sleep as any four-year-old of whom you ask the question are you tired?
Best time-wasters when in the grip of Writer’s Block so total that the only things you can move are your eyes and the mouse:
1) Anagram Genius free trial (you only get ten names, so milk it for all it’s worth)
http://www.anagramgenius.com/server.html
2) New Yorker cartoons
http://www.cartoonbank.com/
. . . and thinking up an entry for the caption contest:
http://www.newyorker.com/captioncontest/
. . . and just reading the New Yorker. It, and NPR, are educations in themselves. Don’t take my word for it; Ken Jennings of Jeopardy! fame said the same about NPR.
3) Merriam-Webster word games. I like the chicken one best but Wordo’s okay, too. Don’t like Bee Cubed or the second chicken game which merely test spelling or typing skills: zzzzzzzz.
http://www.m-w.com/game/more.htm
4) Spider Solitaire. Never have gotten beyond two suits.
5) Memotest. I have no idea how I even stumbled across this.
http://clippoapesta.com/flickr.memotest.html
6) Blurfing. I resisted this activity for so long, and for good reason. Many blog but few are worth reading.
Total other books consulted: somewhere in the 30’s
Articles read/ consulted: somewhere in the 40’s
Pleased to say I acquitted myself very well, and equally pleased to say that I have learned two valuable lessons:
1) Get a jump in the first week of the semester to compensate for real problems at the library (horribly backed-up ILL, misfiled books, missing items in archives, etc. – what up with this at a level-1 research institution??)
2) Start writing final papers the first week of the semester to avoid panicky writer’s block in the last month.
Okay. I left almost everything important to me – beloved kids and grandkid, fulfilling and joyful job with a fantastic team of people, friends, apartment, in sum a life – to come up here to pursue the degree. Right now, do I think it was worth it.?
Yes -- but it hasn’t been that easy. I really had the notion that it would be one long romp in intellectual fields of asphodel, but the reality’s been quite different. I’ve been hideously lonely (and for a complete introvert to say that, you know it has to be bad), and suffered a resurgence of all the outcast feelings I’ve ever had in my life. I’ve cringed while riding on a bus packed with 20-somethings, all of whom seemed to be staring at me with the same thought: What is she doing here?, making me wonder the same. But that got tiresome after the first month or so and I decided I had as much right as anybody to be here. And once my classmates started talking to me things vastly improved. I’m looking forward to my second summer session class because all my classmates will be from the IPH program and the professor’s the Assistant Director – so I’ll be with “my” community.
The hardest time I had – apart from loneliness and Parking Mizry – was writing four end-of-semester papers. I remembered enjoying writing papers at the end of the master’s program many years ago and thought I’d pick up where I left off, but oh, no. It was pretty rough. I developed a world-class case of insomnia. Real, no-nonsense, you ain’t goin’ nowhere insomnia where you lie down at the usual hour and several hours later you feel as far from sleep as any four-year-old of whom you ask the question are you tired?
Best time-wasters when in the grip of Writer’s Block so total that the only things you can move are your eyes and the mouse:
1) Anagram Genius free trial (you only get ten names, so milk it for all it’s worth)
http://www.anagramgenius.com/server.html
2) New Yorker cartoons
http://www.cartoonbank.com/
. . . and thinking up an entry for the caption contest:
http://www.newyorker.com/captioncontest/
. . . and just reading the New Yorker. It, and NPR, are educations in themselves. Don’t take my word for it; Ken Jennings of Jeopardy! fame said the same about NPR.
3) Merriam-Webster word games. I like the chicken one best but Wordo’s okay, too. Don’t like Bee Cubed or the second chicken game which merely test spelling or typing skills: zzzzzzzz.
http://www.m-w.com/game/more.htm
4) Spider Solitaire. Never have gotten beyond two suits.
5) Memotest. I have no idea how I even stumbled across this.
http://clippoapesta.com/flickr.memotest.html
6) Blurfing. I resisted this activity for so long, and for good reason. Many blog but few are worth reading.
posted by Kathy at 5/07/2005 01:24:00 PM
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