Brooklyn to Chicago

A reenactment in 1 minute.

Spencer:"Lenora, you must choose a lane."

Spencer: "Wow New York's really pretty when you're leaving it behind.

Me: "Kali's throwing up."

Me. "What's that smell?" (Smell proves to be cat poop in the crate)

Spencer: "What do they mean by blue detour?" (20 minutes later) "Hmmm, I guess it means scenic route that takes you back to where you started."

Spencer: (after being stuck in construction traffic for 30 minutes)"Bored now! I have to pinch you."

Me:"No touching!"

Me:"Are we still in Pennsylvania?"

Spencer: "Your turn to drive."

Me: (after 2 hours night driving on mountain roads) Twitch.

Spencer: Give me the keys.

Cats:(while being smuggled into hotel room)"Yowl!" which is cat for, "Let me out of here so I can pee on something you love."*

Spencer; Wow! Ohio is really boring.

(at this point Spencer falls asleep while I concentrate on not killing us before we get to Chicago)

Me: Chicago!!

Spencer: (observing the madness that is the Chicago Skyway toll) "This is insane!"

The End (Well for me at any rate. Spencer still had 2 days worth of driving ahead of him which aren't work documenting here as the cats had little to offer in terms of conversation other than "meow!" Which I can only assume means, "Why do you hate us!")

*This turned out to be an empty threat but I still submit that it was a credible one.

Shameless Promotion

Domestic Goddess and fellow feaster Mikka has started her own craft blog. Having conquered the worlds of knitting, jewelry making, photography, and cooking, she's embarking on her next campaign, quilting.

An Epitaph

I'm in the process of trying to wrap up the semester which constitutes hurling the remnants of my energy and enthusiasm into one final paper which will, hopefully, while not be great, not suck hard.

This will of course THE final paper. As of tomorrow, I am officially in that interstitial part of grad school between trainee and professional. When I return in the fall, I will be facing teaching undergrads classics and medieval literature, and preparing for exams, both designed to test my mettle as Ph.D. material.

In a way this is the part that I dread. Instead of merely being responsible for your own education, you're suddenly on the other side of the desk, opening up the week's lectures for 20-odd freshman. And when you're sitting in front of 3 professors being grilled on 9 months worth of reading at least 1/3 is impossible to get through, there's no hiding those chasms and fissures in your knowledge.

At the same time, after three years of course work, I think it's time. I'm ready to feel as though I'm working towards something rather than writing disconnected term papers that may or may not contain the embryos of my dissertation.

I've also purposely arranged things to give myself the rarest of rarities; space and time to think. Ideally I wouldn't be going back to my parent's house where I will to some degree be at the mercy of my family. But solitude is, literally, a luxury I can't afford. So Chicago it is where there is a deck were I can read, sip, coffee and recharge, a lake, a dearth of nightlife, and a lot of books. Despite the daunting length of my exam lists (and I'm tempted to post them to illustrate in detail exactly how crazy one must be to become an academic) I am excited to do something I haven't done since I was a teenager; spend the summer reading. Ah the decadent life of a grad student.

Of course you will hear from me when I awaken to the downside of being trapped in Hyde Park.

Progress Report

Completed:

1 full term paper

2 mini conference papers

2/3 of my exam lists


To do:

2 full term papers

The topics section of my exam lists

storing and cleaning in preparation for my subletters


Acquired:

1 spanking new pair of Chuck Taylors as reward for finishing first paper

Chest pains due to stress-related case of heartburn

Grad school is trying to kill me.