Project? What Project?

I wanted to work on my project today, but there just wasn't time. I was very productive today though.

1. I graded/responded to proposals for my students final projects.

2. I read all the web design articles for tech comm and wrote my response.

3. I attended the SAGE meeting.

4. I workshopped Emily's statement of teaching philosophy for a scholarship application.

5. I helped Angel come up with reasons why a certain professor should get the service award from SAGE.

Now I'm going to bed. I will wake up at the crack of dawn to finally finish my project...at least, that's the plan. I think I am feeling a little dejected because my friend, nicknamed Cheever, explained to me that gamers make poor friends. They invite you to a quest and then take all the diamonds. Online gaming might be a no-go, except with Lindsey because she will be nice.

Desires a Rainbow and Fun

So I spent yet another day staring at my project, and I made almost no progress. My brain is fried, and I just want to have fun. When I leave here, I want two things.

1. To buy computer games. Instead of online dating, I'd like to take up online gaming. I will live in a town where I will only be for 6 months. I don't need temporary friends in that location, but I will need friends. Online friends go with you wherever you are. At least, that's my theory.

2. I want to jazz up my living environment with color. Enough of the earthtones I survive on now. I want some crazy bright yellow, and maybe some red. I want craziness. I'm young, I'm single, and I can decorate how I want. Right now, I am imagining the white couch my parents are giving me paired with some crazy colored pillows and an afghan, and I think I'd like to do a big poster of Grover above my couch.

Something like this:

or maybe I will save Grover for the bathroom:



I want my home to be very happy. It's too adult right now. I do already have awesome rubbery Ducky bathroom stuff. Perhaps I should go with an Ernie bathroom. I may not get to live on Sesame Street, but I think I would like to live in it. Snuffleupagus might make an awesome bedroom theme? I could get pillows textured like his fur--though his coloring isn't great. Or maybe a Big Bird bedroom? Mmmmm alliteration. Yes, let's do this. Gaming and color.

Where's My Fairy Godmother?

...and serious mental distraction has struck again. I want my life back.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

I have so much pent up anxiety and stress, and there's nothing I can do to alleviate it.

Nothing.

I would like a time turner.

Please.

New Career Goal Perhaps

So I'm going back into web content management, yet somehow I wandered to Macmillan's website this morning to see their jobs Macmillan owns TOR, which is my favorite fantasy publisher. I found a posting for an archivist/content manager, and I thought, that sounds like me.

Unfortunately, I don't know that I could ever truly demonstrate the skills to get a job like that, but I don't want to get another degree, at least not just yet. For such a job, I really might have to study library science. That would be fun. There's also the thought of getting some formal training in graphic arts and information systems to work towards such a career. I need to find somewhere I can just take courses at my leisure without being enrolled in a program.

Blergh. Okay, must not be distracted. Must write.

Reading Instead of Writing

So I keep just starting at my writing project. I set aside all homework on Thursday so that I could just finish my project and stop worrying about it. Come Friday, I had revised 7 pages and 1 new one, and I still had a lot of work today.

I need to turn this project back into a conversation I enjoy having and make it less of a nightmare where I can't find the words I want and don't know where to start. So I'm doing some quick research about Pullman's work so that I can get into some more conversation. I'm also going to reread Naomi's articles. Hopefully this works and by this evening I will be writing new material at a regular pace.

I am so ready for summer and novel writing.

Working on My Project

I'm putting all homework, etc on hold until I get my project done. I'm not nearly far enough.

I was reading through The Amber Spyglass again to mark the major points I want to talk about, and I got hooked re-reading about the land of the dead. I was thinking about Pullman's argument about death. He describes the land of the dead as a prison camp, where the souls of people are kept cooped up in a space crowded with spirits, and it's dark.

For Pullman, a more beautiful death is the release of the souls to nature and the material world. The souls fall apart and become a part of the larger world, losing their individualistic identity as they return to nature.

In rereading The Amber Spyglass, I was reminded of the Parsee/Zoroastrian death described in Cracking India. Parsees build towers where they place their dead to be fed upon by birds. It sounds kind of gross, but they think their bodies belong to nature after they pass.

I really like that idea. Oddly enough, it might have more appeal to me than even cremation and spreading ashes. Ash is good and all, but bird poop might be better to spread. No one is going to let me get away with that though. Bummer.

Good Day, Yesterday? Yes, I Think So

So what if I didn't get a full draft of my tech comm proposal put together or actually do the reading for tech comm?

I did have a good class with my students in which one of my most hostile-seeming students said after class that it was a good and productive class. Woohoo! Yay for productive teaching.

I also was called about a tech writing job, but of course, when she asked if I was still interested, I told her I had already accepted another position. The tech writing job would have paid a lot better, and I could have at least taken an interview, but I don't have the money to be flying out to interview for jobs I don't plan to take. I don't want to ruin my relationship with CDOW, so I will work this job because I said I would.

I also discovered how AMAZING twitter is for job searching. It's not really great for all fields, but tech writing has gotten on the twitter-job-posting bandwagon, and it makes the job search amazingly easy. A lot of what is available seems to be in VA. I have family in VA. That could work.

I beat my anonymous IGoogle opponent at Scrabble. She is really good. I can't wait until that game goes into the stats. So proud.
...now if I can just beat Chris.

I also got Cheryl Klein's book Second Sight in the mail. I think it will be good for me as a maybe-future-copy-editor and also as a writer.

Things are good. Today's goal? Put everything on hold and finally finish my writing project. I am soooooooo close, and Naomi said to me on Monday, "Just get the ****ing thing done."