Notes From the Last Full Day in Shreveport

So tomorrow, we'll be driving back to San Antonio. I'm really ready to be back in my own house, my own bed, with my own gym to go to and my own cool backyard. I have things to do! It's a long drive, and we're leaving around noon, so I'll probably not have time to post a blog entry tomorrow. I'm very glad that I got my laptop with the wireless capabilities before this long stay here, though; I really miss having the Internet available when I don't have it.

Yesterday, I may have come to a good breakthrough on writing the intro chapter of my dissertation. I have been mulling over the advice my director gave me since I got the revisions back a while ago, and thinking of how to make the changes she suggested and get that chapter more organized and clear. It's a process that actually takes longer and is harder than anything I've ever done before-- and I've written thousands of essays in my academic career! But after I left the coffee shop, I went back to our hotel and Andrew was ready for a nap. I was not sleepy (remember, 40 oz of latte a day keeps the sandman away). So I was just keeping him company and the Muse of Inspiration popped in for a little chat. She explained what is now a very simple solution that I am amazed I hadn't thought of before-- it's always so much simpler after you think of it, but it seems so obvious that I can't imagine it was hard. So I hopped up and wrote frantically for a little over an hour, reorganizing, adding and subtracting and clarifying. I hope that it turns out to be as good as I think it is right now-- it's very hard to tell on a computer screen. I need to print up the writing and read it all, but then perhaps I will send it back to my advisor soon again. It would be SOOOO nice if it is to a stage where she accepts it, and we send it to the rest of the committee, cause then the rest of the dissertation would totally be downhill. We shall see. Maybe my task is not so hopeless as it sometimes seems.

Anyhoo. That's the news on this front. My ears are clogged and I keep getting a sharp-ish pain in my left one-- I hope I'm not getting infected to the point where I need to go to a doctor, because, dear readers, with me as perpetual grad student who isn't also teaching, I do not have insurance. Sigh. It's always something, isn't it? Maybe getting back to my home-allergens will clear me up. Here's hoping.

I'll try hard to think of something inspiring and meaningful to write next time, more along the lines of parable and/or metaphor. This is all autobiography that probably doesn't inspire anyone to anything other than being grateful you're not in grad school too.

Finally, at the coffee shop, where I'm at right now, there's a little girl of about six or so playing in the "kid's" section of the shop. She's playing happily, but it means she's screaming at some game. Literally screaming. And it is happy scream, the sort that moms probably don't even hear anymore cause it's just the kid playing make-believe and perhaps her little dolls are fighting dragons or something. But to a person with no kids, I tell ya, it's deafeningly loud and annoying. Just in case you were wondering. I don't mean to be a grumpy pants but for Freya's sake, lady, tell her to keep it down to an "inside voice" wouldya?