Friday, November 14, 2008

Friday Five

1. Rowen is all better---except for the bald spot on her foreleg. The anesthesia took about 24 hours to wear off, but she's back to her normal, crazy self.

2. I'm off to San Francisco next week. I'm presenting a paper at an anthropology conference. I'm completely freaked because I think this may be when the truth finally comes out: I'm a complete fraud and no nothing about anthropology, voluntourism, or Malawi.

I read a draft of the paper at a graduate student workshop last week, but the attendees were all friends, and as great as they are, they are all big liars. I wrote the first draft of the paper in the wee hours, after finishing three proposals that were all due the same week. I was completely incoherent both when writing and when presenting the draft.

At least I still have a week to try to fix it!

3. I can't believe that we're in the middle of November already. I made it through my "hell week": three grant proposals and a conference paper draft. But I'm losing steam, and I still have four weeks of classes to go and two papers to write. One of the papers is in Swahili, and the other is a major literature review on the political economy of development.

4. Today, I got a big box of yarn to make things for my sister's baby. So, of course, I want to dive right in and ignore the book I have to read and write a response paper on, the stack of exams I have to grade, the Swahili essay I have to write, and the tower of books on political economy of development that I was supposed to start reviewing about a month ago.

5. I also went on a small book binge right after finishing my grant proposals, including buying the new Toni Morrison.* And it's a cold, overcast afternoon. And I really, really just want to make a cup of tea, snuggle under some blankets, and read the Morrison novel.

*sigh*

Maybe I'll pour myself a stiff drink and tackle the exams instead.


*I'll post an "On the Pile" update soon!

4 Comments:

At 10:06 PM , Blogger Scott said...

Glad to hear that Rowen is all better. Good news to be sure. Gord needs his teeth done after New Year. Great times ahead.

 
At 7:54 AM , Blogger nwt said...

We weren't lying! Your paper was great, however incoherent you were when you wrote and delivered it. =)

 
At 9:38 AM , Blogger Chay said...

Yeah, I don't really appreciate being called a liar, by the way --- as if you thought perhaps we don't read what you write here :)
I told you honestly what I thought, you had obviously worked on parts of it for your proposals - so there were indeed polished sections. The end trailed off a bit, but its just the end and we all knew that you would pull it together.
Looking forward to hearing the paper next week! (longest comment in the world, I know -- sorry!)

 
At 12:12 PM , Blogger artemisia said...

Why do we do this to ourselves? You are doing an amazing job, really. I wish I was so driven.

You are suffering from Imposter Syndrome! I think every grad student encounters it. Push on. You do know your stiff, and you are making worthwhile contributions! It could be worse - you could STILL be *writing* your master's thesis!

COURAGE.

 

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