(no subject)
I just sort of noticed it had been five weeks since I updated this thing.
The main reason is that this term has been nuts. I'm in one more class than last time, and one of them - a logic course focussing on Godel's theorem - has been absolutely insane with homework. There is something after every class, and this is a normal course that runs three times a week, not a once-a-week seminar. Usually it's only an hour or two of stuff but sometimes it runs to seven hours or more, which is just batshit crazy. He's losing good students over it; more than half the people who were in the class as of the end of the first week have dropped, including some people I know to be generally excellent students. So it's not too much of an exaguration to say if you add that to what I was contending with last semester, you've got this semester.
Except in one respect - I like all my courses, even the logic one. Sometimes especially that one. Which is more than I could say for my Ancient course last time around. By mid-October I was having to drag myself to that class, and that was before I got my first paper back with its extremely dispiriting grade and comments. Everything was a struggle in that class and I'm glad it's over, though I still disagree with Dr Morrison's assessment of most of my work there. None of that this time around. Everything's a pleasure to do, though it certainly keeps me busy.
Today is the first day in a while that I haven't done much of anything academic (one reason I feel okay writing an LJ entry right now). I instead spent most of the afternoon fighting the second law of thermodynamics, also known as cleaning my apartment, or at least the top floor plus the kitchen. Figured out a few little domestic things (the vaccum works much better if you empty the chamber as soon as you can't see stuff spinning around in it when you turn it on; don't wait until it actually looks full!) and generally made my office/bedroom much more livable. It's a lot harder to make this apartment unsightly than it ever was before because I've got so much more space, but I was getting close to managing it. Some boxes that haven't budged since I moved in finally got unpacked, repacked and shoved into closets, or both. The number if instances where I have empty bookshelves sitting within a few feet of boxes full of books - or worse, randomly strewn-about books - went down by a good third. I now know exactly where to find everything I might need to get my MA thesis polished off, except time in which to actually do so (no way am I defending any sooner than summer, sadly). The frog
brannie_bird gave me for Christmas finally has a home. Lots of stuff like that.
Money remains a constant problem, but not one I much care to write about. But the end to that issue, or at least significant relief, is in sight. Jacob and I are, it looks like, going to do the roomie thing starting next semester. I just have to somehow survive until then! That should cut down a lot on what I'm paying for rent, power, phone and Internet and a little on groceries as well, freeing up quite a bit for other uses. (Like paying back those of you reading this who I still owe...) We're mainly looking at moving within the complex I'm living in now, my misgivings about the management notwithstanding. Jacob says they still sound a lot better than his current management. You certainly can't beat the price, considering what you get. It wouldn't save Jacob anywhere near as much as it would save me, but he says he'd pay extra just for the extra space and in-suite washer and dryer. (And he certainly won't be paying extra compared to now - at worst he'll break even, from the sound of things, and he's pretty sure he'll actually save money, just not as much as me.)
Anyway, the biggest reason for the lack of recent entries is just how busy things have been academically. And on that note, I've got logic homework to finish off.
The main reason is that this term has been nuts. I'm in one more class than last time, and one of them - a logic course focussing on Godel's theorem - has been absolutely insane with homework. There is something after every class, and this is a normal course that runs three times a week, not a once-a-week seminar. Usually it's only an hour or two of stuff but sometimes it runs to seven hours or more, which is just batshit crazy. He's losing good students over it; more than half the people who were in the class as of the end of the first week have dropped, including some people I know to be generally excellent students. So it's not too much of an exaguration to say if you add that to what I was contending with last semester, you've got this semester.
Except in one respect - I like all my courses, even the logic one. Sometimes especially that one. Which is more than I could say for my Ancient course last time around. By mid-October I was having to drag myself to that class, and that was before I got my first paper back with its extremely dispiriting grade and comments. Everything was a struggle in that class and I'm glad it's over, though I still disagree with Dr Morrison's assessment of most of my work there. None of that this time around. Everything's a pleasure to do, though it certainly keeps me busy.
Today is the first day in a while that I haven't done much of anything academic (one reason I feel okay writing an LJ entry right now). I instead spent most of the afternoon fighting the second law of thermodynamics, also known as cleaning my apartment, or at least the top floor plus the kitchen. Figured out a few little domestic things (the vaccum works much better if you empty the chamber as soon as you can't see stuff spinning around in it when you turn it on; don't wait until it actually looks full!) and generally made my office/bedroom much more livable. It's a lot harder to make this apartment unsightly than it ever was before because I've got so much more space, but I was getting close to managing it. Some boxes that haven't budged since I moved in finally got unpacked, repacked and shoved into closets, or both. The number if instances where I have empty bookshelves sitting within a few feet of boxes full of books - or worse, randomly strewn-about books - went down by a good third. I now know exactly where to find everything I might need to get my MA thesis polished off, except time in which to actually do so (no way am I defending any sooner than summer, sadly). The frog
brannie_bird gave me for Christmas finally has a home. Lots of stuff like that.
Money remains a constant problem, but not one I much care to write about. But the end to that issue, or at least significant relief, is in sight. Jacob and I are, it looks like, going to do the roomie thing starting next semester. I just have to somehow survive until then! That should cut down a lot on what I'm paying for rent, power, phone and Internet and a little on groceries as well, freeing up quite a bit for other uses. (Like paying back those of you reading this who I still owe...) We're mainly looking at moving within the complex I'm living in now, my misgivings about the management notwithstanding. Jacob says they still sound a lot better than his current management. You certainly can't beat the price, considering what you get. It wouldn't save Jacob anywhere near as much as it would save me, but he says he'd pay extra just for the extra space and in-suite washer and dryer. (And he certainly won't be paying extra compared to now - at worst he'll break even, from the sound of things, and he's pretty sure he'll actually save money, just not as much as me.)
Anyway, the biggest reason for the lack of recent entries is just how busy things have been academically. And on that note, I've got logic homework to finish off.