(no subject)
I've spent the past week (finals week, which meant I didn't have to work) sleeping, working on revisions, and making a gigantic mess of my apartment. Emphasis on sleeping. Oh, and on trying to spend my government stimulus check, like the good little capitalist that I am. Advisor and I met on Friday to talk about the last half of my last chapter, and then discuss my revision plan. I feel the weight of the work I have yet to do bearing down on me, and I'm trying to be rational about it, but I have moments when I feel anything but.
I'm leaving for my parents' on Wednesday, and will be gone for three weeks, during which time I HAVE to completely, 100% finish the revisions of the first two chapters (not including the intro). Callie's coming with me, much to her chagrin, but at least she's not sick this time.
I got the "good" job for next year--which includes benefits and even a 401k--but it's conditional upon my defending "by" August. I have yet to figure out what that "by" means. Is it "by August 1," or is it "in the month of August"? Can't get a straight answer from anyone on that. But what else is new?
Ooh, I did find out, however, that I'll be teaching honors composition this fall! Honors comp is still rhetoric-based, but it's centered on a particular theme. I'm planning on doing it as "The Rhetoric of Romance"--talking about romance novels, the use of romance in marketing, etc. It'll be fun, but pulling my booklist together (another thing that must be done before I leave) is a giant pain in the ass, as I was given only 8 days' notice.
In less-frivolous news, tonight I received two e-mails from friends. The first was from a friend whose mother has been battling cancer for the past two and a half years. She was scheduled for a stem cell transplant this week, but apparently can't have it now, and has begun to go into organ failure. She has, according to my friend, between a few days and a few weeks left.
The second e-mail, which came in a few minutes after I finished sending a note to the first friend, was from another friend, who was pregnant and due in June with her second child (and first daughter). The baby was born yesterday, 5 weeks premature, at just over 5lbs. She's fine, but has to stay in NICU for a while until she gets more stable.
As I told the second friend in my congratulatory e-mail, I've almost hit the trifecta tonight. I've had an e-mail announcing a birth and one announcing an impending death. All I need now is a marriage to make it complete. (Though...does the divorce of a woman I'm sort-of friends with count? I found out about that last week. My first reaction was "Oh, thank God," because I think her husband is a dick. And having heard the details, I now KNOW he's a dick.)
ETA: Aaaand, back to the frivolous. Yesterday was the first day of the AAUW Booksale, and I spent $40 on books. Got a nice stack of novels (some Kleypas, Roberts, one 'Patricia' Cabot novel), a couple of work-type books (Burney's Evelina and a first edition of Woolf's Flush), and hit the freaking jackpot with conduct manuals.
See, I collect pre-1960s conduct guides, along with just about anything that could loosely be construed as a conduct guide (sex guides, etc.). Yesterday, I picked up one very tongue-in-cheek book called Perfect Behavior: A Guide for Ladies and Gentlemen in All Social Crises (1922), which is dedicated "To the bridegroom whose wedding was ruined because the bride came down the aisle on the right instead of the left arm of her father. With Deepest Sympathy." Isn't that great?
Then I got one called Woman: Her Sex and Love Life (1917, reprinted 1939) ("Including a 32-page Supplement of a portfolio of illustrations containing a picture-story of woman's sexual life.").
The next one, a slim little volume from 1884 that ran me $5, is delightfully titled Mothers in Council, and contains such jewels of chapter headings as "At the Feet of a Spinster"; "The Importance of bringing up our Sons to be Good Husbands and our Daughters to be Contented and Useful Old Maids"; an entire chapter called "A Paper on Bathing" and another called "The Vexed Question of Amusements and Sunday Occupations"; and a section on Jane Eyre in the chapter on "Self-control." I can't wait to read this.
Finally, the crown jewel of my finds, and the one book I was willing to pay the exorbitant (for a used book sale!) price of $10: Perfect Womanhood for Maidens--Wives--Mothers: A Book Giving Full Information on All the Mysterious and Complex Matters Pertaining to Women (Creative Science; Bearing, Nursing and Rearing Children; Hints on Courtship and Marriage; Limitation of Offspring; Health, Mental and Physical Beauty, Etc., Etc. Including DISEASES PECULIAR TO WOMEN.). Published in 1901, and written by one Mary R. Melendy...MD, PhD. And do you notice "The Limitation of Offspring"? Although she says she's not advocating contraception, she does encourage "self-control" and the rhythm method for "the over-burdened mother with a husband who has not yet learned the laws of self-control, and also to the weakly wife whose children must of necessity be weak" (ah, eugenics).
Isn't it gorgeous? I'm so delighted with this.
I'm leaving for my parents' on Wednesday, and will be gone for three weeks, during which time I HAVE to completely, 100% finish the revisions of the first two chapters (not including the intro). Callie's coming with me, much to her chagrin, but at least she's not sick this time.
I got the "good" job for next year--which includes benefits and even a 401k--but it's conditional upon my defending "by" August. I have yet to figure out what that "by" means. Is it "by August 1," or is it "in the month of August"? Can't get a straight answer from anyone on that. But what else is new?
Ooh, I did find out, however, that I'll be teaching honors composition this fall! Honors comp is still rhetoric-based, but it's centered on a particular theme. I'm planning on doing it as "The Rhetoric of Romance"--talking about romance novels, the use of romance in marketing, etc. It'll be fun, but pulling my booklist together (another thing that must be done before I leave) is a giant pain in the ass, as I was given only 8 days' notice.
In less-frivolous news, tonight I received two e-mails from friends. The first was from a friend whose mother has been battling cancer for the past two and a half years. She was scheduled for a stem cell transplant this week, but apparently can't have it now, and has begun to go into organ failure. She has, according to my friend, between a few days and a few weeks left.
The second e-mail, which came in a few minutes after I finished sending a note to the first friend, was from another friend, who was pregnant and due in June with her second child (and first daughter). The baby was born yesterday, 5 weeks premature, at just over 5lbs. She's fine, but has to stay in NICU for a while until she gets more stable.
As I told the second friend in my congratulatory e-mail, I've almost hit the trifecta tonight. I've had an e-mail announcing a birth and one announcing an impending death. All I need now is a marriage to make it complete. (Though...does the divorce of a woman I'm sort-of friends with count? I found out about that last week. My first reaction was "Oh, thank God," because I think her husband is a dick. And having heard the details, I now KNOW he's a dick.)
ETA: Aaaand, back to the frivolous. Yesterday was the first day of the AAUW Booksale, and I spent $40 on books. Got a nice stack of novels (some Kleypas, Roberts, one 'Patricia' Cabot novel), a couple of work-type books (Burney's Evelina and a first edition of Woolf's Flush), and hit the freaking jackpot with conduct manuals.
See, I collect pre-1960s conduct guides, along with just about anything that could loosely be construed as a conduct guide (sex guides, etc.). Yesterday, I picked up one very tongue-in-cheek book called Perfect Behavior: A Guide for Ladies and Gentlemen in All Social Crises (1922), which is dedicated "To the bridegroom whose wedding was ruined because the bride came down the aisle on the right instead of the left arm of her father. With Deepest Sympathy." Isn't that great?
Then I got one called Woman: Her Sex and Love Life (1917, reprinted 1939) ("Including a 32-page Supplement of a portfolio of illustrations containing a picture-story of woman's sexual life.").
The next one, a slim little volume from 1884 that ran me $5, is delightfully titled Mothers in Council, and contains such jewels of chapter headings as "At the Feet of a Spinster"; "The Importance of bringing up our Sons to be Good Husbands and our Daughters to be Contented and Useful Old Maids"; an entire chapter called "A Paper on Bathing" and another called "The Vexed Question of Amusements and Sunday Occupations"; and a section on Jane Eyre in the chapter on "Self-control." I can't wait to read this.
Finally, the crown jewel of my finds, and the one book I was willing to pay the exorbitant (for a used book sale!) price of $10: Perfect Womanhood for Maidens--Wives--Mothers: A Book Giving Full Information on All the Mysterious and Complex Matters Pertaining to Women (Creative Science; Bearing, Nursing and Rearing Children; Hints on Courtship and Marriage; Limitation of Offspring; Health, Mental and Physical Beauty, Etc., Etc. Including DISEASES PECULIAR TO WOMEN.). Published in 1901, and written by one Mary R. Melendy...MD, PhD. And do you notice "The Limitation of Offspring"? Although she says she's not advocating contraception, she does encourage "self-control" and the rhythm method for "the over-burdened mother with a husband who has not yet learned the laws of self-control, and also to the weakly wife whose children must of necessity be weak" (ah, eugenics).
Isn't it gorgeous? I'm so delighted with this.