Catching Up

Haven't posted in awhile because life got busy again. Andrew and I spent the last two weekends away (one for my sister's wedding, one for the Houston Ren Fest because it is that awesome). AND I've had one test and about four quizzes in H's class since we last talked, and that's been keeping me on my toes studying wise. I also have a paper to present to him a week from today--not feeling it too much because I know he's going to ask me something he knows that I don't know and I don't think I have the time (or energy) to do a ton of background research on the paper itself. THAT would be because I'm in the middle of writing my thesis proposal (it's coming along nicely, thank you) which takes time. Even though it's a small paper compared to the actual thesis--I am shooting for at least ten pages with this proposal. After all, it's just a proposal. It's coming together well--the hardest part was reading all the articles so I could have a good knowledge base before I started. Is there anything more boring than a scholarly article? Actually, to be fair, some of them are quite well-written and interesting. It's the poorly written/uninteresting ones that make me fall asleep while reading them. LOL. Anyway, I'm taking a short break from writing the thesis because my hand hurts. I'm old-fashioned, and always write my rough drafts by hand (Bets, you'll probably appreciate that) and then type the final copy. I find I have to do less editing that way since I can edit as I type, and the handwritten rough draft allows me to scribble notes every where as I'm writing and therefore brainstorm/write at the same time. When I started writing this I thought it would be much harder than it's actually turning out to be. I hope that's a good thing, LOL. BUT I have done my research--I have nearly 50 papers saved to a citation manager (Mendeley--it's excellent) and for my proposal I've narrowed it down to about ten-eleven good, solid papers. I'm dreading the bibliograpy, but I think Mendeley has a "cite while you write" feature, so I'm sure it won't be as bad as I'm thinking, either. I'm pretty tired as well. Andrew and I have been having some late nights, and I'm just getting over a head cold (always happens around this time of year) and I'm currently listening to my office mates watch their favorite television show and be as loud and obnoxious as possible while doing so. LOL. At least there's a wall between us. And a door, but I don't shut it while I'm in here because these doors have a tendency NOT to open from the inside. Stoopy doors.