Sans Girl

I'm here at my desk (in my new study), working on a presentation/workshop for faculty that I have to deliver on Thursday. The Boy just returned from a successful tadpole hunt with Hubby, and now he's happily shucking corn, cooing at his tadpoles all the while.

The Girl is sleeping over at a friend's house, and I miss her.

I love my family.

Bits of Progress

This week, the kids have spent their mornings at Art Camp (of which they have mixed reviews). While they are there, I alternately work on my syllabus for my new prep* and my article. I think the article is almost ready. Could it be better? Yes. Are there parts that could me more clear and developed? Yes. But I feel as if it is time to sent it out into the world to see what the world has to say about it. I'm hoping my supervisor doesn't need another look. I sent her a message asking if she wants to see it again, but I think she might be away until next week.

In the meantime, I still have a few things to fix. I need to find a citation and page number for a three-word quotation that I used. Somehow, when I first included it, I didn't note the exact source or page number. I know which critic said it, but I don't know where. Argh. Also, I need to track down a preface to one of my novels from the 1720s because my facsimile edition doesn't include said preface. I guess I'll hunt through various editions on ECCO.

Also, I plan to give the final(ish) draft to a friend or two who might find mistakes that would really embarrass me.

I didn't end up disliking this stage as much as I thought I would. It's actually rather satisfying. We'll see if I still feel that way after it gets attacked by journal editors.

*It's not exactly a new prep, but I haven't taught the class in nine years, so, basically, I'm starting over. And it's a developmental writing class. Organizing the reading and assignments seems like sorting through and organizing a matrix that could contain infinite possibilities. I think I might need to just plan some basics and then jump in with both feet, regardless of how organized I feel.

Stay on Target, Almost There

No, I have not spent the morning on You Tube looking at music videos from the 1980s (as much as I would love to do so). Rather, I've been at a coffee shop (while the kids are at a morning art camp) reading over the latest draft of my article. It amazes me that, after spending so much time on various versions of this one piece (chapter draft, conference paper, article draft) that I can still find so many crappy messed up sentences.

I want to send this thing out soon. My supervisor has asked for one more look, but I've only done basic editing since her last read, so I'm not sure it's really necessary. I'm hoping she'll give me her blessing as is. At this point, I need to do a couple of more reads myself before giving it to a friend or two for some final proofreading. Then, I want to send it out to see what real, live, journal editors have to say--for better or for worse.

It's time for me to move on--to get back to the drafting of real, live dissertation chapters. (After I get back to a huge amount of reading.)

Best Music Videos of the 1980s

In honor of MTV's 30th b-day (a fact eloquently and nostalgically observed by The Thirty-Something Bride), I am making a list of some of my favorite music videos of the 1980s. This is stressful for me, because I'm going purely off recollection. I'm not Googling lists of 80s videos in order to make sure I haven't forgotten anything.

That's where you come in. Please leave a comment telling me your favorites so we can compare notes. Come on everybody! Let's Wang Chung!

Okay, 10 videos in no particular order that first spring to mind:

"Jesse's Girl," Rick Springfield
"Smokin' in the Boys Room," Motley Crüe
"Rio," Duran Duran
"Girls Just Want to Have Fun," Cyndi Lauper
"Look What the Cat Dragged In," Poison
"Lucky Star," Madonna
"Papa Don't Preach,", Madonna
"Little Red Corvette," Prince
"Beat It," Michael Jackson
"Thriller," Michael Jackson

Please tell me all of the videos that I should have listed instead. Except for the following: "Take on Me," by A-ha, "Rosanna" by (?), and "Big Time" or "Sledgehammer" by Peter Gabriel. I couldn't stand those.

Rearrangement

We are doing a brilliant thing here at Chez GEW. We are moving the kids' room.

We have three bedrooms, and our kids share a room, so the extra room is a playroom/office. The problem with this arrangment, however, is that it really ends up being mostly playroom and not so much office. As a result, the kids' bedroom and the playroom are, quite regularly, in full states of destruction. The bedroom they have been sharing is fairly small, and the playroom isI rather large. Recently, I suggested that we move the kids' bedroom to the room that has been the playroom, and then turn the small room into a and office/guest room in which kids do not play.

At first, no one liked my idea. Hubby didn't like it because he knew it would be tons of work to move the furniture and sort the crap. The kids didn't like it because they are happy and safe in their room, and the playroom has a sliding glass door that would be scary at night.

But on Sunday, after Hubby's brother came for dinner with his family (which includes two girls, ages 2 and 6), I said, " I want everyone to come look at the bedroom and playroom." Both rooms were destroyed.

Hubby took one look and realized that I am a genius. Well, maybe not exactly a genius, but he did come around to my idea. And somehow, even the kids became convinced.

So we have moved the furniture and steam-cleaned the carpets. Now I'm sorting through Polly Pockets, and plastic jewelry, and rock
collections trying to purge but also keep what matters. Right now, the kids' new room has no clutter. None. It is absolutely beautiful. The two room are the cleanest they have been since we moved into the house. The kids are amazed, and I think they love it.

Granted, the hallway is full of crap, but I will tackle that today. Granted, we have cousins coming to visit this weekend, and the room will be destroyed again, but with some clutter gone, it cannot end up so bad as before. And the capper? Only one room will be destroyed. The new office/guest room will be golden.

Even better? I now have a place to work on the dissertation in peace. We even have room for me to bring in a new, big bookshelf that can hold all of my PhD books. This could be huge, people. Huge.

Someday, the kids will want separate rooms--the boy girl thing, you know. But I think we have a year or to before they insist on that. And last night, as I gazed upon the beautifully clean and sparse study, I decided that maybe they will have to stay put at least until the PhD is finished.

Media Breakouts of the Road Trip

Musical Artists: Taylor Swift and The White Stripes
Songs: "Mean," "Speak Now," "I Can Tell That We Are Going to be Friends," "Baby Brother," and "Hotel Yorba"
TV Shows: Metorite Men, Fear Factor, Phineas and Ferb, and House Hunters International
Movies: Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2

And there you have it. Judge at will.

Brass Tacks

As I've been gimping along on my PhD thesis/dissertation for the last few years, I've enjoyed the work. Most of it, anyway. I like most of the reading, and I even enjoy writing. I like writing chapter drafts, and I like writing conference papers. But now, I'm entering a new arena: the realm of final, polished versions of articles and chapters. Right now, I'm trying to finish the article that I wanted to finish In April, but here I am now, in July, hoping to finish in the next couple of weeks.

I have feedback from my supervisor and from my writing group partner (can I call it a group if there are only two of us?). They both have very different feedback (perhaps because one is American and one is British?), but they both seem to think I am in sight of the finish line.

But there is still a lot to do, and, for me, it's the hardest part. I am not someone who writes quickly without mistakes. I have to go back over text again and again, fixing typos and changing language. Thank goodness I enjoy revision.

But final revision? When I know it has to be spot on and that my citations must be perfect? Well, that's just leaves me anxious. It reminds me of moving house. You know, when you've taken care of the big stuff and feel as if you've been very productive, but, somehow, there is still all of this crap lying around in the corners that you have no idea what to do with.

The difference for me now is that I can't just throw all of the messiness out. I have to deal with it. So off I go!