Well, after an all-nighter last Thursday (I am getting waaaaay to old for those I’ve discovered), I turned in that last paper and the semester is over! Well, it’s almost over. It won’t feel like it’s behind me until I get that last grade sometime today or tomorrow. Then I’ll have closure.
But I’ve already rebounded after a weekend of sleeping and drinking wine and knitting (of which I hope to have pictures soon, I swear, because it’s pretty lace that I’ll never wear but can’t seem to stop knitting). And I have started my next projects.
PROJECT THE FIRST: I bought a filing cabinet! And manila folders! And I’m sooooo excited to get my articles organized–I’m practically drooling. Because yes, I am a filing nerd.
PROJECT THE SECOND: I’m getting a couple of summer reading lists together. One comprised of fun books and another of books in my field that I need to read ASAP. There’s a good chance I’ll be able to petition to have all of the grad courses I’ve taken as a non-matriculated wannabe transfer over, which means: I’m halfway through my English M.A.! That means, GRE again this summer (ugh!) and getting my butt in gear for Ph.D. program applications come fall. While I really don’t like this process, it does give me more excuses to file things, so that’s a bonus. Ooooh, I’m thinking some sort of color-coding might be necessary to fool me into thinking I’m enjoying the whole deal…
PROJECT THE THIRD: I have four writing projects I want to work on this summer. 1) Revise a paper from this past semester. 2) Revise/rethink/completely rewrite a paper from my first semester as a wannabe. 3) Start research for a fun creative nonfiction project. 4) Write a fourth paper for my old advisor in history. And somewhere in there, I need to raise $1000 for an accordion.
PROJECT THE FOURTH: I need to get some language skills back. I want to start teaching myself some Yiddish, and I need to refresh my French and German. And if I can get to it, my Russian as well. I need to see if our crappy library here has any audiobooks in foreign languages. Sometimes just listening to a foreign language and blocking out English altogether helps. When I was taking a translation course, I discovered that I could only listen to Russian books or classical music while translating. English broke the spell.
So, I’ll be back soon with book lists I’m sure, and pictures of lace, and other fun stuff. In the meantime, I am going to surround myself with lovely pens, manila folders, and articles…
Loose Baggy Monster 
Posted by Sisyphus on May 13, 2008 at 1:37 pm
Wow, you’re making me tired with all those projects! But on the other hand, filing and color-coordinating is so fun!
So, you won’t be staying in the same program for the PhD? You have to jump back into all the same stuff again? 😦 That sucks.
And why are you writing those four thingies? Are you revising things for publication? And what are you doing for your history prof?
Finally, knitting pics are always appreciated —- I’m waiting excitedly for them?
Posted by Sarah on May 13, 2008 at 5:25 pm
Sisyphus: No, I don’t think I’ll be staying in the same place. I’ll definitely apply here, but I’m applying more in an American Studies bent (although a blend of lit and history programs will be in the works as well). I can’t give myself wholly up to the literary person inside of me, and the historian refuses to die as well.
And I’m rewriting/revising some papers for the final project for the M.A. here (we don’t do theses) and hopefully one for publication. The thing for my history prof is an incomplete left over from my old ph.d. program (god I hate admitting that out loud-ish). It’s been weighing on my conscience (and my transcript). I don’t even know if she is willing to grade it, but I mainly want it off my mind. Plus, I need more things to file and color code!
Posted by Emily on May 13, 2008 at 5:42 pm
Wow! Sounds like you’re going to have a busy summer. I can’t wait to see the lace (and the book list), but that goes without saying). I’m really beginning to enjoy knitting, but then, that’s all I can do: knit. Have not yet mastered the purl. If I ever graduate from shawls and scarves, lace might be fun.
Posted by Ted on May 14, 2008 at 7:07 am
Yay for being finished! I have two more finals to go.
Posted by Sarah on May 14, 2008 at 10:25 am
Emily: My mantra with knitting is: be fearless. I discovered that, like reading, the worst thing that would happen is that I would have to start over. Which, I admit, is frustrating and tedious, but fascinating. Lace is the ultimate challenge for me and I’m addicted! Keep going–you’ll be purling in no time!
Ted: I’m sending good thoughts your way! You’re in the home stretch… 🙂
Posted by Courtney on May 14, 2008 at 6:50 pm
Oh good lord, I’m tired reading your list! But I am so much like you and that is probably why. I tried to take a break for one weekend and found so much solace in making lists – long lists – of all I wanted to do…
I’m excited to read about the ph.d. application process!
Posted by Sarah on May 14, 2008 at 9:39 pm
Courtney: You’ll probably hear more about the application process than you want to! And I do so love making lists…I often find them far more satisfying to write up than they are to complete! 🙂