6.18.2005
time disposal unit
I spent the day not wasting time as much as throwing it out the window wholesale. I just needed a mental health day: I've been horribly stressed this last week. And I didn't want to share it until I had everything fully resolved.
On Monday, when I got back from Boston, I found an email from my departmental secretary reading as follows:
Dear Joseph,
Could you let me know as a matter of urgency whether you handed in any essays to Schools on June 2nd? They were expecting some work from you but our records in the Classics Office show that you were not intending to submit work this year. Either way, we need to sort it out!
Being suitably freaked out, I asked around. Evidently, someone in the college office saw it fit to sign me up for modules I wasn't actually officially taking this year, thus making me liable for four 5,000 word essays to be handed in on June 2nd. Oddly, I thought that our departmental secretary was British, so why she typed "June 2nd" as opposed to "2nd June" is beyond me.
Anyway, I got it cleared up finally yesterday. I've been withdrawn from those courses and I will, in fact, be taking all four of my course modules (and my dissertation) next year. Unofficially, I'm finishing up with the first two modules now, so handing in all of that work isn't really going to be a problem, as I've got three out of those four essays actually already written. So, if I've got them all written, why aren't I turning them in? Prof. Parker has a really interesting take on this: since I'm going to be learning more in the next 11 months, why should I pre-submit now essays that would be that much better in one year? I'll get the essays to 2nd draft stage and then polish them off next year. No problem.
Thank goodness I got that cleared up. Thus, I feel like I've earned this respite from work.
The Retail Alphabet Game is NOT easy. This tests your recall abilities as an American consumer.
Crying While Eating is so funny it's disturbing. Or rather, it's so disturbing it's funny. Either way, I'm laughing while cringing. Boy was *that* a stupid joke. 'Ryan' is the funniest: yeah, the guy with the whipped cream.
Of course, I can watch the Daily Show online now, so that's just a chunk of time waiting to be wasted. Also, the Trailers section at Apple.
But seriously, I think it's time to go to the library and get some work done. Pollen has been an absolute nightmare this week. Chuck that in with the pollution, and I'm pretty sure that standing on the street in Oxford lowers life expectancy on its own.
Last night was my last official Queen's evensong of the year, though we're doing a reunion one on Thursday next. It's been a wonderful experience. Oxford's academic literally ends today, though graduate life continues and continues and continues pretty much irrespective of what's going on in the undergrad timetable.
On Monday, when I got back from Boston, I found an email from my departmental secretary reading as follows:
Dear Joseph,
Could you let me know as a matter of urgency whether you handed in any essays to Schools on June 2nd? They were expecting some work from you but our records in the Classics Office show that you were not intending to submit work this year. Either way, we need to sort it out!
Being suitably freaked out, I asked around. Evidently, someone in the college office saw it fit to sign me up for modules I wasn't actually officially taking this year, thus making me liable for four 5,000 word essays to be handed in on June 2nd. Oddly, I thought that our departmental secretary was British, so why she typed "June 2nd" as opposed to "2nd June" is beyond me.
Anyway, I got it cleared up finally yesterday. I've been withdrawn from those courses and I will, in fact, be taking all four of my course modules (and my dissertation) next year. Unofficially, I'm finishing up with the first two modules now, so handing in all of that work isn't really going to be a problem, as I've got three out of those four essays actually already written. So, if I've got them all written, why aren't I turning them in? Prof. Parker has a really interesting take on this: since I'm going to be learning more in the next 11 months, why should I pre-submit now essays that would be that much better in one year? I'll get the essays to 2nd draft stage and then polish them off next year. No problem.
Thank goodness I got that cleared up. Thus, I feel like I've earned this respite from work.
The Retail Alphabet Game is NOT easy. This tests your recall abilities as an American consumer.
Crying While Eating is so funny it's disturbing. Or rather, it's so disturbing it's funny. Either way, I'm laughing while cringing. Boy was *that* a stupid joke. 'Ryan' is the funniest: yeah, the guy with the whipped cream.
Of course, I can watch the Daily Show online now, so that's just a chunk of time waiting to be wasted. Also, the Trailers section at Apple.
But seriously, I think it's time to go to the library and get some work done. Pollen has been an absolute nightmare this week. Chuck that in with the pollution, and I'm pretty sure that standing on the street in Oxford lowers life expectancy on its own.
Last night was my last official Queen's evensong of the year, though we're doing a reunion one on Thursday next. It's been a wonderful experience. Oxford's academic literally ends today, though graduate life continues and continues and continues pretty much irrespective of what's going on in the undergrad timetable.
