aesc: (umbrella on a sunny day)
aesc ([personal profile] aesc) wrote2008-07-23 12:54 pm

slightly dispiriting realizations

1.) I think my laptop is not long for this world :( :( :( The spontaneous crashing/OMFG OPERATING SYSTEM CATASTROPHE/YOUR BIOS IS FUCKED UP, MAN!!!/BSOD messages have been coming faster and faster since they started a few days ago. I've uninstalled everything I've put on in the past month, and it doesn't seem to have made any difference. This sort of thing characterized the last days of my old laptop, so I am not very hopeful at this point.

2.) I have no butt. I put on a pair of new jeans today and looked in the mirror, and they fit everywhere, except my butt, where instead of a butt there is something approaching a concavity. Why? Why? I am curvy almost everywhere else, except there, and you could use my butt to rule straight lines on a wall. Typically I am not very body-conscious, but this bothers me for some reason.

3.) Three days in a row it has rained.

4.) Dissertations do not, in fact, write themselves. Not to torture the poor word, but... Why? Dissertations have been around for hundreds of years; you'd figure they would have evolved to the point where they are sentient, and instead of writing one, a doctoral student would have to hunt and capture the wild dissertation, and then fend off the committee that tries to steal it. If the student can defend the dissertation from thieves/predators/committee members, then the doctorate is awarded.

5.) The word "frankly" really really bothers me. It's probably my most-disliked word ever and causes my spine to go all weird and hackle-y when I read it. "Frank" isn't much better; "Frankish" makes me squirm. I don't even like typing them.

On the other hand "salacious" is a fucking fantastic word. Salacious.



Salacious.

[eta] Although my all-time favorite word, for the record, is "sloth."

[identity profile] windysame.livejournal.com 2008-07-23 07:48 pm (UTC)(link)
OMG, in my time I have written many papers, 2 masters thesis' and one doctoral theses and you description of the entire of writing the damn things may have been the first time I laughed at the idea. Bless you and I do truly sympathize greatly with you. I always considered simply taking out your committee and send them on vacation. Let the TA's judge, they actually have a working idea of the proofs on the pertinent subject! Enough from me, just wishing you good luck!

[identity profile] aesc.livejournal.com 2008-07-23 09:33 pm (UTC)(link)
Bless you and I do truly sympathize greatly with you.

I am in the very early stages (trying very hard to make myself sit down and write the proposal), but I can't help thinking that, if to get your doctorate you had to go out and tame the wild dissertation, academics would very quickly lose their reputation for being unfit and pale and dust-covered :D