Sunday, September 30, 2007

Higher Education is Kicking my Butt

Was graduate school this hard the first time around? I really can't remember. Maybe I blocked it out. Or maybe it is harder, or maybe I'm just dumber. Who knows?
Regardless, although I'm really enjoying all my classes, there's just so much work to do, and no matter how fast I read, no matter how much time I spend in the library, I can't seem to do more than just barely keep up.
I mean, I know all about skimming for important points and that you don't have to read every word of every page, but I just feel such a compulsion to do well, to make sure that every moment of this whole Ph.D. process really counts. So for the moment, I'm doing my best impression of an overachiever. We'll see how long it lasts.
What all this reading and studying means is that I've had little time to do anything else lately. No exploring the city, no reading fun books, and most (and worst) of all, no knitting. It makes Erin a bit of a dull girl.
It turns out that tons of my classmates knit, which is very cool, but none of us have much time to do it. I've been bringing a sock to school, and I try to get in a few rounds where I can, but progress is slow. And my lace projects? Forget it. I don't have the time or the spare brain power.
I'm hoping that I'll get the hang of the time management necessary to both get my work done and have a little fun. I'm sure it will happen eventually. Right now I'm blogging during a brief break from reading about the Dutch East India Company, woven textiles, and furniture. I'd like to get some sleep in before I have to head back to school tomorrow, so I guess I'd better get back to the grind.
I hope everyone out there is having more fun than I am. Somebody ought to. :)

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Sorry to drop off the face of the Earth like that

I can't believe I went so long without posting. It isn't that I didn't have anything to say, it's just that I'm lazy. In the spirit of laziness, here's a list of what's happened to me since I last logged in:
1. I sold my car
2. I finished one of my Roza's socks and am about halfway through the other
3. I continued plodding along on the Mystery shawl
4. I started school
5. I got a terrible head cold
6. I still am not quite finished unpacking the new apartment

What to say about all of that?
Well, selling the car was very stressful. I could probably have gotten more money selling it on Craigslist or something, but I didn't want the hassle so took it straight to Carmax, where they'll buy anything. It went really smoothly, but it was hard to let the car go. It was the only car I've ever owned, and I've had it since my senior year of college. I know that plenty of people in NYC do not have cars and I'll be just fine without one, and I certainly don't miss having to move it around for streetsweeping all the time, but it just feels weird. Before I sold it, I made one last IKEA run, since I needed another bookcase. I went to the one in Long Island, which was an adventure. I got my bookcase and an amazing deal on a big ol' ottoman with a leather(!) cover, upon which I am resting my little feet right this very minute. I'll miss Ikea. When the New HAven one opened, my friend Vicki and I used to go there all the time on Friday nights. We'd hit happy hour, and then go to the store and see what we could buy for $10 or less. That is one reason why I have so many candleholders.
Knitting has been progressing slowly. I just wasn't feeling it there for a while. I did manage to crank out one sock, but Mystery stole progress has been negligable. I need to speed it up a little as I'd like to wear it somewhere at the end of next week. It's possible, I think, if I really get moving.
School has been good. I think I'm going to like my classes, although there's going to be tons of work. The people all seem nice enough, and hopefully my brain can start matching up names and faces (I'm terrible with that).
Finally, I caught this cold on Friday night, and have been feeling worse ever since. Sunday was the worst night, hopefully I'm on the tail end of it now. I hate being sick. I don't have any classes on Tuesday, so I could stay home today and baby myself. It's times like this I wish I had t.v., but given today's date, I'm not sure I could have stood to watch it.
I was going to end with bonus cat pictures, but Blogger isn't cooperating. Maybe next time then, and hopefully next time won't be too long in the future.