Friday, December 24, 2010
A Good Day
Greetings from New England, Invisible Readership!
As some of you may have noticed, blogging diminished even more than normal over the past month due to the pressures associated with composing a new dissertation chapter. The good news is that I finished the draft, the fourth of a planned five chapters! The bad news is that having finished with one chapter, it is time to begin working on the next. This will likely entail the same combination of isolation and frustration I experienced the last go around, and I am not really looking forward to it.
Still, there is some time before I absolutely have to start work, and so I have decided to take advantage of a rare opportunity to go back to the Invisible Homestead and spend time with friends and family. It was a rather spontaneous decision. I packed light, and with one rule in mind: no dissertation work allowed. In fact, no work at all. This was going to be a vacation of sorts, an effort, even if ultimately futile, to regain at least some bit of balance in my life.
Yesterday did not quite live up to this expectation since most of the time was spent:
a. traveling (I was worried about traffic and woke up early...)
b. resting up from traveling (Perhaps earlier than was wise...)
c. eating (And my parents thought I was starving...)
But today was better. In fact, I would say it was one of the most balanced and all around fun days I have had in a long time. The day's events included:
1. Learning how to use a slide rule
2. Disassembling a videodisc player to see if it could be repaired
3. Lunch, electronics shopping, and a trip to the supermarket with my father
4. Preparing roast beef purchased at the store for slow cooking in anticipation of dinner
5. A father-son discussion over ping pong
6. Walking the family dog around the neighborhood
7. Watching a movie (The Coen Brothers' True Grit) with my good friend, The Baron.
8. Returning home and enjoying a good South Philly style roast beef sandwich on a gravy soaked Portuguese role for supper.
9. Reading an electronic copy of Neil Gaiman's Graveyard Book "from cover to cover" (if the expression applies to e-books)
10. Holding my own in a Scrabble match against my mother...and even scoring a seven letter word (languor!)
11. Making plans to see a movie tomorrow with another high school friend.
As I write this before bed, I feel more relaxed and genuinely happy than I have in a long while. I would call it a Christmas miracle if I believed in either part of that concept, but instead I will gladly settle for referring to it as a truly good day. Here's to many more in the future!
Greetings from New England, Invisible Readership!
As some of you may have noticed, blogging diminished even more than normal over the past month due to the pressures associated with composing a new dissertation chapter. The good news is that I finished the draft, the fourth of a planned five chapters! The bad news is that having finished with one chapter, it is time to begin working on the next. This will likely entail the same combination of isolation and frustration I experienced the last go around, and I am not really looking forward to it.
Still, there is some time before I absolutely have to start work, and so I have decided to take advantage of a rare opportunity to go back to the Invisible Homestead and spend time with friends and family. It was a rather spontaneous decision. I packed light, and with one rule in mind: no dissertation work allowed. In fact, no work at all. This was going to be a vacation of sorts, an effort, even if ultimately futile, to regain at least some bit of balance in my life.
Yesterday did not quite live up to this expectation since most of the time was spent:
a. traveling (I was worried about traffic and woke up early...)
b. resting up from traveling (Perhaps earlier than was wise...)
c. eating (And my parents thought I was starving...)
But today was better. In fact, I would say it was one of the most balanced and all around fun days I have had in a long time. The day's events included:
1. Learning how to use a slide rule
2. Disassembling a videodisc player to see if it could be repaired
3. Lunch, electronics shopping, and a trip to the supermarket with my father
4. Preparing roast beef purchased at the store for slow cooking in anticipation of dinner
5. A father-son discussion over ping pong
6. Walking the family dog around the neighborhood
7. Watching a movie (The Coen Brothers' True Grit) with my good friend, The Baron.
8. Returning home and enjoying a good South Philly style roast beef sandwich on a gravy soaked Portuguese role for supper.
9. Reading an electronic copy of Neil Gaiman's Graveyard Book "from cover to cover" (if the expression applies to e-books)
10. Holding my own in a Scrabble match against my mother...and even scoring a seven letter word (languor!)
11. Making plans to see a movie tomorrow with another high school friend.
As I write this before bed, I feel more relaxed and genuinely happy than I have in a long while. I would call it a Christmas miracle if I believed in either part of that concept, but instead I will gladly settle for referring to it as a truly good day. Here's to many more in the future!
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