In Which I Semi-Randomly Kvetch and Attempt to Amuse

1. I hate lacking a schedule. It makes me grumpy and somewhat less efficient than a well set-up schedule does. When I'm at home on vacation, this mostly means that I end up mowing the grass as it's getting dark out, or similar demonstrations of lack of productivity. (This might be different if I could mow the lawn in my nightgown, since often I get a lot done in the morning at home before getting dressed, Lord only knows why. However, last time I hung laundry in my nightgown, I got a phone call from my next door neighbor, a really sweet older Polish lady, the wife of a retired professor of Polish History at Yale (and note that there is a large hedge between her yard and ours) asking me if I was feeling alright and if there was anything I needed at the store. (Admittedly, I think my parents might have been away that week, but still- I'm 20 years old.) Any anyways, I suppose my nightgown might get caught in the blades of our nastily inefficient pushmower- although I have mowed the lawn in similar length skirts before. OK, Aside Over Now... for real. During finals, I can be quite efficient, since I have these long stretches of time all set for writing long papers- once I get started. But I don't get started well in the morning until I've gone and Done something, usually. And davening somehow isn't enough, unless it's with other people. So if I could get myself on a real morning schedule, that could work: but I can't seem to manage that in college, when the atmosphere just begs me to stay up late. So I sleep late, mope until lunch, then get busy working. But still- all I want is a schedule to get me going so I can divide my working time around it.

2. I was walking in the hall just a few moments ago, and I had one of those Brandeis moments- someone called out to a friend who was heading off: "Have a safe flight, and may G-d bless you in everything you do".

3. I somehow managed to knee myself in the eye as I was standing up, recently. That just isn't supposed to happen. Luckily I have glasses in between my eyes and the rest of the world, for which I have been grateful on a number of occasions, but this was just silly and annoying. (OK, still nowhere near as bad as walking into parked cars, trees, or walls, all of which I've done at some point in my life. MOre on the level of walking into doorframes, also a common occurance. But still- this one just seems a bit more creative.)

4. Starting papers is unpleasant. I've finally got a bit of a start on the last take home, and I think I have an approach to take. And I don't think it'll be quite as long as I might fear that it will be- but then, I seem to talk the maximum length on everything (but this one is without a page limit, just numbers of paragraphs for each section). Thus far this semester, I've taken about 6 pages on a 4-5 page paper, 1558 words on a two essay question take home final with a maximum total of 1600 words, 15 pages on a 10-15 page paper, and 20 1/2 pages on a 15-20 page paper. This is better than writing a bit too little on all my papers, but still- this trend is getting a bit out of hand, I think.

4b. On the lighter side, I got to include the following comment "Other than the story of Hannah, they are not texts that are often the subjects of sermons, in fact two of them are parts of the “Bar/Bat Mitzvah Parshi’ot of Doom,” which every thirteen year old with a spring birthday prays to avoid." in my most recent take home exam. (I'm talking about family life/relations in the Bible, and two of my texts are the laws in Leviticus addressing ritual behavior after menstruation and birth, respectively. Just because I can't avoid those texts, so I've given up trying, and have decided to include them in as many Biblical papers as possible from now on, just because.)

5. Since at least most of you are not my younger sister, you may have found some of this funny. I hope so. I rather do, kind of sort of, and I would like to learn how to be funny at some point. It seems like a somewhat easier goal than completing my remedial course in sarcasm, so I figured I'd give it a shot. Also just because this entry sort of happened as I started writing.

In Which I Semi-Randomly Kvetch and Attempt to Amuse

1. I hate lacking a schedule. It makes me grumpy and somewhat less efficient than a well set-up schedule does. When I'm at home on vacation, this mostly means that I end up mowing the grass as it's getting dark out, or similar demonstrations of lack of productivity. (This might be different if I could mow the lawn in my nightgown, since often I get a lot done in the morning at home before getting dressed, Lord only knows why. However, last time I hung laundry in my nightgown, I got a phone call from my next door neighbor, a really sweet older Polish lady, the wife of a retired professor of Polish History at Yale (and note that there is a large hedge between her yard and ours) asking me if I was feeling alright and if there was anything I needed at the store. (Admittedly, I think my parents might have been away that week, but still- I'm 20 years old.) Any anyways, I suppose my nightgown might get caught in the blades of our nastily inefficient pushmower- although I have mowed the lawn in similar length skirts before. OK, Aside Over Now... for real. During finals, I can be quite efficient, since I have these long stretches of time all set for writing long papers- once I get started. But I don't get started well in the morning until I've gone and Done something, usually. And davening somehow isn't enough, unless it's with other people. So if I could get myself on a real morning schedule, that could work: but I can't seem to manage that in college, when the atmosphere just begs me to stay up late. So I sleep late, mope until lunch, then get busy working. But still- all I want is a schedule to get me going so I can divide my working time around it.

2. I was walking in the hall just a few moments ago, and I had one of those Brandeis moments- someone called out to a friend who was heading off: "Have a safe flight, and may G-d bless you in everything you do".

3. I somehow managed to knee myself in the eye as I was standing up, recently. That just isn't supposed to happen. Luckily I have glasses in between my eyes and the rest of the world, for which I have been grateful on a number of occasions, but this was just silly and annoying. (OK, still nowhere near as bad as walking into parked cars, trees, or walls, all of which I've done at some point in my life. MOre on the level of walking into doorframes, also a common occurance. But still- this one just seems a bit more creative.)

4. Starting papers is unpleasant. I've finally got a bit of a start on the last take home, and I think I have an approach to take. And I don't think it'll be quite as long as I might fear that it will be- but then, I seem to talk the maximum length on everything (but this one is without a page limit, just numbers of paragraphs for each section). Thus far this semester, I've taken about 6 pages on a 4-5 page paper, 1558 words on a two essay question take home final with a maximum total of 1600 words, 15 pages on a 10-15 page paper, and 20 1/2 pages on a 15-20 page paper. This is better than writing a bit too little on all my papers, but still- this trend is getting a bit out of hand, I think.

4b. On the lighter side, I got to include the following comment "Other than the story of Hannah, they are not texts that are often the subjects of sermons, in fact two of them are parts of the “Bar/Bat Mitzvah Parshi’ot of Doom,” which every thirteen year old with a spring birthday prays to avoid." in my most recent take home exam. (I'm talking about family life/relations in the Bible, and two of my texts are the laws in Leviticus addressing ritual behavior after menstruation and birth, respectively. Just because I can't avoid those texts, so I've given up trying, and have decided to include them in as many Biblical papers as possible from now on, just because.)

5. Since at least most of you are not my younger sister, you may have found some of this funny. I hope so. I rather do, kind of sort of, and I would like to learn how to be funny at some point. It seems like a somewhat easier goal than completing my remedial course in sarcasm, so I figured I'd give it a shot. Also just because this entry sort of happened as I started writing.