Monday, May 30, 2011

I came, I saw, I wrote something-or-other

I had a pretty productive day of writing today. I took one of my five pages, and split it up and made it three pages. And kinda-sorta-almost got it all the way grafted back in to the original five pages. And I looked at another part of my notes, which is almost ten pages. Unfortunately, they are not really useable pages, since every single sentence in the notes is a question. Sigh. I'm going to have to find answers to those questions and make some decisions in order to progress. I worked steadily for most of the day, too, which means I made amazing progress.

But why, when you work all day on an article and make amazing progress, don't you get to be done with it at the end of the day? Why do they have to be longer than just a few pages? Sure, I made progress, today, but that just means when I get up to work on it tomorrow, I will be covering some new ground. Grumble!

I shouldn't complain. And I certainly shouldn't beat myself up when I actually worked very hard. Especially when you consider I didn't sleep well last night at all. I was so smug and congratulated myself for not having the air conditioning on at all yesterday and it was still pretty pleasant in here, quite fine. And then I went upstairs and went to bed, and couldn't sleep, even though I had put the air on. So it seems that upstairs gets all hot and stuffy and uncomfortable even when the downstairs is nice, and today I've left the air on and it has been downright chilly down here, but it is still a bit hot upstairs when I just checked. Hmm. Sleeping on the floor down here is an option, I guess, although my cats have chewed through enough of the blinds I don't think it would get really dark or private from the neighbors. Plus there's the sheer annoyance of having and paying for an entire upstairs that you don't actually ever use. We'll see what happens tonight, and I will continue to ponder, since the thought of running the AC as little as possible sounded good to my wallet.

I'm still avoiding the hard questions about my finance goals at the moment, btw. Although I did get on the computer and tote up all my bills and set a few in the online billpayer. I'm going to have to go on a serious money diet in the near future to scrabble out of the hole, and I'm not up for dealing with it yet.

The same, alas, can be said for the food diet. I have done yoga or some sort of alternate exercise every day this week, though! And about three of those days included reasonable portions and healthy food as well. There is a big drawback to working at home because the library is closed for memorial day, however. And this week I may actually get to the gym for some cardio. Maybe I should do like some people and set up a standing desk or desk at the treadmill ---- make progress on two of my goal areas at once! (if I could get paid for doing this it would be perfect! Yeah, not gonna happen.)

4 comments:

Fie upon this quiet life! said...

You're not in California anymore. The AC is going to have to be on a lot more than your wallet is going to like. Once we move to Indiana, the AC will be on for us for probably three months solid. That's just the way it is in the middle of the country. It's expensive, but not sleeping won't make you feel good or help you accomplish anything. And sleeping is impossible when you're too hot. The worst part about hot summers in the middle of the country is that it doesn't even really cool down at night. Not like here in CA. Here, I need a sweater in July at night. It was such a novelty to me when I moved here. Now, I know that's one of the things I'm REALLY going to miss.

P said...

"Money diet." I get this in a very big way. Hang in there and congrats on the article progress. A little bit goes a long way, really!

Lucky Jane said...

Hooray on the progress! Keep it up, and by the end of the summer—if not the beginning of your summer school gig (madness!)—you'll be amazed at what you accomplished.

As for sleeping downstairs, did you never acquire a couch or a simulacrum of one? As a fellow A/C avoider (I dislike the noise), I make frequent use of cold drinks and ceiling fans, but then my house is shrouded by merciful trees.

And don't knock reading or writing at the treadmill! If you're a kinetic learner (groan), learning to read and walk at the same time can be really rewarding. I do this. I went to grad school with someone who does this, and one of my current colleagues does this. I like to print out drafts and take them on my evening walks. I like to think I come up with my best ideas while in motion. But that may not be saying much.

Sisyphus said...

I like to print out drafts and take them on my evening walks.

Horrors! Yeah, I can see myself trying to write and navigate the neighborhood at the same time! Um, I can hurt myself getting up for a glass of water while still reading. I would have to be *very* careful about this --- I think I can only do reading, not writing. And I haven't actually tried.