Oof

I'm not used to this. I have been out not once, but twice this week to socialize and imbibe beverages, and today I think I need to just lounge quietly on the couch over here. Please stop the internets from being so loud!

That said, it was quite fun and I'm storing up the sociability like a camel preparing for a drought. On the other hand, I need to get out of here; I know everyone and all their stories, and there's no new gossip going around except us bitter old fogies being catty about the newbies. I've been here too long and am tired of the small department and small town, where everybody knows each others' business and you can't get your coffee or your groceries without running into three professors, an old roommate, and an ex.

In other New-Quarter-Resolution news, it's too cold to wear skirts, which may torpedo my plan. I "dressed up" this week but I have 8am sections and 9 am lectures, which means it is gray and chilly and dark when I get dressed mornings. My poor purchases, lost and abandoned in my closet! I also have not yet started exercising, which I blame on the hours of drop-add bureaucracy I've had to deal with this week, but I have worn my sunscreen zealously.

Dissertation-wise, I am working but ... have you ever been engrossed in a scholarly book and turned back to read the bibliography? And then had it go something like this: I've read that, read that, heard of that, library copy of that is missing ... what's that? And that? Who's that guy? And oh my god there are entire academic subfields to my specialty I've never even heard of before this moment, with lists and lists of books and people completely new to me! And then you start hyperventilating and wake up the cats. That's kinda been my week.