Diary Entry
1.21 am I have finally made a start on my essay. I now have 104 words written. It's supposed to be a 2500 word essay. I spent three and a half hours in the shop printing out cases to bring home with me while Simon tried to sort out the laptop. Legal databases online are brilliant, but not if you can't access them.
It looks like we're definitely going to close the shop at the end of the month. We've paid up on the rent for this month, so there's no rush to shut things down. We aren't giving up though. We're going to concentrate on building up online sales, and hopefully save up for a better location.
2.06 am In almost half an hour, I haven't managed to write a single word more on my essay. My brain is absolutely fried. I have no choice but to get some sleep and write it tomorrow. It's due Monday morning. That's not the worst thing. I've written essays with less time left on the clock. The worst thing is that I have another essay due Wednesday, and I haven't even started the research! Looking on the bright side, it's not a law essay so shouldn't take nearly as much background reading. It's an assessment of research done on domestic violence and reported in a criminological journal. Not easy peasy, but not rocket science either.
I have to get some sleep. The number of typos I keep making is growing, and I'm wearing out the back space key!
12.12 pm That was an absolutely terrible night's sleep! No matter where I tried to sleep, I just couldn't get comfortable. Once I finally did get comfortable, either Simon or the dog or both would crowd me off the bed. I kept kicking the dog off the bed, but as soon as I would fall asleep he would jump back up there again. I couldn't kick Simon out. I tried when his alarm went off though. I thought that if he got out of bed (which he needed to do anyway) I could get comfortable. Nope. The dog decided he was staying with me.
I can see the conflict coming when Simon moves the computer out of the kitchen and into Malorie's room. This morning Malorie went into the boys' room to look for something, and Daniel immediately started shouting, "Get out of here!" Malorie tried to explain what she was doing, but he just got louder and screamend, "I don't care! I don't want you in here!" and threatened to hit her. I hope that when the computer is in her room, she gives as good as she gets.
I've made a bit of progress on the essay, but I'm so mentally and physically wrecked nothing is making sense. Stress is setting in. Thank goodness for Prozac.
1.22 pm I do wonder where my husband keeps his brains sometimes. He and Graham went to the lumber yard to get some wood to rebuild the shelves and cupboards in the ice cream van. About an hour ago I got a phone call. "Can you come pick Graham up? I can't fit him and the wood in the car ..." It wouldn't be so bad, but this is not the first time he's done that! When we were setting up the shop last August, we went to the same lumber yard, and I had to ride all the way back to Eckington curled up in a ball in the passenger seat! To make matters worse, there's another branch of the same lumber yard just outside Eckington, which is not only closer but much easier to get to.
2.00 pm Oh he's done it again ... I can't bear to write about it again. I've already posted something about his latest on Scrambled Mind.
The essay is up to 360 words. At least it's getting somewhere. I think what I have so far is pretty good. Unfortunately, I can't just write an essay and then go back and edit it or rewrite later. I have to outline and then follow the outline so that there's only minimal editing later. It seems to work for me. I hope it does this time, too.
3.02 pm Ha ha ha! I showed Daniel my new digital camera, said, "Isn't it cool?" and then snapped two pics of him! He told me not to put them on the internet. Of course, I'm going to put them on the internet, just as soon as Simon sorts out my laptop so I can download the pictures!
I'm only up to about 505 words on the essay (2000 to go!) because I ended up replying to an email to Gary that I thought was overdue. I've also had to make tea and coffee for Simon and Graham while they've been working on the ice cream van. Well, I haven't had to, but they're out in the cold working hard, and I'm sitting in here where it's warm. I even have the dog wrapped around my feet. What can I say? He loves me!
4.36 pm Up to 652 words! I would have made more progress except Marie and Jak came around for a visit since Graham is here working on the ice cream van with Simon. I like Marie a lot, and I always enjoy chatting with her, so I wasn't going to ignore her.
5.43 pm Progress! I'm up to 977 words! I'm starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel, although the light is only a tiny pin-prick! Considering I only had just over 100 words when I got up this morning, and I've had to go pick Graham up and I've visited with Marie (not to mention my obsession with blogging!), I'm doing well.
6.18 pm How weird is this? Malorie and Braden's dad just phoned to speak to them, and he said that suddenly he's started getting mail to his house! It's in my old married name, not my name now. I told him to throw them away. One of them was Encyclopedia Britannica. I never ordered anything from them, and even if I did, I've been in England for more than seven years now, and I divorced him two years before that!
I've got 1110 words on the essay now ...
8.28 pm I've got some food in my tummy (hot roast beef sandwiches with the horseradish I bought at IKEA -- YUM!), and the essay is coming along nicely. I have over 1700 words and still have enough material to keep going! I might actually go over 2500 words, which I'm allowed to by 10%. My headache is coming back though.
11.22 pm It's finished! Two thousand, six hundred and thirty-eight words of total bullshit. Okay, maybe not total bullshit, but it sure feels like it after trying to fit 10,000 words worth of ideas into 2,500 words, plus or minus 10%. The most interesting bit was the fish hooks through the penis, but I tried not to dwell on that. I'm sure my tutor will appreciate it, too, when he has to read it, though I'm confident he's already read the case many times before.
Simon fixed my laptop so I can get on the internet. I asked him yesterday afternoon why he didn't try reformatting it and re-installing Windows, but he kept trying it the way he was doing it. Today he reformatted it. It connected to the internet on the first try.
Now I have to try to get a good night's sleep and get up early in the morning so I can go hand it in and get started on the next one! Then maybe I can write about something in my blog that isn't school related for
It looks like we're definitely going to close the shop at the end of the month. We've paid up on the rent for this month, so there's no rush to shut things down. We aren't giving up though. We're going to concentrate on building up online sales, and hopefully save up for a better location.
2.06 am In almost half an hour, I haven't managed to write a single word more on my essay. My brain is absolutely fried. I have no choice but to get some sleep and write it tomorrow. It's due Monday morning. That's not the worst thing. I've written essays with less time left on the clock. The worst thing is that I have another essay due Wednesday, and I haven't even started the research! Looking on the bright side, it's not a law essay so shouldn't take nearly as much background reading. It's an assessment of research done on domestic violence and reported in a criminological journal. Not easy peasy, but not rocket science either.
I have to get some sleep. The number of typos I keep making is growing, and I'm wearing out the back space key!
12.12 pm That was an absolutely terrible night's sleep! No matter where I tried to sleep, I just couldn't get comfortable. Once I finally did get comfortable, either Simon or the dog or both would crowd me off the bed. I kept kicking the dog off the bed, but as soon as I would fall asleep he would jump back up there again. I couldn't kick Simon out. I tried when his alarm went off though. I thought that if he got out of bed (which he needed to do anyway) I could get comfortable. Nope. The dog decided he was staying with me.
I can see the conflict coming when Simon moves the computer out of the kitchen and into Malorie's room. This morning Malorie went into the boys' room to look for something, and Daniel immediately started shouting, "Get out of here!" Malorie tried to explain what she was doing, but he just got louder and screamend, "I don't care! I don't want you in here!" and threatened to hit her. I hope that when the computer is in her room, she gives as good as she gets.
I've made a bit of progress on the essay, but I'm so mentally and physically wrecked nothing is making sense. Stress is setting in. Thank goodness for Prozac.
1.22 pm I do wonder where my husband keeps his brains sometimes. He and Graham went to the lumber yard to get some wood to rebuild the shelves and cupboards in the ice cream van. About an hour ago I got a phone call. "Can you come pick Graham up? I can't fit him and the wood in the car ..." It wouldn't be so bad, but this is not the first time he's done that! When we were setting up the shop last August, we went to the same lumber yard, and I had to ride all the way back to Eckington curled up in a ball in the passenger seat! To make matters worse, there's another branch of the same lumber yard just outside Eckington, which is not only closer but much easier to get to.
2.00 pm Oh he's done it again ... I can't bear to write about it again. I've already posted something about his latest on Scrambled Mind.
The essay is up to 360 words. At least it's getting somewhere. I think what I have so far is pretty good. Unfortunately, I can't just write an essay and then go back and edit it or rewrite later. I have to outline and then follow the outline so that there's only minimal editing later. It seems to work for me. I hope it does this time, too.
3.02 pm Ha ha ha! I showed Daniel my new digital camera, said, "Isn't it cool?" and then snapped two pics of him! He told me not to put them on the internet. Of course, I'm going to put them on the internet, just as soon as Simon sorts out my laptop so I can download the pictures!
I'm only up to about 505 words on the essay (2000 to go!) because I ended up replying to an email to Gary that I thought was overdue. I've also had to make tea and coffee for Simon and Graham while they've been working on the ice cream van. Well, I haven't had to, but they're out in the cold working hard, and I'm sitting in here where it's warm. I even have the dog wrapped around my feet. What can I say? He loves me!
4.36 pm Up to 652 words! I would have made more progress except Marie and Jak came around for a visit since Graham is here working on the ice cream van with Simon. I like Marie a lot, and I always enjoy chatting with her, so I wasn't going to ignore her.
5.43 pm Progress! I'm up to 977 words! I'm starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel, although the light is only a tiny pin-prick! Considering I only had just over 100 words when I got up this morning, and I've had to go pick Graham up and I've visited with Marie (not to mention my obsession with blogging!), I'm doing well.
6.18 pm How weird is this? Malorie and Braden's dad just phoned to speak to them, and he said that suddenly he's started getting mail to his house! It's in my old married name, not my name now. I told him to throw them away. One of them was Encyclopedia Britannica. I never ordered anything from them, and even if I did, I've been in England for more than seven years now, and I divorced him two years before that!
I've got 1110 words on the essay now ...
8.28 pm I've got some food in my tummy (hot roast beef sandwiches with the horseradish I bought at IKEA -- YUM!), and the essay is coming along nicely. I have over 1700 words and still have enough material to keep going! I might actually go over 2500 words, which I'm allowed to by 10%. My headache is coming back though.
11.22 pm It's finished! Two thousand, six hundred and thirty-eight words of total bullshit. Okay, maybe not total bullshit, but it sure feels like it after trying to fit 10,000 words worth of ideas into 2,500 words, plus or minus 10%. The most interesting bit was the fish hooks through the penis, but I tried not to dwell on that. I'm sure my tutor will appreciate it, too, when he has to read it, though I'm confident he's already read the case many times before.
Simon fixed my laptop so I can get on the internet. I asked him yesterday afternoon why he didn't try reformatting it and re-installing Windows, but he kept trying it the way he was doing it. Today he reformatted it. It connected to the internet on the first try.
Now I have to try to get a good night's sleep and get up early in the morning so I can go hand it in and get started on the next one! Then maybe I can write about something in my blog that isn't school related for
posted by Melinda at 1/08/2005 11:27:00 pm
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