Quick updates of non-procrastination

Well, I guess I am currently procrastinating from getting ready to get out the door, but that's not the norm this week! I've been getting work done! (Caution: exclamation marks ahead.)

Part of what's been helping is the Fabulous New Office Space we just got this semester. It's so exciting: not only do we have new PhD and MA offices (one of each, I mean), but they adjoin a nice big common room, which has more workspaces (since each office only really seats two at a time) and comfy armchairs and stuff. It's such a wonderful space, especially because both the common room and the PhD office have big outside windows. As I worked on the Annotated Bibliography That Won't Die yesterday, I was able to look out at blue sky.

A lot of us have started using the space, and it's quite nice. One other PhD student and I worked in our office, and I really had to keep working while I was in there, because he was trying to read, and I would have distracted him if I got procrastinating. When I took breaks, I could go out and talk with the MA students in the common room, and even that kept me work-focused, because I'd get talking with the other Germanist about his research, and I'd get recommending books for him.

I even had a meeting with all the 2nd year PhD students, to figure out strategies for comps reading!

I really don't recognise myself right now. Who is this woman who finished most of the Annotated Bibliography That Won't Die yesterday? Who made concrete plans for her comps reading and who could speak knowledgably about research? That office space is magical. (It's also magical because I bought a nice tea kettle for it. Next step: a good supply of teas, a teapot, mugs, and some sugar.) What a difference some office space makes.

In the past, it has been hard to work away from home, because there was always so much housework that I felt like I ought to be doing. But our house is clean! Chris and I put some serious work into organising the house, and now the evening's all we need for keeping up. (It helps that I'm not messying up the house all day.) Our house is so nice and clean that we volunteered to have prayer meeting at our house last night. (It's like I'm living in a clean and productive Maryanne Bizarro World.)

In other news: My Dad has been back to work this week! He's been feeling that good. He gets stronger and stronger by the day.

Better thought-out posts will come soon, but right now I have to go and conquer a bibliography.