2.  I am perplexed that when I have the most thinking to do, my brain simply doesn’t want to cooperate.

3.  I keep telling myself to freak out tomorrow.  This has kept the worst of it at bay.

4.  Am thinking of changing my name to “Scarlett”.

5.  My mom got called for jury duty and potentially had to sit one of the biggest cases going.  Only she couldn’t because my dad has a history with the situation on account of the company he used to work for and what his job was.

6.  Kind of wish I was at home, unemployed, and available to sit and watch the case unfold in the courtroom.

7.  One of these days I’ll actually have something interesting to say.  Please refer to #2.

8.  Am having a love / hate relationship with my dissertation.  At the moment, loving it.  Which will last until tomorrow when I have to get back to writing.

9.  Did I mention Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince?

10.  Am wondering what I am going to do for a job when I get home.  The news just keeps getting more and more dire.

Which, as everyone knows, is my dissertation.  To say that I’m living, breathing, and sleeping my dissertation might be understated.

I’ve got one more chapter draft to write.  I’ve still got to write my Introduction and Conclusion.  Once all of that is done, I’ll need to start revising everything, slap it into one file, format it properly, print it out, and get it bound.

All before August 12.

That’s a month-and-a-half, give or take.

While I’m doing all of that, I’ve got to set aside time to go see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Star Trek, The Corpse Bride, and Let the Right One in.

And make time to spend with friends that I won’t see for quite some time after I leave Scotland.

I feel like I’m waaaaay behind the eight-ball at the moment.

So, it’s research and writing and movie watching and hanging out.  And once my parents arrive on the 12th, it’ll be all travel all the time.

I suppose I’ll deserve it after pulling off what seems an impossibility at the moment.

Unless I manage to screw everything up and flunk out…

*grin*

I’ve written exactly 52 words out of 3,000.

Procrastination at its finest.

Am still here.

Just trying to dig myself out of the ever-present, self-induced hole.

Anyone care to join me?

Anyway, every once in a while I’ll pop on and check out the arts / entertainment sections – mostly books and movies.  And every once in a while I’m surprised with an absolute gem.

It seems the zombie craze is still on-going.  Dead Snow is a Norwegian film about dead Nazi zombies.  Based on what little I’ve been able to find on it, it’s a splatter fest (which will, most likely, preclude me from actually seeing it – I’ve never been one for excessive gore), but I watched the trailer and it looks absolutely hilarious.  I mean, seriously, any movie that uses “Ein, Zwei, Die” as a tagline – I can’t explain why I find that so funny.

At any rate, I’ll probably suck it up and watch it on DVD if I can find a copy when I get back to the states.  At least I’ll be close to a bathroom in the privacy of my own home should the gore become too much.  (I know… I’m kind of a wuss in that respect.)

Read the NYTimes review.

Check out the website (there’s not much there, but you can view the trailer).

So you can imagine my complete indignation when I read this article about Sen. Barbara Boxer’s attitude toward a Brig. Gen. who had *gasp* the audacity to call her “ma’am” instead of “senator”.

I’ve heard male senators called “sir,” I’ve heard Presidents referred to as “Mr.” and no one seems to raise an eyebrow.

I really despise the snotty and frankly ridiculous antagonistic attitudes of women sometimes.  Whether she’s worked hard for the title or not is irrelevant.  That she’s treated with respect and apparently cannot afford that same respect to someone else is mind-boggling.

It gives the rest of us a bad name.

Cold.  (Well, in the 50s.)  Rainy.  It’s one of those days I’d rather  stay curled up in bed with a cup of hot chocolate and a book.  Yesterday I splurged on a set of the UK version of the Harry Potter book.  I found most of them in secondhand shops.  I’m going to take my copy of the Half-Blood Prince back.  I had to buy it new and it was a choice between the hardcover children’s cover and the paper back adult cover (why they felt the need to have separate covers is beyond me), and I chose the paperback.  On further reflection (mostly because I’m a stickler for consistency… yes, I know that’s a bit out of character.  I’m claiming OCD), I’ve decided I need the children’s cover to match the rest.  So, I’ll return the paperback adult cover version and have them order the paperback with the children’s cover.

I really need to stop buying books over here.  It’s going to cost me a small fortune to send them back to the states.

Anyway, I have to scrap staying in bed.  I start researching my 3rd chapter today and need to go to the library.  I was going to wait until after I met friends for lunch, but I’m seriously feeling the urge to crawl back in bed and if that happens I won’t get much of anything done today.  I’m down to about 2 months to pull everything together so I can wander the UK with my parents in peace and there’s still so much left to do.

So I’m off to deal with the rain and research.

Yay for me.

*sigh*

Not much to report.  Currently writing my first draft of Chapter 2 – it’s due today and I’m still only about halfway done.  Hopefully I can make some headway before lunchtime.

I’m also feeling the urge to do some stress-induced shopping.

Maybe tomorrow.

Did get to spend Friday down in Edinburgh with Slaveboy, an old friend of mine who I haven’t seen in about 7-8 years.  It was awesome!  We spent the day wandering around Edinburgh while he alternated between giving me history lessons about the city, showing me various spots of interest, running errands, and catching up.

I’ll be glad when this dissertation thing is done so I can fully enjoy traveling before heading back home.

It was pretty loud and a bit long, giving extra-special meaning to the term “rolling thunder”.

I’m hoping this means we’re in for a grand storm.

I haven’t experienced a good thunder storm since I left Florida.

It’s all about the small joys for me, apparently.

***edit – as of 1:45 local time the black clouds have departed and no additional thunder has been heard.  I’m sad.

Doesn’t that qualify as throwing “good money after bad habits?”

Is it no wonder I’m not dating?

I ran through three books over the weekend:

Untamed (House of Night Book 4)

I started reading this series on a fluke.  Not the greatest writing in the world, but the storyline is fun and intriguing.  Whoever is editing, though, needs to pay far more attention than they have been.  The books are rife with editing errors which is kind of annoying.

Night World (Secret Vampire; Daughters of Darkness; Enchantress)

This is another book I picked up at random.  Not impressed and I don’t think I’ll be reading any further books.

Coraline

Loved this!  I haven’t read much Neil Gaiman, but what I’ve read I’ve like.  I can’t wait to see the movie later this month.

So, that’s it.  I suppose I should have done research this weekend, but I just couldn’t get myself interested.  Plus I need to get a copy of Freud’s Totem and Taboo – only the university library is under construction and books are being relocated and when I inquired about it on Friday no one was sure where the damn thing was.  Going to give it another try this morning.  Hopefully I’ll have better luck.  I do really need to get my next chapter done.