The end is near

The end is near. This phrase is full of hope, joy, sunshine and puppies right now - I desperately want the semester to just be done already. Wrapping up my classes has reminded me how little I enjoyed them (a fact which I've tried very hard to ignore), and because my department is completely dysfunctional right now (at least, I hope it's temporary), there aren't fall classes that I can look forward to taking yet. So, to cope, I'm doing what I actually always* do during finals: procrastination via extreme list-making (and blogging). Right now, my most important list is Things to do by May 16th (in no particular order):

1. Read Takeuchi & Kaul
2. Write one more Bir Istanbul Masali essay
3. Read Spivak
   
4. Do 30-60 minutes of Turkish recordings
5. Read and comment on 2 final papers
6. Write 15 pages on Berlin/Prinzessinnenbad/economy of the margin for 20th century lit.
   
7. Write 15 pages on _________ for basic seminar on the history of consciousness
8. Think of a topic for basic seminar paper
9. Give final presentation in Turkish
10. Write 10-12 pages on Quranic marriage
11. Study for (and then rock) final Turkish exam
12. Clean the house
13. Do some laundry
14. Run the dogs
15. Pay the bills
    
16. Eden Prairie Book Day
17. Baseball game
    
18. Brunch
    
19. Guthrie
20. Another brunch
21. Pack for vacation

Now, I don't have a calendar, like some people, but I do have sub-lists for almost every one of these tasks. Then I have a list of what I'm doing after May 16th, which is a lot more fun, but also not very realistic given how busy my summer is looking. I guess I should get started....
*Always, except for the times when I get new dogs, in which case I procrastinate by looking at puppies online.

Good News, Bad News

Good News: Rob and I got engaged! I think (and hope) that all of you who would have been offended to learn of this via blogging have already been notified.
Bad News: This will definitely feed my planning addiction.
Good News: I won a research grant for the summer! And then I won another!
Bad News: I can't have both.
Good News: Almost entirely good news this last couple of weeks!
Bad News: Kind of makes for a boring good news, bad news post, huh?

Spring

Signs that spring has arrived in Minnesota:
1. There are enormous flocks of robins everywhere, making Cricket insane and reminding me why I shouldn't park under trees.
2. Minnesotans who are unphased by blizzards dropping 10-16" of snow at 10-20 degrees from November through February completely freak out at the prospect of a spring storm threatening 2-6" and temperatures in the upper 30s in April. Those freaking out include the weather people, who issued lots of doomsday-esque winter storm warnings and announced that driving conditions would be "treacherous."
3. While I was waiting for the 6:30 bus this morning, the streetlights went off!
4. The bus driver was wearing shorts.
5. I put my long underwear in storage and I'm desperate for a new pair of flip flops.

Quote of the Day

"Critical accounts of alternative music cultures in German Studies have often been relegated to the margins: subcultural texts often suffer from the indictment of being politically (and aesthetically) suspect - in other words, they are seen to be incapable of sustaining a meaningful critique of the cultural industry." This is a line from a grant application (not mine, obviously). This application won the grant last year or the year before, and is clearly worth $4,000 (the amount of the grant). My application, which is due tomorrow, and which is just about as good as it's going to get at this point, is maybe worth $40, and even that is a stretch. On the upside, looking at my work in monetary terms makes me feel a lot better about how much I've been paid for the year!

Not that I have time for this...

This is Mathilde, playing with the teddy bear I made. This picture cheers me up, because it reminds me that there is more to the world than impending deadlines (doom), although, to be honest, I did stay up until 2am to finish making that teddy bear in time for the baby shower....
This week especially, and since the conference generally, I have this very ominous feeling that I'm going at half my normal speed. Do you ever have that? It's different than the feeling that you are procrastinating (which I sort of am) or that time is racing - time is actually ticking along at its normal pace - but sort of like that nightmare where you're running away from something and can only go veeeeery slowly no matter how hard you try.
This is a Very Bad Feeling to have, especially when you are in your life, not a nightmare, and have lots of important deadlines to meet. Guess I should get back to work, huh?

Quote of the Day

"This appurtenance is essential and irreducible; one cannot retain the convenience of the "scientific truth" of the Stoic and later medieval opposition between signans and signatum without also bringing with it all its metaphysicotheological roots." - Jacques Derrida, Of Grammatology
This is from some 50 pages I read on Sunday for my introductory theory course. It would depress me, but it's an improvement over the Heidegger we had to read last week: "As ek-sisting, man sustains Da-sein in that he takes the Da, the lighting of Being, into 'care.' But Da sein itself occurs essentially as 'thrown.' It unfolds essentially in the throw of Being as the fateful sending." - Letter on Humanism
If it wasn't clear before this class, it's completely clear now: I'm here for the literature, not so much the theory....

Catching up

It actually hasn't been that long since I last posted, but I haven't posted much actual news lately. We had the conference last weekend, and aside from the Nemesis being sort of rude, and two really strange mystery guests who came for the food, it went pretty well. There was an audience, every presenter fielded some questions, the catering worked like it was supposed to, the snow held off until Monday, and everyone was very nice in complimenting the organization. In retrospect, though, that might have something to do with the fact that I and my two co-organizers were all (visibly) on the brink of collapse and one unkind word probably would have destroyed us.
Meanwhile, school is alternately hurtling and creeping toward the end of the semester. All my professors seem to have suddenly realized how disorganized they are; they've all apologized for it, but don't seem inclined to do anything about it this semester. There is a part of me that wants to go into academia as a sort of public service to counter the disorganization (and other negative aspects of academic culture). I'm practicing for this by organizing for my professors. I feel kind of silly typing up their class lists so the class can understand them, but hopefully not as silly as they feel being unable to do it themselves. Five and a half more weeks.
Since summer is on the horizon, I've been a little distracted from school by the intense urge to spring-clean/remodel. For some reason, cleaning and home improvement go hand in hand for me. Sweeping and mopping make me think of refinishing the floors, which makes me think of painting. The sun is out now, and is staying out for more than 5 or 6 hours a day, and all this extra light makes me see dust and dirt I'd been able to ignore since November, and makes me think I should find my duster (I do own one) and use it, which in turn makes me think I should throw away all our dusty, dirty things and buy clean ones (I hate to dust). Bookshelves, blinds, the stove, my desk. And especially on our couch (an old, shapeless, once-white behemoth which we'd covered unsuccessfully with an ugly brown slipcover). After two weeks of scanning used furniture ads on craigslist, Rob and I went to Ikea (Rob is suspicious of used couches, but I am poor) on a whim, just to see if there was anything there that would work. Miraculously, we found a not-too-expensive, big-enough sofa with a completely removable, washable cover AND a fold out bed! Hooray! The dogs also like it. So if the reason you weren't visiting is because you didn't want to sleep on the floor or our mangy old couch, you'll need a new excuse. Peak season is May-August, so make your reservation early.