Productivity

New research has shown that a messy desk is actually a sign of a more productive person. I don't know whether this photo reveals my immense level of productivity or my inability to keep a clean house. There is also the chance that it merely reveals a level of craziness that cannot be paralleled outside academia.

But, somehow I couldn't capture the whole mess as it exends onto the floor, the chair next to me, and the living room. I think the only saving grace is that my "desk" is also my dining room table.

Please note that the bottles of wine are full and in a really beautiful wine rack, which is not visisble because of the piles of papers. I've not resorted to leaving empty wine bottles in the midst of my research, yet.

Progress?

I've made so little progress since I last wrote about my apathy. It is really sad. My deadline is looming in the distance. And while my thesis has suffered I am now completely up-to-date on Rock of Love, Top Chef, Seasons 1 and 2 of Project Runway, and The Hills. I truely can't believe I wasted a whole weekend with this crap.
On a positive note the hundred degree temperatures will give me ample opportunity to hide in the house and write, after floating around the pool... and maybe an episode of Law and Order, of course.

Jewels of Wisdom

As part of my TA training I was told that I shouldn't make the students feel as though I have more knowledge than them.
I guess that's a good stance... Let's have the intro students assume that I don't know anything about anthropology. Surely that will foster respect-filled classroom, where they don't text their friends, play on the Internet, etc. while I go over what ethnocentrism is for the 400th time.
And shouldn't I, as a graduate student, know more about not only anthropology, but also several other subjects than the first-time freshmen I will be teaching? Isn't that the point?!?
No. No. You're right, we're all equals.

Back on Campus

My return to campus has been wonderful, particularly since, for the most part, there aren't any of those pesky students to ruin it.

What I'll miss the most

With just two days left "on the job" here are recaps of the two conversations I'll miss having the most as an academic in the work-a-day world...
Coworker: "So you're going to school?"
Me: "Yes"
Coworker: "So do you go to school at night?"
Me: "No. I'm done with my class work. I'm just researching and writing my thesis right now."
Coworker: "Oh."
1 week later
Coworker: "So do you go to school at night?"
Me: "No. I'm done with my class work. I'm just researching and writing my thesis right now."
1 week later
Coworker: "So do you go to school at night?"
Me: "Yes, I go to school at night."
Coworker: "Wow, you must be busy."
End Scene

Coworker: "Anthropology, eh."
Me: "Yup, Cultural Anthropology"
Coworker: "Do you ever watch Bones?"
Me: "Sometimes (I lie). She is a forensic Anthropologist. I study cultures."
Coworker: "Cultures? (pause) I thought that would be more like biology."
Me: "Not throat cultures, people's cultures."
Coworker: Oh.
End Scene

Very Important Work

How Addicted to Coffee Are you
50%- This is completely unacceptable for a graduate student. I think the numbers might be skewed because of my penchant for flavored lattes and the fact that I am not on campus right now, so I am only consuming 1-2 cups of coffee a day. This low level is hardly sustainable by a graduate assistant who is forced to misuse coffee during the day because drinking hard alcohol during office hours is generally shunned--though not always.

Trajectory

What follows is the basic trajectory of my thesis writing experience:
1. Prospectus approved-Excitement. I am good enough, smart enough, and gosh darn it, people like me.
2. Research begins- I'm in there; I'm doing it. I am on the way to being a scholar.
3. Reality check- Overwhelmed... What am I going to write about? It is here I realize I have no intellectual abilities or original scholarship worth contributing to the field.
4. What life will be like- I could end up being a file clerk or a Starbucks barista for the rest of my life...I did go to a Liberal Arts college and get a degree in Anthropology. That's really just one small step above Art History. Cry. Cry. Cry.
5. They make what?- Apathy; I realize a warehouse manager makes more than I will make post-graduation.
6. Write it out- I finally wrote more than two pages in one sitting...excitement ensues.
7. Realization- I really can turn my prospectus into chapters one and two... EXUBERANCE!
8. Wait a tick- Maybe my research isn't really enough.
9. Stagnation- Repeat steps 3 and 4 over and over and over. Gain weight from emotionally eating.
10. Time keeps on slippin'- Shit, my deadline is only three weeks away...desperation/motivation?
11. Blog Creation- Because it's more fun than an actual thesis.

Radios at Work

1. I dread every Friday morning. My macchiato from Fivebucks can hardly counter my weekly annoyance with a certain morning program's catch a cheating spouse vignette. In said vignette the radio calls a suspected cheater and see who he/she will send flowers to. Most of the time, it is not their significant other. On Fridays, everyone in Customer Service tunes their radios to hear the spectacle and they, in unison, laugh with glee as cheaters are caught.
Schadenfreude at its finest.
2. How many times can one radio station play that "I'm Coming Home" song in one day?
I get it Chris Daughtry should have won American Idol.

Apathy

My level of apathy towards my writing this week is astounding, even for me. Last night, I did manage to at least crack a book and ponder its relevance to my section on theory, but I did not take the all important next step of getting up and going to the laptop, much less turning my mental meanderings into a coherent paragraph or two.
My personal deadline of September 1 has mysteriously morphed into the first week of September and I will not allow it to go beyond that, at least that is my stance today.

2 Weeks Notice

I've turned in my two weeks notice to the "real" job I have. The thought of returning to campus has me filled with giddy excitement. The kind of of giddy excitement that only comes from having been a file clerk for the last 6 months. I'm sure by the end of September I'll be longing for days filled with mindless alphabetizing, mail sorting, and binder creating. Oh, and PHONE ANSWERING. How could I forget? But for now I am looking forward to meeting my new students, consuming unnatural amounts of coffee creamed and sugared beyond recognition, and writing.
Just think I only have to say, "Good morning/afternoon, the X company" roughly 2,000 more times.