29
July
2005
I’m getting tired of being sick. Especially because I really should be working on my paper — I was so nicely right on schedule, and now that’s gone all out of the window… First the viral throat infection, and now I caught a cold — apparently a normal combination, but that doesn’t change the fact that I’ve been sick for a week now. Feeling somewhat better than when the infection was in full swing, but am still feverish and aching.
But it’s not only the paper that’s irking me. On Monday is the Swiss national holiday, and therefore I’ll be working the next three days — always mornings, which seemed like a good idea at the time. I also had to work last night, which didn’t go down all that well. So yes, not exactly looking forward to this long weekend…
Anyway, please excuse the whining — I’m just feeling a bit frustrated this morning and needed to vent.
Posted: Life
23
July
2005
I’ve had problems concentrating the last couple of days, which slowed down work on the new paper considerably. This morning I woke up feeling really feverish and ill. Great. The flu in summer… And this afternoon I have to be in Zürich for a wedding I’ve been looking forward to for months - after all, I introduced the couple in question. My timing is inpeccable as always. /whiny post
Posted: Life
20
July
2005
All of a sudden I am dead tired. It’s not that I did a lot of exhausting stuff today - I worked a bit on my next paper and went to the hairdresser’s, but just now all I’m up for is lying on the couch, trying not to fall asleep… Might also be the weather, because it’s cool and grey and doesn’t really feel like summer.
Anyway, I’m pretty excited about my next paper - it’ll be a kind of continuation of the Medias paper I wrote two years ago, about identity and the internet (in German), but it’ll focus on online communities. Again I’ll do a questionnaire to collect my own data as well as using already existing literature. The only thing that can go wrong is that the books that I already got from the library a while ago might be recalled before I had time to go through them. Hopefully that won’t happen, though. *crosses fingers*
Because this is a topic that I’m very interested in and that I chose myself, I really want to do a good job. So this will probably take quite a bit longer than the zombie paper - but that’s okay, since luckily I have almost two months until I leave for Japan in September.
Posted: Life, Uni
14
July
2005
Just some lovely things, in list form because I feel like listing things… 
- I finished my paper! It’s being proof-read by a native speaker now, so hopefully I can turn it in tomorrow. That means it took me three weeks from start to finish for the whole thing - a record!
- This morning I managed to secure the permits for the flea market on Saturday. It cost a bit more than I’d thought it would, but hopefully I can make up for it by selling books and some other random stuff I found in my room.
- I’m home alone at the moment, something I really enjoy. I made myself spaghetti bolognese for lunch (one of my favorite dishes ever - and so fast and easy) and am planning on eating the first local raspberries of the year for dessert.
- On viewing my Gilmore Girls DVDs for the umpteenth time, I have just reached my favorite episode again - Love and War and Snow. And for some reason watching this winter episode while it’s really nice weather outside suits me perfectly. *smile*
- Yesterday I drove our neighbours’ car to Bern, to visit my friend Cindy. The longest I’ve ever driven by myself, and it went quite well, despite spending about 50 minutes driving around Bern, trying to find someone to tell me how to get back on the right track. It was just a lovely day and I enjoyed myself a lot.
- Have I mentioned that raspberries make me happy?
Posted: Life, Uni
7
July
2005
I will never understand how human beings can do such horrific things to each other.
My brother told me about the London terror attacks only a bit over an hour ago. It’s just… too much. I feel guilty about the part of me worrying that I’m not getting any work on the paper done. I’m switching between three different news channels, from three countries, and there are just no words for it.
Luckily, the people I know in London seem to be alright. For that I am extremely grateful. I haven’t been praying so much in quite while…
Posted: Life
3
July
2005
It’s my brother’s birthday today. I really can’t wrap my head around the fact that he’s 23 now… I think he’ll always be 16 to me! Anyway, that’s why I’m not around much, because we’re having family time and we’ll probably spend the evening playing boardgames and watching movies.
I’ve also created a new category here in the blog, especially for uni-centered posts like this. Seeing that my thesis year is slowly but surely approaching, this seemed like a good idea.
And talking uni: I managed to finish going through the literature for my paper and to fine-tune my table of contents. Now I just have to get over my hesitation to actually start writing the actual paper - that always makes me nervous for some reason. This time even more so because I’m writing under time pressure, in English, for a native speaker (the prof is South African). But I know that once I get into the groove of things, everything should be fine…
In case you’re interested in what exactly I’m always whining about:
Working title: Dead Men Working: A historical-anthropological look at the modern zombie phenomenon in Africa.
Required length: 25 pages
Deadline: around July 15 (prof leaves July 19 and would like it before then)
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: Life, Uni
