Brain dump

So. Here's what I've been thinking about.

I am loving 2/3 of my classes this semester. I'm taking a class with Hawk, Owl, and a professor who probably won't get a pseudonym because I just don't care enough about the course to bother with making one up. I find it boring, not because I already know all the information in the course. Nope. It's boring because I can't find any interest in this material whatsoever, despite the fact that it's content I'll likely need someday. My other two classes are rocking my world, but in a good way. Class A (with Hawk) is some really good, solid, historical background for my research interest. I find it fascinating--it's fairly straightforward, and the only theory we're reading is stuff I read over the summer. Which is not to say I've got it down pat, but I've got a nodding familiarity with it and rereading is helping me read dig in. It's a good bit of "little" work along the way, which is time consuming, but I'm enjoying the class and Hawk's teaching style enough that I don't mind. Most of the time. Class B is a class that has, up until now, been based solely in theories I've never heard of based on terms I was unaware were even in the English language. At one point, Owl suggested that we might not want to bother with the English translation of an article because the original was "not very hard French." Riiiiiiight. Still, I've been interested in the course material, though I wish I had more time to devote to readings. Today, though, we did some practical stuff and I realized I had something to say! And I was right! Hooray! As it turns out, if you give me actual speakers, I can say some stuff about language. So I feel like I'm getting my feet under me in that class, and I think it's going to be an incredibly useful course for me to have taken, when it's all said and done.

My first year "exam" is still not done. This is the paper that just won't die, folks. But I think I've got a handle on the next draft, so there's a little bit of hope on the horizon. My concern is that I will get a mental block up that will prevent me from writing this one--and I can see it's already begun. I need a little encouragement from one or more of my readers, or I'm not going to make it. Yes, I am externally motivated. Yes, I am starting to doubt my abilities as a writer.

My research assistantship has been super-busy of late, but this led Eagle to give me multiple compliments in the same meeting. This may or may not be one of the signs of the coming of the end of the age. I left the meeting with a warm glow and a small spring in my step.

In other news, it's not snowing.