Distracted. Entertained.

I still haven't written my conference paper! Eeek. I have to do it soon.

I keep getting distracted by errands and the internet and talking with CS and then going out. Tonight I went down to the Horseshoe to catch The Human Statues. They were pretty fun, energetic, and highly entertaining; I'm glad that I went to see them perform. A new friend of mine (JW) was in the audience, right up at the front where I like to be. Clearly, we are meant to be friends. During the last band's set---Woodward Company---I spotted a friend from school in the crowd. Fun. After the show JW and I talked to some of the musicians and each other and some random older guy at the bar. The hour got later. I had hoped to be home by 12:30. Instead, I got home after 2am. Oops. And it's now approaching 3am.

I rather enjoyed Woodward Company. They seem young and I think they've got something. At times the music was a bit too standard rock, but there were moments of interest and variety. Reminded me of Tokyo Police Club at times. They are talented and not bad looking. I wish them well; maybe they'll evolve into something slightly better and go somewhere. That'd be cool.

Not especially productive.

I have not been especially productive today, and I wasn't yesterday either. I generally don't want to do my work. But I love doing the indie stuff. This is not what I've been paid to do. And not what I must do. I wish I was better able to concentrate on the work I have to do. But it's my own fault for basically just not doing it.

It's always easier to do the small, quick things than it is to do the big, long-term, difficult things. Checking websites, answering e-mails, and running errands tends to take priority over the important stuff. Ah well. I'll get my act together at some point.

I better.

It was raining today. Maybe that can be my excuse for not feeling overly motivated. Laundry and a few other things was all I could handle, right?

Dissertation avoidance.

I've been avoiding my dissertation the past few days. I know, it's bad. I will stop avoiding it soon. I had a busy weekend of going to shows---meh, meh, and then FUN---and Monday afternoon I spent several hours at the Boat, being an extra for the Gravity Wave movie. That was kinda fun, and I really should have been at home working instead. But not many people showed up, and I was the only one who brought CDs (to use as props), so I think it was good that I was there.

In other news, the fridge is now working again. It keeps working and then a few weeks later not working again. It's really annoying. But at least the landlord is good and comes to fix it pretty much right away. Still, I think he just needs to spring for a new fridge for us.

I have some meetings tomorrow, which is making me grumpy. And I signed on to do some work for a prof., but now am kinda regretting it. Extra cash is good, but I really don't need more excuses not to dissertate.

Why are my landlord and his wife having an argument/discussion at 2:30am? They are old, and ought to be asleep.

Headache.

I've had a low-level headache for the past day and a half. It's no good. I can't shake it. I think I just need to go back to Toronto and start eating properly again. Too much fat and salt and sugar here. And the water is horrible and I don't want to drink it. (Yeesh, you'd think I was really hard up, eh?) I'm complaining, but really it's a bit difficult being home. The bed is hard, the house is cold, everything is dusty, and my family stresses me out. Everyone is mostly awesome, of course; still. It doesn't help matters that I still haven't marked those last 10 essays. That's probably what's keeping my headache from going away. I'm going to get on that right now. Promise.

Junk and old friends.

I have a lot of stuff. But it's mostly paper stuff. Tonight I decided---in lieu of grading, of course---that I would go through some of this stuff. And I got rid of a bunch of it. There's still lots more to go through. I am a bit of a pack rat, but a pack rat that purges every once in a while. Because I am also a purger by nature.

Doing this sorting and purging reminded me of some of the people I went to undergrad with. And so of course I googled the ones whose full names I remembered to see if I could find them. I then proceeded to send messages to two of them on facebook. I hope they don't think me a stalker! I know it's potentially wrong to do what I did, but heck, either this---very noninvasive---or simply forget about them. I liked them quite a lot back then and sounds like they're doing awesome things actually related to our education. Anyways, it was something I wanted to do, and now I've done it, and will have to put up with the consequences.

Speaking of old friends, I met up with a small handful of them on Thursday evening for dinner at our former haunt. We worked together at the Chapters bookstore in Gloucester (part of Ottawa). It was lovely to see them all, and get updated on their lives. I'm sure that we'll see each other again.

But while I've been keen and happy to get in contact with some of my old Ottawa friends, I am finding myself unmotivated to meet up with a couple of the people I've been better at keeping in touch with over the years. It's just such a pain being out in the countryside. I don't like driving---especially not when it's snowing or freezing raining---and I am not confident I could park my parents' car somewhere downtown. The thought of having to do that freaks me out a bit. So I may have to just blow my friends off, explaining to them my lameness, but inviting them to come see me in Toronto any time! Being out here is kinda like not being in Ottawa at all, at least for me. It makes me antisocial, pretty much the opposite of who I am when I'm at home in downtown Toronto.

No surprise here.

A, I am more Canadian than you ;-).

What American accent do you have? (Best version so far) Canadian People from outside North America probably think you're from the States, but over here we wouldn't make such a mistake.

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I hate packing.

I really, really, really hate packing. I just don't want to do it. Partly it's because I'm indecisive about things and like to be organized; the uncertainty that comes with going to another place and not quite knowing what I'll find once I get there makes me slightly crazy. It's quite ridiculous, I know, especially since I'm flying into San Francisco and renting a room in a house in Palo Alto, where Stanford University is. The weather is going to be approximately the same as here, except hotter. And hopefully drier. If I forget something, it will be no problem to get a replacement. And if I don't bring enough clothing, I can do laundry. Easy peasy. And yet I procrastinate because I don't want to deal with figuring things out.

If all my previous trips are any indication, this one should be all kinds of awesome, and I'll get some great stuff at the archive I'll be working at. I can't take pictures with my digital camera this time around, so I need to remember to leave a bit of room in my suitcase to pack photocopies. All of which is quite annoying, since . . . [insert rant about the damage done to one-of-a-kind historical material by photocopying, and extreme idiocy of no photographing policies because the whole point of an archive is to preserve historical documents for future use]. Grrrrr. Maddening!

But I promise to take photos outside the archives.

And now I really should go pack. Or at least start packing. Sigh.

Russianists are the best people.

I went to a(nother) party last night, this time at SM and J's place. All the cool Russianists were there, plus a smattering of east Europeanists. Excellent. It was too much fun, and included a couple shots of vodka (AB insisted I celebrate with him), yummy munchies, and lots of good conversation and laughter. True to form, GO got on my case about being single and getting older! (But only because he cares ;-). And, I got him back by countering with, "well, I am dating someone!" Haha.) And his wife SF was looking beautiful (as usual). My other favourites were there too: AB and OB, PR and AM, WB and his M, SJ and his great family, and MK the young. I took lots of pics to remember the occasion.

I left just after midnight with big plans to grade essays. I did one or two, but spent the better part of the rest of my night putting the pics online for all to see. Grading can wait.

At the moment more procrastination is taking place, but this time it is totally necessary: I am reading about philanthropy! Oh, and tonight is another party. Of course.

It can no longer be avoided.

Yep, it's true: grading is upon me. Finally. How dreadful. But I really must do it or else I will never be able to go home for xmas. And that would be uncool.

In happier news, I had lunch with my main supervisor today at a local pub. (Fellow historian CS was also there.) It was fun, though I find I don't have too much to say to my supervisor. I feel boring when I'm around her! I think it's just that I haven't read the books or seen the movies she mentions. It's also that I'm in the midst of researching, which isn't particularly interesting to talk about. I mean, I'm gathering material at this point; I'm not even reading it yet.

I stopped by the department a couple times today, and ran into historians (as usual). PM and JT were out enjoying the unseasonably warm weather (well, ok, JT was smoking); EW was in the office; and super-cool east Europeanist SJ was there too! He is too awesome. I bothered LG for a few minutes before coming home early in the afternoon to face my doom. But first I procrastinated for a long time. Sigh. And then FN came home with dinner, so that (mercifully) took me away from work too. After dinner we put up art (totally necessary for our mental health), and then I had to rearrange my desk (so I can grade). I feel like Steve Carrell's character on that episode of "The Office" where he has work he must do, but he does everything except do it until the last moment . . . at which point he tells his underlings to do the work for him. Double sigh.

So now there's really no getting around it. Grading is upon me. After I eat.