With her faithful steed by her side, the Laurie plows ahead.
Well, there’s no good way to sum up my days these days except to say: I read the hell out of my day. I woke up, put food in my mouth, read, went grocery shopping, read, had dinner, and finally finished reading! Yay! Knocked back my first Bloomfield essay today, which was nice to get off my plate. I put together a little plan for what essays to read on what days, and I know it probably doesn’t matter much, but that’s how my brain works. Gotta read long essays on less busy days, short essays in short spurts, etc., etc. So it was a long-essay day. Got through a good, basic, foundational-type work from 1914 that sort of set out everything I’m supposed to know about the basics of linguistics in fancy-pants philosopher talk. Except it’s all the stuff we learned all those years in undergrad, so it was more like a little review than a mind-blowing experience. Still, nice to get the explanations of the basics by guys laying them down, instead of reading one of the modern textbook reduxes like the kids I’m teaching now. Plus, I learned like 15 new words today, which is pretty impressive! At any rate, the picture at the right there should serve as a pretty good summary image of my entire life at this point. Looks cosy, doesn’t it?
Only other notable success today, besides actually having gone grocery shopping, is that I finally threaded my new sewing machine! The directions they sent me were lacking some pretty crucial information, and Lewis and I both read through and failed to get it working the first night. Watched a slew of youtube videos — the first constructive use I’ve found for them! — and managed to get my way through. Momentary major disasters aside, I sewed two things together! Hurrah! Maybe tomorrow or the next day I’ll get to repair some of my stuff, which is what I’m really looking forward to.
I had planned to make pumpkin ice cream tonight, but I just didn’t have it in me after all that reading. It’s crazy how difficult it is to switch modes from this stuff. Like I’ve mentioned, I’m reading in a manner I’ve never tried before, and it’s both mentally exhausting and really rewarding. I’ve never lived this cerebrally before, and it’s mind-blowing in its own way. I feel like sometimes my mind just completely empties when I’m trying to do something like remember how to make a sandwich, and it’s not as if I’m thinking about linguistics… I don’t even know what I’m thinking about. I’m just failing to do anything at all. But I don’t mind so much, it’s a bit like being on my own private mental adventure, full of mystery and surprises around every turn! With that in mind, tomorrow I start my first full week. Phew. I feel like I’ve been in school a year already.