voncookie | August 30, 2010
Tomorrow I have to march into the classroom and give a class on the late 19th-century short story in Spain. A story by Leopoldo Alas (aka Clarín) titled “¡Adios, Cordera!” Here’s my problem: while I’ve studied both 19th and 20th century Spanish literature extensively, I feel a little ragged with Clarín, mostly because the last [...]
voncookie | July 13, 2010
There’s nothing like insomnia the day before the first day of class, even when it’s not really the first day. It’s actually the third day of class. But because of the July Hiccup (my strep throat, see previous entry), my third class feels quite like my first, mostly because the classroom bonding that is supposed [...]
voncookie | April 22, 2010
Incipient migraines are always my downfall when it comes to insomnia. My choice is, suffer with the headache, or take the Excedrin Migraine meds which have caffeine in them and get rid of the headache, but suffer from insomnia. Tough choice. Today I chose the Excedrin, dammit dammit dammit, and I really really really shouldn’t [...]
voncookie | December 28, 2009
2:30 a.m. There is absolutely NO excuse for the fact that I am awake right now. NONE whatsoever. I’m using my time productively but I’m so pissed off that I’m awake that it’s making me even less likely to sleep. A vicious cycle indeed. I’m convinced that I’ve found the perfect job, perfect in every [...]
voncookie | November 17, 2009
To begin, I really don’t know why I’m awake, considering all the actions I took before bed to ensure that I would sleep. To quote a friend, “Sometimes it just be’s like that.” But here are some other things of which I am wondering, as I wander… If you know a “shooting star” is a [...]
voncookie | November 5, 2009
No kidding. Just plain sedated. Things are difficult of late, rather, kind of hard to explain why, just difficult. And so I’m choosing sedation over insomnia, which means I’m a little weird during the day, but such is life. At the very least I’ve stopped having nightmares that resemble my own personal vision of Hell [...]
voncookie | November 4, 2009
We’re all stressed out. All of us. For our various reasons, we just are. Maybe it’s the way we live our lives– you know, the American Way and the Protestant Work Ethic. Maybe it’s the fact that the universe is completely awry right now. Or maybe we’re all just crazy, bat-sh*t insane, in our own [...]
voncookie | October 22, 2009
1:10 pm (Tuesday) Yesterday I somewhat serendipitously found a document that has half of my conference paper already written for me. I wrote it several years back, and forgot about it. So it’s a good thing that I went through my archives, because I’m now ahead of the game. Or at least I was. I [...]
voncookie | September 17, 2009
Oh, it has begun, and how! I am writing my first postdoc application, due, well, practically yesterday. I feel like I have committed about a million faux pas in asking for letters of rec already. Damn. And if I’m not mistaken, my hair is already falling out thanks to the cumulative stress in my life [...]
voncookie | May 29, 2008
I fell asleep listening to the Giants – DBacks game, and it manifested in my dreams. When I drifted off the Giants were up 11 to 3, i.e. it would have been pretty hard for the DBacks to make a big ol’ comeback. But I woke up about a half hour ago all stressed out [...]
voncookie | May 27, 2008
Tossing and turning. My stomach is tossing and turning. My heart is thumping and churning. My brain spins me right and left, unquiet. No reason for this. No reason except that my dissertation is not yet finished. No reason except that I should be done by now. No reason except that I’d be lucky to [...]
voncookie | April 20, 2008
It’s the Lit Mag. The Lit Mag waking me up at 4 a.m., worried about the budget for next year. Funny thing is… I’m not going to be doing the Lit Mag next year. However, all solicitations for funding for next year are due this year, so I’m stuck writing them once again. Not that [...]
voncookie | April 10, 2008
I’ve reached new technological lows in my dreaming. This time, I actually dreamed an entire conversation in Gmail chat, which incidentally ended quite poorly, with the person I was chatting with changing their status message to “So-and-So is disgusted with you”. Then “So-and-So no longer wants to talk to you.” In other words, a raging [...]
voncookie | March 12, 2008
All I want to do these days is knit. Just knit myself into a stupor, until I have carpal tunnel syndrome, until I have so many pairs of socks, so many scarves, so many afghans and throws that my apartment looks like an old folks’ home. When I’m not knitting, I want to be sleeping, [...]
voncookie | March 11, 2008
I don’t know what I was thinking going to bed a little bit early, even just a half hour early… Here it is, almost 1 a.m., I have to teach tomorrow, I have to be on my toes tomorrow, and instead I’m up in my fake-silk charmeuse pajamas from Target wondering, where did I go [...]
