round up

scottlet was in town recently and we spent some time. i met some of his scribblernerd mates, he met some of my dancernerd mates. it was a mutual exchange of nerdiness. i'm not sure which of us came out with the greater nerdination...
we went to see virus at the laundry on the saturday and it was NEAT.
i went to see the let's dance big band on saturday evening and it was fun but a dumb band.
yesterday i did no work but thought i'd drown in my own crankiness (not enough sleep, increased parental proximity, general scrunkiness). no thesis work there.
today i'm less cranky but just as unmotivated. i have, however, printed out copies of four chapter drafts (i've finally finished a fairly crap first draft of the whole thesis) and will read through it all, see what needs sorting and perhaps mark out the spots that need to be super-sized on the theoretical angle. it's easy to write descriptive stuff, but making the shift to hardcore theory is trickier. the last chapter has yet to make that shift at all, though the rest is actually quite decent. once that's done i need to do a new intro/chapter one which introduces my theory/methodology, etc. i also need to do a conclusion. then i just edit and edit and edit and edit.
it's all going very well. despite the fact that i've done next to nothing for weeks.
i have, however, submitted two paper proposals one for a journal, one for a conference with paper to be published. one is hardcore cultural studies, one is gender/diversity stuff. i need a hardcore media studies journal article too.
so if i get these chapters under control....

and of course, i continue to torture myself browsing the academic job notices. zero in australia. but some-ish overseas. if i don't get fulltime employment as a 'proper' academic i plan to tutor and tutor and tutor like a fool, publishing and sorting out my thesis for a book. by the end of that year i'll be ready to kick arse job-wise.

i'm not particularly worried. some low-level anxiety, but my priority is to finish the thesis. then worry. i still have the month extension up my sleeve and about 2 extra months from the sick leave. so technically i can keep on the scholarship til august or so next year. eeek. a whole extra year! i certainly don't need that. but i'll have to discover that i do if i want an income... actually, i probably will need more time than i think to deal with this craptastical theory issue. i mean, it's all there, it's just kind of messy....