Fillet of Soul

Very bad week for me, I can feel it. During the defense, it seemed as if everything was winding down -- the director of the anthro department assured me that I did fine, everything was going very well. Then I met with two other commitee members yesterday, and it became all too clear how much more I have to do with my thesis. This week. Then give the penultimate product back to the committee on Friday, they read it and respond, then hand in the finished copy to the graduate college on May 2. And I have a long, long way to go before any of that happens.

But all's still Jake. If nothing else, I got that kick in the ass that we all get, and understand eventually that we're better off for having received, even if we're temporarily dismayed while it's occurring. So I spent all day today at the library, got some new sources, stressed out, ate a whole pack of Starburst, drank some Pepsi, swallowed my pride after a professional editorial working-over was performed on my paper... And that's the tough part -- it's very easy to be pleased with myself after pumping out something I feel is exceedingly witty and melodic. Then someone who's been doing hardcore editing work gets ahold of what's meant to be a very serious piece of work and shoots down all my witticisms as too colloquial. What the hell's wrong with colloquial?! It means "conversational!" What are they afraid of? The goddamn post-processualists are reducing the academic literature to an undecipherable verbal equivalent of a Jackson Pollack painting, I'd think conversational language would be an appropriate reaction against deliberately obfuscationist Ivory Tower jargon. Academia ala Garrison Kiellor -- mark my words: it's the new trend of the ego-suppressing intellectually curious!

Had a lot of wine. Listening to goofy music. Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee