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My weather sense says the warmth has finally come. The Bureau of Meteorology suggests that it will hit 35 degrees tomorrow. It's summer.
My brain wants to go into summer mode, but this is still a full-time study and part-time earn money bit of the year. I worked around it today by focussing on secondary research and doing some solid thinking. I had to do it before I could write a chapter - I had intended, however, to finish with the whole of the primary research for the chapter first.
Tomorrow's going to be trickier, because it's summer brain plus time with friends plus a possible NYE party (if I can sort out transport - it's only 4 minutes by car from my place, but that's a long walk). I might work a bit late tonight and see if I can do two hours of tomorrow's work, which will leave me only about 8 hours to lever in (but doesn't sort my NYE logistics). I refuse to cancel anything. Well, except the heat.
What I was sorting out today (and will continue to sort out tonight, I think) is the scholarly context for this chapter I must write. I did all the bibliography and got hold of most of the texts for this section ages back, and we're not talking about a vast number of papers. No books at all and only about 20 more articles to read, in fact. So far, not one of them has touched directly on what I'm doing, but two have given me some appreciation of things I need to address when writing and one I printed out for a close look, because I suspect it's going to be crucial.
If I can get through all this tonight, then tomorrow I can start writing and also return to Connie Willis' book, do a bit of other work and maybe write some novel. I rather wanted to be finished the Willis by 1 January (it's a round date - I like round dates), but my brain works differently in the heat and my eyes can't take too much fine print and I shall still get me a draft done by the promised date, which is the bottom line.
My public service announcement to the world is that it's possibly not wise to tell me that doctorates are not much work. If I had known that, I would never have learned the eleven languages I needed for the first one*.
In another public service announcement (this is the week for people to be very informative about degrees to me and to try hard to correct my misbegotten views) research degrees are quite, quite different in nature and quality to coursework degrees and coursework degrees are not the same as the workshops or short courses one does through a professional organisation. The differences are important and deep. Not everyone need the same kind of qualification. Not everyone needs formal qualifications at all. Some need very specialised ones. I thought this was obvious, but apparently not.
So many people have made slightly disparaging comments about higher degrees in my presence that I thought it was worth a public service announcement**. Why this became a rant is because of the time of year. I get four weeks holiday a year and put requests in for them in advance - university holidays do not apply. If I have to work long days while most people are on holiday, then I do not expect to hear words that imply that I'm lazy. I'm having a ball, but I'm putting in solid work.
The clustering of incidents amuses me, even as I wonder what the trigger was. It's a dense cluster. One friend may well read this post and say "I said that - and I didn't mean what she thought I meant" But it wasn't that person who said that precise thing. It was two other people.
This is one of the reasons I was so grumpy earlier in the week. I was having quite a nice Christmastide, with friends inviting me to celebrate and cool things happening and my work going well. Then I had financial stuff to worry about (that's not going to fade, alas - which is the story of my life, although I have more paid work now and am fine for a little as long as I'm careful) and then individual after individual started belittling research degrees to me. If you think that it must be easy because I got into it, then say so - I'd rather be told directly if you think I'm stupid or lazy. If you think government money should not be spent on higher education, then say so and we can disagree on matters political. If you have no idea what universities do or what one is supposed to put into a research degree or take from one or why I'm doing this one, then say so and we can talk it through.
And for the 99% of people who read my blog who didn't tell me these things, I'm very sorry! I feel much better for having let off steam, though.
* I think it was eleven. I lost count. Medieval Studies has to have one of the toughest prior knowledge requirements - languages plus codicology and palaeography and some diplomatics as well as the specific background for the topic. I was lucky it was reading knowledge only for most of the languages - the only one I needed at actual speaking/writing level was modern French. Although Spanish and German would have helped as well, to be honest.
** I get comments about how easy novels are to write all the time. People tell me the plots they want to see, too. I tell them to go and write them. Readers can always use more good novels, I say (and it's true). Most of them don't, and I hear nothing more, but someone did take up my challenge and write that novel and the novel was good and it got published and the writer in question is now explaining to everyone that novels require hard work and discipline over a long period of time. This is why I don't get nearly as fretted when people belittle that part of my life.
My brain wants to go into summer mode, but this is still a full-time study and part-time earn money bit of the year. I worked around it today by focussing on secondary research and doing some solid thinking. I had to do it before I could write a chapter - I had intended, however, to finish with the whole of the primary research for the chapter first.
Tomorrow's going to be trickier, because it's summer brain plus time with friends plus a possible NYE party (if I can sort out transport - it's only 4 minutes by car from my place, but that's a long walk). I might work a bit late tonight and see if I can do two hours of tomorrow's work, which will leave me only about 8 hours to lever in (but doesn't sort my NYE logistics). I refuse to cancel anything. Well, except the heat.
What I was sorting out today (and will continue to sort out tonight, I think) is the scholarly context for this chapter I must write. I did all the bibliography and got hold of most of the texts for this section ages back, and we're not talking about a vast number of papers. No books at all and only about 20 more articles to read, in fact. So far, not one of them has touched directly on what I'm doing, but two have given me some appreciation of things I need to address when writing and one I printed out for a close look, because I suspect it's going to be crucial.
If I can get through all this tonight, then tomorrow I can start writing and also return to Connie Willis' book, do a bit of other work and maybe write some novel. I rather wanted to be finished the Willis by 1 January (it's a round date - I like round dates), but my brain works differently in the heat and my eyes can't take too much fine print and I shall still get me a draft done by the promised date, which is the bottom line.
My public service announcement to the world is that it's possibly not wise to tell me that doctorates are not much work. If I had known that, I would never have learned the eleven languages I needed for the first one*.
In another public service announcement (this is the week for people to be very informative about degrees to me and to try hard to correct my misbegotten views) research degrees are quite, quite different in nature and quality to coursework degrees and coursework degrees are not the same as the workshops or short courses one does through a professional organisation. The differences are important and deep. Not everyone need the same kind of qualification. Not everyone needs formal qualifications at all. Some need very specialised ones. I thought this was obvious, but apparently not.
So many people have made slightly disparaging comments about higher degrees in my presence that I thought it was worth a public service announcement**. Why this became a rant is because of the time of year. I get four weeks holiday a year and put requests in for them in advance - university holidays do not apply. If I have to work long days while most people are on holiday, then I do not expect to hear words that imply that I'm lazy. I'm having a ball, but I'm putting in solid work.
The clustering of incidents amuses me, even as I wonder what the trigger was. It's a dense cluster. One friend may well read this post and say "I said that - and I didn't mean what she thought I meant" But it wasn't that person who said that precise thing. It was two other people.
This is one of the reasons I was so grumpy earlier in the week. I was having quite a nice Christmastide, with friends inviting me to celebrate and cool things happening and my work going well. Then I had financial stuff to worry about (that's not going to fade, alas - which is the story of my life, although I have more paid work now and am fine for a little as long as I'm careful) and then individual after individual started belittling research degrees to me. If you think that it must be easy because I got into it, then say so - I'd rather be told directly if you think I'm stupid or lazy. If you think government money should not be spent on higher education, then say so and we can disagree on matters political. If you have no idea what universities do or what one is supposed to put into a research degree or take from one or why I'm doing this one, then say so and we can talk it through.
And for the 99% of people who read my blog who didn't tell me these things, I'm very sorry! I feel much better for having let off steam, though.
* I think it was eleven. I lost count. Medieval Studies has to have one of the toughest prior knowledge requirements - languages plus codicology and palaeography and some diplomatics as well as the specific background for the topic. I was lucky it was reading knowledge only for most of the languages - the only one I needed at actual speaking/writing level was modern French. Although Spanish and German would have helped as well, to be honest.
** I get comments about how easy novels are to write all the time. People tell me the plots they want to see, too. I tell them to go and write them. Readers can always use more good novels, I say (and it's true). Most of them don't, and I hear nothing more, but someone did take up my challenge and write that novel and the novel was good and it got published and the writer in question is now explaining to everyone that novels require hard work and discipline over a long period of time. This is why I don't get nearly as fretted when people belittle that part of my life.