(no subject)

By 1 pm I shall have one bibliography in sufficient condition to send to the next stage. By tonight (hah! my deadline is due to a meeting, not because I am very close to finished. The meeting will result in more work and I have decided to be done with bibliographies by then. It's a technical decision known as, "So there." It can also be known as, "Or else.") I shall have the second. Then I get to move on. This is not an end of them, by any means, but it is an end of the biggest worstest most agonising stage of them.

In other words, life should be more fun after today. All of the additional work that appears after this evening is going to be way more interesting than these bibliographies.

Also, I have an unexpected shopping trip today. It turns out that I need it. Not only have more messages reared their heads (why do messages keep popping up?) but it turns out that I'm rather short of basic comestibles. I have plenty of chocolate, but only one egg. I have some milk, but not even the beginning of enough breakfast food. In fact, I have no breakfast food at all, and today ate a piece of chocolate in lieu. This didn't worry me at all, but I suspect I ought not make a habit of it. Thank goodness for friends with cars who ask, "Shopping and coffee?"

And now, back to megalists and smaller lists and checking for punctuation.

(no subject)

I'm almost finished an unexpectedly long detour. It wasn't supposed to be long, but my computer is misbehaving again, so it was. Almost done, though. I wanted to check that I'd actually read all the things I needed to read. I've still time to add to my research, you see, if I have to. It looks as if I don't have to. Not a wasted 90 minutes, then.

I wasn't checking for new research (although I may do one more stab at that in a couple of weeks) but at research that I had taken for granted over too many years of Medieval history. It's dead easy to do. Anyhow, it appears I might have left a couple of books off the bibliography that needed to be on it (and they now are) and all else is fine.

What isn't fine is that there is a gap in our understanding of France. There are amazing studies to the late thirteenth century and equally amazing ones from the mid-fourteenth century, but there are gaps in between these studies. There's a whole transition period (especially my ten years) where there's been not nearly enough of anything. It's worse for the south of France. Political history is covered, though not in as much depth as I would like, but other facets are rather understudied. I noticed this when I started research for this idiot doctorate and now I'm noticing it again.

And now, back to my bibliographies...