Greetings, Internet! I hope everyone is staying as safe and sane as can be. This week, I tried hair oil for the first time, went down to campus to give a paper, and watched hella women’s college basketball. Daily summaries below!

March 24, 2023

• I need to cut another minute and a half from this talk.
• Also when I do runthroughs, my pace is kind of inconsistent and I’m not a fan.
• Worked out with an SCI trainer!
• Watched (well, kind of watched and kind of did dishes during) the latest episode of RPDR, and yay, Anetra won a challenge!
• Wordle: In three!
• Currently feeling: There really aren’t enough hours in the day to work on this presentation. That said, I kind of want to do presentations for each chapter in some way, because it’s helping me to edit and make ideas clearer and easier to explain.
• Currently looping: Still trying out that Spotify DJ, and so far, not bad!

March 25, 2023

• Did the FES cycle.
• Thought I would have time for, well, anything productive, but I had a late start, so, not so much productivity.
• My boyfriend’s here! He cooked dinner so I could get work done.
• We then watched an episode of “Say Yes to the Dress,” which he found fairly entertaining.
• He also enjoyed watching the NCAA Women’s Basketball tournament, so yay for watching sports together!
• Wordle: Whoops.
• Currently feeling: Why did I decide to make a powerpoint for this presentation?
• Currently looping: Spotify’s AI DJ! Surprisingly good.

March 26, 2023

• Okay, I just learned that hair oil is awesome.
• <Pats hair> it’s just so soft.
• Worked on this powerpoint while my boyfriend made lunch.
• Is it okay to just leave the Latin on the screen and recite the English translation in the talk? It would crowd the screen to include both, and I feel like people care about the Latin and would want to stare at it more. Or maybe that’s wrong and someone will be miffed at me for it.
• I’m just going to go with what I’d prefer. If anything, it’s like hearing one language and reading subtitles in another.
• Went outside with my boyfriend because it’s gorgeous outside (and also because he’s usually like, “We should go outside”).
• Worked on this powerpoint while my boyfriend made dinner.
• He also did all the dishes.
• We then watched another episode of “The Dropout,” and dang, this miniseries is growing on me. Also, I keep saying this, but the Theranos lady is a straight up wackadoodle.
• Did a runthrough of my presentation, and I’m finally under thirty minutes.
• But also I’ve read through this enough that I don’t even know if it’s decent. It’s also heavily in the late Roman period when I want to talk about things that are like, 250-400 years later, so, whoops?
• Wordle: Whoops.
• Currently feeling: My boyfriend is awesome for basically taking care of me while I go into intense scholar mode.
• Currently looping: Still the Spotify AI DJ.

March 27, 2023

• Emails and edits!
• And some vocal recording (well, rerecording) during pauses when there aren’t any construction noises outside.
• Worked out with an SCI trainer!
• Why does sending one email take me an hour?
• And making dinner takes me an hour and a half?
• Tidying up takes a long time, too.
• Oof, I still need to edit this audio. And get ready for bed.
• Seriously, not enough hours in the day.
• Wordle: In five (but seriously, WTF was the word today?)!
• Currently feeling: Someday, I will learn how to send concise emails with perfectly presented tone in less than five minutes. But it may not be this day.
• Currently looping: I’m kind of digging the Spotify AI DJ, not gonna lie.

March 28, 2023

• Went to Push to Walk! Was so sleepy from not sleeping well the night before.
• Bubble tea, because of course.
• Did a final runthrough of my talk, and er, it’s fine I guess?
• Do I have the right dongle for my powerpoint?
• Do I even need the powerpoint? I guess for the Latin.
• Doing tax stuff also, because this is a busy week.
• Wordle: Whoops.
• Currently feeling: My advisor is asking that I get to the workshop tomorrow when it starts at 9am. I’m not really sure I can explain to him that it would require me getting up at 4:30am (because having a spinal cord injury requires constant maintenance, especially in the morning when I wake up). So I’m showing up as early as I can, which will be later than he wants, but more reasonable for my schedule. #settingboundaries
• Currently looping: Spotify AI DJ!

March 29, 2023

• On the road to Princeton for a graduate student workshop!
• Turns out that I did not need to pack my laptop, but thank goodness my mother put tea in my thermos while I was frantically trying to get ready in the morning.
• Half of the workshop participants flew in from Germany the day before, so by the end of the workshop, it was like, midnight in Germany.
• And yet, they seemed very awake and alert. Whereas when I fly to California, I’m like, exhausted on day one.
• My mother and I then drove to get noodles (it’s the featured image!), and ate a pint of ice cream in a Whole Foods parking lot, because sometimes you just need to eat ice cream in a parking lot out of soup cups that you grabbed from Whole Foods.
• The ice cream powered our drive back to NYC.
• Wordle: Whoops.
• Currently feeling: So tired, but kind of glad that one of the professors said I was a “lively and engaging” speaker.
• Currently looping: No music, just the sounds of early medieval/late antique scholarship being spoken by people who need caffeine.

March 30, 2023

• Slept in a bit because I had to get up at “this is too effing early” o’clock yesterday.
• Did the FES cycle.
• Talked to someone about the shower repair situation (yup, that’s still going on).
• Started to tidy up the apartment. Turns out I had a lot of catalogs for furniture stores just sitting around on my table?
• Wordle: Might have to pause the Wordle updates for a while, on account of not having had time to do them for the past couple of days.
• Currently feeling: So sleepy, and yet still not going to bed until after midnight because my habits are ridiculous.
• Currently looping: Whatever Spotify wants to play on The Killers’ radio.

Thanks so much for reading! Stay safe, stay sane, and have you ever tried hair oil?