Diversionary Tactics

Hmmm. I was supposed to be doing something. I wonder what it was? Never mind, there's a solitaire game of 'Forbidden Island' to play. Sure to win this time! Oh. Blast. Where was I? Oh, avoiding marking. Marking isn't so bad, and others have far more than I, but mine keeps diving for cover behind other activities such as endless blurb writing and e-mails that have accumulated to the level of madness! Oh bother, no blog yet for today either. Is there no end?! Must keep going. Must keep going. Don't look back! (Must watch 'Independence Day' tomorrow.)

Wobble wobble wobble. What to do? In the wake of last week's conference and the customary mild sickness associated with such things and the disruptions of people visiting at the weekend everything has fallen apart. And there are masses of things to be done! What? Oh, yes, laundry. Excellent! I love a bit of laundry. If only there had been degrees in laundry...

What's left to do? The aforementioned marking, article reading, foamy calculations, project X, masses of writing and of course travelling to work in the most beautiful place I've ever studied. That five hours of travelling a week is not the easiest thing to maintain on a regular basis. No amount of reading and useful scribbling can avert the battering of being on a bus and lugging luggage around on a weekly basis. Oh, the pain, the melodrama, the countless awkward instances of not quite giving up a seat quickly enough, and the hours of bumping around.

Plainly, my hair is just too long to be able to write well. It's that time again, after weeks of putting it off. There must be a haircut and quickly. Perhaps then I'll be able to pick up the Patrick O'Brian novels again and struggle on some more, and maybe not. There comes a point in the third set of five novels that the increasing melancholy and chatter about middle age and worries of the future become so oppressive that you just have to stop. It's well done, of course, but gloomy in ways best avoided. For your reference, dear reader, it kicks in seriously in 'Clarissa Oakes'.  Maybe it will be better with a haircut? Or will the reread of 'The Belgariad' kick on in earnest?

O.