Thursday 5 February 2009

Winter Woes

Now do not get me wrong- I loved the snow. Not only did it entail me having an impromptu day off due to the un-health and safety/public safe weather, I frolicked around in the snow making snow angels, and Sizable Sammy the Snowman, had two snowball fights and copious amounts of tea whilst looking out of the window at the wispy flakes meandering their way down to earth.

However, this time of year I HATE. Hate with a passion. It invokes no sense of motivation or aspiration or positive thinking of any variety, and of course inevitably, there are things that really need to be done. For example, I have missed out on one deadline for a Masters scholarship because I could not pull together in time with ample sources of secondary reading and thought of the provenance of primary sources what to my dissertation on. Yes, that is right. I need a title, research and proposed method of studying before I even start and to be honest I have a great many ideas but no clue about how to go about it. I hate winter. I really do. as a usually self-motivating and well disciplined person, this is hard for me. Lethargic comes to mind.

As always to add to the confusion, my lovely but rather dotty ex-dissertation supervisor throws a bag of spanners in the works today by showing me a possibility of £20,000 scholarship to study the history of medicine in Newcastle of all places. I have never even been to Newcastle!! However, on that note, I am very tempted. I could research all about pregnancy control methods and sexual diseases int he past. That would be my ideal. Still, what to do... it is a really promising opportunity. I may just apply for a wait-and-see-situation... but then it would mean leaving the Castle, which I love, but then again that concerns me- if I stay on too long, will I never leave? I would miss my fellow wardens, but then it shouldn't be about that!! Still another thing to consider...

So... yeah, that is how the land lies now. I am sooooo glad my Internet is back up and working after a very long and painful conversation with the Internet service provider, well on my dad's part at least with some technical assistance from me... "Er... the Ethernet cable??" "Here, Dad!", "Oh right... Internet..." "It is this button here on my laptop, Dad" "Damn Vista" "Yup..." And to make things even more confusing the gal he was talking to also had the same name as me!!

Anyways, hope you are all alright! :)

3 comments:

psyconym said...

Scholarships!!

Oh my. Go you!

Deadlines!

I have a mobile phone for those things, avoid when can.

There is nothing like unemployment to motivate you to become super organised. I am looking into getting my expereince as an archivist (applied to the Michael Clark Company, of all places). It is tough out there.

Or so I say....

x

Old Fogey said...

NSSM - Newcastle is a lovely city - and one of the most elegant. I was there for a year in the early 1970s and wouldn't have missed it for anything. And Northumberland is the most wonderful county - full of history going back to the Anglo Saxons and Romans. It's civilized too - though Southerners would have you believe otherwise - and the university is excellent. It's easy to fall in love with the place. Try it and see.
As for the season, T S Eliot said February was the cruellest month - midwinter spring - all promise of spring but the worst of winter. I hate it too.
OF

The Not-so-Spotless Mind said...

scholarships, deadlines and forms- oh my indeed! haha
thanks for ur comment Psyconym! Good luck with your work experience- have you heard back from them? It is a hard task to get them to take you on, even for free?! Tis indeed a tough world out there!

Thanks, OF, for your support as always!! As a southern gal myself, my notions of Newcastle were not great! I think you may have changed my mind! We shall see if this scholarship comes up... I am quite excited about it... we shall wait and see!
The good thing about February, as someone pointed out at work, is that it is the shortest month. It could be worse!