Last week at this time I was doing what I believe is known as, "Losing my Shit All Over the Place." I basically had ten million, frillion, septillion things to do, most with a Saturday deadline, so I was spazzing out everywhere.
I am pleased to say -- with a little help from friends -- I managed to get everything done that needed to get done. Huge, immense, incredible thanks go out to Tammi who did me the gigantic favor of taking my art to the gallery (Ok, ok, ok -- it's totally just a bar with art hanging on the walls. WHATEVER. THEY CALL THEMSELVES A GALLERY, SO I WILL TOO) on time for the drop off so that I could attend my cousin's graduation party.
Speaking of which, graduation party turned into Cousin-Palooza '08 with representation from all sides and factions of the family; it was lovely. Cousins are so awesome, and I can't tell you how much I enjoy and love all of my cousins' company. I feel lucky to be so close to them all, if not geographically then at least personally. Even more rad: I'll get to see most of them again at the end of the month when fellow cousin and Bishop (Oh, Cousin Bishop, as Carl would say) has his 25th anniversary of ordination. It's going to be fabulous.
The biggest accomplishment is that I got that fragging abstract done. I got it in right under the deadline at 11:49pm on Saturday. It was all kind of slapdash -- If you remember, I originally did paper on Hegel and Lacan, then the Doc advised me to just focus on one of the philosophers. So I chose Hegel, thinking that he would give me more to work with. I struggled all week long with this stupid abstract, really having issues with both the writing style and Hegel's philosophy (oh god, I HAAAAAATE Hegel -- he's impossibly dense and cerebral) and feeling quite discouraged. Then, at the Rosemont Reading on Friday night (which went really well, by the way, I got a good response on what I read), one of my fellow readers read a piece called, "Sarah Died From Her Lacanian Struggle" a fictional short story inspired be the Critical Theory class she and I both took, the class that spawned this paper in the first place. You guys, that story was exactly what I needed to hear. So at the eleventh hour, I changed my mind again and decided to focus solely on Lacan. So Saturday -- on the ride to my cousin's graduation -- I rewrote my abstract. I didn't run it by the Doc or anyone, I just sent it in. I don't think I did it properly, writing style-wise, but writing in a serious academic fashion is so difficult, and writing in serious academic fashion while still feeling like it was "my own" is darn near impossible. So I took a breath, trusted my gut and natural writing instincts and just did it. I have no idea if it will be accepted, but if it's not I'm OK with that. A lot of this exercise was about trying something new, putting myself out there. I did the best I could, and I am satisfied with myself. The bigger picture now is figuring out how to get myself to Ireland/the UK, because deep down, that's what this is really about. Omen-wise, this post of dorky Lacan jokes appeared on McSweeney's the same day. Which I don't take as an omen that I'll get to the conference, rather that I did the right thing writing about Lacan.
Meanwhile, summer classes continue to be crazy. My company's softball team continues to rock -- they're 6–0 right now. I may have finagled myself as a correspondent for Montgomery County Newspapers (I know. What? How did that happen? The editor for Ticket is my teacher for my summer class, and he invited me to do a few articles, that's how. Sadly, unpaid. Gotta start somewhere, I guess). Mike's girlfriend has temporarily moved in with us. I've told Gary he can move in with me come fall. (YEAH. What have I gotten myself into? This could be either incredibly bad or incredibly awesome. We'll find out which.) I've got another wedding this weekend, so it's home home home, and of course, more photos. Art show is TOMORROW NIGHT and I couldn't be more stoked. I hope to see you all there! You're coming, right? You're all invited! Come on, you know you want to drink booze with me and help me pretend I'm a famous artist!
It's a crazy, wild time I'm having this summer. I kind of like it.
I am pleased to say -- with a little help from friends -- I managed to get everything done that needed to get done. Huge, immense, incredible thanks go out to Tammi who did me the gigantic favor of taking my art to the gallery (Ok, ok, ok -- it's totally just a bar with art hanging on the walls. WHATEVER. THEY CALL THEMSELVES A GALLERY, SO I WILL TOO) on time for the drop off so that I could attend my cousin's graduation party.
Speaking of which, graduation party turned into Cousin-Palooza '08 with representation from all sides and factions of the family; it was lovely. Cousins are so awesome, and I can't tell you how much I enjoy and love all of my cousins' company. I feel lucky to be so close to them all, if not geographically then at least personally. Even more rad: I'll get to see most of them again at the end of the month when fellow cousin and Bishop (Oh, Cousin Bishop, as Carl would say) has his 25th anniversary of ordination. It's going to be fabulous.
The biggest accomplishment is that I got that fragging abstract done. I got it in right under the deadline at 11:49pm on Saturday. It was all kind of slapdash -- If you remember, I originally did paper on Hegel and Lacan, then the Doc advised me to just focus on one of the philosophers. So I chose Hegel, thinking that he would give me more to work with. I struggled all week long with this stupid abstract, really having issues with both the writing style and Hegel's philosophy (oh god, I HAAAAAATE Hegel -- he's impossibly dense and cerebral) and feeling quite discouraged. Then, at the Rosemont Reading on Friday night (which went really well, by the way, I got a good response on what I read), one of my fellow readers read a piece called, "Sarah Died From Her Lacanian Struggle" a fictional short story inspired be the Critical Theory class she and I both took, the class that spawned this paper in the first place. You guys, that story was exactly what I needed to hear. So at the eleventh hour, I changed my mind again and decided to focus solely on Lacan. So Saturday -- on the ride to my cousin's graduation -- I rewrote my abstract. I didn't run it by the Doc or anyone, I just sent it in. I don't think I did it properly, writing style-wise, but writing in a serious academic fashion is so difficult, and writing in serious academic fashion while still feeling like it was "my own" is darn near impossible. So I took a breath, trusted my gut and natural writing instincts and just did it. I have no idea if it will be accepted, but if it's not I'm OK with that. A lot of this exercise was about trying something new, putting myself out there. I did the best I could, and I am satisfied with myself. The bigger picture now is figuring out how to get myself to Ireland/the UK, because deep down, that's what this is really about. Omen-wise, this post of dorky Lacan jokes appeared on McSweeney's the same day. Which I don't take as an omen that I'll get to the conference, rather that I did the right thing writing about Lacan.
Meanwhile, summer classes continue to be crazy. My company's softball team continues to rock -- they're 6–0 right now. I may have finagled myself as a correspondent for Montgomery County Newspapers (I know. What? How did that happen? The editor for Ticket is my teacher for my summer class, and he invited me to do a few articles, that's how. Sadly, unpaid. Gotta start somewhere, I guess). Mike's girlfriend has temporarily moved in with us. I've told Gary he can move in with me come fall. (YEAH. What have I gotten myself into? This could be either incredibly bad or incredibly awesome. We'll find out which.) I've got another wedding this weekend, so it's home home home, and of course, more photos. Art show is TOMORROW NIGHT and I couldn't be more stoked. I hope to see you all there! You're coming, right? You're all invited! Come on, you know you want to drink booze with me and help me pretend I'm a famous artist!
It's a crazy, wild time I'm having this summer. I kind of like it.
Labels: Artsy-Fartsy, Catch-up, Miscellania, Promotin', school owns my soul
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