coming up on week three

It's the third week of thesis writing - or maybe the fourth already. For a historian, I'm really forgetful about things that happen in my life and I can actually make myself forget them, too, leaving more space for "real" history. But it is a fact that this is the third week of me cooped up inside, unable to meet with friends, unable to move around much, unable to do anything without strong feelings of guilt.

Oh well. It will also be the last week, if I have anything to say about it (and unfortunately, I am the only one who has anything to say about it).

Today it's yet another trip to the library (ha, and I thought last Monday was the last one), two libraries actually, just to make sure that I haven't got too many second-hand citations in my text. My friend V. is bringing me another book from Linz on the weekend and I am milking the internet (JSTOR and Google books) for all it's got. Without the internet, I could chuck the whole thing, anyway. I'm really looking forward to the day, when I can have access to all the texts I need without having to pay large sums of money. Just to illustrate: to borrow a book from the Munich University Library via the Vienna University Library, it costs 14,90 Euros. I don't know if it costs that much per book (one would hope not), but even if it doesn't, that's just too much.

Working on the thesis, I'm going back and forth between "so bored!" and "ooh, fun!" It's a very strange life. The myth of the scientist needing absolute quiet in her (more often his) room and lots of service is a little truer than I thought. I also see why my dad always did his writing in the night, which I do, too, but it's starting to wear on me. Work gets done, though, even if I'm not generating text. Yesterday (or actually today at 1am) I finally whipped all my footnotes in shape.

Time to hit the libraries. Gratuitous Scotland pictures taken at the beach in North Berwick and at Tantallon Castle. I'm leaving you with a hypnotic song by the great Karine Polwart, which I've already learned how to sing, seeing as it's so simple.