this was planned as a check-in, but turned out to be all about scattered brain

[howsmyenglish]

This week was... interesting. Last week of the semester, which I didn't even realize. Usually, I wait for the semester to end, because I'm sick of the buses (it takes me 3 hours to get to my place of work) and I'm tired of seeing my students all the time. Not this time. Which is good. (means, I'm not very tired? means, everything's going right?)

On Monday the former adviser came to my town. The time we met before was where I work. So... because last time went so well, I totally let my guard down (even though he was very weird and refused to come to my place for lunch), as a result, I felt like an ugly stinking piece of shit after we went our separate ways. I cannot say that this was very nice, but it helped me to find a way to stop feeling like this: after a couple of disgusting hours (try being in your own company when you feel like a stinking piece of shit), I went up to my husband and started telling him about the subsection that I was working on at that moment. And it totally helped! I've been feeling like a person who knows what it's writing ever since!

Have been writing. Found out, I can't do more than 4 and a half hours a day. Is this enough? Is this way less than should be? I work for approx. 2-3 hours after breakfast, then have a break, then work again, but my brain just dies at some point. Yesterday, I forced myself to write after my brain had died completely. It was so funny: like, when you're Thelma and Louise, you're already flying down in your car, you'll be dead in a couple of seconds, but you're still trying to finish some work. I don't think I'll be able to write anything today: brain is still lying around in uncomfortable positions all over the place. All because of the forcing-myself yesterday. I'm hoping, as a continue writing, brain will get more flexible and used to working for longer periods of time... Will it?

Anyhow. Hope you all have a good weekend. I do plan to return here with something more interesting than scattered brain in a short while :)

Comments

[eller]

That's normal - I also can't really concentrate more than three or four hours a day, any more work time just gets less and less productive. But I think as long as it's a few hours with actual results, that's the best you can hope for in academia. It's not the kind of work that can be done by rote execution of routine tasks (which can be kept up for 8 hours) but actually requires creative thinking - and it's my firm belief that anyone claiming to do more than 4 hours actual creative work a day is simply faking it for the boss. (Personally, I try to schedule my work in the way that I do 3 hours of thinking and the rest of the day for boring routine stuff that needs to be done but is not actually difficult. Trying to prevent burn-out!)

[howsmyenglish]

Thank you! What a great reply :D

[corvidology]

I have to agree. This is something you can just crank out.

[howsmyenglish]

Didn't know the verb "crank out"! Great, like learning! :D

But you mean "this in _not_ something you can crank out", right? :)

[corvidology]

Yes, that's what I meant. :D

[thewayne]

English usage comments. I don't remember the precise rules, and there's some fuzziness to their usage, but it's in regards to using numbers vs spelling them out. Usually you always use numbers when representing specific quantities, especially with numbers greater than 20. Greater than 10 it's kind of optional. Less than 10 it depends on whether you're referring to specific things or concepts.

"I called her three or four times last week" vs "I called her 3-4 times last week" the former looks better and I'm not referring to specific objects or items.

"Someone stole 3 or 4 cans of soda from the shop" refers to specific things and would be more precise.

So saying 'four and a half' might be better than '4 and a half', the latter looks a little weird, with a number and a verbal descriptor.

And as Corvidology points out, 'crank it out' is very common English (both UK and USA) usage. The proverbial 'nose to the grindstone', which is archaic and not used except by weirdos like me. :-)

[howsmyenglish]

this is actually not about English (it's the same in other languages), but about being inattentive. I first wrote the 4, later added the half without rereading. still, valued comment! thank you! :)

[thewayne]

LOL!  Happens to us all!  I get really annoyed at myself when a typo gets through as my browser normally catches them, but sometimes it'll miss things like homonyms or antonyms.  There was one a couple of months ago in a post subject line - I stared at it through several replies before I noticed it! facepalm