Entry 27: In Which We Type A Lot

Today I spent eight solid hours working on my thesis. Two hours went into making a flowchart showing the entire experimental design. It came out pretty spiffy, if I do say so myself. Which I do.

The rest of the day I spent writing. It's bizarre how unevenly time passes when I'm writing. Sometimes I get stuck, maybe trying to phrase a delicate point just right, or trying to work out which piece of my argument should come next, or trying to get a thought organized. Or trying to have a thought, even. And I stare at the wall for what feels like forty-five minutes or so, only when I finally turn back to the monitor, I find it's only been a minute or two.

And then sometimes I get sucked down into the writing, the words filling my head, no other thoughts, not even hearing the radio (*), fingers running over the keyboard like crazy, and time passes in long smooth gulps, an hour going by in what I'd swear was only five minutes.

*:(I always feel like writing blocks up my ears; I know that sounds totally weird, but I swear that's what it feels like)

It's crazy, I'm always startled to realize how much (or how little) time has gone by. And it sort of alternates; a slow stretch that seems to go on forever, and then I blink and an hour passes.

It only works this way when I can really concentrate on the writing. I have a hard time writing at school; there are too many interruptions and too many other things to do. I can only write for a small block of time before I get interrupted or have to go to a meeting or to lab. And it feels like I can't get a complete thought properly unfolded unless I get into that whole weird time-flies-by ears-blocked-up zone. It shows in the writing too; everything I do in those short blocks of time comes out choppy and disjointed.

When I can work at home and spend the whole day on the thesis, I don't just get more work done, I get better work done. Which is why I've been working so much on weekends lately.

All this has been a long and windy way to get to this point: I got a lot done today. It was nice.

My thesis now weighs in at about 35 pages. I don't think it will get too much longer. But we'll see.

Okay. Time to watch the Daily Show and eat chocolate pudding. Mmm, pudding.