musing and WIPS

I've been thinking about choices. Right now I'm choosing to sit here and type out random nerve firings straight from my brain to the keyboard rather than work on my article or my dissertation or knit. It's a very odd process for me to choose to blog about knitting rather than to knit, yet here I am. I made significant progress on the hedera socks for mom--I'm almost to the toe of the second sock..progress pics this weekend..and I'm working on the handle of Rusty's bag. Progress in casa de spinningleaves!
I am desperately awaiting the arrival of a new battery for my ipod, an absolute necessity for my work. I depend on this little gadget more than just about any other piece of technology except for the computer and the car. and the stove. and the refrigerator. ok, so we live in a world where moving off-grid or living without tech is not really an option unless you want to make it a full-time job. While I think I would sincerely enjoy that, it would only last about a week, then I would want my vacuum and my coffeemaker. I think studying the 16th and 17th centuries makes me value these amazing gizmos all the more. Back to the ipod. I have (aside from the requisite music) stored my entire dissertation on there; all my references, categorized by a wonderful little program called zotero--check it out, it's worth it!; all my linked notes; even pdfs of articles I'm reading. I LOVE this little thing. But the battery is shot, which makes working with it rather challenging. So I'm sitting here knitting, smelling the pumpkin bread baking, and working on this post rather than writing.
Many people, from my advisor to my father (himself a PhD), have told me that the dissertation is a marathon. I'm beginning to think it's more like making cookies. This may have been inspired by the harlot's latest post, so bear with me. I am always really excited about eating the gooey warm cookies fresh from the oven. The thought of them melting on my tongue is what sends me scurrying for the flour, eggs, and vanilla. I faithfully measure, beat, scoop, and pre-heat. I'm proud of my attention to detail, knowing that it will affect the end product. Yet by the time I'm greasing the sheet and scooping the dough out, I'm already cramming bites of it into my mouth. Usually only about half of it makes it in the oven. By the time the cookies are ready I don't even really want one. And that's kind of where I stand with the diss right now. I'm cramming enormous and fascinating quantities of data down my gullet. I'm so full of data I don't even want to write. Apparently what I'm revealing to all 1 of my readers is that I have low impulse control and I may never finish the diss. Goddess only knows how I actually knit anything, let alone wait through the process of spinning the yarn I'm knitting. I think that's enough soul-baring and metaphors for one day. Look for pics this weekend!