the dissertation is 120 pages long, and growing fast, and time is getting away from me like so many slippery eels. i am doing an experiment on productivity in which i spend each day of the week writing in a different location to see if there are significant differences in pages written associated with where i work. my only conclusion so far is that being in the lab is especially bad, because all i end up doing is eating chocolate and playing sporcle and endlessly checking e-mail. i'm somewhat glad that i hate facebook, or that would be the real end of everything.

i've been writing in the library since 1, and now it's 3:10 and i think i'm going out of my mind. a completely random person popped up on my msn, and out of sheer boredom i started chatting with him(?*) about his recent deployment in iraq. it's really uncomfortable talking to vets -- either they don't want to give details about their tour, in which case i'm convinced they have PTSD, or we end up talking about how they had to carry their buddy's arm/leg back to base to the tune of anguished screams**. anyway, point being, i've never been big on random internet connections a la omegle/chatroulette, but clearly writing a thesis eventually makes you engage in all kinds of behaviors and experience all kinds of things, including but not limited to: hallucinations/depression/mania/anxiety/delusions of grandeur.


* we need new pronouns for the internet age. putative him. phim?
** actually almost not kidding here -- i had a patient recently who, well, never mind.