1 red bull, 1 nice&spicy pot noodle, and 608 words and counting

[helenic]

Essay for week 5: Hellenistic Philosophy - "Can we know anything? Did the Stoics or the Skeptics have the better of the arguments over katalhptikh fantasia?" I don't need to tell you that it's due in at 6pm tomorrow and I've just begun the reading - and to be honest, I'm not particularly concerned about it. I managed to get a satisfactory response to my four hour essay last week, so I might as well take advantage of the fact. It's an unfortunate consequence of my working habits that I'm mentally unable to do work if I could be doing it closer to the deadline. My brain searches the week's schedule for a few hours to squeeze it into; the night before, the morning it's due in. Besides which I've learnt the frustrating way that no matter how long I spend on a piece of work it's never going to be perfect, and in any case I work much more efficiently under pressure. One of the reasons (I think) I get so irritated with my essays is the fact that they're never graded, and most of the time aren't particularly relevant to the supervision. They're more of a preparatory exercise; usually they don't cover the most interesting aspect of the topic, only lay the foundations of it. And while thinking of them this way doesn't make them easier to do well, it does make them easier to finish.

This week I didn't even get the relevant books until tonight (two texts between six of us!) so I decided not to let it worry me, and spent the day painting instead. I have naples yellow hue in my hair and my hands reek of white spirit up to the elbows, but I'm over halfway through a portrait of Iain and I'm really rather pleased with it. More to the point, I feel like me again; scents are always evocative, and the sharp oils/turps mixture, clinging to my clothes and my hands and my hair, is one I've particularly missed. It feels good to be using my time creatively - last week the days I didn't work I did very little else, and somehow doing nothing is more exhausting than anything. Today (aside from the painting and essay) I've managed to:

x. do my laundry (a laborious, time-consuming affair involving walking across the whole of college every half hour at least three times)
x. try on many pretty sale trousers at topshop, none of which fitted; 10s are too tight across the hips, 12s too loose at the waist. damn their eyes.
x. spend a blissful hour in the company of the stunningly attractive mr. johnston
x. attend a pre-emptive pancake party in Kenny B
x. decide on a May Ball (Clare) and book tickets

I'm especially pleased about the latter. It's to be an all-night affair, with ballrooms and extensive gardens filled with lanterns and candlelit pools; all wonderfully elegant and decadent and drunken. I'm looking forward to it tremendously.


(photo © Paul Troughton, 2000)

Comments

[yiskah.livejournal.com]

Towards the end of my first term, I wrote an archaeology essay in an hour and a half, sitting in the laundry room, doing the reading as I went along. It garnered the best comments of any essay I'd handed in all that term, which taught me that one should never take these sorts of things too seriously.

I'm sure you'll enjoy Clare; it must be a wonderful setting for a ball, and likely to be far less poncy and full of twats than, say, Magdalene or Trinity. Best balls I ever went to were like that - Trinity Hall (1997) and Newnham (2000) - especially the latter. Christ's was great too (also 2000). Jesus (1998) would have been good, but it chucked it down the whole time. Man, I miss Cambridge sometimes - really looking forward to going back to get my MA this summer.

[libellum.livejournal.com]

mm, that was what we decided. We never even considered Trinity or John's (although apparently Trinity is the same night, so we'll get to see their fireworks!). In the end the choice was between Clare or Queens, and it wouldn't really have made a difference either way except that clare seemed smaller and more elegant somehow. A ball rather than a lot of drunk undergraduates. Anyway, I have great expectations. (which college were you at, if it's not a secret? I don't even know what subject you did.)

As for essays, I finished the philosophy in one hour on Thursday night, and in the feedback I got it was described as "a vigorous, lucid, engaged piece". I rest my case.

xx

Re:

[yiskah.livejournal.com]

I was at Churchill, doing Arch & Anth - which basically turned into just Social Anthropology after my first year.

See - essays should always be done in haste!

A Kindred Spirit, plus some bits'n'pieces.

[si1entdave.livejournal.com]

Do not worry my darling, you are not alone in your work habits. My best work is always done between the hours of three and seven in the morning, and find it almost always the best way. The hard bit is knowing when to start so that you finish just before you have to hand it in. Luckily you don't do computer science, and so will never have to endure the joys of (20mins before the electronic submission deadline): 'But I know there isn't a syntax error in Line 328. Why won't the damn thing compile??! Bloody Java!' ;-)
As an aside, it is now about 0820 on Friday, and I haven't gone to bed yet. Just the way I like it.

It's wonderful to know you're feeling better. Feeling oneself is not so hard, but being happy and satisfied with your life is truly precious. Know that you and Iain are often in my thoughts, and that now I've added LJ to the page I use (http://www.bisnatch.net) every day as my favourites, I hope to be a more vocal online-type person. And yes, I do read that many webcomics every day.

On reflection, this post has a very odd tone to it. Perhaps it comes from regularly seeing the sun come up, as I have recently. Oh well, perhaps no bad thing. Take care my love, be well.

PS: If you could send me some info on the Student Cross thingy, it wouldn't half help stop my parents bugging me about when I'm going to disappear at Easter.

Re: A Kindred Spirit, plus some bits'n'pieces.

[libellum.livejournal.com]

I always think of you when I stay up late. For some reason on Wednesday night the birdsong started at about 3am. Bloody confusing. I wouldn't say my best work was done in the early hours - it tends to be a little incoherent. The early hours were designed for webdesign, painting and writing - things where being as close to your subconscious as possible is actually an advantage. For me the hardest part of a piece of work is just before you start it, staring at a blank word document dreading exactly how much you're going to get your head around before you can even approach the question. As soon as I start writing, it gets easier to write more. The trick to starting an essay, I suppose, is to not care how good it is, so long as you start foring sentences - and then you can always go back and rewrite them once the words are flowing.

yay for you being around more often! I suppose it's too much to hope you'll actually update yourself? You never did email me, and you haven't rung me once since I got here. So lj comments would be fantastic, if a little incredible ;) Anyway, hearing from you was wonderful - thankyou so much. you're a star.

xxxxx

ps. Student cross starts at Holy Cross Priory about 7pm Friday 11 April. We spend Fri night drinking and getting acquainted, leave Sat morning, and arrive in Walsingham on the afternoon of Friday 18 (Good Friday). There are coaches back to Leicester on the afternoon of Easter Sunday, and you'll need about 48 hours to recover and work out how to live normally again. It costs £35 for the week plus food (it's provided during the week, but you need to pay at Walsingham) and about £14 for the coach back. You'll need beer money, but people will probably buy you drinks to a greater or lesser extent. I've given Steve your address in Warwick, so he ought to be sending you the info pretty soon.

[devevre.livejournal.com]

You're certainly not alone in those study habits. If anything, mine continue to degenerate. It was all very well last year, when (rather like you) I left things until the last minute and actually did do better work under the pressure. But this year it's become worse, to the point that I no longer feel the last-minute pressure and just don't care. But - that said - I honestly think that writing essays in a limited amount of time is a better use of time. It gives you practise for being able to do that sort of thing when time becomes more valuable, and also I find that there's more of a 'spark'...

[libellum.livejournal.com]

Mmm, I went through a phase of that a couple of weeks ago. There's still an essay from Week 2 that I just never did. Admittedly I was ill, but I know that if I'd really cared, I could have written something. Work gets easier the further into term you get - you get less perfectionist, more used to doing it, and more importantly more comfortable with the topics. So while I'm fine with it at the moment, I know it'll be difficult again after Easter.

And working under pressure is definitely an advantage. It focusses the mind and encourages conciseness. When I only have an hour to write something I stick firmly to the question, rather than trying to do too much. The result is usually much more clear, and much more to the point.

xxx