![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
And then sometimes things work out.
May. 10th, 2006 11:06 pmSo, last Friday I was pretty stressed. And now I'm doing better, and thought I'd just give an update.
The poor sad car
This morning the other guy's insurance finally got a real contact with him (they've been playing phone tag), so I was able to start the repair process. Estimate went very smoothly at Adams Collision, who I'm already feeling very good about. $2711 of damage, but I don't have to pay one red cent. My advice: if you must get rear-ended, let it be by an insured driver. There was some very frustrating miscommunication on rental cars, but it needn't really be recounted. Suffice it to say I had my engine diagnosed, and the engine trouble isn't related to the wreck, but is rather an odd coincidence -- the engine trouble is from my spark plugs marinating in ditch water for over a week after I forded the street in my Corolla in Lafayette a couple weekends ago. So I have to pay for it, but at least it's just plugs and wires, not transmission or something truly wallet-breaking like that. And once they drained the spark plug sockets of water, it runs SO much better, enough that I wasn't afraid to drive it around on errands today. I'll get the plugs/wires replaced tomorrow, and then after Adams gets the parts in, I'll get a rental for the 8 days it'll take to fix my poor sad car. Good as new!
The job situation
But before I can get my car fixed, I have to go to an orientation tomorrow at Louisiana Cardiology Associates. Barring something completely crazy and unforeseeable, I'll start as a file clerk the Monday after graduation. Will it be soul-crushing, suicide-inducing work? Possibly. But it pays, and they don't mind me disappearing for three weeks to go work at a heart camp (as well they shouldn't, CARDIOLOGY people!). In addition, I have a strange enjoyment of clerical work. I actually really like sorting things. I like putting things in other things (stuffing folders, gift cups, whatever). I can just put my brain on idle and use most of my brain for other things. The trick is not to fall so far into the Zone that it turns into a fugue state.
Schoolwork
I've still not even started writing my paper for Dr. Stone. However, I used a lot of my time today productively, reading and annotating articles instead of just reading TIME or a pleasure book. As soon as I can sharpen my thesis statement (it's still a bit nebulous at the moment, I'm looking for the little bit of thought that suddenly snaps it into sharp focus), it should pretty much write itself, well in time for me to finish it by Friday (my deadline, in advance of the actual Monday deadline). Still haven't met with Sylvie about the research assistantship stuff, but I think I'll try to do that next week. I'm slowly working around to a 'fuck it' position. I still fully plan to fulfill my obligations and complete a great pair of syllabi long before I leave , but it just ain't gonna happen by graduation, so I'm not really worried about it. Fire me.
Yesterday was moderately unproductive in schoolwork terms, but I don't regret it at all, and I did get some annotation done. More importantly, I saw Thank you for Smoking with Mandi. I'm feeling that this entry is currently too long already, so let me just saw: hilarious. I haven't laughed so hard in a long time -- it skewered everybody, without regard to politics or stances. There were. no. heroes. It also provoked thought, but without detracting from the pure enjoyment factor, which I think is important. Following that, we went to pétanque. Being forty minutes late, we didn't play, but I did take a great picture of this butterfly that was flying around alighting on anyone that would stand still more than two seconds.
Post-pétanque beers at Chimes, congratulatory dinner for Tanja at Chelsea's (yay ABD!), Gilmore Girls and Scrubs at Erin's. A good day.
The poor sad car
This morning the other guy's insurance finally got a real contact with him (they've been playing phone tag), so I was able to start the repair process. Estimate went very smoothly at Adams Collision, who I'm already feeling very good about. $2711 of damage, but I don't have to pay one red cent. My advice: if you must get rear-ended, let it be by an insured driver. There was some very frustrating miscommunication on rental cars, but it needn't really be recounted. Suffice it to say I had my engine diagnosed, and the engine trouble isn't related to the wreck, but is rather an odd coincidence -- the engine trouble is from my spark plugs marinating in ditch water for over a week after I forded the street in my Corolla in Lafayette a couple weekends ago. So I have to pay for it, but at least it's just plugs and wires, not transmission or something truly wallet-breaking like that. And once they drained the spark plug sockets of water, it runs SO much better, enough that I wasn't afraid to drive it around on errands today. I'll get the plugs/wires replaced tomorrow, and then after Adams gets the parts in, I'll get a rental for the 8 days it'll take to fix my poor sad car. Good as new!
The job situation
But before I can get my car fixed, I have to go to an orientation tomorrow at Louisiana Cardiology Associates. Barring something completely crazy and unforeseeable, I'll start as a file clerk the Monday after graduation. Will it be soul-crushing, suicide-inducing work? Possibly. But it pays, and they don't mind me disappearing for three weeks to go work at a heart camp (as well they shouldn't, CARDIOLOGY people!). In addition, I have a strange enjoyment of clerical work. I actually really like sorting things. I like putting things in other things (stuffing folders, gift cups, whatever). I can just put my brain on idle and use most of my brain for other things. The trick is not to fall so far into the Zone that it turns into a fugue state.
Schoolwork
I've still not even started writing my paper for Dr. Stone. However, I used a lot of my time today productively, reading and annotating articles instead of just reading TIME or a pleasure book. As soon as I can sharpen my thesis statement (it's still a bit nebulous at the moment, I'm looking for the little bit of thought that suddenly snaps it into sharp focus), it should pretty much write itself, well in time for me to finish it by Friday (my deadline, in advance of the actual Monday deadline). Still haven't met with Sylvie about the research assistantship stuff, but I think I'll try to do that next week. I'm slowly working around to a 'fuck it' position. I still fully plan to fulfill my obligations and complete a great pair of syllabi long before I leave , but it just ain't gonna happen by graduation, so I'm not really worried about it. Fire me.
Yesterday was moderately unproductive in schoolwork terms, but I don't regret it at all, and I did get some annotation done. More importantly, I saw Thank you for Smoking with Mandi. I'm feeling that this entry is currently too long already, so let me just saw: hilarious. I haven't laughed so hard in a long time -- it skewered everybody, without regard to politics or stances. There were. no. heroes. It also provoked thought, but without detracting from the pure enjoyment factor, which I think is important. Following that, we went to pétanque. Being forty minutes late, we didn't play, but I did take a great picture of this butterfly that was flying around alighting on anyone that would stand still more than two seconds.
Post-pétanque beers at Chimes, congratulatory dinner for Tanja at Chelsea's (yay ABD!), Gilmore Girls and Scrubs at Erin's. A good day.
