Stressed is Desserts Spelled Backwards

Dixie Chicks sounds from my laptop as I sit down to write this blog. Finally, I can just chill ... listen to music ... maybe read a non-academic book ... until tomorrow comes around. To say that I have been stressed this past week would be the biggest understatement of the year. It also justifies why I haven't written in a while.

Yesterday (Wednesday) I turned in an essay that was meant to be 2000 words on the use of rhetoric in JFK's & MLK's 1963 civil rights speeches. I wish I could say I wrote 2000 words. I wish I could say I wrote 1900 words. But I must 'fess up & admit that I wrote 5,741 words. Those who know me should not be at all surprised that I would ever stay within a "suggested" word count. And I did email the professor ahead of time to ask if I would be penalized for going over the word limit. Now you probably ask why on God's green earth I would choose to write almost 4000 words more than I needed. Well, my analysis dictated that. When you analyze Kennedy's "Civil Rights Address" & King's "I Have a Dream," you know you're going to be in for the long haul. Both speeches are 5 pages each! Plus I have to pull out all those big, master words that show I know what I'm talking about. Oh, & I had to provide historical context since my professor is an Australian ... living in Wales. :-) Now if I was a good student, I would have started the paper weeks ago, which I did. I printed the speeches & read them! But that was it. So Friday saw me in the library. Saturday found me in London working on my dissertation while I waited for my train back to Swansea. Sunday ... well ... I slept. Monday was a visit to the library & Tuesday was an even longer visit to the library. Of course Tuesday was the night before the paper was due, so I pulled an all nighter, managing to get in 3 hours of sleep before I was back in the library for one last read through. Was I stressed? You bet!

On top of the paper, Lucy & her boyfriend of 18 months just broke up. Major drama with that one which stressed everyone out as we were trying to console her (dinner & movie night as Zoe's was a much needed night in for us!) & work on her essays. Then Zoe & I were going to her home (Pontypool, about 2.5 hours from Swansea) for a day but her car broke down the day before we were to go. So we didn't go; we didn't get her mom's home cooking. Instead, she got a car that is at a garage where they are trying to fleece her. Luckily, she used some law lingo on them & the manager is sticking with the original quote of 120GBP for the work they have done when the mechanic told her it would cost 350GBP to get the car back without any work or 700GBP to fix it. Both prices were too steep &, frankly, it would be better to buy a new car!

The worst part of being stressed has been the amount of food I have been eating. When I'm stressed, I do one of two things. 1. Clean. 2. Eat. This has been an eating stress. I bought crap at the grocery (i.e. chocolate, ice cream, & rich tea biscuits which Zoe introduced me to). I either snacked on those or the oranges I keep in my room ... or I didn't eat at all. I know it's not healthy, but sometimes you just forget to eat! Monday night I did manage a nice dinner since Valerie, my American housemate who was returning home (I'm jealous) yesterday, & I went to dinner at the restaurant where I work. Tuesday, the two of us made pasta. Last night the "crew" as I affectionally call our group of 4 went to a movie (Blades of Glory, SO funny!), dinner (I love vege burgers!), & the bar. Though, by 11pm we were all calling it a night because we were so tired from the all-nighter paper writing the day before!