Dishwashing

I was supposed to spend today working on rewriting a grant proposal. Instead, I spent a good portion of the day washing dishes--first, the dishes at home, then a whole lot of (lab) dishes at school. I don't mind, really. It's always satisfying to have a tidy and organized house, and I'm finally making good progress on getting all of the ant colonies cared-for, although it's going to take another half-day before they're really situated for the next couple of weeks. It's funny that these are both recurring chores - the minute I finish washing the dishes at home, I get hungry and make myself a snack and generate fresh dishes. And as soon as I get the ants all situated, the smallest nests get too big again, or all of the nests need food, or what-have-you.

I just hope I can keep enough things under enough control to avoid implosion (heh, who am I kidding, I'm pretty darned far from imploding). One of my committee members stopped by today and asked how my research was going, and I was proud of myself for being able to talk about what I am working on without feeling overwhelmingly dejected about my lack of progress (on the grant proposal and two of my dissertation chapters). My feelings were partly mitigated by the fact that this committee member admitted chagrin because he still hasn't published work from three years earlier. It's just so hard to do any real work during the semester - I'm most productive in the gaps between school sessions.

I have just learned that....

SATSUMA SEASON HAS BEGUN.

Hmmmmmmm.....

*ceases to care about absolutely everything else*