10 December 2003 - 12:58 p.m.

Oh. my. God.

My paper is finally done, or at least, written, and weird, stray quotes and my dithering, tangential observations have all been tucked in where they belong.

Gus is proofing it for me, for which he will be richly rewarded. I swear.

I wish I could go out, eat some food, drink some wine, do a little sledding and watch a crappy D- movie like Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster, but as I realize at least 10 times a day, I am no longer at HU, and a whole year older than the girl who got to have all that fun. I have a nother paper due in 19 hours that I haven't started. I might have a breakdown this weekend. So it goes.

At least I felt like a scholar again, which was an always-amusing mix of satisfaction and anxiety. Seriously, this paper took me six straight days, not counting the reseach I did before that, and I can account for every hour I spent away from the computer. All of which I earned, thank you very much.

That said, I wish it were a better paper. But that is just a symptom of my continuing love and respect for the work of Val Lewton, and I should be proud of the 30(!) pages I turned out about I Walked with a Zombie. I know they're not a giant of film "scholar hip," and chances are my professor won't even like the way I've handled the topic, but I make bolder claims than any published critic has about the movie, and of that I am damn proud.

Okay, enough of that. Time to get started on code-switiching and Southern national identity.

What I'm wearing: blue button down, navy slacks.

What I'm reading: some spazzy truck outside.

What I'm doing after this: paper #2.