LONG DARK NIGHT OF ETC, 31/11/2004

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So in 16 hours I am handing in 1/6 of my degree.

I've just had my three hours emergency-recharge sleep, so it's pretty much just blaze from hereon out.

I have 4300 words. They are: alright, surprisingly. The best of me, anyway. There's a bit on Milton that's pretty sweet.

The limit is 5-6000 which I'll hopefully hit the mid-to-upper end of when I've done conclusion/ footnotes/ stub paragraphs/ etc.

I am a machine that drinks coffee.

Here is a thread where I will post how it is going, 'cos, like, it's only data. You can say nice things, if you want. Or post pictures of awesome things, like that kitten with a lime on its head. That'd be kind, if you could.

I am going to loiter outside Hertford library and try and steal books for tonight if someone lets me in, now.

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 19:42 (twenty years ago)

http://diffused.net/images/kommanderkitty.jpg

― jocelyn (Jocelyn), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 19:47 (twenty years ago)

CUTE

Ok, so I went to Hertford and got into their library with ELITE NINJA SKILLS (ie I looked lost & keyless for a while) and I found the space where the book should have been and yelped and looked it up in the filing thingie and so I've just emailed the girl who took it out (whom I've never met obv) being all "errr, um, this is embarassing but can I have your book?" and she is blatantly gonna live miles out of town. Writing time!

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 20:14 (twenty years ago)

Fuck you, footnotes.

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 21:47 (twenty years ago)

[img]http://us.f2.yahoofs.com/users/4123d153z13aa19ea/c78e/__sr_/6e6f.jpg?ph.gkrBBFYVFWT4K[/img]

― marianna lcl (marianna lcl), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 22:16 (twenty years ago)

http://us.f2.yahoofs.com/users/4123d153z13aa19ea/c78e/__sr_/6e6f.jpg?ph.gkrBBFYVFWT4K

― marianna lcl (marianna lcl), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 22:19 (twenty years ago)

See, now I'm reaping the karma of distracting you like a wanton strumpet by DYING A PAINFUL ALL-NIGHTER DEATH on this essay.

ARGH

― Abby (abby mcdonald), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 22:20 (twenty years ago)

kick milton's ass. (i'm sure all will go well btw)

― H (Heruy), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 22:24 (twenty years ago)

http://www.musicomh.com/singles2/basement-jaxx-3.jpg

― The Lex (The Lex), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 22:24 (twenty years ago)

Good luck with it, G

(I remember being in a similar situation myself a few years ago - I think I had to write about 9,000 words overnight to finish my degree dissertation)

― caitlin (caitlin), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 22:25 (twenty years ago)

Ah, I did this six months ago. Red Bull or similar may be a necessary evil but you will be treading a thin line between inspiration and madddd-ness. I'm sure you have a routine for this sort of thing anyway.

I stayed up two days in a row, and did a shift at work, then got four hours emergency sleep before getting up at midnight to cane the rest of it before morning. I think I managed 6300 words out of an 8000 limit. I think it was really good at the start, and my supervisor who'd seen the first 1500 words said it was the best intro he'd seen this year, and then it just sort of gradually trailed off into dementia and irrelevance and got a 2.2.

By the end of it I looked like the offspring of Mark Smith and the 'Sloth' dude from Se7en, and am still unable to concentrate for long periods of time or understand complicated concepts as a result.

But uh, the important thing is, you'll get it done, because the brain-pounding IMPORTANCE of the whole thing will keep you flailing away at your keyboard like an animated corpse.

G'luck!

― Chadwell O'Cheese And His Cormorants Of Futility (Ferg), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 22:28 (twenty years ago)

This happened to me almost every time I had any significant piece of work to hand in during uni. It was fine if I'd done some work beforehand, sort of. I'm glad I never have to do it again but you have to keep thoughts like "in 16 hours it will ALL BE OVER" in your mind.

Also you've done most of it! It'll be a piece of cake.

― The Lex (The Lex), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 22:29 (twenty years ago)

Also to keep awake - every so often listen to a mssive dance song on headphones and dance manically around. Synapses will be fired up.

― The Lex (The Lex), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 22:30 (twenty years ago)

OTM

It was the cumulative effect of doing every essay at 4am for three years that destroyed my brain, if truth be told, the dissertation was just the killing blow

― Chadwell O'Cheese And His Cormorants Of Futility (Ferg), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 22:31 (twenty years ago)

OK! Read a couple more articles on 'Maud', had some new ideas, I can make it fit in nicely with the rest now. Why did all seventies critics think it was a good idea to analyse fictional characters as though they were real people? Get one grip.

Have to actualy *write* now. Ulp.

You are all treats.

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 23:06 (twenty years ago)

Yana, I can't get that link working :(

Abby KARMA BITCHCAKES. Also you you should check out the noize board, it's great.

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 23:08 (twenty years ago)

Thanks H and C! (9000 words!? That's insane! The longest essay I'd /ever/ handed in before now was 2020, that was like two weeks of almost constant work. My style is kinda pathologically concise though.)

Lex that is TREATOUS.

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 23:11 (twenty years ago)

Your sympathy astounds me :)
how them footnotes?
where/what is noize?
and wouldnt this be easier on msn?

― Abby (abby mcdonald), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 23:12 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, the weird thing is that I have been working insanely hard on this for like two weeks and really more like six, which is really unusual for me, I'm normally straight-up 3am morning-before. It's just that I've been writing it for so long that I get bored of my own ideas and rewrite them more and more brutally, so my wordcount seems never to actually go up...

x-post:
Boring.
Ilxor Pickle Bar/All it can be, and more.
I WANT A DEGREE YO

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 23:16 (twenty years ago)

I am listening to SAW II and Dead Media on quiet shuffle play, they're nice together. FANFARES may follow.

I can't work out why a rational human would read this thread but it is keeping me sane.

12 hours, fuck. WORK NOW

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 23:19 (twenty years ago)

how do you even figger essays by word? i would have no idea how to work that.

we had to do it by page (obv. with some formatting restrictions)

so what is the whole thing on anyway?

― H (Heruy), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 23:21 (twenty years ago)

http://www.petbuddies.com/PBSLICED_FILES/CancoversT3/cancovers_01.jpg

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 23:21 (twenty years ago)

if you still can't get Marianna's picture to work maybe this will do it - it's a wonderful thing:

ihttp://us.f2.yahoofs.com/users/4123d153z13aa19ea/c78e/__sr_/6e6f.jpg?ph.gkrBBFYVFWT4K

― The Lex (The Lex), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 23:24 (twenty years ago)

well fuck you html then

― The Lex (The Lex), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 23:25 (twenty years ago)

9000 words!? That's insane!

My dissertation length guideline was 10-12,000, plus any necessary appendices. The finished length of the main text was just over 10,000; I didn't word-count the appendices, but in terms of page count they were about twice as long as the main text.

(and consisted largely of plans, so took much longer to do).

― caitlin (caitlin), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 23:27 (twenty years ago)

Drank a mug of espresso. "Faaanf" and a degree-saving insight kicks in and "umber one and two" and I just like this too much, y'know?

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Thursday, 2 December 2004 01:39 (twenty years ago)

Prior to this I have slightly nodded off reading an introduction to Maud and had a bizzarre half-dream in which I analysed the poem according to what I was convinced was the Lacanian "myth of the twelve babies", that the founding myth of western thought was the placing of twelve tanned infants of each sex into different rooms of some sort of victorian boarding school. I have no fucking idea where any of that came from.

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Thursday, 2 December 2004 01:43 (twenty years ago)

Hertford girl hasn't e-mailed me back yet.

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Thursday, 2 December 2004 01:44 (twenty years ago)

i just did a big seminar paper, i did the final 2/3rds in a 24 hr straight shot, an extraordinarily bad idea but i can't work in any other way. sad thing is, when done the whole thing only just topped 21 pages.

anyway, good luck! and you shouldn't be reading this!

― g--ff (gcannon), Thursday, 2 December 2004 01:49 (twenty years ago)

ho hum. poptext ate my post. twice. in the end it was more a battle of wills that kept me determined IT WOULD NOT BE THE VICTOR.

now, about transitions to democracy....
x

― Abby (abby mcdonald), Thursday, 2 December 2004 02:18 (twenty years ago)

my mum once did an essay on speed. The lecturer said it was ok, but that one of the pages seemed to be missing. She went home to look for it, and eventually found ball point indentations, to the effect that she had wirtten it streight onto her desk.

― lukey (Lukey G), Thursday, 2 December 2004 10:18 (twenty years ago)

UPDATE NEEDED

― The Lex (The Lex), Thursday, 2 December 2004 13:30 (twenty years ago)

YES! UPDATE!

― Starry (hello chickens), Thursday, 2 December 2004 14:08 (twenty years ago)

So tired.

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Thursday, 2 December 2004 14:14 (twenty years ago)

Today I dressed like men do in films; tired, tired, men. Those colours, the once-nice suit jackets.

I understand it better now. They do it: Because they haven't done any laundry for four weeks.

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Thursday, 2 December 2004 14:16 (twenty years ago)

I handed it in.

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Thursday, 2 December 2004 14:16 (twenty years ago)

14 minutes late.

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Thursday, 2 December 2004 14:16 (twenty years ago)

That didn't matter, did it? And now you are FREE of it!

― The Lex (The Lex), Thursday, 2 December 2004 14:17 (twenty years ago)

The girls upstairs are freshers and didn't deserve 11:45 me charging in half-mad and two weeks unshaven and babbling incoherently about wps files and deadlines.

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Thursday, 2 December 2004 14:18 (twenty years ago)

GOSH did they let you get away with it? When did you do your last print off? Did you have to RUN to the place where you deposit your essay? Were you held up by men crossing the road with a sheet of plexiglass with HILARIOUS RESULTS?

― Starry (hello chickens), Thursday, 2 December 2004 14:18 (twenty years ago)

ooh i wonder how my flatmate's done. She was still 1000 words short last night, and I haven't been home yet today.

― jellybean (jellybean), Thursday, 2 December 2004 14:19 (twenty years ago)

It shouldn't matter, I hope. I hope it doesn't matter in a way entirely isolated from it being missing a couple of footnotes and not being doublespaced, neither of which should really matter on their own but might push me into some "rushed" markbox bollocks if all taken together.

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Thursday, 2 December 2004 14:21 (twenty years ago)

This has brought tears to my eyes because it reminds me of last year when I kept a bottle of Wild Turkey in one drawer and a knife in the other.

― D.A.R.K. B.A.R.M.S. (Barima), Thursday, 2 December 2004 14:22 (twenty years ago)

I did run! I got there at like 12.02 and was all "HELLO I AM USELESS POSH PERSON NO I HAVE NO DECLARATION NO I HAVE NO EXAM NUMBER IS THIS IMPORTANT".

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Thursday, 2 December 2004 14:23 (twenty years ago)

I am not quite sure what to do now that it's over. I can't remember what humans talk about, when it's not Tennyson.

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Thursday, 2 December 2004 14:25 (twenty years ago)

I rushed the conclusion horrendously but I've just read the whole thing for the first time and it is actually vaguely alright, astonishingly.

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Thursday, 2 December 2004 14:26 (twenty years ago)

CLASSY TOUCH: black biro scribblings-out of notes-to-self accidentally left in "final" version.

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Thursday, 2 December 2004 14:27 (twenty years ago)

Are you now in that wild-eyed, manic state wherein you need to sleep because you haven't done so for weeks, and are physically incapable of functioning normally anyway, but are too hyper to actually do so?

― The Lex (The Lex), Thursday, 2 December 2004 14:52 (twenty years ago)

REASSURING STORY: An acquaintance submitted a thesis which contained "Chapter 4" and "Better Chapter 4". He got through in the end.

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Thursday, 2 December 2004 14:55 (twenty years ago)

REASSURING STORY II: I once handed in an essay in which I referenced Straw Dogs and The Idiots, but couldn't remember what years they were in... so I put (insert fucking date here) after each mention, and forgot to take it out. But that essay still got a first so hurrah.

― The Lex (The Lex), Thursday, 2 December 2004 14:58 (twenty years ago)

congrats Gravel!

i wish Fanfares had been around when i was at uni, i would have played it so loud every time i finished an essay.

― pete b. (pete b.), Thursday, 2 December 2004 14:59 (twenty years ago)

I wish I had Waves 2 last year, because I would've played 'Carnaval' v.loudly instead of Surrender the afternoon I tried drinking myself to death post-finals.

Anyway, congrats, GP, hope to meet you next year.

― B.A.R.M.S. (Barima), Thursday, 2 December 2004 15:05 (twenty years ago)

Round of applause!!!

― Abby (abby mcdonald), Thursday, 2 December 2004 15:50 (twenty years ago)

sorry, but isn't 1000 words just about two hours work? how do you make 3-400 thousand last for a week or more?

waaaayy xposts.

― d.arraghmac, Thursday, 2 December 2004 15:56 (twenty years ago)

http://us.f2.yahoofs.com/users/4123d153z13aa19ea/c78e/__sr_/6e6f.jpg?phOJ4rBBM2AmWT4K

― marianna lcl (marianna lcl), Thursday, 2 December 2004 20:36 (twenty years ago)

Finally!

― marianna lcl (marianna lcl), Thursday, 2 December 2004 20:37 (twenty years ago)

I just now saw this, Greg I applaud you!

I had my first (! I should've had like 4) advisor meeting of the term today and heard good stuff but the bad part is that I now have a deadline for my next 10,000 word chapter. It's the week before my birthday in February. Hm.

― sgs (sgs), Thursday, 2 December 2004 21:35 (twenty years ago)

: )

come to scotland now, then. you can dance if you can dance.

― cºzen (Cozen), Thursday, 2 December 2004 21:43 (twenty years ago)

REASSURING STORY III: When i went to hand in my senior thesis (college of 1000, senior majors of 50-60 or so) you were supposed to sign off. My name was not on the list as a major leading to my gibbering

'b-but, you, well, you know me, I've been in this department for years, aaargh'

the Secretary for the Dept just grabbed my arm and said "H, its ok, just write your name and sign"

then i went off to my local dive bar and drank, but it was petrifying fr a moment

― H (Heruy), Friday, 3 December 2004 00:01 (twenty years ago)

Gah! All of the above sounds like the next 2.5 weeks for me. I'm armed with excedrin and cigarettes, and my eating/sleeping schedule is already completely fuxxored. Wheee!

― the krza (krza), Friday, 3 December 2004 00:20 (twenty years ago)

Aren't there only 30 days in November?

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Friday, 3 December 2004 00:37 (twenty years ago)

I might be in Scotland for new year!

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Friday, 3 December 2004 01:54 (twenty years ago)

I think I am cursed never to see Marianna's picture.

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Friday, 3 December 2004 01:55 (twenty years ago)

HUGS Y'ALL, for this.

Good luck krza and sgs!

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Friday, 3 December 2004 01:58 (twenty years ago)

hey! a doing-the-coursework thread!

so y'all can just transfer your pity on me, its 3 am and im looking at a 5 am finish i reckon. the hand in time is 9am tomorrow (or rather today)
I am trying to do the hardest thing i think i have ever done, viz.

Transport Modelling. Apparently this modelling thing is pretty widespread in loads of different spheres of work. well, fuck modelling, thats what i say. i have to peer at a diagram of some roads, then press some buttons (overwriting essential files in the process), then find reams of tables and data that i cant maniuplate in excel properly (eg make a graph) because i a mtoo stupid, then i have to draw some inferences fro mthe data.

I am a fucking arts student. i speak russian, not data!
WTF?
what do i care if imaginary traffic is moving around a network? these models dont mean shit anyway! wooh! i built a bypass! what did that do? oh wait i dont give a shit. so some fuckers travelled on the bypass.

im fucking glad im not paying for this course, thats all i can say.

anyone else sitting at a computer in the middle of the night working?

― ambrose (ambrose), Friday, 3 December 2004 02:44 (twenty years ago)

You do it dude! The key unit is PANIC.

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Friday, 3 December 2004 03:14 (twenty years ago)

is that a function of stupidity? i think in my case it must do. before i started this masters, i assumed that the "night before deadline" syndrome i had cultivated (cultivate a syndrome? wtf it def. is 3.30) during my BA would be put to rest as a newly mature, responsible adult

apparently no one told my motivation that tho.

thanx for the encouragement. cant wait to sleep tomorrow night

early bed time on fri night is the new going tto see jeff mills tomorrow!

oh wait......

― ambrose (ambrose), Friday, 3 December 2004 03:28 (twenty years ago)

I found this image useful:

http://pages.prodigy.net/himirahimi/himirahimi/SantaCat.jpg

Jeff Mills!

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Friday, 3 December 2004 03:48 (twenty years ago)

yes, what a boon. thank you.

― ambrose (ambrose), Friday, 3 December 2004 03:55 (twenty years ago)

i assumed that the "night before deadline" syndrome i had cultivated (cultivate a syndrome? wtf it def. is 3.30) during my BA would be put to rest as a newly mature, responsible adult

Ah, shit. I hoped it worked that way.

― Chadwell O'Cheese And His Cormorants Of Futility (Ferg), Friday, 3 December 2004 04:01 (twenty years ago)

one month passes...

NEW DEADLINE NOON FRIDAY

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Monday, 10 January 2005 23:02 (twenty years ago)

This time it's eunuchs!

Words left to go before hitting minimum: 3854.

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Monday, 10 January 2005 23:03 (twenty years ago)

Ok rereading this thread I can't understand what I meant by half of it, "it's only data" wtf?

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Monday, 10 January 2005 23:04 (twenty years ago)

Also I want that Lacan dream again. It still makes perfect sense in my head.

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Monday, 10 January 2005 23:04 (twenty years ago)

37 Hours! Yikesyikesyikes. I will probably have to sleep some of them, I've been up for over thirty hours.

Words before minimum: 1420. This really isn't as good as my Tennyson essay, which is annoying. There's still some neat stuff though.

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Wednesday, 12 January 2005 22:22 (twenty years ago)

I have been awake for fifty of the last sixty hours. The tiredness has progressed from "aaaargh just sleep aaargh tired okay?" to "look, man, seriously, the other times were drills, okay, we admit it, but honestly, you might die here, close two eyelids please please oh god".

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Friday, 14 January 2005 05:39 (twenty years ago)

I would say 'get some sleep' but I suppose that's contraindicative.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 14 January 2005 06:15 (twenty years ago)

Dude, you're just gettin' to the good part.

― I Am Curious (George) (Rock Hardy), Friday, 14 January 2005 15:07 (twenty years ago)

one month passes...

Hi, dere.

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Sunday, 13 March 2005 03:02 (twenty years ago)

You may know me from such smash hits as "nope, still no time management" and "it is plausibly getting timesome this time".

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Sunday, 13 March 2005 03:04 (twenty years ago)

you again?

― Remy (null) (x Jeremy), Sunday, 13 March 2005 03:04 (twenty years ago)

drop me a line on AIM later, I'll be happy to commiserate.

― Remy (null) (x Jeremy), Sunday, 13 March 2005 03:05 (twenty years ago)

I am utterly emotionally drained from Real Life stuff. I have 5 hours. I am theoretically on the home straight. This was not how I wanted this weekend to go. Fuck home straights. I am angrier, this time.

x-post Remy OK!

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Sunday, 13 March 2005 03:08 (twenty years ago)

Coffee brewing. When it hits I shall play hard house from Lex and see if I still feel this way. It may not be too late.

J, you are offline and only said that to look good. I KNOW YR TYPE.

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Sunday, 13 March 2005 03:17 (twenty years ago)

SANDSTORM

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Sunday, 13 March 2005 04:53 (twenty years ago)

Hahahahahaha greatest break ever! It just, like, goes quiet for a really long time.

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Sunday, 13 March 2005 04:53 (twenty years ago)

For one night only, http://ilx.p3r.net/thread.php?msgid=etcetcetc is the lamest blog ever.

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Sunday, 13 March 2005 04:54 (twenty years ago)

Sandstorm has saved my degree.

(Have decided to concentrate on getting the online component done properly well by 8.30 - I'm 90% sure that Isolated Cornish Farmhouse has a phone line and about 85% sure that the modem on my laptop works, which means I'll have 2 more days to finish up footnoting the offline bits (actual deadline is Tuesday) and about a 22% chance of having to drop out of university or something).

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Sunday, 13 March 2005 05:00 (twenty years ago)

Bah, lecturers in the UK are pushovers!

― Remy (null) (x Jeremy), Sunday, 13 March 2005 05:53 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, but this is an actual proper chunk of my final mark! It's kinda a real deadline, pushoverity doesn't come into it.

That said, I think I am just gonna go up to Cornwall a day late and milk the sweet sweet harvest of sleep, today. Having safety parachutes like this = possibly the most organised moment of my life.

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Sunday, 13 March 2005 06:46 (twenty years ago)

Can one milk a harvest? Tired.

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Sunday, 13 March 2005 06:46 (twenty years ago)

I am so glad that "Sandstorm" helped!

Darude, enabling Oxford essays since 2001.

― The Lex (The Lex), Sunday, 13 March 2005 21:34 (twenty years ago)

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