So, yeah, it's been awhile--September to January--but it's not like I haven't had anything else going on in my life, right? I have worked for weeks on my dissertation research, condensing hundreds (and hundreds) of pages of raw data into 98 much-more-manageable pages of data display tables. So why is it frustrating that after so much work, that nearly 100 pages seems like such a small result? Wasn't that the point, after all? Of course, the only answer is that I'm tired of writing my dissertation, and I want it to be finished. At the same time, I'm excited at what I'm discovering. Yes, what many of us (us being techrhets--composition rhetoric folks who love computers) have believed for so long really can be supported by solid empirical data and not just the anecdotal evidence we have relied on. (Not to bash the anecdotal, but I am trying here to fill an empirical void, ya know?) At least I got to celebrate the near-end over Christmas break, meeting up with my family at the cave. For the last week, I've been trying to answer the question, "So, how was the cave?" Words are inadequate, and I keep wanting to find a metaphor. It was Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous meets Lord of the Rings. It was beautifully raw, primitively modern (or was it modernly primitive?). Mostly it was wonderful to be alone in the earth with my family, immersed (encaved) in God's creative wonders that few ever see. I even got my picture taken with a bat! How often does a girl get a chance like that? Writing, as a process, is chaotic, hopefully producing a more ordered, meaningful result. My dissertation--still in chaos--calls. Today it snowed.

posted by Annie 7:23 PM

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