Oh wow, sexy drum kit! How are you gonna move into an inner city joint with all this gear though… maybe you do need the suburban house? 🤔

aw man, I procrastinated big time this morning checking things about super and rescheduling appointments and shit. Now it’s quarter to 9, and I have a stinking headache, and the results section that I really thought was gonna be easy, has been SO HARD because I fucking hate stats and don’t understand any of it and I’ve been having a long back and forth with chatgpt to try and understand how to describe differences and shit and my brain HURTS. This is the part about academic research I loathe the most. I hate stats so much. Gaaaaaaah! Even when I think I understand I DON’T!

Hours and hours just to output three measly, but crucial, paragraphs for a total of 476 words… the discussion is gonna have to be a lot more streamlined, I’ve not even started on writing out full sentences 😭 However, at least I now have a much better structure with which to concisely discuss the various findings (and merge things together in a sensible way), and also much more academically sound points (not just the equivalent of “yeah I reckon”, but “look at the shape and statistical significance of shit”).

Plus, I did a much-overdue data cleanup that I thought I’d give up on but really was better to do and not cleverly hide, so at least now I can confidently say my methods section is 99% (missing a couple references I can find at the last minute), and my results is 100%. Intro still stuck at 75% from Saturday…

Imma need some real powerful concentration juice tomorrow to (a) not procrastinate and (b) write that discussion section like I’m on fire before losing a lot of time in throwing in references and then reading up on that stupid paper so I can finish the 25% left of the intro. For now, I think I’m going to call it quits and go home before this headache gets any worse…

Yes, all this academic writing and staring at Word has given me a case of compromised brain function (CBF)…

Oh dear lord it’ll be brutal. Might want to set up a bed near that fireplace too…

Probably can, it’s tricky this week with my unavailability on other days due to this thesis BS and sometimes jobs require us to be out on specific days. It’s my last week with these shenanigans though so I’m sure we can work something out. If not, I’m chucking a sickie lmao.

My current shitbox is so tiny I’d rather not work from home unless I had to. Now if I had a fireplace,… sigh.

Luckily the office is very close by, so if they could kindly give me some indoor work to do on the Wednesday I’ll be grateful. I really wish I was on a flight to somewhere warmer though…

That’s some weird weather out there. Windy and warm?

Don’t look at Tuesday and Wednesday though. Wednesday in particular… 11C maximum… big weather system coming in from the west. Ughggh but if it means rain in areas that desperately need it I’ll tolerate it

Well, after feeling insanely sleepy for a good few hours there, at some point something kicked in and I have powered through to 10pm and my methods section is pretty much 95% complete!!!

The intro is about 75% after yesterday’s efforts - held back by the very late-stage discovery of a key paper that throws a whole bunch of things out and I have to incorporate into the intro and discussion. So I’m going to have to prioritise reading that, but…

…my discussion section is a total shambles.

I think my game plan for tomorrow is to seriously flesh out the discussion section, references be damned, and get the main points/flow of discussion correct. Because I simply won’t have anything even remotely submittable without that. THEN I can get into that stupid paper and figure out how much I need to wedge in and try and finish that remaining 25% of the intro…

Sigh. I was hoping I’d be done by end of Monday but I’ll have to accept spending my birthday still working on this stupid thing. If I can finish by the end of Tuesday at least then I can luxuriate!

The last time I lived in a house that was large enough - my last sharehouse - there was no kitchen table, but there was a small dining room (with dining table) and a lounge room (couches and fire). I usually ate on the dining table unless I felt like staring into the fire of a cold evening. Occasionally, I would eat in my room if I was working hard on uni/work.

As a kid I used to hate eating at a table. I’d always eat in front of the computer or TV

I wanna join sleepy sun kitty and bury my face in that glorious sun-kissed fur (even if only for 0.1 seconds)!

But no, I shall stare relentlessly at Microsoft Word

Thanks. I’d say I’m past the 50% mark overall but still a lot of work to do to get to the 90%-complete level where I can send it to my supervisor. At least i feel like some major blockages have been cleared. I think I won’t push myself too hard tonight because I need to sustain momentum for a few more days rather than burn out too fast.

Alright, after some drama and use of a broomstick (not by me…) sox was bundled into her carrier and all her bits and pieces taken away. Made sure to eat something, finished up all the other house chores, stopped for an existential panic moment, then went to the laundromat and dried a huge load, and now I’m parked at the office willing myself to attack the method section (it needs to be dramatically shorter and replaced with some diagrams that I have on hand). I picked the easiest bit to do today because I knew the morning was a writeoff.

Wish me energy and concentration. I’ve had my meds, a coffee, and now a tea with a biscuit, and I still feel like burying myself in bed. I’ll try and get out of here before 9pm at least and have a good night’s sleep before tomorrow’s new session of writing back at the uni library. I am at least relieved in the back of my head that I’ve now got clean clothes and a clean house again

She’s astoundingly shiny regardless of what crap she gets fed by her human. Maybe she’s born with it (not Maybelline). I love her medium coat length too, it’s so soft but not as hard to manage as a long coat.

Her whiskers are truly astounding. I’ve collected a few over time and some are longer than my fingers. She’s such a baby. Spoiled her with a churu and more cuddles because she is going to hate being forced into the carrier fairly soon

I got home incredibly late after a huge hyper focus session rewriting out my entire intro (this time with full citations) - got home past 1am and hugely apologetic to dear sox who was clearly a bit out of sorts having dislodged and chewed up a corner of a pizza box (there was plenty of dry food left for her to free feed on).

Things have been so hectic I have two weeks of laundry built up and all sorts of crap lying around. So I’ve spent this morning getting that done, cleaning the kitchen, doing an overdue vacuum, tidying the place up before Sox’s human comes at 11. Now just waiting for the second round of laundry and… lo and behold I have been blessed with one last shnuggle.

E: also looks like the US has finally pulled the pin. Yaaaay… not…

she is such an adorable silly billy. I am not sure she is very smart though. She needs a bit of coaching when it comes to “run after the snack” games.

It depends a lot on her human who is… Kind of flaky tbh. He’s got a good heart but his life is in a bit of a shambles of his own creation atm. At a crossroads where I think he’s very tempted to sell up what he has and float around; sox is the only real commitment he has tying him to one place…

If it came to it, I’d seriously consider adopting her but not for quite a while yet as I intend to end my lease and put my stuff in storage for a bit while I figure myself out before I come back and have more of a plan for how to secure my own home (if it’s at all possible).

Since you demanded so nicely, here’s a couple of blurry mediocre shots from last night when I got home late and was crouched on my knees on the couch, which was an invitation for sox to jump onto my back and park herself there for a minute

I have extricated myself from the warm cocoon of bed and am staring blankly at a screen but I promise to get some more pics tonight.

It’s my last day with sox, and I feel sad that I must peel myself away to go work on the thesis of doom. Rather than spend a goblin mode day with her cuddled up on the oodie watching dumb shit and tossing snacks around the room for her

Thank you for the insider info!!! 💜 I feel a lot more relieved to hear that! I did notice their wording said contributions made after 24 June “may” be processed in the new FY. Now it’s up to my damn bank to do the BPay thing in time