Little Ida’s Flowers

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  “MY poor flowers are quite dead!” said little Ida. “They were so pretty yesterday, and now all the leaves hang withered. Why do they do that? . . . Why do the flowers look so faded to-day?” she asked again, and showed him a nosegay, which was quite withered.  “Do you know what’s the matter with them?” said the Student. “The flowers have been at a ball last night, and that’s why they hang their heads.”  “But flowers cannot dance!” cried little Ida. “O yes,” said the Student, “when it grows dark, and we are asleep, they jump about merrily. Almost every night they have a ball.” —Hans Christian Andersen. (1805–1875)

Can't Believe It

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Whelp, in three days I will submit a draft of one chapter of my dissertation to my professor. To date, I am approximately 2/3 through writing this one chapter. With Christmas practice, concerts, work, and other end-of-semester activities, it's becoming a wild ride. The chapter being written is actually Chapter 2, which covers precedent research on my topic. In other words, I am merely telling the story of the research I've done so far. In short, I am suffering from information overload and not enough time in the day.  But it's getting done.

The difficult part of all this is that, at this point, everything is a draft, so I'll be living in revision-land for the next couple of years. Each consecutive course adds another chapter into my dissertation, and so the revisions will just grow and grow! But that's part of the process. And I'm loving it.

Here's something I'm watching listening to while writing. Please enjoy this! 

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