I feel an almost physical aversion to work at the moment, a sort of gut-grabbing shudder, a squirming desire to RUN OFF. I think I need a break: a total break: two weeks off and not even think about my thesis. Hols are only a very short while away, so I think that what I'll do is this: Read through my current chapter; note down what I intend to do when I come back to it; read the Searle on Chomsky PDF; look for an overview of Functional Grammar; download it in PDF format to print-off and read; do one more basic German instalment tonight and then back up the hard-drive and not look at my stuff again until I get back from abroad. And try not to let my mind stray back onto it for TWO WHOLE WEEKS. Sorted.

Well, haven't I been good! Ever since I set up my 'satellite study' (in the bedroom), I have been putting a good number of hours of work in each day. The stiff neck syndrome seems to have merely a temporary adjustment thing, and although it's not ergonomically perfect, my workspace is pretty tolerable. I've knuckled down to considering the 'big questions' of my thesis and the preparatory Q & A piece that I did last week has really come into its own. I've got a tendency to go of at a tangent, and the slightest distraction can send me on an enthralling (but not generally useful) papergoose chase. You know the sort of thing I mean: you read a book and come across an interesting cross-reference, you Google it and find a host of fascinating stuff, websites off websites, print off a couple of PDFs for later...blah...blah...blah...But I AM getting there, and considering that it's still a few weeks until our summer hol, I'm optimistic about making a fair bit of headway. Talking of PDFs, one of the things I fully intend to buy when my funding comes through is an iReader or similar. I have boxes upon boxes of the damn things that I have to rifle through if want a reference - much nices to have it all to hand. Plus I want a PDF editor so I can cut and paste chunks of text - then I don't have to type big quotations/references out in full.
I've bitten the bullet concerning academic German and the acquiring thereof. I registered for an intermediate German reading course that starts in October at the 'uni. over the hill' (not my own uni) and in preparation I'm going right back to basics with a Pimsleur German course. This is the spoken language but it'll revive the long unused Deutsch circuits in my brain. I am quite surprised at how much I can remember, though. Need to think about what books to take on holiday with me. A lightweight novel for the beach of course and, I think, the Norton Critical Edition of the Writings of St Paul. It's got suitably short chapters, so I can keep my scholarly hand in between times and not feel like too much of a donkey when I get back.

The new desk-space is working out pretty well - I am finding the chair slightly uncomfortable height-wise (after 5 or so hours my neck is feeling tense), but nevertheless I am managing to get some words down whilst the children amuse themselves downstairs. The husband has decided that he's going to decorate the hall and landing, so occasionally I am interrupted by sanding-down noises and general scuffling. Having been taxed by my supervisor to write about 'the big ideas' associated with my thesis, I have spent a lot of time scratching my head. Obviously, I 'know' intuitively what my thesis is about (Aspect and Discourse in the Pauline Epistles), but analysing exactly what I want to achieve and exactly how I'm going to do it has thus far existed as only a nebulous cloud (tautology?) in my head. As I tend to work in a somewhat centripetal way, I sat down at the computer yesterday and started to write, only to find out that I am putting down information that is tangential to the target. How many times can I contrast Porter's view on aspect with Fanning's? Quite a few, it would seem! However, this does have the benefit of fixing the various arguments in my head more firmly, I suppose. Getting slightly annoyed, I decided to tackle it head-on in a simple question and answer dialogue.
Q. What am I doing?
A. Looking for prominence readings and discourse contouring in the Pauline Epistles.
Q. How am I going to do that?
A.1) by examining, with reference to current scholarly thinking, the aspectual nature of certain verb-forms,
2) by deciding what the default interpretation would be for that verb in the Pauline Epistles
et cetera et cetera....
This very, very basic format has helped me to clarify the steps that I have to take to produce a reasonably coherent theoretical model which I can elaborate on and polish into a reasonable piece of writing before September.

Progress Reviews and Other Stuff

I really, really intended to get around to producing some written work this week. I'm acutely aware, and somewhat uneasy, that I've spent most of the time since my last supervisory meeting reading without getting anything concrete down. It's been fascinating stuff - the Jewish apocalyptic thought, how this mode of expectation appears in the words of JC, and how much Paul was thoroughly of this tradition. I'm hoping that it will give a framework into which Paul's use of language concerning death and resurrection will click nicely. However - best intentions and all that - I never actually got round to committing my thoughts to, I was going to say paper, laptop. The surprise news about my funding necessitated some time online filling in forms and phoning people about filling in forms. Then all of a sudden I received an email telling me that I had to fill a progress review form whose deadline was the next day! I'd previously understood that, as a part-time student I'd not have to bother with this this year as my timescale was double that of the full-time student. Apparently not. Another goodly amount of time form-filling, liasing with my supervisor, drawing up provisional programmes of study - something that hadn't even crossed my mind as I'd been bumbling along. Stuff like this always takes much longer than you think it's going to. After a bit of to-ing and fro-ing of emails, it all got sorted in the nick of time. So, no actual work produced. Again. But I'm going to have to get cracking. I noticed that one of my supervisor's comments was that he wanted to see evidence that I was getting to grips with academic German. Ulp! I mean, I've found a website that might be useful, but that's about it at the moment....

There's a lot I should make a point of scheduling in: academic German, more regular Greek reading, brush up on the measly amount of Hebrew that I do know, be more organised in my general reading and note-taking. In brief: Get Serious!

Maybe I should cut down on the blogging, but I not only find it cathartic, but it really does help my writing brain to limber up so that I can put words down more easily. And it is the end of the day now, teatime to be precise, and I have a few moments finally to myself.