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The last post started as an update of what has been happening in my life recently, but it ended up in a completely different place from where I began. So let me give you a few highlights of what has been occupying my time:

1. Job hunt (see below).

2. Dissertation: I have not been spending nearly as much time as I probably should have writing recently (again, see below), but now "I'm fixin' to dig in whole hog" as the Floriduh rednecks would put it.

3. Politics: Iowa and New Hampshire have set dates for the first week of January. That's very early this year, and I've been watching all the debates and political coverage--interrupted periodically by screaming at the television (especially when almost any Republican opens his mouth--do they think about what they say before they say it?!?!).

4. Interpersonal bullshit: God! Why won't people fucking leave me alone--even after you've already gotten rid of them! Sorry, people: no more time for drama. Too much writing to do. Stop emailing me and call your shrink; I'm not paid to care.

5. Nan: I started seeing someone a few months back. It is easy and fun, just like relationships should be. But I'm a bit shell-shocked from my last few relationships--so I need to learn that sometimes people say things without it being implicit criticism (N.) or an attempt at manipulation (Athena). Relatedly, I need to learn how to go outside in the daytime.

6. Depression: Related to stress about 1, 2 and 4 above, I've been a bit anti-social. Just the usual sense of inadequacy about--well, everything.

7. Grading: Fifty Hume papers of dubious quality are in my bag now. I haven't looked at one yet.

8. Professional Academic work: Two conferences in a month have left me tired and broke. And there's that book review that hasn't yet been started.

9. Football: The BCS this season has been like a 90210 episode. Fortunately, USF is doing really well; but due to all the fucking fairweather fans, I can't get a ticket anymore. This is the first season in seven years I have attended less than half of the home games.

10. Ubuntu: I recently had an incident where, after someone had tossed my bag with my laptop in it, my hard-drive failed. I had to buy a new disk (luckily I back up compulsively), and while I was at it upgraded the RAM, and installed linux. I'm still trying to configure it properly, but I've been spending a lot of time trying explore all of the features of Ubuntu (the Gusty distro, for those in the know).