daily tidbits
* This drive to Baton Rouge three times a week wears me out more than ever. I can't believe they expect me to think, too.
* I love grading footnotes and bibliographies. Maybe it's Evil Me that relishes it so. "Ha! You forgot a period at the end of an entry!!" Or Snobbish Me that peppers the bottoms of peppers with chapter and verse citations from Kate (I know them by heart: e.g. use of Ibid.--Turabian 8.85; proper abbreviations of states--Tur. 2.13.) What I really like about grading footnotes and bibliographies is that it's objective. There is an agreed upon standard (Kate--we're on a first name basis), and all I have to do is make sure this standard is met. Kate is simple and straightforward (I personally consult Chicago for my own work, but for undergrads Kate is wonderful, not to mention more portable). I don't have to agonize about grammar, thesis support, do they even have a thesis!? I just mark, mark, mark..."comma, period, no space here, eight spaces there". Beautiful. I may even find it somewhat relaxing. So much so that it actually put me to sleep last night.
* I'm writing an interesting paper right now: translating part of a dictionary of musical terms written by a theorist in the 15th c. There is a series of terms that's sort of a taxonomy of cantus. I have spent a good deal of time just looking up words in dictionaries, lots of them. I find it extremely fascinating the words this guys chooses to describe/define certain ways of singing (either monophonic or polyphonic). I feel like every once in a while there is a faint glimmer of light under the door (very faint) that may allow me to see how he thought about music, especially polyphonic music. I'm so intrigued.
* I'm beginning to worry a little. I'm afraid I don't like teaching. I'm afraid that I wouldn't like being a professor. And I don't feel like I'm very good at it. Sometimes I wonder if I'm just so low on my knowledge base that I find teaching frustrating, or maybe it's just this time in my life. I don't have to worry about this too much right now. It's a couple years yet 'til I'm eligible for the market. I like research and scholarship and institutional support, but I'm worried about this teaching thing. And I don't like libraries, so that's definitely not an option. (I mean working at them...I did enjoy my job back then when I worked in a library. But I took a good look at the institution and all the various depts and jobs in a lib back then, and assuredly decided that wasn't for me.)