yech.

[labellementeuse]

Taking a leaf out of blademistress' book because shit, otherwise I will never never never finish this essay and will spend the whole time banging on sixth_light's door begging her to put me out of my misery: essay-writing bitching, cut-tagged for your convenience! Send sympathy and anything you know about the ideational theory of meaning, plzkthx.



Weeks allowed to do the essay: 5
Time spent on essay before today: 0 days, 0 hours, 0 minutes, 0 seconds. Next time I will just say no to tertiary education.
Time today I picked a topic: 12:30 pm
Time today I started reading on topic: 3 pm
Time essay due: 12 pm tomorrow THAT'S RIGHT 12. WHO DOES THAT. I THOUGHT IT WAS 5 PM. BUT NO. FUCKERS.

Reading now done: quick-and-dirty of three that's right three totally fucking different texts. Also, lecture notes.
Planning done: five pages of scribbling.
Words written: 83 125 472 579 853 1,691
Words to be written: -191
Current mental state: OH GOD I HAVE NO INTRODUCTION. HOW CAN I WRITE AN ESSAY WITHOUT AN INTRODUCTION. OH GOD MY INTRODUCTION IS FOR SHIT. ALSO, HOLY CRAP, MY FIRST PARAGRAPH IS WAY LONG AND WAY NONSENSICAL CRAP. OH JESUS I USED TO BE ABLE TO DO THIS WRITING THING.

ETA: But! On the plus side! Nearly a third of the way there!

SON OF ETA: EUREKA! If I finish up this paragraph talking about secret references, spend the next paragraph on Locke's notion of common use and quote Blackburn there, I can SEGUE NICELY into the chief problems with ideational meaning by talking about Blackburn's dog-legging/referential problem which is kind of cool if confusing, and THEN one more paragraph about other problems with it as gone over in the course notes, AND THEN conclude that this theory of meaning is a classic one and it's intuitively comfortable but really it's for shit.... I'll be done? CRAZY SHIT.

... now to fit that into 1000 words.

BRIDE OF ETA: my writing is colourless. Not actually bad, but totally without character. hate hate hate.

REVENGE OF THE ETA: Dude, 853 words and coming riiiight along into criticising, I think my timing is perfect. 600 words of criticism to go!!!!!!!!

ESSAY WARS: THE ETA STRIKES BACK: DONE DONE DONE HOLY CRAP DONE. I will get up tomorrow morning and edit the crap out of this bad girl (like, for serious, I need to cut at least 40 words and also my conclusion is total gibberish and I think some of my content is as well. But there's no way I can fix it now, I am going totally cuckoo and need a little distance, also, porn.)

I'm, uh. Actually feeling surprisingly zen. I think this essay is very different from the last one because a)the last one I actually knew what I was talking about b)I am ON DRUGS, which I think I'm going to blame for basically everything from now on. But the other major difference is I think this one is a lot more original, which, considering I have no idea what I'm actually talking about, might not be a good thing.

Oh, the other thing? I'm not sure I answered the question. :-/ I really feel like what I did was summarise Locke's arguments and then summarise some of the major arguments against it which, yes, is probably what "explain and assess" means but in many ways it felt like a response-to-text essay, like I was writing more about criticism of the idea than actually criticising the idea myself. So um. Yeah, I dunno, I'll see how it goes, as long as I make some sense I don't really care. I don't feel good about the actual writing of the essay this time round, though, probably because my planning was so godawful, but that's just the way the cookie crumbles.

Comments

[cabaiste84.livejournal.com]

*huggles* I hear ya, girl.

I have had 8 weeks to do The Essay of Doom, all 3,500-4000 words of it. It was due on the 2nd of June (yup, a week ago...), and I've not even finished writing up all my research. Scratch that, I've not even finished all the reading I'm supposed to do for it (y'know, cos they do tend to have a slight infatuation with secondary texts at Honours level), never mind writing it up. Scratch that again, I've not even finished one of the books I'm supposed writing about! GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

And if that weren't enough, our exam for that paper is on Tuesday, and so far I've done all of five minutes worth of study. If that weren't enough, I've had the most horrendous week at work, and my brain is currently resembling a burnt-out shell of a building. And, if that weren't enough, I feel a nasty head cold coming on. Brilliant.

All I can say is thank goodness the English Honours department at Vic is so gracious with deadlines- I handed my last essay in two weeks late, and still managed an A-! So far, we've got until "Friday week" (hah!) to get this essay done, so here's hoping I'll be able to cobble together a C+ at the most this time around!

Ok, Ezza, how about not deciding to go for First Class Honours until we're a little less scatterbrained and disorganised, yeah? :P;)

So yeah, in other words, I know the feeling all too well! Hope you've got lots of coffee and chocolate and jellybeans on ya, should you need to do an all nighter! And I so wouldn't worry about the 12 o' clock thing, they don't usually clear the box until 5pm, anyway, so I'm sure your lecturer will not spontaneously combust with the horribleness of it all if your essay is an hour or two late.

You can do it, hun! You're an awesome writer, and I've got every faith in you that you'll pull this one off!

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

*huggles back* You're a sweetheart, this comment really encouraged me. :)

[cabaiste84.livejournal.com]

I'm glad. :) This is going to sound so awful, but I felt vaguely encouraged by your post, knowing I'm not the only one who leaves things to the last minute...:P Trust me, it's going to take a freaking miracle for me to pull this essay off...a miracle and a whole lot of jellybeans and crunchy milo.

Awesome that you got it done. :) So, how late did you stay up? ;)

[sixth-light.livejournal.com]

The real question is, am I enough of a sadist to sit in the living room drinking beer, eating chips and watching you sweat?

.....yes.

Tui with a deadline, entertainment for the whole flat. And that weird boy who followed me home.

But, you know, I love you really. ;)

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

i hate you & you should die.

[lady-larla.livejournal.com]

Can i sign on on the sadist bit? I mean aside from the beer and chips..too much ravioli for dinner..yum...

Tui dont fret ..850 words done... you'll be fine... :)Remember my offer to turn it still stands if you can give it to me by 8 am that is...

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

*hearts you much more than L*

[blademistress.livejournal.com]

You are so ahead of the game. I started mine at 7 pm, then at 2 am I was so tired and had 400 word written (of 2400) I had to sleep. I spent from 9 am until 2 pm in the computer labs at uni frantically writing and occasionally texting my friends with things like "OH MY GOD I AM GOING TO FAIL" and "BRING ME FOOD AND GUNS".

See? I do the dumbest things on earth so you can point and laugh :D

Good luck :)

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

*grin* Oh, the student lifestyle, it's so... soul-destroying. I feel like I've done some of my best work under ridiculous pressure, how about you?

:D Thanks.

[pyralid.livejournal.com]

Oh, this sounds painfully familiar. I seem to do this with every essay. Congratulations on finishing it, though.

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

Someday I'm going to need to write something longer than 1500 words and maybe then I'll start it before it's due.

Or maybe not. :P Heh, thanks.

[melata-fic.livejournal.com]

*hugs* Essays are evil, but usually they do turn out better than the last minute panicking would lead you to expect.

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

*hugsback* Mine usually do, but I'm not feeling to confident about this one. However, I just plain don't care because YAY TERM'S OVER!!!!!

[melata-fic.livejournal.com]

Awesome!!