Never thought I'd make that analogy.

          I woke up with a stiff neck and my shoulders were killing me. I slept well, but I must have slept wrong. It was not made better when my nose was bonked with a sneaker. It sounds cute but it gave me a headache.
          However, I managed to finish my logic paper early and checked out some books for my research paper. I was reasonably productive, although I've decided to officially drop the thesis. I'm fed up with the process and I don't want the English department holding my hand and breathing down my neck. Oh, man. That makes the English department sound like a pedophile.
          Sorry. I don't know when this blog became a livejournal - I'll stop using it as a bitching and venting space.
          On to subjects about which other people could feasibly care!
          I recently found out that Kelly Link is classified as Young Adult - this blows my mind. I guess it makes sense when I think about it; the title story of Magic For Beginners is about a group of teenagers. But ... the majority of the stories are about adults, and center around rather adult themes. I mean - I could see a seventeen year old reading it and getting a lot out of it, but I can't really see a twelve year old picking it up and finding it all that fascinating. But, there it is.
          I've been wondering if my stories are convincing. If they're worthwhile. The people I get feedback from are friends and family, and professors who can talk about any story, no matter how poor, in a positive manner. I guess I should just start submitting stuff to all the magazines I have bookmarked. I'd definitely get honest feedback there, in the form of, This wasn't good enough to publish.
          I tend to get an inflated sense of my own writing ability - one of the problems with going to a small school, I think. With associating with a small group of like-minded people. We all kind of lose perspective. On stuff like this, like our own talents, but on other things, too. Politics, as always. Decency. Tact. I guess this all sounds pretty stuffy, right? But I've been noticing lately that none of us seem to have any perspective left on basic civility. We've lost focus on how it's acceptable to act toward one another.
          I'm as culpable as anyone else. I forget that sometimes people take me seriously, that sometimes the jokes I make can touch nerves. I forget that I don't know people's histories and I don't know how they think. It's a pattern I've been seeing lately - we all forget that the things we say to each other, the things we do to each other, matter.
          Or maybe not. I don't know. Things have felt strained, lately. It'll be good for everyone to get away for a while. Wednesday. I'm just trying to make it there in one piece.